House of R - ‘Lanterns’ Episode 1 Deep Dive. Plus, D23 Check-in.

Episode Date: August 17, 2026

Mal and Jo are back to dive deep into the premiere of the newest DC show, ‘Lanterns.’ They talk about everything from the dynamic between Hal and John to that shocking ending! But first, they discuss all of the news that came out of D23 from the ‘X-Men’ casting announcement to a ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ trailer! (00:00) Intro (04:49) Opening Snapshot (29:27) D23 check-in (47:14) 1996: Young John and the red apple (59:20) 2016: Hal and John go for a drive (01:10:47) There’s hail in Rushville (01:14:11) Tacos, selfies, and urgent warnings (01:20:28) High school (football) is hell (01:29:04) Hal gets arrested, John gets laid (01:34:42) Hal meets the Macons (01:42:40) Hal interrogates Waylon the Alien (01:53:57) 2026: Back to the bleachers Hosts: Joanna Robinson and Mallory Rubin Producer: Carlos Chiriboga Production Assistant: Scott Lee Studio Production: Jacob Cornett and Jeff Jeff Shearin Social: Jomi Adeniran Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Greetings. And welcome to House of R. A Ringer First podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Mallory Rubin. Yeah. Joining me today asking, what's the plural for each shit? It's Joanna Robinson. Sir, yes, sir. Hello. Nice to see you. We are here to dive into the series premiere of Lanterns. Very excited for that. We are also going to talk about some X-Men casting news. and everything else that we got to witness in person at D23 at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Friday night. Surely not everything we saw there on Friday night. Surely not. Mostly just going to talk about gosho.

And we will do that all right after this. Now more than ever, quality matters. But so does price. At Marshalls, you don't have to choose. You can get the good stuff for less, the stuff that lasts. Because there's no point in tightening your belt if it's just going to break when you do. Get the good stuff in store at Marshalls today. All right, programming reminders.

We're going to be potting about lanterns on Mondays. That's the plan. That's the plan. Monday lantern pods throughout the season, this eight-episode season, we're excited. What else is going on in the coming days and weeks? Well, we're going to Baltimore. We're going to Canada yards this week. No big deal.

Mallory is just throwing out the first pitch at an Orioles game. Weather permitting. Oh. Some rain in the forecast. Really? Getting a little nervous. The podcast goes on no matter what. there for the live show pregame no matter what. Hopefully the first pitch and the watch

long for the game remain intact. Well, okay. On the one hand, I would say, surely the universe won't do this to you. But on the other hand, do you feel like you've manifested this because you're worried about your pitch? No, at this point, I think I just need to, I just need to spike the ball, 10 feet in front of my face, embrace the embarrassment and get through it. You know, I lean in no matter what, no matter what, it's a memory. That's what I've decided. The pitch is going to be a debacle, but I will enjoy it. How rainy does it have to be for it to be a rain out? Well, there can be delays. Okay, rain delay.

But an outright cancellation of the game, the rain has to be pretty bad, especially at this point in the season because it's tough to make up games. Well, let's just do a light summer rain, perhaps. Is that what the East Coast? Break some humidity with a little thunderstorm? Is the East Coast capable of that? Maybe we do some thunderstorms on Wednesday and Friday and keep it clear on Thursday. Why not?

Throwing that out there. If you're coming to the Oriole game, we cannot wait to see you. If you're in control of the weather in Baltimore, take care of us, please. Please do. Podcast topic is going to be a surprise for the people in the room in real time. Okay. Yeah. And then everybody else will find out a few days later.

Got it. Yeah. It's a surprise to me in real time that we're not announcing that. That way we have flexibility, you know? If we decide to change our mind, great. Who does? You never know. Guess what else we're doing soon, Oppenheimer.

We've scheduled it? Yes. Sean is committed? He has. Yeah. If all goes according to plan, it's on the schedule. It is on the old Google Cal. And then, speaking of things on the Google Cal, Buffy, season five, parts one and two.

You have watched the episode Full for Love. I have. And that was very exciting for me. Absolutely wonderful. To enjoy from afar. Immediately some new gifts have entered our texting. We've got some new references, so that's exciting. How can people follow along, though?

