{"id":641144,"date":"2026-08-17T03:46:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T03:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/641144\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T03:46:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T03:46:15","slug":"lanterns-episode-1-review-hal-jordans-twist-explained-spoilers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/641144\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Lanterns’ Episode 1 Review: Hal Jordan’s Twist, Explained \u2014 Spoilers"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Editor\u2019s note: The following review contains spoilers<\/strong> for \u201cLanterns\u201d<\/a> Episode 1, \u201cPilot,\u201d including the ending. For a spoiler-free analysis, read our full season review<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

\u201cShit, am I dead?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hal-o-gram\u2019s first words echo as the premiere\u2019s closing question: Did \u201cLanterns<\/a>\u201d really kill off Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler<\/a>) in the first episode? Or do the mysterious events preceding the time jump hint at an alternate explanation?<\/p>\n

In the last-minute flash-forward, HBO<\/a>\u2018s space-cop drama jumps 10 years ahead to 2026, where a now-goateed John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) is called to examine the frozen corpse of his former mentor. Hal\u2019s ring is gone. John isn\u2019t wearing it (nor does his arrival by SUV suggest he chose to drive through a snowy Nebraska when he could\u2019ve flown). There\u2019s a bullet hole in Hal\u2019s forehead, as well as a significant accumulation of snow on his already whitening hair.<\/p>\n

\"TEENAGE<\/a> \"'X-Men<\/a> <\/p>\n

Spotted by the groundskeeper (who we do not meet) and identified by Sheriff Kane (Kelly Macdonald), there\u2019s no obvious reason to suspect anything more complicated than what the scene plainly suggests. But isn\u2019t that what everyone except Hal said about the football field\u2019s first crime scene? And didn\u2019t Hal\u2019s hunch help expose an alien that not only looked exactly like a human male, but also passed an X-ray without sending up any red flags? And then there\u2019s the Hal-o-gram: Just how detailed is the \u201cbackup consciousness\u201d of a guy who can manifest tangible materials at will? Could the Hal-o-gram be \u201cdead\u201d and the real Hal is still out there, probably pissing someone off? <\/p>\n

The \u201cLanterns\u201d premiere, co-written by co-creators Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof<\/a>, and Tom King, covers a lot of ground. There\u2019s the case itself, revolving around four dead aliens on a high school football field in Nebraska circa 2016; there\u2019s a town full of shady citizens, including William Macon (Garret Dillahunt), a rich rancher who\u2019s worried about losing his land to alien colonizers and his wife, Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan), who\u2019s not worried enough about her hubby finding out she slept with John; there\u2019s the superhero lore laying out what\u2019s so special about a shiny emerald ring to begin with and, of course, there\u2019s the introduction of our two primary Green Lanterns, involving a father\u2019s terrifying recreation of William Tell\u2019s apple trick and a pink alien bestowing the greatest power in the universe on a test pilot who falls asleep in his boots.<\/p>\n

So, to break it down without devolving into chaos \u2014 what I like to call a \u201cLooper\u201d scenario<\/a>, where we\u2019re here all day, making diagrams out of straws \u2014 let\u2019s go section by section, starting with the inciting incident:<\/p>\n

The Case<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s hail in Rushville, Nebraska.\u201d<\/p>\n

With those words, Hal\u2019s Hal-o-gram summons our duo to an all-too-common American atrocity: a mass shooting. This one took place at a high school football game, after a winning field goal resulted in fans rushing the field and four people getting shot. Given the rival teams and red state, John argues it\u2019s reasonable to conclude that tempers flared, guns were drawn, and tragedy ensued. It\u2019s harrowing but not \u201cextraterrestrial,\u201d which is what it needs to be for the case to fall under the Green Lanterns\u2019 jurisdiction. <\/p>\n

Hal, however, disagrees. For one, no one seems upset. \u201cSeems kinda mellow for a mass shooting,\u201d Hal says. \u201cThey\u2019re in shock,\u201d Sheriff Kane counters. \u201cOr,\u201d Hal says, \u201cnobody knows the victims.\u201d All four of the dead are wearing the same sweatshirt, and when they spot a fifth on the ground near a nervous nelly in a short-sleeved shirt (played by Chris Coy), they round him up. (Well, John does, via a sprint through the school.)<\/p>\n

