“Lanterns” Has A Dull Shine

DC and Marvel should start attaching a disclaimer to their series from now on. They should also stop bashing fans for speaking up when they deviate so heavily from the source material. It’s becoming obvious that these showrunners have an agenda that differs from most fanboys/girls. Most of us want to see the pages of the comic books come to life. The powers-that-be just want to make something that will get a high ratings share.

Lanterns is one such project that clearly went off the rails. That’s not to say it wasn’t well produced or well acted. Just unexpected. Over the years we have come to know and enjoy Green Lantern, in part, from the litany of animated series and film iterations. Lanterns is clearly a deviation from that.

The fact that it’s called Lanterns is our first clue. It suggests a storyline that will explore the Green Lantern Corps. Instead it only involves two – John Stewart(Aaron Pierre) and Hal Jordan(Kyle Chandler). The title has just enough familiarity to be recognizable to longtime fans but vague enough to draw in new fans not familiar to the comic book.

The basic premise is close to the source material. Stewart is chosen by the Guardians to replace Jordan as Earth’s Green Lantern. Jordan trains Stewart who eventually succeeds him. Beyond that, it veers into the auteur. 

Jordan exhibits extreme bitterness toward Stewart due to being replaced by him and required to relinquish his power ring, which is disappointingly inaccurate. Green Lantern lore has always had each individual ring finding its way to its own Green Lantern. No one ever shares rings. This creates an artificial tension between the two and leads to Jordan not putting much effort behind training Stewart. In fact, he even tries to kill him more than once. A grave diversion from Jordan’s character since he is, in effect, a protector of life on Earth.

Hal Jordan is historically a true-blue hero. Writing him as an old, bitter, burnout is a disservice to the character and robs us of the authentic heroism we need right now. Then, having a young African-American man come along to “take” something away from him just adds fuel to the Replacement Theory fire. Again, bigger picture, not what we need right now.

As far as villains go, Sinestro(Ulrich Thomsen) makes an appearance which is little more than a cameo. This is odd since Sinestro is to Green Lantern what Joker is to Batman. The series does find its way to an actual antagonist in the character Antaan(Paul Ben-Victor). He’s an alien searching for an android created by the Guardians called The Manhunters – a predecessor to the Green Lantern Corps. Hal Jordan stops being cantankerous long enough to investigate these two threats.

An entire episode is dedicated to John Stewart’s background and what led him to becoming a Green Lantern. His family drama, his time in the military are all on display. During these flashbacks they introduce the idea that Green Lanterns are fearless. Once again, a fallacy created for the series. Green Lanterns are not fearless. They are strong-willed. They use willpower to create their constructs. 

Lanterns is less like Falcon And The Winter Soldier and more like Hawkeye. It strays from the conventional heroic themes of extraordinary individuals doing extraordinary deeds and feels more like a mediocre cop show. The one time Jordan dons his Green Lantern uniform it looks weird and ill-fitting. 

A consistent bright spot of the series is the acting. Pierre and Chandler deliver stellar performances along with the supporting cast. It’s also a relief to see Stewart’s father(J. Alfonse Nicholson) playing an integral role in his life and not the stereotypical absentee Black dad.  

In the final episode, Stewart does come into his own. He gets his own theme song and it feels like he will move forward as the Green Lantern, Guy Gardner notwithstanding. Having acquired Jordan’s ring, he flies away. A satisfying end to a short, bumpy, awkward eight-episode run.