After a season that has been filled with a bevy of emotional ups and downs, ‘Lanterns’ finally drew to a close, bringing completion to the overarching narrative of season and the final answer to: Who killed Hal Jordan? The finale had quite the expectations set for it with the 6th and 7th entries this season being perfectly peak television. While ‘Lanterns’ was able to land the plane narratively this season, the finale struggled far more than previously seen with other episodes this season, not quite meeting expectations, but not falling far short of them either. At times the episode felt rushed, stripping back what made the series special in the first place. That, however, did not stop the finale from setting up what looks to be a very BRIGHT future for the Green Lantern. ‘Lanterns’ has been a masterclass in narrative storytelling over it’s innaugural season and, although the landing was bumpy, the series has set audiences up for a fruitful future moving forward.
Seeing daylight at the end of the tunnel, John Stewart is on the heels of Hal’s killer, a task that this episode does not dedicate a great deal of time to, wrapping up the culprit quite quickly after a bit of an okie doke. The true goal of this final episode, however, wasn’t to provide the answer to a question the audience calculated correctly a few episodes back, but to provide a level of closure for the premiere story arch of the fledgling series while setting up a future in the DCU for the Green Lantern. The episode simultaneously succeeds and fails at both. True, the future was established and it’s quite bright, but at the cost of a litany of plot holes and a semi-revisionist ending. Breaking out the old tried and true ‘Game of Thrones’ blueprint, ‘Lanterns’ settled for an action packed penultime episode with a soft landing finale. The approach worked, however, the landing was a bit more rough than showrunners as well as audience members would have liked.
Lost It’s Charm
Hal and John have been the bread and butter of ‘Lanterns’ from the start. Their relationship and the chemistry that exists between Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre have been the rocket power that has propelled ‘Lanterns’ into must see, talk about it with coworkers TV. The finale ventures away from that formula in a more heavy handed manner than any previous episode has to this point. John and Hal share very little screentime and while there are a number of emotional beats that pay off in big ways in this episode, the Chandler/Pierre Connection is sorely missed throughout the episode. Pierre does the vast majority of the heavy lifting in an episode that feels more slow burn than heart racing. However, Chandler’s absence is felt the longer the episode continues.
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This, of course, could be by design. John Stewart IS the Green Lantern moving forward, splitting the “dirt and stars” with Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner. Pierre needs to be able to hold his own and he does when he needs to. The stoicism that he brings to Stewart is incredible, but when a series is built on cast chemistry and that’s taken away, the missing element is sorely missed. With Stewart set to appear in the upcoming, ‘Man of Tomorrow,’ and the second season of ‘Lanterns’ in the works, there is plenty of time to build that foundation. That, however, does not make Chandler’s absence any less stark in this immediate moment.
Forgive & Forget?
Leading up to the finale, ‘Lanterns’ excelled at establishing the world that the characters lived in. The way that Hal and John interacted with and reacted to those around them, the why and the how of it all, was made apparent from the earliest of episodes. This dogged devotion to it’s storyline was mindbogglingly abandoned by the finale in a number of key ways that leaves audiences scratching their heads. One of the most notable, of course, being the lack of accountability when it comes to Hal’s murder. Yes, the killer is revealed. That’s about it. The logic is sound behind the decisionmaking in this moment with the unfortunate result being the writing presenting as sloppy. It felt like the writers just wanted to be done with the arch, so they were.
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The cardinal sin of the writer’s room revisionism comes in the form of John and John’s family. Stewart’s feelings towards his mother, who he refers to by first name, and father were drilled into viewer’s psyche across the first 7 episodes. This was completely abandoned in the waning seconds of the finale as Stewart has seemingly chosen to forgive and forget the transgressions of his mother and father. The writing decision was jarring and out of character for something that the show was trying to beat into audience’s brains from the very beginning. It just didn’t make sense. Audiences will most assuredly have quite a few questions moving into next season.
Final Thoughts:
Despite the rather rough landing and whiplash that the finale’s writing choices gave to audiences, the season finale of ‘Lanterns’ provides the Green Lantern with the proper trajectory for a bright future in the DCU. In Brightest Day and Blackest Night, ‘Lanterns’ is here to stay.
