"Lanterns," the DC Studios series on HBO Max, works on several layers at once. It is a detective story, a character study and, by the end, the origin story of John Stewart. Having just read the Seeley run of Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz, I was looking forward to a good space cop adventure and was not disappointed.
The most visible layer is the tension between Stewart (Aaron Pierre) and Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler). In the comics, the two began with a tense relationship shaped by race and by Stewart's belief that Green Lanterns, for all their power, neglected Black communities. That friction carries into the series, mostly in subtle ways. Sometimes it plays for laughs, like when Jordan calls Stewart's family "the Midwest Huxtables," a nod to the family on "The Cosby Show." Jordan is not racist, but these microaggressions hint at a lack of racial awareness on his side. Later in the season, Maggie (Hannah Christine Shetler) blackmails Stewart and refers to it as reparations after insisting that the town's actions toward Stewart were not rooted in racism. Heck, even the reason for Stewart's whole childhood stems from his father being too afraid due to the era he grew up in and race relations.
Beneath that is trauma. Jordan's father died by suicide after telling his son to let go of some things in life. Despite telling Jordan this, he himself could not let go of his own pain. The death was disguised as a test-flight accident. Jordan's grandfather, whose implied self-destructive streak led him to war, never returned from it. After losing his mother, Jordan spent his formative years largely alone. He grew into a brash, unfiltered man unafraid of anything and often endangers himself and Stewart as a result.
Stewart's upbringing was equally harsh. His parents raised him to be fearless so he could one day become a Green Lantern. They isolated him from his siblings and, for years, subjected him to a nightly routine of his father pointing a gun at him and shooting an apple off his head. The pressure continued into his military service, where he became an elite sniper. The result is a man trained to treat fear, and his own feelings, as weaknesses.
When the two meet, Jordan trains Stewart while holding on to his own status as Earth's Green Lantern, determined that Stewart will not replace him. Their dynamic is volatile at first. Over the season, it shifts toward something parental, with Jordan standing in for the father Stewart never had and Stewart giving Jordan, who has no children, someone to mentor. Jordan's lessons are rough, shaped by his own destructive tendencies, but Stewart, raised to follow orders, absorbs them. The relationship sticks with you, especially on a second viewing.
The mystery is the show's other strength. The pair travel to Rushville, Nebraska, to hunt a Manhunter, one of the android enforcers the Guardians built to police the universe before they wiped out whole worlds in the name of order. At the same time, the series asks who killed Hal Jordan. Both threads are well executed and feed into each other and set up emotional payoffs late in the season that have resonated widely, particularly with male viewers who see themselves in the two leads. Few detective series have matched the level set by the first season of "True Detective," but this one comes close.
The season also warns about obsession. Jordan and Stewart push forward at any cost, and Rushville pays the price.
Stewart's arc is the heart of it. His childhood, his traumas and his reasons for taking the ring are laid out in a full season rather than a standalone origin film. That arc culminates in his reconciliation with Jordan. Stewart has little reason to look for his mentor's killer, but he does it because he cares. In the final moments, he tells Jordan, "I love you," echoing a line from the sheriff. Jordan answers, "I love you too, Junior," before he fades away. The scene cements the father-and-son bond, especially since Stewart is estranged from his own father and questionable with his mother.
The season also clarifies the difference between Earth's Green Lantern and the Lantern of Sector 2814, now revealed as Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion). It leaves a few hints about the larger DC Universe, too.
I give "Lanterns" 10 out of 10. I hope Season 2, whether it centers on Stewart or Gardner, keeps the same thoughtful writing and characterization.