What do you think? I would say... At House of Our Pot on social. Yeah. Do that. Email us, hobbits and dragons. Atgimel.com. Do that.

We haven't really gotten any lanterns emails. I checked this morning. So, you guys, if you're watching lanterns, please do email us. I want to, this is kind of a theory show. I want to hear people's theories about what's going on at the end of lanterns. That's right. Get in there. Get in the inbox.

Follow the pod on Spotify. Yeah. Or wherever you get your podcast. You can watch the whole video episodes. It's exciting. And follow, of course, the Ringervverse YouTube channel. You got to follow the new Instagram and TikTok, though. We're having fun.

Who knows what we'll be posting from. From Baltimore. Baltimore. Maybe the house of our team. I plan to go to a museum. Is that good social content? Is that true? Yes.

That's delightful. Wonderful. I like to go to museum. Science Center, Aquarium? How many Baltimore things are you going to cram into your brief stings? There's like a big library that I want to go to and then there's an art museum I want to go to. Some delightful bookstores too that I'll hit you up. Spoiler warning.

If it happened in the first episode of lanterns, it's going to come up today. And in theory, some other things from the DCU or DC Comics could come up today. I think that will be fairly light. Yeah, but possible. And also if it happened at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. That's right. Last Friday night. That is all fair game.

That's on the table. Today. Anything else, Joe, before we get to the D23 check-in? Any other programming reminders? Any other spoiler warnings of any variety of any sort? Not that I can think of. Fantastic. Let's chat about D-23 news.

Okay. First of all, let me say this. This was my first time going to D-23. I had never been. And I was excited to go. Dare I say I was determined to go. Yeah. We went.

Yep. Probably won't go again. We went. I mean, the thing about D23 is that I feel like it used to be what used to be true, because I've gone several times. And I think what used to be true is it used to be an interesting combination of like for the fans and for making news. Like almost like, you know, like an upfront like San Diego Comic Con. We're announcing a bunch of casting in news and this is what's happening. Yeah.

I would say now that they've moved it to the Honda Center, this big arena, it, it, it, it, is playing more like a big spectacle for fans, which is fine. Like, that's great. It exists. It's a fan event. It's for fans. It's for Disney people. And that's not broadly what we cover. There was like, I don't know, a 45-minute segment, maybe if even that, of Marvel and Lucas So Much is what we were there for. And there was some other stuff that we were interested in for sure. I was there for Gato. I mean, you enjoyed the Pixar segment, so did I. But like, that's not why. we were there. I know. It's true. But it was fun to be there with all the, all the, all our pals. It was. As usual, it was a new experience to share together. And it was, it was like, white the sojourn and we were all in it together. And they went in and recorded a pot immediately after. And you and I went home and went to bed. So, you know. That's not true. We both stopped for some some fast food on the freeway. Immediate regret. Horrible decision. Anyway.

Oh, God. Marvel. We have some new inside jokes from our experience there. So that's nice. That's just a fun thing for us, for the two of us to know. Aren't they all, John? I think we can share that with the bad babies. John Favreau got up there and he was like, this is something of a personal project. He said, this is something of a personal project. Talking about Oswald, right?

Or maybe the lion thing. One of the things he was talking about. And Mallor was like, aren't they all, John? It was genuinely. Very funny, but also maybe you had to be there and like beleaguered from the whole experience, like being down by the whole experience, which we kind of were. Referenced it on the way to the parking. garage later and you were like, are you laughing at your own joke?

Someone asked to. Exactly. Someone asked you. She was just muttering, aren't they all done to herself and laughing? All right. Great stuff. Okay, so Marvel. Yeah.

X-Men casting news, some of which was known, some of it which was new in real time, and not all of which is out after just D-23. More to come, presumably. Right. Take us through what we got on the D-23 stage. Well, I will just say this was. like a bizarre, I've heard from a ton of people across disciplines that this was like a bizarrely sort of muted announcement after so much anticipation, at least in our camp, about sort of

this announcement. I would, dare I say, it was the main reason why we were there. Oh no, there's no question. So the fact that it did not really play in the room and then also I heard it didn't really play backstage and also I heard it didn't really play remotely. So I'm just, you know, it just wasn't really like. It was a smash. Very muted in the room. And again, I had never been to D23, so I was like, okay, people in the room seemed genuinely way more hyped for, like, Camp Rock 3. A thing you had to explain to me that I did not know what that was.

