Commentary: ‘Lanterns’ Is A Superhero Show Without Heroes
by Frank Martin
Ever since the superhero genre exploded in popularity, stories have attempted to deconstruct the concept for modern audiences. It’s not good enough just to have superheroes as these infallible beings of immense power who do no wrong. Stories have to explore what it means to be flawed while also powerful. There’s no better example of this than Watchmen — a seminal comic book story that portrays its characters as damaged, heartbroken, and egotistical. Lanterns attempts to do something similar with the Green Lantern mythos. But in doing so, the show forgot to make those characters heroic as well.
Reinventing the origin and lore of the Green Lantern characters, the series features Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) as a seasoned and grizzled space cop who has been on the job for decades. No longer in favor with his galactic bosses, a Guardian named Lianna (Laura Linney) seeks to replace Jordan with John Stewart (Aaron Pierre). During training, the two men uncover a deadly alien hiding out in Nebraska. As they try to uncover the mystery, the alien attacks the town, forcing Jordan and Stewart into a conflict over the ring to stop the destruction.
The overall purpose of the show is to serve as an origin story for John Stewart. Hal is portrayed as bitter and clinging onto the power of the ring, even going so far as to put the town in jeopardy to get in good graces with the Guardians. Meanwhile, John is dealing with his own trauma from growing up in an abusive household. The program creates an enormous amount of tension as these two characters compete for the ring, which is a powerful weapon, but it fails to display any heroism from the characters. The audience is told that the Green Lantern is a hero, but it’s never shown through their actions. All the audience sees is two grown men bickering and getting into a fist fight during a pivotal moment in the story. By contrast, Watchmen has its heroes actually doing heroic deeds while also showcasing their flaws. Lanterns could have used a bit more of the former to balance out the latter.
Lanterns is now streaming on HBO Max.
