Lanterns - Season 1, Episode 2, "Trust Fall" - Review & Recap
- Jimmy Palmquist
- 4 minutes ago
- 5 min read
⚠️ Spoiler Alert: This review may contains spoilers. ⚠️
Now THIS Is the Green Lantern Show I Was Waiting For!
After having some very mixed feelings about the premiere of HBO’s Lanterns, Episode 2, “Trust Fall,” did exactly what I needed it to do. It made me excited about this show.
While the first episode jumped between multiple time periods and threw a tremendous amount of information at us, Episode 2 stays in 2016 and gives the story some much-needed room to breathe. More importantly, we finally get to settle into Rushville, Nebraska, learn more about the mystery, spend more time with Hal Jordan and John Stewart. And yes, start getting some of the Green Lantern lore I’ve been waiting for.
And I am officially invested.
One of my complaints about Episode 1 was the relationship between Hal Jordan and John Stewart. I understood what they were establishing, but I didn't particularly enjoy their dynamic.
Episode 2 changed that.
Kyle Chandler's Hal is still an ass. In fact, I'm pretty sure he enjoys being an ass. But we're beginning to understand him better, and the relationship between Hal and John is becoming genuinely entertaining.
The flying lesson is a perfect example.
Hal's advice basically amounts to: think about flying.
Great coaching, Hal.
John can't get off the ground, but instead creates a bird with his ring. At first, it seems like another failed training exercise. Except there's clearly something much more important happening here.
The bird doesn't disappear.
Even after John gives the ring back to Hal, and eventually travels a considerable distance away, the construct remains. We later discover from the aliens that creating something like this, particularly without physically wearing the ring, is apparently a pretty big deal.
John Stewart might be a lot more powerful than anyone realizes.
And suddenly that little bird becomes one of the most interesting parts of the episode.
Meanwhile, Hal continues investigating what happened at the football field.
This is the part of Lanterns that really started working for me toward the end of Episode 1, and Episode 2 doubles down on it. The show is essentially giving us a detective story that just happens to involve two intergalactic space cops.
Hal realizes the supposed metal detectors aren't actually metal detectors. They're detecting something else entirely. His investigation of the alien bodies leads him closer to William Macon and the mysterious technology being used around Rushville.
And Hal being Hal, he isn't exactly subtle about any of this.
I especially enjoyed the continued relationship between Hal and Sheriff Kerry Kane. Kelly Macdonald was one of my favorite additions in the premiere, and she continues to be great here. She has absolutely no problem pushing back against Hal, which is important because Hal is clearly accustomed to being the most powerful guy in the room. That doesn't necessarily mean he's the smartest guy in the room. It also doesn't mean he's bulletproof when his ring isn't charged.
Whoops.
John's trip to retrieve Hal's Lantern gives us another major piece of Green Lantern mythology: the power battery.
This is the kind of stuff I wanted.
The show has been very grounded so far, but I'm glad they're not afraid to embrace some of the stranger elements of Green Lantern. We're talking about space cops who create things with magical alien rings. At some point, you've got to embrace the weirdness. And Episode 2 definitely starts doing that.
John is abducted by a group of aliens and finally learns what may actually be happening in Rushville.
They're looking for a Manhunter.
For anyone who isn't deeply immersed in Green Lantern comics, we're not talking about the Martian Manhunter. They're something completely different: ancient synthetic enforcers created by the Guardians before the Green Lantern Corps. And based on what John experiences, these things are absolutely terrifying. The aliens believe one is hiding in Rushville. Even worse, John has 48 hours to find it. Otherwise, they're prepared to essentially blow up the area to make sure the Manhunter doesn't escape.
That escalated quickly.
For an episode called “Trust Fall,” trust is obviously going to be important. But I like the way the episode handles it. The aliens specifically tell John they don't trust Hal. They also don't want John telling Hal what they've told him.
John does it anyway.
That's a small moment that says a lot about John Stewart. Whatever problems he has with Hal, and there are plenty, Hal is still his commanding officer. John reports to him, so John tells him what's happening.
More importantly, this is the first time I really felt like Hal and John were beginning to operate as partners instead of two guys who happen to be stuck together.
They each have different pieces of the puzzle.
Hal has Macon, the alien-detection technology and the connection to what happened at the football field.
John has the Manhunters and the 48-hour deadline.
Put those pieces together, and suddenly the mystery gets much bigger.
This is the relationship I wanted to see develop.
Hal finally puts on the Green Lantern uniform and leaves Earth looking for answers.
And where does he go?
Space prison.
Because apparently even space cops occasionally need to visit space jail.
And sitting inside is Sinestro.
For a show that has spent most of its first two episodes presenting Green Lantern through this grounded, almost True Detective-style mystery, seeing Hal suit up, leave Earth and walk into an alien prison felt like the moment Lanterns finally opened the door to the much larger universe surrounding this story.
Ulrich Thomsen only needs a few moments to make Sinestro immediately interesting.
Hal wants to know about the Manhunters.
Sinestro wants to know about John Stewart.
And then he drops the bombshell.
If a Manhunter really exists, it's only the second biggest threat Hal is currently facing.
So what's number one?
Apparently, we should be asking questions about John.
COME ON!
That's how you end an episode. Apparently these Lanterns love their cliffhangers.
Episode 1 left me intrigued, but also frustrated.
Episode 2 has me onboard.
Staying entirely in 2016 helped tremendously. Instead of bouncing through decades, we were able to spend time with these characters and actually watch the investigation unfold. The relationship between Hal and John is improving, the Nebraska mystery is getting stranger, and we're finally starting to explore the larger Green Lantern mythology.
Most importantly, the show is giving me questions that I actually want answered.
Who, or what, is the Manhunter hiding in Rushville?
What really happened to Abin Sur?
Why can John maintain that bird construct without his ring?
Why are the aliens so afraid of Hal?
What does Sinestro know?
And what the hell is going on with John Stewart?
That's a pretty significant turnaround from where I was after the beginning of Episode 1. Lanterns still isn't giving us a traditional superhero show, and I'm becoming increasingly convinced that's a good thing. It's a murder mystery, a buddy-cop story, a science-fiction conspiracy and a Green Lantern story all wrapped together.
And after that Sinestro reveal, Episode 3 can't get here fast enough.
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