Lanterns Theory 04

0:00If Sinestro thinks a manhunter should be killed, but Sinestro is also bad, the enemy of my enemy. But no one has mentioned the manhunter to the guardians. Yes, that's interesting, isn't it? Are they going to be as like, would they be as gung-ho about just taking the ring if they knew that a manhunter was in this town? Hello chickens, this is the fabulous Adam Rinchard and I have a theory! Oh, hello chickens, here we are, bathed in the emerald light of the last episode of lanterns, joining me as always the delightful Justin Hamilton, how are you feeling after our fourth trip

1:07into the lanterns universe? Well, I don't know if this happened to you, but when I started watching the episode, it literally on the HBO Max app just said episode four, and then it wasn't until the end that Weenie came up as the title for the episode, and I'm just curious, was that, did everyone else experience that? Was that a deliberate thing? I mean, it made me laugh. I didn't know it was cold Weenie until the end, like I didn't see that, I just saw, I just went straight from the, I wish it was not a big TV, but yeah, I just pressed the, you know, because it turns up as the big poster, and it says, watch latest episode now, and I'm like, yes, ploy, no delays. Yeah, there you go. Having a fridge-siggy. Yeah, right, perfect. Well, this episode was great, and I think we can officially say that, yeah, yeah, there's space cups, and yeah, yeah, there's a mystery to be solved,

2:11and yeah, yeah, yeah, something happened in the future, and we don't know what's happened yet, but this series is officially a bromance. Oh my god, such a bromance, such a bromance. And I loved it. Yeah, it's so cute. And I really did love that pregnant pause of a moment, where Hal gives him the ring, and we've just had him told, you got to, you got to say the oath, and then you'll take over from him, and you just see it for ages, like him thinking, do I? Do I? No, not gonna. No. It's been really good. I'm loving the characterizations. What I loved about it was it was the kind of classic moment when in a rom-com, basically what happens is, you know, the good-looking person asks the ugly person to the ball, and then they have a really good time, and then it comes out,

3:14you did it as a dare, and this was kind of a similar rhythm where John tells, it kind of gets goaded into it by the Guardian, and you know, it gets recorded, and just as you think that maybe these two are gonna work together, you know, it goes pear-shaped. It goes pear-shaped, but it's also, of course, Hal's not gonna trust this situation, because he's essentially doing the same thing after his previous mentor, Sinestro, suggested he do his version of it. Yeah, which is kill him. Sinestro is bad. Yeah, well, but he, you know, Hal Jordan rejects the killing, but he definitely takes on the game plan, I'll get him close. He does get him close. The car crashes right at the end. Wow. Incapacitates at least. Yeah, I mean, you know, what was that? The intention? You kind of wonder what was,

4:19this is the first episode where I've stuck around to watch next week's trailer, because I'm like, I really need to know that everything's gonna be okay. Even though I've seen the first episode, and I've seen John Stuart alive and healthy. Yeah. 10 years time, but yeah, it was, and it looks like your guess, your theory about, is it Zoe? Yeah. Porn her place. Yeah, she looks like the actual manhunter. Yes, and it was interesting, because I was watching it as well, and thinking, damn, John Stuart's cold, like, and I also wondered if it was a bit of a smoke screen, because there was that moment where, you know, the big boss talks about how the manhunter essentially cured him of his issues with cancer, and she was there to help out. And then she was the nurse, but then she sort of lets it slip when

5:20she's with John, that she helped cure his cancer. So then I was wondering if it was a smoke screen, but then we had the delightful deep-law side quest of Hector Hammond. Oh, Hector Hammond, from which was, was that Peter Sarska's character in the Ryan? Yes. It was. It was. It was Greenland. Yes. For people who don't know, Hector Hammond is a villain who just has a massive head. Massive head. And, and psychic powers, is that right? Something like that, I think. Yeah. Yeah, but he's always, always been quite ridiculous looking, always incapacitated as well, and, yeah, and he's really worried around. Because of his massive head. Yeah. Because of his massive head, right? But yeah, I remember as he turned into that character in, in that Greenland movie, which I saw in Los Angeles, weirdly, and I ended up strangely on the red carpet