Later, at a local watering hole, Hal explains what really tipped him off: Turns out when Hal was first chosen to wear the ring, he was flown to a spot not 20 miles from Rushville where the previous owner, a pink alien named Abin Sur, was dying. Hal always assumed the crash that killed ol\u2019 Binny was no accident, and he\u2019s been using his Hal-o-gram to monitor the area ever since.<\/p>\n

So when he walks into the interrogation room to sit down with \u201cWaylon Sanders,\u201d Hal peels away his cover story with a series of random questions every human would respond to, but an alien wouldn\u2019t understand. (\u201cThat\u2019s it?\u201d Hal says when \u201cWaylon\u201d shrugs at the mention of the president. \u201cAs a rural Nebraskan, that\u2019s the breadth of your opinion about Barack Hussein Obama?\u201d) Waylon drops the act, and before he triggers a self-destruct bomb meant to take out as much of the town as possible, he confesses he\u2019s on a mission related to a \u201cwar\u201d that\u2019s driven by \u201cvengeance.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all we get before he detonates, leaving behind far more questions than answers: Who shot Waylon\u2019s four alien buddies? How\u2019d the shooters know they were aliens to begin with? What sort of war is going on in such a small town, that\u2019s been peaceful for at least 30 years? And how does it connect to Abin Sur bestowing his ring upon Hal?<\/p>\n

The Suspects<\/p>\n

\"KyleKyle Chandler<\/a> and Garret Dillahunt in \u2018Lanterns\u2019Courtesy of John Johnson \/ HBO Max<\/p>\n

Common sense (and Hal\u2019s own logic) dictates we start with the strangest player on the board: William Macon. \u201cIf it looks like a duck, shoots an AR-15 like a duck, blah blah blah \u2014\u00a0duck,\u201d Hal says as they drive into the heavily fortified cattle ranch**. Well, Macon is one odd duck. Sure, on the surface, he plays a white-hatted cowboy: good-mannered (even buying tofu steaks for his vegan dinner guest), plain spoken, and ostensibly reasonable.<\/p>\n

By way of explaining the elephant in the room \u2014 his massive, heavily guarded ranch, owned by an unknown benefactor who restricts the Macon family\u2019s speech via ironclad NDAs \u2014 William says he\u2019s not interested in a \u201cwackadoo war with the feds.\u201d He sees himself as \u201ca student of history. Colonization is ugly from any angle, but I tell you it\u2019s particularly bleak if you\u2019re the one getting colonized. This all? Call it an ounce of prevention.\u201d<\/p>\n

OK\u2026 sure\u2026 but why, exactly, is he so freaked out about aliens showing up to take over a few hundred acres in the middle-of-nowhere Nebraska? Was he really willing to spot Hal $200,000 in bail money just so he could talk about outer space invaders with the only person who also sees them as an imminent threat? Who is he \u201ccaretaking for,\u201d and how did this person know Waylon was an alien? And why does William seem so cool with John sleeping with his wife, Zoe?<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not a man you want to owe,\u201d Sheriff Kane warns Hal. But Hal isn\u2019t afraid of anybody, let alone a guy intent on separating himself from the xenophobic \u201cisolationist crackpots\u201d he so clearly evokes, but who still can\u2019t accept an idea so simple John shares it without so much as a reply: \u201cWe\u2019re all aliens. Just depends which planet you\u2019re standing on.\u201d<\/p>\n

If it looks like a white nationalist duck, talks like a white nationalist duck, blah blah blah \u2014 duck.<\/p>\n

**Remember the last time<\/a> a Damon Lindelof show started on a cattle ranch? Spoiler: It did not end well for the cattle.<\/p>\n

