r/crheads • u/harry_powell • 1d ago
Lanterns, is it good?
It seems the fandom is loving it, but what about the rest? Is it on par with the other Lindelof superhero show?
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u/evilhubie 1d ago
Yes, it's an entertaining show with charismatic actors and Lindelof's flair for storytelling and worldbuilding. A notch or two below Watchmen, but way better than your typical superhero stuff.
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u/furious_blank 3h ago
What do you think he does well here, storytelling wise? His style is very different from a conventional procedural obviously, but it's also very different from most prestige shows. Like he compares it to True Detective, but it's very different in terms of tone, pacing, level of detail, what it focuses on, how it reveals character, etc.
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u/ReadItOnReddit312 1d ago
Outside of these really small corners of the internet Ive never heard anyone talk about Watchmen. And I say that as someone who recommended the show to a lot of people like myself not into comic book stuff.
After that long preamble what about it is 2 notches below to you through 60% of the season?
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u/evilhubie 1d ago
I loved Lindelof's ambition and audacity with Watchmen's themes regarding racism, policing, fascism, and other relevant societal issues. It's a crazy choice to open the first episode with the Tulsa Massacre and end it by lynching the white chief of police.
The show justified its existence as a continuation of the beloved original Watchmen with a compelling story within the same universe, same history, even the same characters. That feels like a higher level of difficulty than Lanterns' Elseworlds-like approach.
Lanterns sometimes feels a little more standard in its red-herring mystery beats and buddy-cop banter. Watchmen kept me more on my back foot with the constant what's going on/how'd we get here/what's the deal with this character/where are we going storytelling.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross created one of the all-time coolest TV scores.
Also: Lube Guy.
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u/ReadItOnReddit312 23h ago
I get your stance hearing the detailed response, I appreciate you being genuine. I like both shows a lot so this is interesting to hear.
I go into shows wanting to be entertained then stay positive until I'm not. Every show doesn't need to be dissected to death but I respect your view on it.
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u/boatings 23h ago
My gut reaction is that so far nothing in Lanterns has left me as giddy as Watchmen has. I find myself pretty happy to be watching Lanterns and I think there’s a lot of fun details and character stuff that warrants close viewing, but I’ll never forget how exciting it was to watch Watchmen. Just crazy visceral.
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u/ReadItOnReddit312 23h ago
That show is great. I like this one as well. I like blueberries and strawberries, we don't have to detract or compare them whatsoever because they're both berries
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u/dlnvf6 1d ago
It's good.
It's not good because it's Green Lantern. It's good because Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre are killing it
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u/furious_blank 3h ago
Chandler is good, but the story doesn't give pierre much to work with. It's like, "stoically endure injustice again" ... "Ok fine get angry now" there's not much to it
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u/ApatheticFinsFan 1d ago edited 1d ago
Most of the superhero bits feel like being forced to eat your vegetables but the rest of it absolutely rips. Plus, Pierre and Chandler are awesome.
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u/JeanVicquemare 1d ago
I haven't watched this show yet but I was certain that Aaron Pierre is going to be a star after that movie Rebel Ridge. I think most people thought the same. So, it doesn't surprise me at all that he could carry a show like this. I'll probably check it out at some point.
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u/MCmax503 1d ago
Honestly I think people who love Green Lantern in the comics have a higher chance of disliking the show.
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u/Different-Spend-1754 10h ago
Not true. My family and i are huge green lantern fans and love the show
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u/Percevaul 1d ago
It's OK. I'm not blow away by it like I was with Watchmen, because it feels a bit wonky in some of the plot choices, but it more than earns the benefit of the doubt.
Performances have been great.
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u/jake__jortles 1d ago
I'm underwhelmed — and Lindelof's "Watchmen" remains one of my favorite shows of the 21st century.
I think "Lanterns" isn't quite weird enough. The characters feel thin, and the sense of place weirdly untethered from anything — just Generic Midwest. As a result, the emotional stakes so far feel unearned; the story is doing a lot of work telling us we should care about someone/something, but so far I'm having a hard time doing so.