They lost their minds for Camp Rock 3 and they're like, X-Men never heard of them. Anyway, okay. Some of it maybe was like the pace of kind of rushing through the X-Men. Fikey had like a very brief time on the stage. And he had to sort of like bam, bam his way through some things. So X-Men casting. So 2028 for Marvel is X-Men. Men in May, Ghost Rider in July, and Black Panther 3 in December.

Right. Three Marvel movies, which used to be the norm, but it now seems extraordinary in 2028. So here's the casting. Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, we already knew. That's right. Kate Conner, as Scott Summers, had been announced. Thrilling.

Chris Abbott as Professor X had been, his name had been tossed around, but this was sort of like a big deal and a big shocker for a lot of people. people. Samara weaving as Emma Frost had been announced, Indyne Ever Ready, as rogue. A lot of people thought she might be playing Mystique. That's right. Yeah. But she was announced as rogue. Maya Boyd was like a very last minute announcement as Storm. And then Adam Driver, who is who I have been like, he's definitely not doing X-Men, but he definitely is doing X-Men. I was very wrong. Did this bizarre remote video. The idea for the video was really cute. He's like, oh, you guys said, I got high for X-Men. I'm here on set. I'm here on set. That was very cute.

But then he was like, and the crowd was cheering, so it was like hard to hear everything or maybe I'm old. And then he was like, I'm playing Magneto. And the crowd was like, oh, my God. And he's like, no, no, I'm just kidding. I'm playing Nathaniel Mulberry, right? Yes. And like it was so, because like a lot of people didn't even hear that part because they just reacted to Magneto and didn't hear that part. Also, a lot of people don't know who Nathaniel Milbury is, which is like a more.

Definitely could have just said Mr. Sinister, which is like a more obscure alter ego for Mr. Sinister. So it was just like a really bizarre, like sort of like, uh, what, what's happening? Yes. So that's, uh, but I'm excited for this cast. Yes, I should say after all of that. I think this is a great cast. I think the rumors that Charles Melton may have turned down Beast or is at least like devastating.

Making them pay and they haven't negotiated yet. Well, good. Get your money, Charles. Or something like that. But like, you know, Faggy said, we haven't cast everyone. So, like, death, probably it's Beast that. we're waiting for, perhaps a mystique, perhaps a Magneto, or maybe they're not doing Magneto in the first movie. Are we not going to get Magneto and Wolverine in the first film?

I don't know. Well, Wolverine, I can understand why we wouldn't, right? But like, interesting. Would it be interesting to maybe not do a Magneto? To sort of like, because the Xavier Magneto dynamic, which has been so central for both generations of film castes that we've seen, maybe they're like, we want to do something a little different. And if we clear, if we wait to introduce a Magneto, then it's about Charles and his students, and that's a bit more, you know, focused on that dynamic. And leading with Sadie Sink as Gene Gray and Kit Connor as Scott as Cyclops, Mr. Sinister with those two characters, that really makes sense.

It's like a focus of this initial film. I agree with you. I think there are two distinct buckets. There's how did the announcement play in the anticlimactic kind of like, oh. We're not that's, oh, wait. Was he? Oh, so he's not Magneto. It was all very weird.

And then there's the actual excitement around the cast, which I think is great. And those are like distinct reactions. Yeah. We are, in terms of the time, because the whole, we were there with the Midnight Boys PPU, they talked about this on their pod. I think all of us were like, boy, this just would have like landed more if we had gotten to hear this news at Hall H at Comic-Com, but obviously, definitionally, sequencing-wise, that couldn't happen because Spider-Man brand-new day wasn't out yet. It's not just that.

They hadn't signed the contracts. Yeah. So, like, this was the moment to do it. Alas, we had to make room for all of the other. Do you think they should have waited for a New York Comic Con to do it? Possibly. Yeah. Possibly.

