I'm not gonna bury the lede anymore; the current "Lanters" show is shite. From start to finish, the show is open butt on a copy machine, bad, and I'm here to clean it up. So let's ask: What if "Lanters" was good- no, like really good? Let's dive in;
I'll start with some characterization. Hal Jordan by this point has been Green Lantern for a while now. He's well known on Earth, and his backstory is the same. John Stewart is an ex-Marine, and he'll get the most characterization here since John Stewart has a backstory, but I'll expand on it. John was in a deployment that was under attack, hit by an RPG; several of John's friends were killed, and John was unable to engage due to fear- think Hank in "Breaking Bad". In the aftermath, John tried to save his friends but to no avail. John hates himself for how he reacted, and when the ring chose him, he immediately felt unworthy. John tries to put on a facade of being fearless, but in reality he is genuinely afraid, and that will be the main theme: what does it mean to be a Lantern? John feels like he failed his platoon and is terrified to explain to their families what happened and why. We open with Hal and John driving in a car. John is reciting The Green Lantern Oath, attempting to commit it to memory. Hal chimes in.
HAL
Those aren't just words, Junior. It's an oath. This is way different than the Marines.
You guys do great work, but in the Marines they hand you a gun; here, they hand you
a nuclear bomb, and it's up to me to train you.
JOHN
Is that why you're holding mine?
HAL
I wanna train you properly.
JOHN
How were you trained?
HAL
Kilowog beat the shit outta me.
JOHN
Big pink dude?
Hal nods.
JOHN
I'm good.
They're driving to rural Nebraska. John, of course, asks why they're driving and not flying. Hal says that they're keeping a low profile and that he needs to talk to C.I. about a recent assassination. Hal explained that this C.I. was once connected to several underground organizations in space and would know how to arrange an assassination. Hal and John enter a bar; they sit to have a drink, and Hal asks John if he can clock their informant. John scans the bar and settles on a busboy. The busboy takes off running like a bat outta Hell; John starts to chase, but Hal grabs his shoulder and gently sits John back down. Hal engages his ring, and 5 Male constructs appear and give chase; John smirks with approval. Hal finishes his drink as the constructs bring the C.I. in. The C.I. complains that he didn't break any laws, and Hal asks why he ran. The C.I. says he wants a lawyer, but Hal laughs and explains he doesn't have one since he's not a citizen, but the Sheriff enters and explains that he does.
Hal forged some papers with the Sheriff to keep the C.I. in town, but Hal has indicated that their C.I. has been in contact with others and is linked to the assassination of an alien official, a clerk of sorts. The Sheriff allows Hal to interrogate the C.I., and he explains that he was paid to put some people in contact with some other people, and he had no clue it was going to be an assassination. Hal just wonders why it was an assassination of a nobody. The Sheriff explains that sometimes "nobody can be somebody under the right circumstances." John takes this to heart. Suddenly, the station is under attack by the Demolition Team (this time, humans outfitted with magic artifacts that make them powerful). Hal recognizes them as a professional extraction team meant to break people out of prisons; they can be hired by the highest bidder. Here is where the Green Lanterns really get to shine; Hal engages his ring fully, and the suit appears. Hal walks out and constructs a gatling gun, and John (still a rookie) creates a shield to protect The Sheriff and The C.I., and John starts pressing The C.I., asking who he paid, but The C.I. refuses to give up the name.
Hal is outside kicking The Demolition Team's ass as they try to break into the jail and extract The C.I. Finally, Rosie, the leader, pulls out a device that sets off a yellow flare, bathing the whole area in Yellow light and shorting Hal's ring. Stunned, the Lanterns form a shield around The C.I., but Jackhammer manages to kill him after John attempts to engage them in combat again, against Hal's orders. With the C.I. dead, the Demolition Team ride out knowing the Lanterns can't follow them. Hal talks to the C.I. as he lies dying and asks for a name. The C.I. says, "Drak," and dies. Hal is pissed at John for denying an order, but John says that he was trying to protect the C.I., and Hal explains to John that whoever hired The Demolition Crew knew about their C.I., knew they were coming, and, more importantly, knew how to stop them. Hal wonders about "Drak," and John is reminded of what The Shierff said: "Nobody can be somebody under the right circumstances."
