Crime
Reacher
The title character is bigger and bulkier now than in the Tom Cruise movies. But so are the problems.
Hal Jordan’s prime years of superhero antics are well behind him. Sure, when people see him in public, they recognize him, but it’s in that B-list actor you see at a comic convention way. Being Earth’s first Green Lantern is quite the honor, but it’s less impressive in a world populated with other colorful heroes.
Also, as cool as it is to have the ability to conjure up any physical object your mind can imagine through a bright green ring, those powers don’t open every door for you. Indeed, it seems that being chosen to fill the ranks of the Green Lantern Corps, a group of glorified space cops, doesn’t give you jurisdiction to investigate a crime scene in rural Nebraska—at least, not according to its local government.
Hal and his Lantern trainee, John Stewart, find themselves investigating the mass shooting of a high school football game in the town of Rushville. Hal is convinced that these deaths stink of alien involvement, a theory based more around gut feeling than any evidence he’s willing to share with John or Sheriff Kerry.
But if there’s not a secret alien plot threatening the small Midwest town, why are some of its citizens so set on creating their own anti-alien militia?
Perhaps the better question is this: Did the Green Lantern ring choose Hal all those decades ago because he’s fearless by nature, or is he only fearless because his loneliness has left him with nothing to lose?
An unavoidable shift is coming—both in the small town of Rushville and in who will be taking the ring going forward. As Hal’s seemingly never-ending, considerably dangerous training regimen dredges on, John begins to ask himself if this responsibility is worth the wait. And if Hal knows that his apprentice will take the mantle, why is he so hesitant to trust John?
In a media landscape overrun with what many have described as “superhero fatigue,” Lanterns is a bright spot—at least, from a purely creative perspective.
In many ways, the show wisely pairs the fun, bombastic concept of a group of space cops whose abilities come from an impenetrable willpower with more grounded elements. It’s entertaining to see the Green Lantern and his Lantern-in-training attempt to prove that their jurisdiction trumps that of a small-town sheriff, even when their appointed power comes from a group of benevolent space guardians that no rural Nebraskan has ever heard of. We hear stories of Hal’s space adventures, too, which make his cagey investment in this small-town mystery more curious for the show’s characters—and more investing for viewers watching.
Yes, Lanterns is a subversion of the typical superhero output in almost every way. … But not all those ways are positive.
From the initial episode, the series easily could have snuck by with a TV-14 rating—if the script had shown an amount of restraint with its profanity. However, between that and a needless sexual scene, this show is far from heroic in the content department. It almost feels as though the series’ existence on HBO Max requires it to set itself apart from the more childish comic book capers by delivering an adult take on the genre. That’s all cool and good if you’re trying to reach a different audience, but does entertainment aimed at more mature viewers also need to feature constant harsh profanities and sexuality?
It seems Lanterns trusted its intended audience to take it seriously without that unnecessary adult content about as much as Hal trusts John to someday take the ring from him. I hope the talented creatives attached to this series are able to realize in future projects that they can use their own willpower to conjure up an investing story without all the less heroic elements.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Hal seems reluctant to train John to use the Green Lantern ring. Their training is interrupted, however, by a message Hal sent himself from the past. The cryptic memo reads: “There’s hail in Rushville, Nebraska.” The pair head to the small midwestern town to investigate the strange details of a mass shooting. It quickly becomes clear that not everything is as it seems, including Hal’s own involvement with the small town and its residents.
The main villain of this episode is its profanity. Over 35 uses of the f-word and 15 s-words are the main culprits here, supported by a handful of uses of “d–n,” “a–,” “h—” and “p-ssed.” God’s and Jesus’ names are both misused a few times each.
In addition to the language, two characters have sex in a car, and while clothes mostly stay on (at least, as far as viewers can see), we see movements and hear the sounds. It is revealed later that the woman was married, and her husband found out about the act of infidelity. Another character mentions that he is impressed at how quickly his partner was able to sleep with someone else.
The aftermath of the inciting shooting is seen, with a few bodies on the ground. People punch and hit each other, specifically in a tussle at a bar. An explosion takes at least one life, although the implication is that it wasn’t a human life. A car is decimated in a crash, although the driver gets out unscathed. Men fire automatic weapons during target practice, clearly training for a confrontation of some sort. A man shoots an apple off his son’s head, seemingly in an effort to imbue the boy with bravery.
Hal and John’s intention is to save people and keep galactic peace, although Hal’s methods can be … unorthodox. He teaches John by putting John into danger on multiple occasions as “tests.” He also conjures up counterfeit money to instigate a conflict between himself and multiple patrons of a bar.
Characters drink throughout the episode, with multiple discussions about being hungover. A character smokes, using the Lantern ring as a lighter.
Jonah Parker’s first interaction with Plugged In came when he was just five years old, after his parents read a review for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and deemed the content too intense for him. What started out as a contentious relationship between Jonah and a staff of reviewers who knew not of his existence would later turn into an appreciation for the site’s ability to present media content in a way that was accurate and fair. Jonah enjoys analyzing how our entertainment echoes the creativity of our Creator while finding glimpses of Biblical truths within every genre. He believes that Robert Pattinson’s Batmobile is the perfect mix of cool and practical.
The title character is bigger and bulkier now than in the Tom Cruise movies. But so are the problems.
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