But I guess they got to, you know, make their own event marquee. I don't know. It feels like everybody there would have been absolutely just delighted with the, the, the, bluey and Ice Age announcements and would have been fine, honestly, if they had waited. So something to think about. Yeah. We, you introduced me to Heart Stopper a couple years ago, and we are, I mean, our Sadie Sink enthusiasm is well established, obviously.

We are huge Kit Conner fans. So I'm just thrilled about Sadie Sink and Kit Conner as, as Jean and Scott. I think they're just wonderful. I, like you, am a millennial, and thus, girls, is an incredibly important part of my life and viewing history. And thus... I met Andrew Reynolds yesterday. It was very important to me. Oh, wow.

Incredible stuff. Jealous. Look, Chris Abbott, Charlie from Girls, being here as Professor X. And Adam Driver, I mean, the fact that two of our girls' centerpieces are here in this movie. One of your people are like, it's Kylo Ren. Not us. I mean, we're also like it's Kylo Red. But also the narrative is like, well, this is the narrative that came up when Adam Diver was cast as Kylo Ren, but it's just sort of like all these opportunities for the guys from girls and where are the opportunity for the girls from girls?

Great question. Have you seen the clip circling from girls of Marnie Allison Williams' character reacting to Charlie shaving his head and her being like so she's like put it back essentially? He has a great head of hair. Oh, yeah, he does. Great curls. But yeah, just had a baby with Aubrey Plaza. Right. Just wrapped up a run on Broadway. There's a ton of Broadway actors here. That's right. Maya Boyd, and this is awesome and so exciting for this performer.

Maya Boyd, but like, Sadie Sink and Kit Connor and Chris Abbott were all on Broadway in the last couple of years. And so this is just like very exciting for the theater kid energy here. I have not seen obsession, but I understand that to everybody alive who has seen obsession, the roadcasting is huge. I've not seen it so I can't comment, but I know that it's really funny because on the big pick on, sorry, Armory Watchables, we did obsession. We were literally talking about what Indy Never Ready should do. Yeah. And I said she shouldn't do this, but she wants to do it. And she wants and like who would say no to, she's an X-Men fan.

That's right. So she wants to do it. And who would say no to this paycheck at this time in her life? I was just making the argument that I, because whether or not listeners of this podcast care, the best actress race is quite weak this year. And there is a possibility that she could have won. with a combination of like Amy Madigan in weapons energy and Mikey Madison in Anora Energy, this sort of like, ingenue meets this horror movie made a ton of money.

I was like really pushing this narrative. I think her signing on to X-Men actually kind of nukes her chances of getting best actress this year because it signals something else that she wants to do for her career, which is great and exciting for those of us who are X-Men fans. But I was just sort of like, as she's taking her like, what's her first step? after obsession? And is it chasing an Oscar that she maybe could have or could not have won? Or is it chasing this financial security and like a big franchise that she's excited to be a part of? Those are like two rows diverged and this is the one she took. And I'm excited. I think she'll be a great rogue.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I think she'll be fantastic. I'm excited for you to see obsession. I know you will eventually. I don't think so. I think you will. Not now that I've heard about the animal violence. I think I'm out. I think you can just skip that scene. I feel like it's too... Maybe if you give me specific timestamps, but I can't skip parts of movies that I watch. It's just not constitutionally something I'm capable of it. Can we just like put a hand in front of your face?

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. We'll consider it. Okay, the Doomsday trailer. We already covered this on our Comic-Con pod. If you want to hear our thoughts on that trailer, check out that pot. It was the same trailer we had already seen at Comic-Con.

Now it's out in the wider world so everyone can share it. Chris Evans. Robert Danny Jr. and Haley Atwell, we're on stage. I've got of them lads. They let Chris talk this time. They sure did. They sure did. He got to say like one whole sentence this time. But another great knit polo. Oh my God, incredible stuff. The knit polo era is just a real thrill. I love it.

Vision Quest trailer, that was a highlight. This was my number one moment of the D23 experience. I thought this was incredible. We're about to talk for a very long time about how handsome you find Kyle Chandler. And Kyle Chandler is undoubtedly handsome and charming and all the things you want him to be in Lanterns. Without question. Yes. But he is like, you know, fastball down the middle, your type in this, right? Yeah. Yeah.

