# 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:** 9
**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:** [September 14, 2026, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/161 "2026-09-14T17:53:35Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I don’t expect the show to even return to Rushville, Nebraska, as the storyline there concluded. Not at all. Rushville is where they find a dead Hal Jordan in 2026. ---
**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:** [September 14, 2026, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/162 "2026-09-14T18:06:46Z")
That’s true but aside from that, the storyline may move on. ---
**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:** [September 14, 2026, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/163 "2026-09-14T19:12:07Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I don’t expect the show to even return to Rushville… Now I’m singing _“Don’t go back to Rushville…”,_ though I’ll miss the place. Action movies do well in small towns with diners\*. \*From Dirty Harry to Travis Bickle to Thor (throwing the diner mug on the floor). Oh, and Jason Bourne asking why he knows all the weapons/strengths/weaknesses of the diner when he doesn’t know what kind of person he is. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/164 "2026-09-14T19:42:24Z")
It was interesting hearing Zoe’s theory on why they manifest as a minority. It’s the intergalactic equivalent of saying that you can tell what kind of person someone is by watching how they treat a server in a restaurant. Also interesting how on board Macon was even after obviously knowing Zoe’s full history on Antaan’s Planet. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/165 "2026-09-14T20:53:01Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > No matter what you think of Hal, he is/was very good at his job. Seemed to me he was the only one doing his job. Everyone else wants to control him, and he was resistant. I was on his side throughout this part of the story. ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/166 "2026-09-14T23:17:38Z")
I didn’t think this was possible. This show is making me hate Green Lantern. I was hoping for a much more fun, joyful show, with the Green Lantern corps, or at least some humor. (giant green boxing gloves?). Instead, this is a sad, dark, unpleasant show. I’ll be hate-watching until the end. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/167 "2026-09-14T23:47:02Z")
It’s a very funny show! It’s not goofy, but it’s funny. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/168 "2026-09-14T23:51:22Z")
> [@Noelq](#): > > Instead, this is a sad, dark, unpleasant show. I’m enjoying it and I am finding some bits of dark humor. But I like gritty and grim-dark sorts of settings as long as they include happy/redemptive or even just thoughtfully ambiguous endings. Unrelentingly bleak I generally don’t do - but you’ll almost never get that in a superhero show. A certain amount of bleak, I’m good with 😀. I rather like this crusty version of Hal Jordan. One reason I preferred Marvel to DC back in the late 1970’s-1980’s as a youngster, was that I liked the character-driven flawed-hero narratives of say Daredevil over what seemed like a greater abundance of traditional hero tropes in DC a la Superman. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/169 "2026-09-15T06:18:57Z")
I think the grounded, down to Earth tone is what made this show a hit. If it was an all out space adventure the normies would have run for the hills. I was actually very pleasantly surprised how much lore and comic book stuff it perfectly eased in. It definitely does have a dark tone and you kind of love and hate Hal Jordan but I think they have threaded the needle perfectly. I am loving this show. This episode would have been the finale of a lot of shows. Very curious where this goes next. ---
**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:** [September 15, 2026, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/170 "2026-09-15T08:50:39Z")
I think John Stewart’s comment about how everyone was lying to him summarized the show well - there were umpteen players and every one of them had their own agendas and their own stories. The only ones who appeared to be straightforward were Antaan and his crew, who just came right out and said “We want to kill the Manhunter - help us or we’ll blow up your entire town.” For a guy trying to be your basic superhero it all got extremely Machiavellian. (Aside: given their claims about the strength of their explosives, they didn’t turn out to be “entire town-vaporizing” size in the end.) Anyhoo - it’ll be interesting to see what comes next. Presumably Hal gets his ring back at some point; otherwise John wouldn’t have been looking for it on his corpse. ---
**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:** [September 15, 2026, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/171 "2026-09-15T11:30:51Z")
I don’t read comics and never really have, and I know very little about the Green Lantern, but I’m enjoying the show a lot as a solid science fiction series. It’s very well made. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/172 "2026-09-15T12:55:35Z")
Did we ever get an explanation of how Zoe wasn’t in the truck that got sky-lasered? I don’t recall hearing it explained. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/173 "2026-09-15T13:03:53Z")
There was no direct explanation. However, it seems that Zoe may have had the ability to teleport - this is my WAG based on the fact that she always seems to show up at the diner or bar whenever a new person came to town. I’ve also seen her bracelet, which was in John’s motel room, mentioned. It may have somehow played a part in it if it was guardian technology. ---
**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:** [September 15, 2026, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/174 "2026-09-15T13:03:58Z")
The same way she ripped off her hand to get out of the cuffs - she’s very hard to kill. My guess is that she would have survived John’s head shot, too, if he hadn’t cut her heart out. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/175 "2026-09-15T13:10:57Z")
And who is doing the sky-lasering? Wasn’t it supposed to be the decoy dude in the hangar on the ranch? Wasn’t he on Zoe and Macon’s side? Or I guess it was the meat-processing plant, but same team? ---
**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:** [September 15, 2026, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/176 "2026-09-15T13:30:16Z")
It was all Zoe - she shot herself to throw them off her scent. If she didn’t do it herself with her tablet, one of her minions did it for her. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/177 "2026-09-15T14:07:01Z")
But who was lasering the town during the fight? It wasn’t Antaan’s people. ---
**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:** [September 15, 2026, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/178 "2026-09-15T14:10:00Z")
It was Zoe. She said specifically that she was doing it so that Hal would drain his ring protecting civilians. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/179 "2026-09-15T14:10:23Z")
Oh, right! I had forgotten that. ---
**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:** [September 15, 2026, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374/180 "2026-09-15T14:12:16Z")
Is it a deliberate weakness of the Green Lanterns that their rings require periodic recharging? Because that seems a flawed system. And if I were their opponent, I’d hunt down and destroy or hide their lantern. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lanterns-the-green-kind/1032374.md?page=10)