6:26for the premiere, because I didn't realize they weren't that secure. Right. Like I was staying with Will Anderson, and I had booked tickets to see company, the musical. Right. Which had been filmed with Neil Patrick Harris and Paddy LaPone, John Cry, Stephen Colbert, Martha Plympton, Christina Hendrix, amazing cast. Right. And, yeah, and so to get there, you had to like, kind of walk across the red carpet for the Greenland, which was, because it was at Grownman's Chinese Theatre, like they still have all the other movies on. Like it's still in the green concern, or just one of the things. Yeah, so it was a very peculiar. That's very funny. And then Will and I went to see it the next week, another cinema, and yeah, there were a lot of people who were not engaged in that movie, and instead running around the cinema carrying on like two more watches. Oh, wow. This is not a good sign.

7:27Yeah. Yeah. I, you know, it's funny. There's been this sort of mild pushback to this series, which is, which is interesting because it's got a large number of people watching it. And I think what I'm discovering is people who aren't into lanterns or vaguely have an idea of them, loving it. And then there's this weird kind of contingent who feel that the creators are embarrassed by the law and the mythology. And I just don't see that. And I don't think it's a budget thing either. I think they've just, you know, the stench of that fucking Ryan Reynolds film and the awful CGI. I think they've made a good costume for the start. Yes. I think they've made a good choice to ground this and make it more character-based. And then when the powers happen like, you know, John creating that digger was fantastic.

8:29Ryan Boring Machine. I thought it was hilarious that, you know, he's kind of boring. He creates this perfect boring machine. Yes. That joke about when Hell Goes. Did you just make a joke when he says I wasn't allowed to go to Disney? Because it was the happiest place on earth and they said I was bringing the vibe down. Yeah. Channel is delivery of that of like, I can't quite work this out. And then, and then offering to fly him on his back like a horse, he'll carry him. And he's like, I'll just get down on my own. The flying like a horse, he was too much fun. I could carry like a baby. I could jump on like a horse. It's great. I was totally, you know, we had to wait an extra week for the How Jordan Sinestro scene. And that was totally worthwhile. That did not let us down at all. And it's interesting. There was an interesting point where Sinestro sort of says, I was never not what I said I was, but you chose to look past it,

9:34which is not unlike John Stuart with his family. Yeah. Yeah. And what is going on with his dad and mum constantly calling? Right. That just about the Guardians. Like, they were like, you've got to talk to the Guardians. You've got to talk to the Guardians. It was, and he was just like, I don't want to deal with them. Yes. I don't want to deal with them. They're hard work. You know, once again, people sort of saying, oh, these parents are terrible with what they've done to John. And it's like, yeah. No one's showing that and saying, that's a good thing. But it's a different type of trauma for a superhero origin. No, it is. And it's great. I really love that it's, you know, it's basically saying all the things you think a superhero should be impossible. Right. They are impossible unless you've had a terrible upbringing. Yes. Like, you know, look at, look at, you know, what, everyone loves Batman.

10:35His whole thing is trauma. His entire thing is born out of trauma. Superman, you know, often shot out into space by reckless parents who didn't know if he was going to survive the trip. Trauma. Yeah. Spider-Man, that's all trauma. Yes, he's unbelievable. Oh, all the Marvel heroes are some level of trauma. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, I didn't want these powers, but trauma. Yeah. So, yeah, it's that kind of, whereas how feels like the most normal of any kind of superhero? It's like, oh, yeah, some guy died and he's going to be his ring. What else? Yeah. Yeah, though, you know, obviously his mum dying of cancer and his, you know, he didn't reveal what his father was afraid of. No. Like when asked, you know, it's, and it was kind of fun. Watching the two of them work together kind of be great. They also be a little bit useless.

11:36Kelly McDonald's character having to come in and do some heavy work. I can't. What was going on? I love that they basically acknowledged in the show. It's like, everyone around here is weird and I'm kind of sick of it. With those people at the abattoir, we're just ignoring them. But also that had Garrett Dillahunt completely naked wanting to be drawn like one of your French girls. It's so good. It's so good. And, you know, the Perks except when Kelly McDonald's, I'll put your pants on. Which, which the implication is that's happening all the time. I know. The way she said that was like, oh, this is not the first time she's walked into that room and discovered something like this is going on. Yes. And the perfect responses as well from both of our heroes, ones and artists. So he's just like, well, I'll get on with it because I've actually done this heaps of times. And the other one is how Jordan, who's like, I've been to a plan up full of tentacles. And this is the weirdest thing I've ever seen.

