FOXSYLVANIA

I’ve viewed the Pilot/First Episode of Lanterns, and liked it, although I didn’t really know what to expect beforehand. What fans did know is that we didn’t want to see a reiteration of the Ryan Reynolds 2011 Green Lantern movie, which failed to launch a franchise. Reynolds himself frequently frequently mocked his own role in the movie, which went on to do better in streaming. In all fairness, the film did capture the charming but cocky attitude of Earth’s first Green Lantern, Hal Jordan…

Wisely, the new series has dispensed or played down some of the traditions of The Green Lanterns, such as wearing the iconic suit and little mask everywhere. Such things don’t always translate well from comics to the screen, unless you’re Batman. In the first episode, we only see Hal Jordan wearing the suit for his first interview in 1996. In the present day, Hal Jordan (played by Kyle Chandler) and his trainee John Stuart (Aaron Pierre) usually wear their everyday grubby clothing. When asked by a restaurant server why no costume, Jordan responds that they’re like ties, which are initially worn to be respected and taken seriously. When you get older and wiser, explains Jordan, you know that ties are a “pain in the a**.” The Lantern suit is now worn only for “special occasions.” These are very relaxed, earthy-superheroes, complete with potty mouths…

The series does retain certain iconic totems of Lantern lore, however, such as the awesomeness of the Lantern rings, which are sentient and retain a kind of interactive likeness of their wearer in case something happens to that agent. Hal Jordan hardly operates incognito, since everyone on Earth knows who and what he is. Indeed, Jordan goes to a taco stand in Nebraska, where he patiently signs autographs for the locals. Jordan employs kind of a “sink or swim” training method with his trainee, bailing out of a speeding car headed down a cliff, and leaving John Stuart with only his ring to determine how to escape annihilation…

Described as “cosmic cops” who each have charge of a chunk of the galaxy (Earth is Sector 2814), our Green Lantern and his trainee are hot on the trail of aliens who are killing people. It seems that fully 14 alien species have the technology to pass as human, so this is not an easy task. Fortunately, Jordan has good if unconventional detective skills, and can use his Green Lantern abilities to contain the explosions the aliens generate when discovered…

Lanterns employs multiple non-linear timelines, specifically 1996, 2016, and 2026. Most of the series takes place in 2016, and I will not give a “spoiler” for a shocking event at the end of Episode 1. Although not what one would have expected, this superhero detective drama surprisingly works!