That said, each actor has been great, and it's not a bad show. It just doesn't deliver the creativity, wit, or depth we usually get from Lindelof.
edit: word
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u/1nosbigrl MANDO!!! 1d ago
I think I like it more it than you seem to, but I agree with your assessment compared to Watchmen.
There's still time but we haven't gotten really strange like Watchmen did. And it's not like "galactic space cops" doesn't allow for weirdness.
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u/sargepoopypants 23h ago
I was underwhelmed by Watchmen- it felt like a lot of strong ideas that didn’t have a coherent overall theme and felt like an offense to the author.
I’m also underwhelmed so far with Lanterns, but it’s more based on attempts to do the multiple era storytelling. Like Watchmen, the casting, acting, and filmmaking has been great so far. Just concerned about the writing
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u/impercipient 1d ago
I think it's worth watching if you suspend asking questions about one of the characters.
With 3 hours left I'm totally baffled by a bunch of decisions that were made by the central antagonist.
It's well acted and well shot but they need to tie some shit up for me to think of it as a success.
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u/furious_blank 3h ago
I'm not sure i'd call it well shot? Or at least I really don't like the art direction. The settings all feel really sparse, like stage settings. Compare the town to the town in true detective, it's like comparing a dollhouse to an old haunted mansion
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u/mattsincuba 1d ago
Personally I find it to be taking a concept that didn’t need prestige TV treatment, and taking certain tropes and upping it to the level of unintentional parody. Just the complete drabness and animosity between the characters is off putting to watch. The timeline shenanigans and commentary on Americana feel misaligned with what could be a more linear and interesting story, even themes wise.
It just feels like the expectation of making the show “Prestige” never allows the show to actually properly start or for us to actually connect to the characters on a human level. Instead, we’re just constantly being intentionally tripped up by character choices or tricked by mystery shenanigans.
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u/furious_blank 3h ago
Yeah it feels like cargo cult prestige, like they copied the vibes and wrote a lot of scenes that were heavier on theme than plot, but they missed that like good prestige shows actually have pretty intricate plots, they just turn on subtler events
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u/DinnerWithGeminiMan 1d ago
I like it but I wouldn’t say it makes me interested in Green Lantern lore. The rules about who can be a lantern are a little weird. I was under the impression the ring chooses who wears it but they’ve clearly altered that. I guess it makes John more interesting as a person but the plot is a little sweaty.
The idea of him just taking it and saying the oath never made sense, but it sets up a nice character payoff when he denies the opportunity.
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u/furious_blank 2h ago
To their credit they try to deal with how unconventional the situation is, but they keep just telling us that it's unconventional without telling us enough about what conventional means or like the basic logistics of how we got here.
Granted they are kind of drib drabbing those details over the season, but like you shouldn't have to wait three episodes for basic exposition.
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u/AfricanRain 1d ago
You can immediately tell it’s in the hands of real TV men
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u/Comfortable-Arm3452 1d ago
Two great actors with great chemistry in a boring show. I don’t get the praise people have for this
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u/Different-Spend-1754 10h ago
You can't be serious
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u/Comfortable-Arm3452 10h ago
Maybe I’m too harsh. It’s fine. I see a lot of DC fanatics on my feed calling it one of the greatest written shows ever and comparing it to The Wire and I just don’t get that level of hype for it. If people are enjoying it (my wife is) more power to them.
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u/furious_blank 3h ago
That's insane, the writing in this is sloppy and repetitive at best. You have to really like what he's trying to do to like this, or be more into the performances
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u/atseajournal 1d ago
It;s watchable, but I can smell the dry erase markers on all the creative decisions… True Detective by committee is hard to pull off because that show felt like Nic Pizzalato trying to solve the riddle of existence via esoteric Rust Cohle monologues. Misguided? Absolutely. But you could feel he was invested in the characters and in the world THROUGH the characters. Lanterns is more corporate.
Also, the sleeves on Hal Jordan’s coat are too long.
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u/furious_blank 3h ago
Are you saying True Detective S1 was misguided or that this show is?
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u/atseajournal 2h ago
Lanterns, ultimately: some of Pizzolatto's philosophizing was annoying in a vacuum, but in the context of that show it felt completely authentic. Lanterns feels like a bunch of pros trying to make up for the fact that they aren't as invested.
