Too Much TV

Lanterns S1 EP2: Trust Fall

Josh and Jeff

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0:00 | 33:50

We're adding a second show to the rotation: Lanterns, the new HBO Green Lantern series. We didn't cover episode one last week, so we're doing episodes one and two together.

Honest verdict up front: it's fine. It started pulling us in by the back half of episode one, and by episode two we're both genuinely interested. We're staying with it and we both think it's going to get better.

Kyle Chandler is the standout as Hal, basically playing a drunk, jaded superhero who's over it (very Hancock energy). The sheriff nails him: he's not fearless, he's lonely. And the man lives in a gorgeous mansion with nothing in it but a bed and a single fold-out soccer chair. I've got a theory that something scared Hal and that's why he's losing the ring — "are you afraid" gets said twice, and it might be a Mjolnir situation where he's simply no longer worthy.

We get into the John and Hal dynamic (is he training a partner or hazing an errand boy?), the fact that they're somehow sharing one ring, the ring charging like a cell phone and telling you it's at one percent, and the apple-shooting intro with John's military dad that was intense as hell. Also the funniest exchange of the season so far: John admitting he might have slept with a guy's wife and Hal responding with pure "wow, Junior, I'm impressed."

Then the big detour: why does the DCU keep falling flat when Marvel worked? Our theory is depth. Iron Man had layers you got to know over multiple movies. A lot of DC characters have a title and a power set and not much else. Though we'll admit Superman and the Pattinson Batman both had real arcs, so maybe they're learning.

Plus: our Manhunter theories (I say the sheriff, Jeff is honing in on Zoe), that excellent interrogation scene with the Harry Potter and Obama questions, and the fact that this show has barely scratched what the ring can actually do.

Also: anyone who has a militia in a TV show is a psychopath. That's just true.

Next episode we're back to Ted Lasso, episodes three and four, out Friday.