Paul Bettany Envision Quest. Uh-huh. That's for me. Great. That's three-piece suit, Paul Bettany in a mind palace. Wonderful. That's for me. This is incredible.

I am so excited for this. October 14th is when this comes out. We got Jarvis is here. That's right. We've got, you know, all the AIs that have existed in the MCU, in this sort of stark verse, are here with human appearance inside of this mine palace that Vision has built. And I think that's, you know, it's long known to be the premise, but to see it, just to like see Jarvis is, is so exciting.

Yeah. Ultron in a human in a human form. I mean, God, what a time to be alive covering the show. I mean, Spader. Wonderful. Spader great. Henry Lewis and Jonathan Sayer are playing Dummy and you. You see them a couple times in the trailer, these sort of like match set kind of guys. They're also theater guys who I'm really, really excited to see. They're in the play that goes wrong from Mischief Theater, which my nephew, Julian, is obsessed with. So I'm really, really excited to see them here. Julian, he's really cool. They're both super cool.

How much are how cool they are? I have, actually. They are cool kids. And Emily Hampshire is as Edith. I think we get a shot of her with, like, fun goggles on her head. And we get Friday. recast, but Orla Brady is playing Friday with this like id, ego, super ego book. There's just all these like fun visual things like the milk in the refrigerator is like

infinitary or like the popcorn that he's eating in the movie theater where he's watching footage from Wanda Vision and from Age of Ultron says like popped memories on the, you know, it's just going to be like a really fun like Wanda Vision, like Agatha all along, just like a really fun to just sort of spot the little, cute little, little. clues as we try. I mean, that's why part of why we loved Wanda Vision and Agatha all along is it's like they were incredible cast, really well executed, and then also it was a puzzle for us to try to figure out. Yes. And for the characters to figure out what was going on at the same time. And that just like scratches something in my brain that's really, really exciting. So I am just like,

I've watched this trailer 20 times. I'm so excited for this show. And, you know, like, the wrapping up of the trilogy. And we have Tommy's here. That's right. So he's very prominently featured in the trailer. Yeah. Yeah. Like first you just see him on a monitor, you're like, is that going to be it? No, he's all over this trailer. I'm working on how to pronounce this young actor's name. I've been told it's like Rory, but like with a pause in the middle. So it's like Roeori kind of. He's Scottish. I don't know if you've seen it spelled out. It is difficult to read for American eyeballs. But I believe it's something like Rory. And I've heard He's really, really, really, really good in this.

So I'm just like excited. I don't know if we're going to get Joe Locke at some point. Surely at some point in some capacity. Towards the end, he has to be there as Billy. And like, there is a woman in the trailer who I don't think Elizabeth Olson is in this, but like there is a woman in the trailer who looks like Wanda. So if that's another character fucking with him and like dressed up like Wanda inside of his mind or something like that, its possibility.

And then the whole premise of like looking back on your life What's interesting is I don't know if you saw the The movie Eternity with Lizzie Olson and Miles Teller and Callum Turner that came out last year But it's sort of about like a woman choosing in her afterlife of sort of like whether to go with her husband or this Her first husband or her second husband and spend eternity with them And there's this like museum of memory sequence and it's very similar to this. So I just thought it was like really interesting to have this like Lizzie thinking about Lizzie Olson in that movie when I was like

looking at him, like, walking down the movie theater, you know, hallway. And there's, like, these giant movie posters that have to do with things that happen in his life and stuff like that. Anyway, point being, Vision Quest. Right. I'm so excited. Can't wait to rewatch Wanda Vision. It's been, as we confronted the other day, more than half a decade.

Yeah. Which is fucking nuts. I'm about to have my fifth year anniversary here at the ringer, and it came out before that. Right. We didn't pot about it together. So we have a plan to do a WandaVision Rewatch episode, which we're really, really excited about. You can't fucking wait.

Star Wars? Star Wars. We got to see a trailer for Asoka Season 2. Thought the overall trailer vibe was exciting and interesting. They've not improved the look of Throne. I thought they improved it slightly. I actually thought it looked worse. Okay.

