Lanterns S1E1--S1E7 Plus News & Notes (The TV Obsessive Podcast Episode 176)

This week, on The TV Obsessive Podcast Episode 176, Caemeron and Ryan discuss the first seven episodes of Lanterns on HBO. But first, in the news:

Celebrity Traitors UK Season 2 has begun, but no word on US distribution
Casting news for The Last of Us Season 3
Eddie Murphy to star in The Chairman, from Matthew Weiner
A Matthew Perry docuseries is set for Netflix October 27
The Rehearsal Season 3 is in the works
ESPN Jeopardy! Season 2 will feature sports fans

Halogram and John try to open the vault Hal left behind. — Photograph by John Johnson/HBO Max

On Lanterns S1E1–S1E7

Created by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King

In 2016, Green Lantern Hal Jordan is assigned to train John Stewart, a former Marine who has prepared his entire life to become Hal’s replacement. But Hal initially thinks John is a sidekick, not a replacement. Their first mission is in Rushville, Nebraska, where a group of aliens warns that a Manhunter, a cosmic law enforcement being created by the Guardians, is hiding on Earth.

The investigation quickly involves Rushville’s rich and powerful citizen William Macon, Sheriff Kerry Kane, Macon’s wife Zoe, an alien hit squad led by an alien named Antaan, and a conspiracy that appears to be hiding in Rushville.

We learn in a flashback that John’s father was once considered for the Green Lantern ring, and when he didn’t get it, John’s parents deliberately raised their son to overcome fear, believing he might someday be Green Lantern.

Eventually, John discovers that Zoe, who he has gotten romantically involved with, is the Manhunter. The confrontation that follows ends badly for Rushville, with Zoe, Macon, Antaan and numerous Rushville residents killed. John and Hal’s partnership collapses, and John tells the Guardians he doesn’t want the ring.

Ten years later, John returns to Rushville after Hal is found dead and without his ring. Another man named Guy Gardner has assumed the role of Green Lantern. The investigation into Hal’s death becomes the show’s mystery, and John summons the ring’s “Halogram” to assist him and Kerry. They find evidence connecting the Manhunters to a destroyed alien world. By the end of Episode 7, the mystery is not only about who killed Hal, but how Sinestro, Hal’s former mentor turned cosmic criminal, is involved since he broke out of prison.