Lanterns Finale: A Hero’s Origin

Lanterns’ eighth, and for now last, episode is the best representation of the show as a whole. Slow but careful character writing, a narrative that actively twists in the middle of an episode, and the groundwork for a larger mythos to be expanded on in future DCU projects.

The dialogue rarely misses a beat. There is a gentle tone to the exchanges, even the hostile ones. It softens the impacts of some reveals and twists in the story, but it also keeps the characters open to interpretation. The show has spent its eight episodes leaping on viewers who make easy assumptions, throwing them one last curve before the credits roll. In the finale, that curve is who really killed Hal Jordan.

Warning: Various spoilers for Lanterns‘ entire season, especially episode 8, beyond this point.

The mystery of who killed Hal and why has been building since the very end of the first episode of this season. Naturally, eight hours and weeks is a sizable buildup to the reveal in the finale.

Lanterns takes a melancholic approach to its reveal, both the initial fake-out and the second real one. Kerry Kane has been one of the potential killers since the show’s beginning, but the show never signposted that it was her aside from the single detail of a gunshot. Her motivation, a mix of panic and protective instincts toward her son Noah, isn’t unbelievable. But it feels like a harsh justification for removing one of the DCU’s most likable characters in its early stages.

Hal’s death is abrupt. The episode never lets it linger. Instead, the show makes the viewer sit with it as the plot moves on its own schedule. Most of the scene’s impact comes from the facial expressions of Kerry Kane.

Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan has been the definitive approach to the character on the screen. Chandler has all the roguish charisma and Texas charm that a fearless character like Hal needs. While Lanterns’ version of Hal Jordan is not 1:1 with the comics, it’s a fresh and interesting modern take on the most iconic Green Lantern there is.

Ulrich Thomsen’s Sinestro, while somewhat underused, has been one of the more “super” elements of the show. Being the only alien that actually looks extraterrestrial in the show, Sinestro carries an otherworldly quality. He is very inhuman, detached, and calculating, all made visible by Thomsen’s portrayal of the iconic villain. The finale leaves Sinestro’s story in the air, teasing at his role in future projects.

Aaron Pierre has brought a quiet confidence to Stewart. Every action he takes in a scene feels deliberate, and his decisions are very consequential to the other characters in the show. John’s choice not to kill Noah, to instead trust that he can overcome his programming much like Stewart overcame his own, all plays out in Pierre’s eyes before it’s said in the episode.

Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler have had an amazing chemistry since episode 1. There is a mutual respect between their two wildly different characters. It’s taken both eight episodes and one of their deaths to finally get John and Hal to understand each other. While Hal is defined by the loss of his father, John was shaped by his parents.

Pierre’s John Stewart has changed considerably over the course of the show. Those changes culminate in the finale. Lanterns has effectively been Stewart’s origin story, chronicling his childhood to eventual acceptance of the ring and the creation of his own lantern oath. Pierre’s acting throughout the show, and especially in the finale, has been reserved and heavily nuanced, which has matched the writing.