# Lanterns (the green kind) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, hbomax-wb-dc\ **Created:** [August 17, 2026, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374 "2026-08-17T05:23:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 20
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/381 "2026-10-07T22:29:13Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > People keep comparing this, usually unfavorably, to _True Detective_. I never saw _True Detective_ because a slow, grim, gray slog through evil isn’t my thing. That’s how I’m feeling right now. Wish there’d been something more joyful in the last few episodes. We also just finished SILO, I think I need some fun – guess I’ll go watch Deadpool/Wolverine again). ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/382 "2026-10-07T23:45:31Z")
Never read the comic, and the first episode didn’t grab me but I stuck with it and really enjoyed this season. I thought Kyle Chandler was excellent and the rest of the cast was right there with him. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/383 "2026-10-08T08:32:36Z")
> [@digs](#): > > That’s how I’m feeling right now. Wish there’d been something more joyful in the last few episodes. While I liked the show, I agree with that point. Before flying off at the end, John should have created a flock of beautiful green birds that flew around him for a minute, or something like that, just to give us some small sense of hope and beauty. Maybe they ran out of money. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/384 "2026-10-08T12:26:27Z")
The only thing which really annoyed me was the four times he said the word axed instead of asked in the last episode (I think he said it once in a previous episode too). I’m not sure if this is some sort of black accent affectation, but it seemed so out of place with his normal speaking. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/385 "2026-10-08T12:29:06Z")
The actor’s British, so I think he was trying too hard to sound American. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/386 "2026-10-08T13:21:15Z")
Ah, so he probably watched Season 4 of the Wire (with the children over gangstering) the night before. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/387 "2026-10-08T14:08:50Z")
The [ax vs ask](https://www.essex.ac.uk/blog/posts/2022/03/11/how-linguistic-prejudice-perpetuates-inequality) thing is a little more complicated than that. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/388 "2026-10-08T14:10:38Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > The actor’s British, so I think he was trying too hard to sound American. I’ve known plenty of black folks who code switch but the occasional “axe” will still slip through. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/389 "2026-10-08T14:17:42Z")
The problem, I think, isn’t that he uses Black dialect, but rather that this is the _only_ bit of Black dialect he uses, which makes it sound like an affectation. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/390 "2026-10-08T14:19:49Z")
Hard to say, but it occasionally crops up amongst British black people too. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/391 "2026-10-08T15:14:17Z")
Yep, common with London youth. And space people… [![](https://external-preview.redd.it/my-observation-about-leela-saying-fry-uses-archaic-ask-but-v0-uzsh2fVMxEBKIaC_BDQ56-1XwmdFH3xzPAT0XlKrco4.jpeg?auto=webp&s=f328fa8473be8b5b31f99b8d30d28384f27ade0e) ](https://external-preview.redd.it/my-observation-about-leela-saying-fry-uses-archaic-ask-but-v0-uzsh2fVMxEBKIaC_BDQ56-1XwmdFH3xzPAT0XlKrco4.jpeg?auto=webp&s=f328fa8473be8b5b31f99b8d30d28384f27ade0e) ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/392 "2026-10-08T16:26:23Z")
Yeah, it was just a bit weird, out of place and consistent. The fact that its british black too also strange, but I wasn’t sure of that, I don’t know a lot about US black dialects. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/393 "2026-10-08T19:12:28Z")
This discussion is giving me flashbacks of the Fox News types of yesteryear griping about “Ebonics”. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/394 "2026-10-08T21:32:00Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Now that he charged it, it’s his now so it would be his consciousness baked up to the ring. I don’t think that’s how it works. The rings have to be charged pretty frequently to keep working, that’s their main weakness. Yet Hal’s backup is many years old; definitely more than 10 years old since it predates taking on John as a trainee. It would have been overwritten repeatedly as Hal charged his ring if that’s how it worked. Instead, I’m pretty sure it’s a deliberate action to update the copy into the ring, and as long as John doesn’t choose to do it, he will continue to have Halogram (I love that name) available as a mentor/resource. Like Al in _Quantum Leap_, Bob in _Dresden Files_, SELMA in _Time Trax_, or many other similar shows that have the same trope. If John was a typical Lantern, the Guardians probably would have forced him to imprint himself as part of his onboarding process, but as an independent contractor who pretty much does what he wants he won’t have to. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/395 "2026-10-08T21:41:44Z")
It was my understanding, though I might be mistaken, is that the ring completely running out of power was what would erase the Halogram. Mostly because that was what makes sense to me. I guess the super powerful space police never heard of non-volatile storage. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/396 "2026-10-08T21:59:00Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I don’t think that’s how it works. The rings have to be charged pretty frequently to keep working, that’s their main weakness. Yet Hal’s backup is many years old; definitely more than 10 years old since it predates taking on John as a trainee. It would have been overwritten repeatedly as Hal charged his ring if that’s how it worked. I mean that John recharging the ring reassigns it to him. That’s what erases Hal. Until that point, it was still Hal’s ring, so that’s why it kept Hal’s backup. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/397 "2026-10-08T22:01:32Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I mean that John recharging the ring reassigns it to him. That’s what erases Hal. Do we know that for certain? I don’t remember that stated in the show. (It’s very possible I **did** miss that.) ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/398 "2026-10-08T22:09:28Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Do we know that for certain? I don’t remember that stated in the show. (It’s very possible I **did** miss that.) I’m sepculating about the Halogram part. As far as the oath part: > LIANNA: What’s important is that Jordan’s actions have accelerated the inevitable. I’ve spoken to the other Guardians. We’re in agreement. During the course of your training, Jordan gives you the ring, yes? > > JOHN: Yeah. > > LIANNA: The moment you put it on your finger, recite the oath, and you become Green Lantern for Sector 2814. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/399 "2026-10-08T23:38:08Z")
From memory, John says that charging the ring will mean the end of Hal but he doesn’t explain why. Since Hal charged the ring on the show, but did NOT create a “fresh” backup, I think we can assume that charging the ring doesn’t overwrite anything. So there must be some unknown mechanism. I assumed, as a viewer, that it had something to do with charging the ring from an unauthorized lantern. It’s also very likely that we’ve given this more thought than Lindeloff did. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/400 "2026-10-08T23:45:13Z")
I think Hal had to explicitly back up his consciousness to the ring, which is why the Halogram was ten years old. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374.md?page=19) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374.md?page=21)