They’re really cooking with this. The mid-season finale was amazing.
My big problem with it is that Tom King, one of the leads on the show is a former CIA agent
You might say, “Well, as long as he writes good” and my solid opinion is that he does not
There’s a creep that follows that man, an insidious little persistent worry where you start to notice the USA propaganda that suffuses his work
Like how all the aliens are suicide bombers or how they erased John Stewart’s background of being a Black Panther and architect
He was part of the planning of the Iraq war, and all his comic books are basically plagiarism.
I definitely agree some of the writing in Lanterns is pretty bad/heavy handed/overly dramatic. Not all of it though. For the most part, the show has worked for me.
That being said, have you read Omega Men? Its the only thing I’ve read by King, and I found the themes to be pretty anti-imperialist and about challenging the dominant religious hegemony
edit: I guess – maybe it just uses those dynamics to increase the conflict. Im not sure it makes a real clear statement on imperialism and is perhaps a bit wishywashy. id have to read it again but not sure i have the will
Yeah, I’m still watching but it’s been an episode to episode thing where I’ve wondered why I bother. The politics are horrible, childlike even (I know, it’s a kids show) but everything is so cliche. I swear media is overusing the black struggle speech so much that it’s becoming as performative as land acknowledgements. The aliens struggle for justice are painted as like “unsanctioned” and therefore wrong making the whole thing seem kinda both sides-y. And John’s sniper backstory!
I was expecting the aliens to be Red Lanterns honestly but I guess that was out of budget. Blowing the fuck up def makes sense for the Reds.
Yeah, I don’t think we’ll see them until next season at earliest
This season is setting up what the Green Lantern Corps are and showing us what they do and how they’re fucked up
or how they erased John Stewart’s background of being a Black Panther and architect
Honestly my only exposure to Stewart lantern is the dcau’s JL/JLU, and there the only thing substantially mentioned (there’s a lot of implied details but never said) on his background was that he was in the us marines previously.
it’s pretty damn good. i expected garbo going in, excepting that Kelly Macdonald is an incredible talent and Aaron Pierre is awesome. Did you see Rebel Ridge? that was the first thing i saw him in and i was blown away. great flick, too. those two made me go, “fuck, it, let’s watch an episode of this cape shit.” i like Kyle Chandler just fine, but he’s been in some turkeys. dillahunt and ben-victor are generally great and i like that HBO uses the shit out of them.
anyway, Aaron Pierre is no joke. especially considering that the guy’s normal accent is not US at all. when i first heard his natural speaking voice, i was sort of personally offended that he could hit on such an authentic, code-switchy eastern US educated accent. i would have guessed like he grew up northern virginia or half a dozen military bases. hard to explain, it’s very regionally non-specific american sounding, but has just enough subtle play in it that he could have grown up Atlanta or Baltimore or Philly talking mad shit only to later learn how to politely hide / reveal himself when desired. perfect for either role. i’m jealous of people who can chameleon like that.
anyway, aside from my weird fixation on how people talk, Lanterns has got me invested. never gave a shit about the comics, don’t know shit about fuck with the lore beyond some very surface level basics. the setting, the intersecting/layered conflicts, the emotional beats all resonate. the way the first part of the season is mostly a flash back is rich enough that i kinda forgot how it started in the present and that we’re there to solve another, more personal mystery. people talk a lot of shit about Lindelhof, but when the guy is cooking he can really tell a story and keep me interested.
So there’s more planned than the 5 episodes we got? That’s good because 5 seemed too short
Yeah, there’s an episode 6 trailer out.
Legion is probably my favorite but this is definitely up there. Really curious where they’re going to go from here.
