Lanterns episodes 1 - 4 review

 

Episode 1 Pilot

The opening episode starts off in understated style, playing with Western tropes aplenty. The incestuous small town, bar room fights, desolate geography – these aspects and more come into play as Lanterns establishes itself as one of those series that tries to make superpowers more down to earth and relatable. The mood is often similar to something like Wonder Man except the humour is more arch, the characters harder to like. This episode is very much about establishing a sense of place and there’s more than enough to sink your teeth into whether not you’ve read the comics.

It’s 2016 and Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern of renowned abilities is a celebrity wherever he goes and while he wears this well when interacting with the public his demeanour while training up a potential successor is somewhat less chirpy. He’s cynical and prone to leaving his mentee John Stewart to get himself out of difficult training exercises on his own. John, who was trained by his military father to overcome fear after Stewart senior failed to make the grade to become Green Lantern takes it all in his stride despite Hal’s clear opposition to the idea of having to train up a sidekick. Yet when John meets a projection of a younger Hal delivering a cryptic warning the duo travel to Rushville in Nebraska where a massacre on a sports field may have alien connotations.

While the narrative flow sometimes seems awkward and Rushville is a place it feels like we’ve seen many times before, there’s tension humming away beneath the blokey banter and smalltown homilies that hints at a more interesting plot. Sure enough about five minutes from the end the episode matters explode with a jolting couple of developments.

It all looks great thanks to director James Hawes and also Florian Hoffmeister’s cinematography capturing the bleak Nebraska landscape; a suitable backdrop for Kyle Chandler’s weathered performance as Hal. His favoured training techniques do come with droll comments, and the show would do well to play this up as this is a series that needs humour. As John, Aaron Pierre is stoic and causal in dealing with his mentor. The dynamic is rather like a son taking his curmudgeonly Dad for a drink knowing full well he’ll get into trouble. Elsewhere, Kelly Macdonald is the boldest casting swing as Rushville’s Sherriff and it works a treat as she tries to contain Hal’s convictions. Chris Coy also impresses as a truck driver who becomes the main suspect and may or may not be an alien. At the end of the first episode, I’m intrigued enough as to where the series might venture.

Episode 2 Trust Fall

The sophomore episode manages a good balance between the grounded drama of the first while introducing more fantastical concepts. For an episode that is full of exposition, it wears that mantle lightly taking time for longer scenes that are basically about the characters, notably a lengthy conversation between the Sherriff and Hal after he’s been shot. The combination of small town life and covert alien is always a good fit. The plot here actually rattles through quite a lot of material, establishing that the alien party (some of whom were massacred at the sports field) are searching for a Manhunter, a very dangerous being that can disguise itself as anyone and is believed hiding in Rushville.. Which is a good way to open up a mystery as to who it is. Here tv watchers will almost be certain that Macon is not the main anatomist despite his shady, aggressive demeanour and there’s been much onlnine speculation already as to who it may be. 

John is dispatched back to Hal’s mansion to collect the Lantern charger, a sequence that plays into the lighter side of the show as he is somewhat surprised by the opulence of the mansion, an unlikely place for Hal to live. The object itself actually looks like a green railroad lantern, a welcome change from some shiny tech, and when Hal intones the right words it sounds world weary rather than inspired. Its this sort of thing that elevates the show above something more generic as we have seen so much superhero material in the last decade. Lanterns keeps its feet on the ground even when its protagonist soars into the air and its fight sequences are well staged and athletic. The show is not without surreal touches even if they don’t always work. The imagined blue bird that John has to keep alive is a strange but likeable presence even if it doesn’t really go anywhere in the end. Less successful is a sequence where Hal steals the alien bodies - while seemingly every Rushville inhabitant is at a town meeting - to test a theory that the `metal` detectors in the sports field are actually alien detectors. It’s an awkwardly staged scene to make a point, why would he need more than one corpse anyway?

Episode3 OutKast

Hey Ya! A well calibrated excursion into John Stewart’s past, this third episode explains his single minded determination fashioned by his childhood. It begins with him falling through the air in what looks like an abandoned shopping centre. He follows temporary signs to a dingey half lit office where an efficient middle aged lady asks him to “take a seat”. Close to twenty four hours later, he is still sat there when she returns. Flashbacks then play through the interview as the episode, written by Venessa Baden Kelly teases out John’s story in a manner that can span twenty five years or so in an episode. It’s a careful script which is turned into something akin to watching a painting being finished. Just when you think its headed one way, it tilts differently and I’m definably glad it avoided the `cruel father` plotline that I feel we’ve just seen too much of. Both the script and director Stephen Williams bring naturalism to events however odd they may be.

After John’s father failed to impress when lifted out of bed by lights and asked “are you afraid?” (which lets face it is understandable), John’s mother later meets one of the Guardians in human form. Played by Laura Linney bringing her considerable experience to bear she give just the right amount of strange distance and fake sincerity and seems to think that baby John may grow up as a more likely candidate to become Green Lantern if he is raised to show no fear. Admittedly some may find the rest of the episode drags a little as we flip through a childhood of receiving a rifle and a mini Lantern suit for his fifth birthday but we don’t take too long to arrive at a key shooting apple off the head moment, a nice historical allusion to demonstrate.

Some may also find Aaron Pierre’s portrayal of John to be unsympathetic but the actor gives enough humanity behind the granite faced determination and certainty to impress. There are even small comedic notes in there too. His approach is best demonstrated in a scene from his Marine Corps days where he meets for a low key briefing about an assassination. Not getting the memo about blending in, declining an extraction alarm and ignoring the dinner bought for him, the actor shifts emphasis just enough to make this a lighter scene than it might be.

Its not an episode with a lot of action, save for Hal’s late appearance intervening in the mission and thereby causing it to fail. I’m a little puzzled as to why that would earn John a dishonourable discharge but it all services the story. We do get to see a Guardian’s true appearance, though only from the back. The only question it does leave you with is if the selection process is this meticulous, how come the Guardians ended up with someone as wayward as Hal?!

Episode 4 The Weenie

Not some dubiously monikered intergalactic alien, the episode title refers to something significant being hidden. In this case it’s whatever Macon is hiding on his ranch. Its interesting when the plot uses the ring - in this case it rustles up a handy subterranean digger to enable Hal and John to take a peak though after uncovering a significant weapons cache they are captured. In keeping with the title, Macon then disrobes and instructs John to sketch him!

More seriously though it is later `revealed` he is the elusive Manhunter, or at least that’s what it is claimed. It it seems too obvious halfway through but then this is not a series to conform to expectations. Plus we know Hal thinks its Zoe so despite the impact of her van suddenly being blown up, she is probably not dead. She did say she saved Macon’s life in another scene which sound more  significant than simply being his nurse. This episode for example sets aside a minute or two to show us a super futuristic slaughterhouse. As they sneak around, the workers completely ignore them

If this series sometimes appears to be moving slowly, there is a fair momentum to the narrative and `secrets` are not kept from us for as long as many series do. The feisty push and pull between Hal and John continues to be very Well played by both Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre. Their humorous asides are understated behind some argumentative conversations. Despite what John says, there is a sense that he is perhaps less willing to take the ring from Hal on a permanent basis now he knows the latter better. Also impressing is Ulrich Thonson as Sinestro who looks like he might have stepped out of a Fifties tv sci- fi show. At the halfway stage, Lanterns has enough cards on the table to surprise us at least once a week. The weekly release of episodes allows each episode to percolate some more – tv was like this all the time once!