LANTERNS on HBO - In brightest day / Make a little love / Get down tonight

Coach Taylor, Aaron Pierre, Kelly MacDonald, Garrett Dillahunt & Jason Ritter already so far in Episode 1

And it seems… good??

Let’s fucking go <3

I liked Joe Gross's take via Bluesky:

LANTERNS is an interesting show. It does feel like a repurposed TRUE DETECTIVE knock-off with DC space cops.

This seems valid as, historically, GL is always more fun in theory than in practice. So making him a sketchy astronaut type is clever. Arron Pierre is fun and Garret Dillahunt shows up.

Well it was literally pitched as “True Detective but with aliens” iirc so honestly, no lies told?

I absolutely love Aaron Pierre (and not just bc he’s a smokeshow) - he seems really well cast so far, at least going off first ep - and he’s great playing off Chandler

Was really enjoying this and then the Scud Mountain Boys song at the end made it automatic next level for me

I’d never heard them before!

enjoyed this more than i thought i would from the early word about it - as i think i said in the dcu thread, true detective + magical space cops doesn't seem like a natural or even particularly desirable fit, but the first episode does a decent job of weaving them together

i could have done without the overuse of swearing, which felt a bit try-hard 'this ain't yer ryan reynolds green lantern, kids!', but i'm never realistically going to pass up an opportunity to watch kyle chandler being rumpled and kelly macdonald being exasperated

chandler's recitation of his origin story was great - john only has to lightly push him before it all comes spilling out and he tells it like he's said it a million times but never quite gotten over how weird it was

i'm not entirely convinced that this hal jordan has the exact same origin as the comic book one, though - chandler is playing him with a kind of brash shiftiness that makes me wonder if he wasn't more actively involved somehow in taking the ring from abin sur

given the developments in the final couple of minutes

and that john was at pains to explain in 2016 that sectors only get one lantern at a time, i'm keen to find out 1) how guy gardner has a ring in the superman movie when hal apparently still had his up until the point he got domed and 2) whether john has a ring in 2026 too, given that he notably arrives at the scene of the crime in a regular-ass vehicle

also wondering why hal got so... upset when the guy he was interrogating started reciting the green lantern oath

and why hal's ring hadn't been backed up in a decade...

I love that line from Hal/ Chandler re the origin story “I can’t tell if he said good luck or fuck you”

I think a scene was inspired by this article https://www.vice.com/en/article/i-played-the-boys-are-back-in-town-on-a-bar-jukebox-until-i-got-kicked-out-832/

Also this Mulaney bit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw7Gryt-rcc

TRUE DETECTIVE knock-off with DC space cops.

Strikes me more as Jack Reacher with superpowers (the Reacher books, I mean--I've never seen the show.) Getting in fights with local toughs, meets some rich guy who basically owns the small town, etc.

Well the episode 2 exposition dumptruck has arrived - homework time, Lanterns fans

(But I’m still onboard)

Indeed! And who wouldn’t want an Earl.

lol yes! Not at all what I expected but how cool!

Well I immediately went to the wiki for Martian Manhunter after this episode, to understand his connection to Green Lantern (beyond being fellow Justice League members)… only to eventually figure out these Manhunters are not that Manhunter

I want to think sheriff Kelly is my prime candidate for Manhunter in disguise- but Zoe’s got my antenna up. I feel like Macon’s too obvious but maybe. Or Ritter?

I mean if Kelly is I'd like to know how 2016 was resolved because she's still alive and the sheriff in 2026!

maybe she shot him!

And that’s when it’s revealed

Bit of a long game! (Though I do like the idea that the aliens destroyed the entire town except for the football field.)

Well holy shit, they are fully cooking with this.

Sure are!

This show really knows how to end episodes.

We see a lot of Dillahunt this week.

Fucking great ending - finally some weekly tv again!