12:36I did love that Laura Linnie as the Guardian comes and basically reports that Hal said he's not creative. And then when he brings the drawing of the boring machine, he's like, I'm creative. Yes. Yes. Such a little bitch. And it was great. It was great to see John Schuert drop that. Yeah, I really do love the what's going on between them as as appearing. And it does. I know that the impetus for this show was, can you do true detective with Green Lantern? It's like way back when before any of these people were on board, which is why one of the writers is from true detective. But it does give me that vibe of the Harrelson and McConaughey where it's just like two people who should not get along eventually kind of ending up getting along in the weirdest way. Yeah. Well, you know, the thing about that true detective got right was it was the different sides of toxic

13:41masculinity. There's the emotional masculinity that cannot be controlled by Woody Harrelson. And then there's, you know, McConaughey's way too logical and too cut off. And, you know, what we have here is something similar in that, you know, John Schuert's the repress side of masculinity and how Jordan's the, you know, fly by the seat of the pants, got a gut feeling. Oh, and, yeah, I'm really I'm really loving that dynamic. And what the two characters have to realize is they actually probably have quite a bit in common and will probably get along well as soon as they stop talking to other people about each other. Yeah, that is, I mean, it feels like an actual real life relationship where as soon as you talk about your partner to someone, they're like, oh, why are you putting up with that? You're like, no, why are you putting up with that? And then you get home, you're like, oh, it's just easier this way. Yeah. Yeah.

14:43Like, it's not toxic. It's just I can't be bothered having a fight about it. Yes. It's a fight for me or the other person. Yes, yes, exactly. And then, you know, these both of these characters are being manipulated. Yeah. And, you know, the Guardians, you know, I had a moment of going, it'd be pretty funny if Laura Lenny was the man hunter. Oh my god, hilarious. You know, if you're just, I feel like the Guardians are being written as A cab in space. Right. Yes. Don't trust the police. And then you've got Calibriq Donald, who's the most delightful police person ever. And you're like, oh, then maybe maybe A cab doesn't work here. Yeah. It's interesting because, you know, I've gone back to the Jeff Johns run on the Green Lantern. And so, you know, I'm so the omnibus that you can read online, kind of, bounce back and forward between how Jordan's adventures and the Green Lantern core. And it's always a reminder that, you know, while we're watching local police in this town,

15:51be off apart from, you know, apart from Calibriq Donald, it's probably the same in intergalactic cop land as well. You can't trust any of these ourselves. One of them is now in prison, clearly. Being all-hannibal actor, behind glass, or the energy field or something. Yeah. I got to say, one of my favorite things today when you logged on Justin is you can write your name on the screens that we use. And you have used the name of the squirrel. The squirrel. Flying squirrel. That all Jordan refers to when he's like, I'm the only human, the rest of the moon. One of them is a squirrel for Christ's sake. It made me laugh so much. And, you know, it's because it's not only a funny line, for people who don't know. And it's not only funny for people who do know. But this is also an explanation as to why, you know, the guardians don't really understand

16:51what humans are like. Yeah, because the short life span. There's one. And he's the only one and we are a strange race of people. Yes. We all lie all the time. And the guardians don't. Like, you know, the guardian not understanding, you know, systemic black trauma. And like, oh, you're afraid of things. All right, bye. Yeah. With the dad. Yeah. It's such an interesting show the way it's kind of built that stuff up. But yeah, was it, how do you pronounce, what did you say, chip? Oh, chip. That's how I pronounce it. Chip, like, which is given also the name of a squirrel in the cartoons. And the squirrel character does look like a cartoon squirrel more than, say, you know, like, rocket raccoon who looks like a raccoon, the holds a rocket. Chip looks like a cartoon character, like absolutely big eyes and buckeye.

17:52Yes, exactly. Well, that's always been, this is why I think they're being really smart with lanterns. And I don't think they're embarrassed at all by the law. I think the, the, when we look at drawings, if we, if we see a squiggle and we're told it's an amoeba green lantern, you just accept it. But TV and movies are closer to the real world. So when they're, when they're mentioning MoGo, the planet who's a green lantern, they're not being embarrassed of it. But it's, but it's, you know, it's hard to get that across for people who aren't into that law. I think it's, I think it's the, you know, it's the people who aren't into this, I think, are those people who want it just just be the TV slash movie version of the things that they're reading in the comics at any one point. So it's also like you've got your Snyder Bros who are desperate for James Gunn and Peter Saffron to fail.