Hal and John decide to head to space; they're now at the crime scene where the alien clerk worked, and Hal and John are reconstructing the crime scene with their Masks. The Masks function like a scanner and a scouter, for my people who played "Heavy Rain" or "Detroit: Become Human" like that in terms of reconstructing crime scenes. Hal and John can't understand why anyone would go through the trouble of assassinating someone who held a minor office in the grand scheme of intergalactic politics. With only "Drak" to go on, Hal and John ask around, but no one knows anything. Hal and John figure they can at least find the person who did the job. They seek out a crew their C.I. used to run with and find them all dead. Hal and John realize their job is about to get harder. Hal gets word that a guy named Braach was caught. Braach is a person who used to roll with their C.I., and seeing as how he's not dead, Hal sees this as their only means to continue the investigation. Hal interrogates Braach, who says that Lobo is after him. Hal agrees to deal with Lobo if he can shed some light on the assassination.
Braach spills that he was the one who sold the tech to The Demolition Crew and facilitated the assassination; he never saw who was getting paid, but basically it was someone who has a vendetta against Lanterns. He returned to their hideout and saw his friends killed and made a run for it. John, meanwhile, does some digging and finds out that the assassinated alien was on the board of Takron-Galtos, a minor position but still interesting. Since he was assassinated, his position was filled by someone else, and that someone else scheduled a routine security check of the prison. This requires all prisoners to be moved while inspectors do a walk and strengthen any weaknesses. John doesn't see anything suspicious but keeps it in the back of his mind.
Hal and John compare notes, and Hal reveals that it was Braach who sold the Yellow flare tech to The Demolition Team, but they still have no clue what "Drak," means or who has a vendetta against Lanterns, as that could be anyone. Hal and John decide to spar a little bit as John thinks he's getting more confidence with the ring; Hal obliterates John easily, making constructs rapidly, switching weapons mid-strike and constantly breaking whatever John conjures up. John asks how Hal got so powerful, and Hal tells him it was Sinestro. Hal explains that Sinestro was his trainer and basically taught him how to fight and use the ring properly. John asks what happened, and Hal explains that he couldn't save him.
JOHN
How'd you get so strong?
HAL
It's not just brawn, it's brain; it's heart, conquering your fears.
JOHN
I'm not afraid!
Hal smirks at him.
HAL
Everyone's afraid, Junior.
JOHN
A Lantern is never afraid.
HAL
Being a Lantern is not about being unafraid; it's about what you do
in spite of being afraid. I'm afraid all the time, Junior, but I don't let it
control me.
While this is happening, the security check at Takron-Galtos is underway, and the person doing the check is a stunningly beautiful blue-skinned woman; the guards ask her to sign her name to verify her identity, and it is Lyssa Drak. It turns out that the alien official who was assassinated was the person who assigned the person who did the security checks, and his replacement assigned Lyssa Drak. Lyssa makes short work of the guards and finally goes down to the sub-basement of Takron-Galtos; she approaches, and Sinestro stands with a smirk.
 |
| Of course, she won't be dressed like this...during the breakout...but later... |
Meanwhile, a massive galactic conference is supposed to take place. The Guardians and several Lanterns will be called to Oa to witness the signing of an official Green Lantern deployment (which means the Green Lantern will be officially recognized and have legal authority in their sectors of space, overriding the authority of their respective planets. This means that a Green Lantern is allowed to arrest a planet's sovereign without that planet's agreement. This is called "The Jordan Act". Diplomats and dignitaries from nearly every sector of the galaxy (including Earth) are present. John is asked to be security for the Earth delegation.
