"Lanterns Season 1" The Best Superhero TV Show of All Time?

 

    Damn. I'm so conflicted. On one hand, this might be the greatest "surf dracula" show of all time. I've never seen a show legitimately put off and resist so much of it's source material for so long, yet work so damn well. Half of it is just the ending too. I don't think it will affect my score that much, but my mind is just abuzz for where this show should go, and where I hope it does. It's just such a delicate push and pull between trying to make something your own while still respecting what it's supposed to be adapting. I can see why this show is divisive. Don't get me wrong, it's great, but if you can't enter this with an open mind about seeing a new iteration of characters, you might want to look away. Let's talk about it.

    This might be the best superhero TV show I've ever watched, and that's saying something because they try their damndest to reel in any sort of desire for anything CGI-heavy or too spacey. Everything else is just overwhelmingly so good. Look, I love me a good mentor-mentee relationship, and Jon Stewart and Hal Jordan in this show just might take the cake. The acting is too good. Kyle Chandler is just so darn charismatic the entire way. Every time he popped up on my screen I couldn't help but act a little giddy. He carries himself exactly as he should, like a veteran who can see he that the end is closer than the beginning, and has been jaded by everything around him, yet still goes up to bat, no matter the consequences. I only wish we could have more, and perhaps we do with the door left open for Parallax.

    Aaron Pierre on the other hand is nearly just as good. There were only a couple times I really felt like he was British but I'm quite excited to see what he does with the character of John Stewart. Having him be this rookie whose really struggling to find who he is, and what he should do. Really my only complaint with him is what the writers chose to do with his character themselves. I don't mind him having a ring tainted by the fear impurity, but at the same time his new oath is so weak man. The original GL oath is just too good, and watching him recite the new one is not hitting the same yet.

    The same could be said for the lack of suits. Come on we couldn't have Hal wearing the suit just a little bit more? Like the writing is so good, and I do mean possibly some of the best writing to ever grace a superhero show, but we couldn't have just a bit more creativity in the constructs? I understand trying to make it more grounded and having more stakes, but at least let John put on a suit at the end of the show. Like Hal I understand he's a bit jaded about his whole job, but John should give himself his own suit or something. 

    Like I don't even disagree with the ending, and I don't mind killing Hal Jordan because frankly Sinestro hinting at bringing him back. It would have been so easy, and very tempting to stuff this show chock full with the GL mythos. Atrocitus, Sinestro, Black Hand, Hector Hammond. I understand wanting to establish a nice baseline at first. In fact, I agreed with John leaving Noah alive for now. After all, if he doesn't think Noah can overcome his programming, what does that say about himself? I do hope John joins the corps and gets to interact with the other lanterns eventually, but we'll see since this is a pretty radical departure from what we had before. 

    I don't even disagree with concepts like the Jordan's boys legacy, or pitting Hal and John against each other. It made for some darn good TV. Every time it was Sunday I'd happily sit in my chair and watch this story unfold. I just wish it was longer, so they could really give it a longer runway. I'm pretty content with all of the changes made. Do I wish there were bigger fights? Yes, but they seem to be shaking up the writers room in a major way for season two, so what I'm really interested in is to see if they can keep up this positive momentum.

Final Score: 85/100

    There's just so much more meat left on the bone. Whether it's Noah, how John could sustain the bird without the ring on him (possibly hinting at him overcoming the yellow impurity?), Sinestro still being around, the Guardians verses John, Hector Hammond. There are plenty of directions that the showrunners could go from here, I'm just hoping that they choose the right one, and can capture that same magic the first season had. Maybe don't make it a mystery? I don't know it might be hard to pull off the three timelines once again, especially because it feels like almost every acting performance they had was at least an A on this show. I wasn't too big on many of the Macon's other than Kelly, but still superb. The DCU lives on.