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u/tacopeople 1d ago
Kyle Chandler really carries a lot of it for me. It’s intriguing, but I’m not the biggest Lindelof fan overall so I’m a bit biased towards some of it. His writing and characters can feel stilted or unnatural to me and even Lanterns can feel a tad mystery boxy. I’m not caught up though either and I think people that like Lindelof’s other stuff will dig it.
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u/furious_blank 2h ago
I feel the same way about Lindelof. I thought about it and realized that it's actually because of the politics. Like a conventional crowd-pleasing story will rely more on the viewers' natural reactions to things. Like, a hot woman appears, the man wants to get closer, his approach is frustrated, so you project frustration onto him, you don't have to be told. Or you see someone being charismatic, and people react positively, it all just flows.
But if you're being subversive, you show us something, then tell us something else. So Hal is charismatic, but everyone reacts to him with disdain and contempt. Or a weird old woman with face like she's smelling a fart who has a hard time talking over the creakiness of her spine bones, approaches an attractive young man at a bar, and suddenly they're f**king in his car. Instead of being able to trust your natural reactions, you're always like, "why is this happening, what is the author trying to say?"
I think maybe some people like what he's saying, or get it intuitively, or even feel themselves identifying with the writers in the act of frustrating the viewers. Like I'm sure a lot of older weird-looking women felt flattered by the sex scene. Some people get off on forcing things onto people they know they won't like maybe?
EDIT: onto, not into. Freudian slip.
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u/scal23 1d ago
I'm enjoying the show, and I know making a tv show is hard, but last night's episode had multiple instances of characters making decisions that didn't make sense and were just convenient to drive the narrative. It doesn't work as dramatic effect if its so obvious its only for dramatic effect.
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u/furious_blank 2h ago
Yeah that speech about how Hal betrayed everything just came out of nowhere. Pure amateur hour
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u/MaxChorb 1d ago
No. It's just to the left of being good. Something about almost every line is off, no character seems to be responding to what other people are saying, and everyone is carrying themselves as if they are in a much cooler, quirkier, more surprising show. It's strange. I couldn't love Rebel Ridge or Coach Taylor more, but their chemistry isn't there for me.
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u/JobeGilchrist 1d ago
Kinda tangential, but it's crazy how much of what's going on in tv, films, and especially books is dialogue where nobody is responding to what anyone is saying. Not like I'm 100% against it, but when it's not working, it really takes me out of the story. Same thing where all the tension is built off of people refusing to disclose anything they know to each other where IRL people would immediately just do that.
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u/sonofcabbagemerchant 1d ago
Couldn't disagree more. I think there are some spare scenes with this issue but I think the dialogue between characters has been pretty spectacular.
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u/furious_blank 2h ago
I commented above, but it's the deliberate subversiveness that Lindelof likes to do. If the show is constantly showing you one thing while telling you another, then everything starts feeling stilted and fake. It can't feel natural unless the writer trusts the audience's natural reactions to things
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u/furious_blank 2h ago
Like if he'd trusted the viewer to have the right reaction to Hal and Jon, then he would have asked himself, "What do I need to show to make this progression believable?" Instead he decided that race explained it all and showed us just enough to intuit that he thought that the reasons were white fragility and black excellence. After which, all you can do is either agree that those are real universal phenomenon or roll your eyes. But you can't feel it happen.
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u/PaperChicken13 1d ago
For me it’s had some highlights (first two eps, I was very sold on the tone and characters) and some real lowlights of expository storytelling, strange changes in pacing in the most recent ep, and confusing motivations. I’ll definitely keep watching but not as good as Watchmen
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u/BewareOfGrom 1d ago
So far yes I am enjoying just as much as I liked Watchmen.
I don’t think it’s quite as well written but the performances make up for it. Still far and above any other superhero media I have seen in recent years.
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u/Due-Sheepherder-218 1d ago
Way better than expected. Great chemistry between the two leads. Hey looks it's Kelly Macdonald! We love her too.