Love how they’ve fully weaponized Chandler’s Coach Taylor folksy “attaboy kid” charm as Hal’s asshole mode. It’s so perfect

Also this is feeling weirdly like a reverse “Training Day” w Pierre in Hawke’s role

This was the first episode that had me scratching my head. the entire reaction to Hal and John breaking into “the weenie” made no sense. WTF was Macon’s whole “do my nude portrait” thing?? And then just dropping them back at the motel like it’s time for bed, just seemed extremely low levels of concern over the Green Lanterns’ presence.

I’m probably not going to watch this because I’m not into Green Lanterns, but I’m curious if their powers are executed in the same way as the comics. That’s been my barrier for appreciation. If they need to move a pile of rubble, does a green bulldozer come out of the ring? It’s always struck me the same way as the Mr. Fantastic problem: it works on the page but is ridiculous on screen.

Well, they had to dig a tunnel and they manifested a huge drill, so pretty much.

“Yeah, I’m creative.”

why not just kill them both when you capture them and take the ring?

they explained why they couldn't kill Hal in the scene.

Yeah, intentionally beaning a lantern is basically asking for a shit-ton of other lanterns to charge the mound, wasn’t that the gist?

yeah but like... once the lanterns know the bad guy is there, wouldn't that happen anyway assuming they're not total incompetents?

The Manhunter presumably didn't want them killed because she thought she could manipulate John.

it's a fun show but that whole draw me like your french girls and then let you go was deeply stupid, as was the idea that they could raise a kid with regular backyard shooting at his head exercises without the neighbors eventually calling CPS

It is… based on comic books

Sorry I know that’s glib and dumb but we are personally enjoying when this dips into weird territory that makes no sense, that seems like part of the appeal

I prefer the more realistic elements, like alien detectors at high school football games.

I enjoy comic book movies and TV too, but dumb bullshit is dumb bullshit even when there are wizards and magic rings

I dunno. Maybe they weren’t killed because the town sheriff, who is related to the Manhunter by marriage, was in on the plot and they’d probably have to kill her too.

Also the baddies showed off their Lantern neutralizing tech, which probably means there won’t be a second infiltration attempt.

You don’t have to try to outsmart ever show, you know.

haha have you seen what ilx posters used to have to say about doctor who

I just want to understand why Macon's reaction to Lanterns infiltrating his secret base was to strip naked and ask for a portrait.

It’s how you erase a cuckolding.

IYKYK

You don’t have to try to outsmart ever show, you know.

I'm not actively trying to outsmart them, I'm passively having my intelligence insulted

Good show! Just the right amount of smart and stupid.

So far Lindelof's managed one all-time great ending (Leftovers), one all-time terrible ending (LOST) and one that was not-the-worst-but-still-pretty-bad (Watchmen). Not sure where this will fall, but it's a lot of fun for the moment!

LOST ending ruled. All y'all can suck it.

I mean great episode and all but…that was the big music sync, was it?

I was thinking, Kyle Chandler would make an amazing Gus if they remake Lonesome Dove, and it turns out, Netflix is remaking Lonesome Dove. But it isn't cast yet.

lol I Googled and found an article about the "forgotten Western series Lonesome Dove."

Sidebar: Can we get Aaron Pierre in a Reacher spinoff or added as an additional character?

I would be fine with this. And they’re handily solving the issue of killing off so many key characters last episode by these newish ones now; at this point I trust nobody.

Yeah cosign that!

I love the way they seamlessly wrap Guy Gardner into this series & he just fits, he makes sense. The SAME cheeseball guy from Superman! It’s very impressive

This episode sort of broke the camel’s back with the sheer volume and frequency of F-bombs; it took me out of things at times and I’m not exactly an LDS missionary

I really did enjoy the unfolding of John’s plan, though - he manipulates EVERYONE he meets in order to arrive at the situation we see in the concluding moments of the ep. And all done in a way that you the viewer don’t quite catch on to until you have a chance to catch a breath and think on things, or at least that’s how slow I am on the uptake.

I liked how really eerie the second half of this new episode got. Nicely unexpected.

finally looked up who the guy in the HBO thumbnail is. surprised to learn it is Nathan Fillion and not Mark Duplass.

Goddamn that was so good! and yes, 2nd half was def unexpected

Great show. Lotta people jumping outta cars for some reason.

