The second half of ‘Lanterns’ came back and did it right

By Amelia Morris

“Lanterns” returns with a surprisingly engaging second half of the series compared to the first. Once again, the small town of Rushville, Nebraska has a mystery to solve with a jump from 2016 to 2026. This one happens to hit far too close to home.

After seemingly resolving the first half of the story, “Lanterns” picks back up after the town of  Rushville is destroyed, with Hal Jordan being the target of the town’s blame. Now in 2026 Hal is dead, something episode one revealed to viewers. Even though John refuses the mantle of Green Lantern, he must now uncover this new mystery in the same small town.

Despite John no longer having Hal by his sidel, John is not without help. As established briefly in the first four episodes, Hal has a backed up persona linked to his ring—-kind of like a ghost. Just when John thought he had gotten rid of his former boss, he comes back from the dead, almost.

Guy Gardner, Hal’s official successor, also makes an appearance to “help” John. His character feels like more of a cameo appearance to make the story relevant to the DC canon.

Sinestro also reappears and is a more prevalent character towards the very end but fails to have involvement in the story. His character, while extremely influential in the comics, seems like more of a plug-in rather than a developed character. 

The local sheriff, Kerry Kane, became a huge influence in the second part of the season. However, she is not the greatest character. Kerry has big emotions and they largely tend to dictate where the story is leading.

As with any mystery, John unearths far more than he bargained for. He sees into Hal’s ugly past, discovers the murderer is closer than he thinks and who connected it all.

The order of the episodes was interesting. The entire second-to-last episode slows down the pace of the story by providing Hal’s backstory. This episode mirrored John’s backstory from episode three, showing overarching similarities between the characters decades apart.

Slowing the story at this late in the series may not have been the best call. For the audience’s sake and for storybuilding purposes, it should have been earlier on in the series.

The last episode is of course chalked full with the highest climax of the series and the falling action. There was a multitude to cover in an hour, causing the story to feel rushed toward the end. If there was not so much time spent messing around in the first several episodes, maybe writers would have had time to decompress the audience instead of running to the credits.

“Lanterns” had an issue of little plot and a lot of time. Attempting to make this story stretch to roughly eight hours long was not the greatest decision.

Still, the story was more entertaining and engaging toward the end. Finally, the second half of the season allowed audiences to see the point of the story after far too much set up.

Audiences were graced with more intergalactic related scenes and authentic Green Lantern action, which is what any fan longs for. 

Hal’s character was far more interesting, palatable and likeable after he died. Somehow his lantern persona made up for the annoying, prideful and entitled remarks he made in life.

The jumping between decades was confusing once again. Realizing that Hal’s murder happened ten years after the events of the first three episodes is difficult to wrap your brain around. There is also far too much history that is skipped over and then revisited throughout the series. This story is not linear and purposely hides information from the audience.

While the second half of “Lanterns” was an excellent improvement from the first, it is not enough to win back the full respect of fans. This series is not Green Lantern’s shining moment but maybe someday someone will use the Lantern beacon unironically.

All episodes of “Lanterns” are currently streaming on HBO Max.

Amelia Morris is a sophomore journalism major and writer for Cedars A&E. She loves her dogs, music, reading and exploring nature.

Photos courtesy of HBO Max, Warner Brothers and DC Studios.