Lanterns, the newest show in James Gunn’s DC universe, has just wrapped up. The eight-episode season follows Green Lantern veteran Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and his trainee John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) on their True Detective-esque, extraterrestrial murder case in rural Nebraska.
Throughout the series, John grapples with his abusive upbringing. He was chosen by the Guardians of the Universe to one day replace Hal Jordan as Earth’s Green Lantern without Hal’s knowledge.
John’s parents would psychologically and physically torture him to shape him into the man they wanted him to be: a man with no fear. One of the recurring forms of abuse that young John faced from his father was having an apple shot off of his head with a rifle.
The older, veteran Lantern, Hal, also deals with his need to be needed. Hal wants to be useful to the Guardians and prove that he’s better than John, but his attitude leads him to make a huge mistake, which he then dedicates his life to correct later in the series.
The grounded and human story of two broken men growing because of their trauma, not despite it, had me extremely hooked. I came back Sunday after Sunday, excited to watch it each week. But it didn’t land with everyone.
Online discourse has taken hold of this show. Comic book fans have debated the lack of colourful costumes, the Lanterns rarely making constructs, and no cool, intergalactic fights. Some fans are saying that it’s a ‘good show,’ but a bad ‘Green Lantern show.’
The criticism isn’t completely unwarranted. It would have been nice to see more use of the ring, but overall, the show didn’t suffer from it. People who cite this as a reason the show is terrible or unwatchable aren’t its target audience. I understand why the showrunners chose the route they did.
The worldbuilding of the town of Rushville, Nebraska, was well-built and thought out. It feels a lot like the small town I grew up in, here in rural Alberta. The people who lived in Rushville specifically felt very ‘in character,’ and filled the show with small-town crime tropes: high school sports, weak and corrupt local government and law enforcement, and racists.
This is where the more prevalent debate comes from. Online grifters have pointed to this show and cried that it is racist against white people, which is extremely dangerous to think and overall stupid. This show deals with racism against Black people; it’s not pointing at white viewers and saying, ‘see, you’re racist!’ and if you think it was, you need to do some self-evaluation.
John deals with racism from people in town, including Hal Jordan; it’s, in part, a catalyst for the whole plot. John Stewart Sr. wasn’t given a fair chance for the spot of Green Lantern because of his race, which is why John’s parents try to rip the fear out of their son.
The story doesn’t try to assassinate the character of Hal Jordan either; it makes Hal reflect on his own biases and shows him grow as a character, which is like storytelling 101.
Is this show perfect? No, not even close. The ending was lacklustre, leaving most fans feeling kind of ‘meh,’ and little use was made of most major characters from the wider Green Lantern mythos. There’s definitely space to improve. But for a superhero TV show I’d say it’s really good, and well above others of its kind.