I know not everyone is as podcast-pilled as me but the Ringer’s Midnight Boys podcast just did a great interview w writer/producers Vanessa Baden Kelly and Justin Britt-Gibson

It’s excellent, highly recommend

https://overcast.fm/+AArewBZm9Qc

can we get Aaron Pierre in a Reacher spinoff or added as an additional character?

Rebel Ridge, his 2024 movie, is pretty much a Reacher plot, if you haven’t seen it. With bonus evil Don Johnson. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11301886/

Rebel Ridge RULES and everyone should watch it immediately

Feel like Pierre would make a better Reacher than Ritchson.

This has been a really fun show. I hope the final episode pulls it together without disappointing. Like everyone else (I assume), I don't want this story to close the book on Hal, as Kyle Chandler's so entertaining in the role.

I feel like they've done a good job creating this oblique take on GL - I've never thought "hey where are the flying people and the aliens" (because there seem to be lots of flying people and aliens).

Watching ep6 and ... I get why Rushville would be mad but also he wasn't the one destroying it with space lasers

*mad at Hal

Yeah I couldn’t figure that out either, assumed I’d missed something or it hadn’t been explained yet

Also is the implication that the Guardians tried to police the universe by creating a race of supersexy genocidal robots?

I mean I get it, "everything was fine before you showed up!" etc

but 10 years in jail for ... trying to capture a dangerous alien who destroyed the town?

xp yeah that was pretty explicit I think

Solid ending. Tense as hell in the buildup, so that it resolved how it did was good.

Agree! Also it got dark as hell in the middle there.

And all the fearlessness/ parenting shit really hit hard the way they wrapped it around in this finale

Very Lindelof but really good <3

Oh and I liked the Waxahatchee needledrop <3

i've come to praise Aaron Pierre, Kyle Chandler and Kelly MacDonald -- strong work. hopefully they will get a 2nd season

Yeah it was insanely well cast.

Post-finale chat with some of the key folks:

https://deadline.com/2026/10/lanterns-season-one-finale-recap-1237144840

Goddammit I can't believe Hal is really dead

I enjoyed this. If you'd showed it to me without any writer/creator/producer credits I'm pretty sure I could have ID'd Tom King immediately — it's got his signature themes and flourishes all over it. First thing I'd ever seen with Chandler in it, never saw Friday Night Lights and don't plan to, still funny that there's a high school football element stuck in there. He was pretty good as Hal; Aaron Pierre phenomenal as John Stewart. The performance I really didn't like was Kelly Macdonald as Kerry, who seemed to have wandered in from a season of Fargo and had the same furrowed brow no matter what the scene called for. Anyway -- good Tom King 8-issue miniseries, glad I waited for the trade instead of reading it in floppies.

I thought the last episode was quite bad. Talky and underwhelming. I'm not against anticlimax, it's very much in the DC "For Mature Readers Only" tradition, but I thought this was a little boring and small. I really like both leads, but they're obviously more interesting in partnership than alone. The scene with Guy was fun, though.

THAT SAID I did love the very 2000s/early 2010s experience of a watching a weekly sci-fi mystery show. It didn't feel like wannabe prestige TV, it felt look a good smart-dumb crowdpleasing show.

re: dead hal; they are leaving so many outs for this and i'd bet they could pull off a much better chandler parallax (hey jr gimme all yr rings thx) than whatever they are doing with robt doomney jr

p much agree with Grant

Grant Morrison's thoughts on the Lanterns finale from their Substack pic.twitter.com/kba0nDwuCO

— Hero | Certified Smartass (@CSmartass_) October 9, 2026

Per io9 rumblings on a second season:

If the show does get a second season, there will be some shake-ups behind the scenes: while Mundy will return, co-creators Damon Lindelof and Tom King will not. Instead, according to Jeff Sneider, Mundy will reportedly work with Eisner Award-winning comic book writer and Halt and Catch Fire co-creator Christopher Cantwell.

That could be good. Halt was such a great show. Very character focused so could fit well with the approach in Lanterns