18:54So that's a whole angle because they feel like if this fails, they'll bring back sex Snyder, which is never going to happen. They'll bring in a completely new person. There's also that, you know, the fact that Mark Ugenheim has mentioned that he and Greg Belanti pitched to HBO a more traditional green lantern kind of show along the lines of what happens in the comics. And it was rejected because HBO themselves wanted the true detective angle. So there's that load of people who are probably out there going, oh, this could have been so much better if it was somewhat a L.C. guys hate it. And then you've just got the people who, you know, like the same people who hated the walking dead for the first few seasons because it wasn't enough like the comics. And then the last few seasons were exactly like the comics. And like personally, I found them unwatchable. Oh, yeah, yeah. I was exactly the same. Like as soon as it got too close, I was out.

19:58Yeah. So I think it's that, you know, you're walking a fine line if you want to make something exactly the same as something that's already that you've already experienced. So what are you getting out of that other than seeing it made manifest? Like you could probably do that with AI, like realistically, just put the comic into the AI and go make this real. It'll take a few goes because everyone will have 17 fingers and two heads, but eventually it'll sort it out. So yeah, I feel like the human part of making turning something into another format, another genre, another, you know, kind of media is that we are not transcribing. Like, yeah, you don't want to transcribe something into a new format because you've got that, that, that peace exists. Like the comic book exists and you can read that. You want something new. It's like when Linda Loft did Watchman, he could have just done another version of the comic

21:00and, you know, remade the film but longer, but he made his own show. Like, which was an extension of and inspired by an, an, an conversation with. And, and yeah, and I feel like people are just going to be angry when it's not exactly what they want. Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, I saw another article on the weekend of a, a, a, a, a, literary genius complaining about the Odyssey and saying that it's really dangerous the way they've in, in the original stories, you, you, Lissies or Odysseus is someone who enjoys violence and, and he, he doesn't feel bad about it and it, it's really dangerous to, um, you know, change that character for this film and it's like, okay, well, you're, you're entitled to your opinion, of course, but what that, what that person who's mixed up in the literary world has no idea about

22:01is that we've just had decades of, arsehole lead characters, the, you know, Tony soprano, breaking bad madmen like we've, uh, the shield like we have had a plethora of bad people as main characters and the, I think one of the reasons this is resonated is here is someone who's making mistakes and actually feeling guilt for it and that's why the adaptations working and so you can be upset that it's not what you wanted it to be, but if, if it was a bummer, less people would have gone and your books wouldn't be selling now. Also, it, who wants to see someone that enjoys violence on the screen in this, no, no, I've got, I've got the news. Yes, we can watch someone shoot a whole bunch of people in their neighborhood and then get shot themselves in anywhere in America, like probably every day, like if that's what we want to see, like it's not. Yeah, it's, it's adaptations are, it's, it's in, it's the word. You're adapting it and I, I think lanterns

23:07has been, you know, like I, I had high hopes for it because of the team behind the scenes and then, you know, I love the three leads and it's, it's really kind of hitting all the spots for me, like, you know, even in this episode, the subtlety of how realizing that John had finally lied to him and as soon as he realized that he had lied to him, next minute, hey, out, out of the, out of the car. Yeah, sorry about the rental. Yeah, you know, which tends to me at some point, John's going to do it to how, right? We've had it. Is this check-offs car lot? Yeah, we've got a third car. I think the, um, the other thing I love is that it's in conversation with what it is as a piece of media, like it says, you know, you've got the moment where Kelly McDonald's like saying don't just go knocking on, you know, or lock your doors and he goes, I'm a superhero, I don't know if they're like just lock your doors and then, uh, then she jokes about him being a superhero. He's like,