The Co(r)ps<\/p>\n

\"Lanterns\u2018Lanterns\u2019Courtesy of John Johnson\/HBO Max<\/p>\n

You may not have noticed because it\u2019s such a subtly drawn dynamic, but John and Hal do not get along. The disparity starts early and recurs often: Hal, in his \u201c60 Minutes\u201d interview, says \u201cEvery kid\u2019s worst fear is losing a parent,\u201d by way of explaining why he could honestly tell the glowing green light he has \u201cnothing to fear anymore.\u201d But John\u2019s story contradicts that theory, since his worst fear appears to stem from his parent. He and his brothers are deathly afraid of their dad coming home and catching them watching the Green Lantern on TV<\/a> \u2014 perhaps because John knows it will end with him being the target in daddy\u2019s target practice.<\/p>\n

Both fathers seem to be the source of trauma for our heroes, just in different ways: Hal\u2019s father died in a plane crash. John\u2019s father is still alive, but he nearly killed him every time John proved his fearlessness by playing \u201cshoot the apple.\u201d Surely, we\u2019ll find out more about these relationships in future episodes, but \u201cLanterns\u201d wastes no time illustrating the distinct upbringings of its two heroes \u2014 and the vastly different men they grew up to be.<\/p>\n

Still, one thing they appear to have in common is also an immediate point of contention. In the \u201c60 Minutes\u201d interview, Hal says he was given the ring after asserting his fearlessness. Outside the interview room, John says he admires that trait in Hal, and it\u2019s evident he\u2019s done his best to live without fear himself. (Courtesy of surviving all those apple shots.)<\/p>\n

But Sheriff Kane calls bullshit on fearlessness as a heroic attribute. \u201cIf you care about people \u2014 you know, husband, wife, parent, kid \u2014\u00a0then you\u2019re scared of losing them,\u201d she says. \u201cFirst time he strutted up to me, I could tell: Jordan doesn\u2019t care about anybody. And nobody cares about him. He\u2019s not fearless. He\u2019s lonely.\u201d<\/p>\n

The framing paints his death, 10 years later, in an extra tragic light. Here lies Hal Jordan: all alone in the cold, in the dark, in his hour of need. Did he die because he isolated himself? Because he was too arrogant to ask for help? Because he was scared? Or is there still time for Hal to connect, perhaps with the person thrust upon him, who he can\u2019t seem to get along with and yet still shows up when help is needed.<\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/p>\n

\u201cLanterns\u201d releases new episodes Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood Luck or Oh Fuck\u201d (Points of Clarity<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

\u2022 The first sound heard in Episode 1 is a ticking clock, courtesy of the \u201c60 Minutes\u201d broadcast little John is watching on TV. But that same sound played a significant role in another HBO series from Damon Lindelof: \u201cWatchmen.\u201d Interesting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cThey\u2019re allowed to have tantrums, we\u2019re not. So breathe in, button down, and bottle up\u201d John Stewart Sr. doesn\u2019t know how much his son has taken that advice to heart over the years, bottling it all up, again and again.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Don\u2019t expect to see Hal Jordan in full Green Lantern regalia very often this season. Not only is the character over dressing for the job he wants, but \u201cLanterns\u201d is running in the opposite direction of the \u201cGreen Lantern\u201d movie, which flopped commercially and critically. Part of the reproach stemmed from an over-reliance on cartoonish CGI effects, including a suit with pulsing green veins and an awkward digital mask. The suit may be canon in the comic books, but \u201cLanterns\u201d needs to distinguish itself from its most recent onscreen iteration, and ditching the costume for traditional human duds is part of the brand makeover.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Kyle Chandler under the lights of a high school football stadium\u2026 how DARE they turn such a joyful image<\/a> into something so devastating?! Tami Taylor will have her revenge.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Could\u2019ve done without \u201cHarry Potter\u201d shout-outs, which just sound like one Sunday night HBO show promoting the next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[Editor\u2019s note: The following review contains spoilers for \u201cLanterns\u201d Episode 1, \u201cPilot,\u201d including the ending. For a spoiler-free…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[265],"tags":[18,117,9540,19,17,39351,107611,1143,128],"class_list":["post-641144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-hbo","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kyle-chandler","tag-lanterns","tag-reviews","tag-tv"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}