‘Lanterns’ Is Here and Sets the Stage Masterfully

Shooting at children, adultery, attempted murder, killer militias, exploding police stations—welcome to the world of DC Studios’ Lanterns. Yes, the highly anticipated show from Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King is finally here, and the first episode had a little bit of everything, and a lot of Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) going back and forth. Here’s a rundown of the pilot episode. Things start in 1996 with a bunch of kids watching the first-ever interview with Hal Jordan. Up until now, he’s just been the Green Lantern. We learn he’s been around for several decades. He’s a pilot. His father (another pilot) died when he was 8, and he’s Earth’s only Green Lantern. There’s also the key piece of information that, to become Green Lantern, he was only asked one question: “Are you afraid?” It’s the same question a young John Stewart’s dad (J. Alphonse Nicholson) asks him as he points a pistol at him and shoots an apple off his head. Talk about a way to start a show and set the tone. As that apple explodes and young John stands there, completely unaffected, you realize this kid is different. And something is very off. It’s 20 years later, in 2016. Hal picks up John, whom he has been training for two months. Hal’s late, has been missing for two weeks, and starts pushing John to be mad about it. John is, but he’s too focused to admit it. Hal explains that he was off-planet settling a dispute, but John has no context for this because they haven’t gone off-planet yet for training. They haven’t even done anything with the ring yet. Hal uses this as a teaching exercise and jumps out of the car, forcing John to use the ring to save his life. © Warner Bros. On the way back to Hal, John is visited by… Hal. “Am I dead?” He’s a backup of Hal’s consciousness from the ring, who has arrived to give himself a message: “There’s hail in Rushville, Nebraska.” This is a different Hal, by the way. He’s a bit less rigid. A bit kinder. A lot has happened in the 10 years since current Hal backed himself up as this version. After a quick stop for tacos and photos with adoring fans, John gives Hal his message, and he quickly flies off, leaving John with the check and a long trip from California to Nebraska. Once there, John meets the town’s sheriff, Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald), who makes it clear she is not happy that Hal, and now John, is there. Hal likes that about her. There has been a shooting at a high school football game that Hal thinks was committed by aliens, but Kane isn’t so sure. John is curious why and how Hal even knows about Rushville, Nebraska, but he’s not saying. Soon, a man who stands out for a few reasons makes a run for it, and John and Kane run him down and arrest him. Hal wants to interrogate him, but Kane says no. At a local bar, we learn a ton about the history of this world, and why Hal was so interested in Nebraska. Hal explains that he was woken up in the middle of the night by a green bubble that asked him, “Are you afraid?” When he said no, he was rocked across the country to Nebraska. To a spaceship crash. A pink, bald alien by the name of Abin Sur had crashed his ship, and the ring transferred to Hal. But Hal doesn’t think Earth was ever supposed to have a Lantern, so he has always been suspicious about this area. Why and how did Abin Sur crash here? © Warner Bros. As this is happening, the same song has been playing over and over at the bar, and the patrons are pissed. Hal did it on purpose to start a fight and get sent to jail, which happens. As he’s getting the crap beat out of him, John strikes up a flirty conversation with a nearby patron named Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan). After some back and forth, they end up sleeping together in Zoe’s truck. John goes to pick Hal up from jail and learns he has to be arraigned. Kane isn’t messing around. In front of the judge, Hal digs himself deeper and deeper until a lawyer named Billy Macon (Jason Ritter) shows up and takes care of it. All the lawyer wants in return is for him to meet his father. Oh, and Billy is Kane’s husband. Hal and John head to Billy’s father’s ranch, which is set up like a militia base. Men are standing everywhere with guns. It’s got huge gates. People are training on a shooting range. This is not a normal place. There, they meet William Macon (Garret Dillahunt), who runs the ranch. He’s a powerful man, and Kane warns Hal that he doesn’t want to be in his debt. But, as powerful as he is, he reveals that he himself has a boss. Someone he can’t talk about. Oh, and his wife is Zoe, the woman John slept with the night before. Uh oh. William explains he wants to align with Hal simply to protect his home from aliens. It’s a pretty xenophobic point of view, but Hal lets him have it just to get what info he can. On the way out, William tells Hal he’ll make sure he can talk to the suspect from the football game, and heavily implies he knows John slept with Zoe. © Warner Bros. The next morning, Hal and John show up at the sheriff’s office to interview the suspect. Kane remains skeptical that he’s an alien, but allows Hal to interrogate him anyway. Then, in what is by far the best moment of an already great episode, Hal and the suspect go back and forth, with Hal eventually cornering him on a few specific points about humanity. It’s super fun as the tension rises and eventually the suspect cracks. Yes, he’s an alien. Yes, he’s got a secret mission. No, he won’t tell Hal about it. And at the last minute, he blows himself up. Luckily, Hal is able to contain some of it with the ring, but the impact tremor shakes the town. As the episode comes to a close, we fast-forward 10 years. It’s 2026. John has a goatee now, so you know he’s older, and he’s back at the football field from a decade ago. It’s night, and it’s snowing, but it certainly appears like parts of Rushville have been somehow destroyed. Kane waits for him at the field, and it’s clear the two have mutual respect and friendship. Together they walk up in the stands to find Hal Jordan, frozen, and probably dead. He’s not wearing his ring. Someone else is the Green Lantern, but it’s not John Stewart. The pilot episode of Lanterns really does a great job of setting up the story to come. There’s some kind of alien plot that has links back to the origins of Hal’s run as Green Lantern. John has been chosen to train under Hal, even though that’s not usually a thing. And, whatever the case, we learn that 10 years later, none of it worked out. How will the rest of the season work out? We’ll find out soon. What did you think of the first episode of Lanterns? Want more io9 news? 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