John asks about "The Jordan Act," and Hal explains that years back, when he became a Green Lantern, he trained under Kilowog and Sinestro. Sinestro being his primary trainer, Hal saw that Sinestro was a dictator, ruling his planet through fear and mass executions. Sinestro was known as the greatest Lantern because he completely eliminated crime from his planet, but no one ever asked how. Hal exposed Sinestro, and the Lanterns went to war against Sinestro and his army. Hal fought, and during the struggle, Sinestro was killed when his castle caved in. Since then, the Guardians decided to audit the worlds of every Lantern and make sure that the Lanterns themselves were not abusing the ring to become sovereigns themselves. Putting the investigation on hold, Hal and John attend the event, and we get to meet several Lanterns: Kilowog, Sodom Yat, Tomar-Re, and a female Lantern who is none too pleased to see Hal.
 |
| Because Hal be that boy... |
The Lanterns chat, and they talk about a recent bust at Takron-Galtos. John manages to almost put all the clues together until the whole conference room erupts and it's full-blown CHAOS. John is having military flashbacks, and Hal is trying to fight against several aliens at once. A yellow flare goes off once again, bathing the entire room in yellow, and Sinestro and Lyssa enter. Hal is terrified that Sinestro is alive and notes that his ring won't work, but Sinestro smirks and hits Jordan with a Yellow construct fist, knocking Jordan out. John tries to go after him, but Lyssa lays him out. Sinestro and Lyssa take Hal and leave.
As Oa recovers from the damage, John talks to the Guardians about what just happened. The Guardians explain that they made the Power Rings, but the power doesn't come from them; rather, the power comes from primordial entities; theirs is called Ion. John asks the Guardians why they allowed Hal to believe Sinestro was dead, and the Guardians explain it's because they wanted to know what Sinestro learned about "Him". John asks who is "Him" and they say "Parallax". Hal awakens on Sinestro's homeworld, and Sinestro remembers how green Hal was and how afraid he was. Sinestro explains that while he was ruling his homeworld, he discovered a secret the Guardians have been keeping. Lyssa opens The Book of Parallax, and Sinestro explains that he managed to summon Parallax and used him to power his new ring. Sinestro shows Hal a chamber with a large yellow orb with a creature inside it: Parallax.
John and the other Lanterns mount up to rescue Hal, but the other Lanterns are concerned, as they know their rings won't work against anything yellow, and they have never fought a Yellow Lantern before; plus, knowing how badass Sinestro was in the past, they're all worried. John rallies the troops by saying what Hal said to him and then recites The Oath, as the other Lanterns join in, recovering their resolve. Sinestro tortures Hal and explains his plan to unleash Parallax upon the galaxy, citing that he isn't afraid of Parallax, so he'll be the people's hope once again and be worshipped, with Earth being his first target, to spite Hal. The Lanterns show up, and Sinestro constructs an army of Yellow Sinestros to fight the Lanterns, and since Sinestro has Parallax right there, his ring has infinite power. John and Lyssa square up again, and once again Lyssa kicks John's ass. John starts having military flashbacks, and John realizes that he is, in fact, afraid he can't save Hal and that isn't worthy of the ring, but now that he's admitted his fear, it has no power over him, and with a massive green fist, John breaks through Lyssa's shield and starts beating her. Seeing John smash a Yellow construct rallies the other Lanterns, and they fight harder. Sinestro, realizing he's about to lose, tries to kill Hal, but John stops him.
John faces Sinestro, and Sinestro starts breaking John down. Using his power ring, Sinestro summons constructs of John's dead comrades who beat him down. John rallies himself together and reveals that he feels regret that he didn't die with his friends, but joy that he lived and was able to experience life, and he says he carries the memories of his friends with him. John's energy construct turns White briefly, but it breaks Sinestro's construct and knocks him out. Hal is freed, and he takes Sinestro's ring, thus making the constructs disappear. With Sinestro and Lyssa being moved to a cryo-prison, the Guardians examine Parallax and decide to move him somewhere where he won't awaken. "The Jordan Act" is signed, and the Lanterns celebrate. The Guardians decide that since Earth is rapidly increasing in metahumans, perhaps another Lantern might be a smart move, and Guy Gardner gets his ring.
So what did you guys think? Leave a comment and let me know how I did. This is Ugo Strange, and this is What If...?.
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