24:12when he was my gun, she goes, why you're a superhero? Yeah. And it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, using superhero in a, as a pejorative term and as kind of like a, you know, get out of jail free card, you're like, yeah, they're, they're acknowledging that this is on some level a bit stupid, but that's the world they're in. Like, yeah, they, they, uh, they believe it. That it, it's, it's right there. On the page, that could have been delivered in a much different way. Like, that could have been delivered in a kind of wink nodding to the camera, but it's done in a really straightforward way. It's funny for them in their world, but for us, it's also funny because it's like, oh my god, they're literally superheroes. It's a comic book on TV and it's, yeah, it's, it's working in two ways and I really love that about this group that it's not, you know, it's not shying away from the silliness of being a comic book movie or slash TV show. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's like, you know, you could, you could replace that word

25:13with knob or dickhead or tosser or, you know, anything and it's, and it still works, but because it's superhero works perfectly in that universe. Yeah, I, I, so I'm wondering, is there a possibility that maybe the man hunter has been there for so long and they sort of described that they assimilate as part of their safety protocols? Is it possible that the man hunter is not necessarily bad? I mean, yeah, I mean, everything we've seen if it is actually, so it's, she's been great, like she's been really lovely, although there is, you know, we are getting into that area where this town is quite a utopia. No one's sick. Nothing happens, it's all fine. And if everyone's saying it's the most dangerous thing in the world, where's the danger? Obviously, we're going to see the danger if she's still alive after that explosion. Although that scene was cut in such a way that you

26:18never saw her get in the car. So who knows? But also the, yeah, if she is that powerful and if it is her, yeah, what, what if there is something going on with the other people? Because if, if Sinestro thinks a man hunter should be killed, then, but Sinestro is also bad, you know, the enemy of my enemy and everything. But no one has mentioned the man hunter to the guardians. Yes, that's interesting, isn't it? And, you know, are they going to be as like, would they be as gung-ho about just taking the ring if they know knew that a man hunter was in this town? Yeah. Because, you know, I think one of the things that's really interesting in the storytelling is that I think John Stuart knows that he's actually not ready for the ring right now at this point. Yeah. And he knows he's got a lot more

27:26to learn from how, as much as how shit's him. Yeah. Like that he's like, I'm learning new things all the time. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, yeah. And I've got to say, I really love seeing the big boring machine. That was great. It's so cool. And also he'm talking about his giant fist, which was such a hell-jawd and thing in the comics. He was always some of the things with the giant green fists. I think that he mentioned was like, yeah, the big fist. Yeah. Yeah. It's always, you know, I would like to see more Greenlands and just because the way they manifest their powers is usually in keeping with their personalities, like in Superman, you know, Guy Gardner flipping birds and things flipping. So, you know, I would love to see the two of them, you know, by their last episode, both working together, but constructing different things. Yeah. That will be fun. So, yeah, I'd like to see the menace of the manhunter at some point. Like what is what is going to happen? Or are we

28:33going to get the devastation of these aliens coming and blowing themselves up to try and kill the manhunter? It's... Well, in the future, we've seen that compound has been... Yeah, yeah, yeah. ...to the ground. So, will that happen next week? Like it looks like from that trailer for next week, it looks like it's going to be heavy on action. Yeah. And... Is this six or eight episodes? Because the eight. Right. Because I was going to say like that the trailer for next week made it feel like, oh, that's the second-last episode, sure. You know, if it is like true detective, you know, the... The fifth episode was a pretty big action. I think that's done with the one-out through the... I reckon that was... I could be wrong, but I think that was episode four. I think episode five was when they go to the compound. And then remember, they tell their versions of the story, which has... Has one of the underrated best funny lines ever delivered in an HBO series,

29:36when it... When we're watching the truth and we hear the story that they're telling at rust coal, sort of says something along the lines of... I've never had more respect for the sanctity of life. Going, we know what you've been doing, you dirty dog. And then... And then from that episode, the next three kind of launched it into that next bit. I'm wondering if we will kind of finish this storyline and it'll launch us into the rest of the tale. And I wonder if at the end of it, I wonder if Jordan's going to give him the ring. Oh, like hand it over. Yeah, if he just sort of, you know, he's had enough of the guardians. If you want to replace me so much, here you go, take it. And, you know... Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, I like that idea. But John does it seem to have a ring in 2026. So that is also interesting. Maybe they'll both get in trouble from the guardians. And we've still yet to see Guy Garther and how he fits into everything. So

30:41heaps more to come. Heaps. Let's see you in the next one, Homo. Thank you.