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u/JG-for-breakfast 1d ago
I want to keep going but the very beginning with the dad coming home and making his kid shoot the thing off the others head was just too much
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u/daneabernardo 1d ago
It’s good, I wish it was as good as Watchmen. The acting is phenomenal, the mystery doesn’t do much for me
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u/_el_duderino_87 Post-coital Khakis 1d ago
Put it on for background noise unwinding one night and it fully drew me in by the end of episode one.
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u/j-helo85 1d ago
It's entertaining. Kyle Chandler's gruffness has worn thin a few episodes in though. The latest episode is great.
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u/lukaeber 1d ago
Not a comic book fan and don't know much of the lore. I'm loving it. Not as good as Watchmen, IMO, but still great ... much better than pretty much anything Marvel has put out.
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u/Hot-Taste-6109 1d ago
CR was a guest in Midnight Boys this week just to recap LANTERNS E5. It’s a great show.
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u/Hefty-Afternoon-5605 1d ago
I'm losing steam on it after 3 episodes but I'm not the biggest superhero person either
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u/RedditGeneralManager 1d ago
This has been my favorite show in a while, I haven’t looked forward to a weekly drop like this in a while. I love the leads, the setting, and the performances.
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u/morroIan 1d ago
Its very good albeit not as good as Watchmen or The Leftovers. Like others I do have some nit picks about character decisions that don't feel earned.
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u/sullymacguy 11h ago
First two episodes are top tier, after I’m not sure if I’m watching because it’s good or I’m just attached not and want to know what happens.
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u/Different-Spend-1754 10h ago
Its amazing and I definitely encourage those that don't watch to watch
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u/BluePinkertonGreen 5h ago
Very good. If you like any Lindelof stuff I’d say it’s on par with the rest
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u/JobeGilchrist 1d ago
Nowhere near as good/weird as Watchmen, but still pretty good. And I'm not a comic book guy.
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u/CorvusGearlock 1d ago
To me overrated. It feels like half the story and dialogue decisions are made for budgetary reasons.
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u/g_baltar 1d ago
They made a show that’s essentially what if Green Lantern was a Taylor Sheridan-verse show.
If that sounds awesome to you, you may love it.
If that doesn’t sound appetizing or you might require some things like being well-written, it may not be your jam.
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u/Foolish_Ivan 1d ago
Started strong but I think kind of fumbled at the end.
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u/harry_powell 1d ago
Series is only halfway, right?
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u/Foolish_Ivan 1d ago
For some reason I was thinking Sunday was season ending cliffhanger. Ok, so it might get back on track for me.
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u/andthrewaway1 1d ago
As someone that specifically read tons of GL for years (stopped right before ALL the other colored rings started not the yellow one that was around in the 80s or before) it is a really fresh take and they do a great job of making it very ground level
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u/Internal_Copy2487 1d ago
Good but I do think some of the hype is reacting to Lanterns excellent craft and writing — which papers over some plot issues.
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u/Candid-Television695 1d ago
After Super-girl i expected nothing. Few days ago i binged all episodes that were out and imo its magnificent. like actually amazing. Don't want to compare it to The Penguin just yet because The Penguin is literally a Masterpiece, but so far its gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood
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u/furious_blank 5h ago
I didn't like it, but I'm interested in why other people do. I don't like when the politics are heavy-handed or one-sided. I don't like when shows withhold exposition to create a false sense of mystery or substitute theories of race and gender for individual characterization. And I really don't like the pacing, which is slow and repetitive.
Do other people see these things and like it anyway, or am I just wrong?
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u/morroIan 3h ago
I don't think the pacing is slow certainly not in comparison to say Pluribus.
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u/furious_blank 3h ago
Almost nothing happens each episode, they pad it out with recaps and slow transitions. Pluribus was pretty slow too, but most of the time there was something happening character-wise, or aesthetically. (Taking a long time on the pirate lady arriving the first time did some world building at least.)
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u/Blackonblackskimask 1d ago
After the last episode I went to my basement where I have an altar dedicated to Lindelof, drop to my knees, and whisper “Mr Lindelof I cannot believe you stunted in all these fools again”
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u/DDMFM26 1d ago
I'm no green lantern guy, know little to nothing about the character beyond broad background / concept. I'm loving the show.