Trust Fall Opens Up Lanterns' Cosmic Side Without Losing Rushville
There is already the opinion on the internet that Lanterns is the best ever tv series made by DC and it seems that as it goes it just gets better, because Episode 2 Trust Fall cracks open the cosmic Green Lantern side of the show without turning Rushville into an afterthought, specially with Hal just going to space and back, its not like Superman where first they develop his story and then down the road you get the space stuff. Initially I worried this town would become a backdrop for lore once the show leaned into Corps history and alien factions that is ultimately the biggest plot of Lanterns, but gladly that does not happen since the town itself as most small town stories becomes a character along with the rest of the citizens. On Trust Fall we got multiple angles to the story as Hal spends the episode figuring out why a town this small has access to technology nobody else on this planet should have, John is still trying to understand what a power ring can actually do, and neither one connects those two puzzles yet, and that gap between what they each know carried the episode because its not only them but gets you to start trying to figure out who is behind all this, even though I think its very obvious. When Hal figures out the football stadium metal detectors were secretly built to flag aliens, it flips his whole investigation, because now there is a real question about how Macon's crew even knew to look for that. He already senses this tech is way past anything a small town should have, so his obsession with Macon stops looking like a stubborn hunch, as he commonly says he trust his guts, and now starts looking like solid ground, although not facts yet. Macon has somebody funding him secretly, and his daughter the sheriff is holding back more than she lets Hal know, and that near an empty hospital gives Hal one more reason to think the town is rotten underneath, there are many things that are not normal. None of it gets solved yet to keep the mistery so Hal have to go and do his own investigation, space police job, and that feels like the right call because it gives motives and character to the entire situation instead of falling into a pure action series, it keeps every clue working instead of getting spent right away.
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26545992/
- Platform: PRIME VIDEO
John Stewart Keeps Breaking Hal's Ring Rules
I bet right now John Stewart is everyones favorite character for now but I bet down the line there will be some questionable actions taken from him, for his screwups tell you more about him but they really pushing with the flashbacks. Take the flying lesson when Hal hands him the ring assuming it will click the same way it did for him decades ago, but John cannot get off the ground and instead a small green bird pops out of nowhere. Hal warns it will vanish the second John stops concentrating on it, except the bird breaks the rules, it keeps flying long after John hands the ring back and it survives the entire time John spends in Coast City with no ring on his finger at all. Even John fails the actual task Hal gave him but stumbles into something Hal himself though would be nearly impossible because first its not normal behaviour and second it should be imposible. Hal has decades of muscle memory telling him how a ring should behave and John keeps breaking those assumptions without even trying, which keeps Hal watching him too closely and hating how much it gets under his skin how a rookie can start doing things he have never been able without any type of expirience, add to that their relationship is still messy and full of friction, but over time it will start shifting little by little. I liked the small detail of Hal's ring running low, which sends John back to Coast City for a battery while Hal digs around Rushville alone. Before flying back John grabs Hal's old uniform out of the closet even though Hal told him to leave it alone, and John still treats the suit like it means something while Hal treats it like a compromise or obligation that he barely tolerates anymore, somehow I guess there is something about been a Lantern that he just doesnt tolerate anymore.
The Manhunter Mystery Pulls in the Guardians
The Manhunter thread start to become the main topic and I like how John is not even close to get some action but then he gets kidnap, temporarly by aliens who grab him off the road, they tell him a Manhunter wiped out their entire species, that they think one survived and is hiding in Rushville and they give John 48 hours to help find it before they start blowing things up themselves. That Manhunter scene makes the situation a lot more dangerous without a stop to explain much about it and it forces John into a real decision about whether he trusts Hal. He is told to keep his mouth shut, and John tells Hal anyway, since John has every reason to keep Hal at a distance because Hal withholds information constantly and John still believes the Coast City assignment was Hal finding a way to get him out of his way but in a sense it was and wasnt, so staying quiet would have been the easier move, and choosing telling him shows how much John sees Hal as a leader and not just and obstacle to get the ring. The idea of a Manhunter doesnt alarm Hal right away or gets him paranoic, but its the fact the Guardians were hiding a Manhunter is what really disturb him once he connects it to Abin Sur and his distrust of the Guardians finally has a real target instead of a vague old grudge. At this point the plot is getting very center focus on the Manhunter, Hal and the Guardians, while John training or becoming Hal succesor is been put aside for now, and on top of all this we havent seen Hal or John doing anything amazing with the ring so far.
Hal Jordan's Gut Keeps Getting Him in Trouble
Hal Jordan sometimes gets too excited to the point he basically becomes usless, you know like that type of people who are so impatient that when they looking up something on a document scroll up and down hundred of times and get all stress out, well thats Hal right now. He is still impatient, stubborn, and convinced he knows better than everyone else and keeps saying "his guts" know better, but at least he is usually noticing things other people miss. He is the first one to realize something is wrong with the technology in Rushville and I like that the sheriff is not just standing around waiting for him to figure everything out either. She already knew those stadium detectors were not normal and clearly has her own reasons for wanting answers, its like she knows who put them there but dont know the real reason or at least knew this were Alien detectors before Hal. Then Hal been the stubborn he is, walks straight onto Macon's property and gets himself shot because apparently slowing down for five minutes is impossible for this guy, lets keep in mind he is still a human and the ring just a tool. The hospital scene is where we get more context as Hal and the sheriff finally admit they have both been getting in each other's way. I am glad the show moves that relationship forward instead of having them argue about the same stuff again. Hal still sees that something is seriously wrong with this town, but by the end he also has to accept that he cannot do everything himself. John gets the battery and suit he needs, and the sheriff gives Hal information he never would have found on his own and by now its very clear Hal just hates depending on people, but this case is already proving he is going to have to.
Sinestro Expands the Cosmic Side Without Taking Over
The Sinestro scene at the end also worked very well because its those scenes that give the Green Lantern space plot more wings and start to expand instead of feeling like they stuck on this small town. Hal is the reason Sinestro is locked up, so the fact that he goes to see him at all tells you how badly he needs answers. Hal wants information about the Manhunter, but Sinestro quickly turns the conversation toward John Stewart, which I liked because it keeps the ending focused on Hal and John instead of just throwing Sinestro in there for a big surprise cameo and also tells me we going to keep seen Sinestro over the next episodes at some point. That is what I want from the bigger Green Lantern stuff in this show. Use it to make Hal and John's situation more complicated, not to take over the whole story. Trust Fall, is an episodes that you can tell tries to keep the balance of the story and not fall into one side too quick, not much action, more investigation tasks, keep the friction between Hal and John, well between Hal and everybody in town got to say, plus Rushville still feels shady, the Manhunter makes everything a lot more dangerous, and there are already a ton of different things happening at once. The speed of the story still worries me a little because the show is piling things on pretty fast, but Hal and John are working well enough together that I am still very interested in seeing where all of this goes.
Rating: 75/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/tv.