But we only got to see it once. He's like a paler blue. Yes, he looked chalkier. And I don't... He did. But the paint looked less wet. Like, he looked so moist. moist as Thrawn in season one.

That's true. I was just excited to see my babe shit, Hottie. Maybe like, you literally 10 seconds before she appeared to me and Steve and you're like, remember Shathe and then she showed up. Great stuff. But the thing is, like you said earlier,

we went for the X-Men casting, everyone's buzzing about the X-Men casting. That was not the hammer of the night. Starfighter was. Right. We built toward the trailer, which, I've got to say it lamentably,

they only played once. We were both like, and here they go. They're about to play it again. And then they didn't. I tried to start a chance that was like, play it again. And maybe if we had been part of the wave that they did earlier, the crowd would have felt the need to, like, go with me. But we were not team players. So they were not team players for me.

What did you think of the Starfighter trailer? We got our first glimpse. Okay. I thought it looked great. Same. Honestly, I thought I did. I was talking to somebody yesterday. I was like, I have doubts about Sean Levy.

And they're like, is that because he's never made a good movie? And I was like, yeah, to me, my tastes. Yeah. But. How dare you? Sorry. But Kate O'Brien is like an incredible name for a character. I actually thought the footage looks great.

His jacket. Sick jacket. I mean, Ryan Gosling's got to have a cool jacket in most of his movies. That's right. You know, so he's getting his ghostwriter on a little early. Mia, goth, Matt Smith, Aaron Pierre, who we are freshly interested in. So our guy Daniel Ings. Yeah.

Looks great. I thought the trailer looked awesome. Very fun. Looks like it's going to have like a real kind of hip, edgy energy. We didn't see much about the plot. No, mostly about the vehicle. Mostly about the fastest starfighter. Mostly about the known to man.

The titular vehicle. The galaxy. And guess what? That was enough for a first glimpse. The cool jacket. The like water vapor imagery. We thought like look really cool. Yeah.

I'm hyped. I'm excited for the trailer to be released, hopefully, soon? Maybe that'll be around New York Comic-Con. Who the fuck knows? And then we can pour over it in more detail. Yeah, Kate O'Brien is a sick name. That's a good character name. Kate O'Brien.

Any other highlights? Let's actually talk about Pixar for a second, for a couple reasons. One. We had a great time with the Pixar presentation. Good job, Pete Doctor. Genuinely easily I thought the Pixar stretch was the highlight of the night. Everything that Pixar showed us looked great. Gato just looks delightful.

This is about a monster cat. Gatto was the last thing they showed and they showed a number of things and every single time something new came up. I was like Gato. Is it Gatto? It was Gato time. Gato looks amazing. You have decided that our new mantra will be.

Get to Gato. Get to Gato. When we have a tough day, and I'm like, I can't do it anymore, man. You got to get to Gato. You're going to text me, get to Gato. Got to get to Gato. It's March 2020. You have to survive long enough to see Gato.

That's... I can do that. March 27. I can't make promises beyond. Cocoa 2. Yes. Oh my God. I lost my mind.

Just the glimpse. We didn't see like footage with some images and stuff. Concept art. Concept art. He's... Miguel is older. Distressing. We learned something.

Yeah. During the Cocoa 2 glimpse. And it is that our beloved colleague, friend, creative soulmate. The most important news out of Vance. Out of D-23. Sorry. And out of Van. The Van has not seen Coco.

And I just think, there are a few certainties in life. But Van loving Coco is one of them. Van will love that movie. Should we do a special Dia de los Mauritos episode where we cover Coco with Van? Can someone just send Van a calendar invite for that right now? Don't tell him what it's about. Yeah. We'll just watch Coco with Van.

We'll watch it here and then we'll record immediately after as the tears are still streaming down his face. Fantastic. Mama Coco was featured in the concept. art, Benjamin Bratt, looking very handsome, came out to talk about how his character... So dapper. I thought it was going to be a guy L, but Benjamin Bratt. A great second option here. Ernesto de la Cruz.

Very excited. November 2029. Delightful. Incredible's three. Thrilling. Those movies are great. A new mystery. Those children have not aged, unlike Miguel.

Those children are the same age. No. But yeah, that's exciting. Ghost market. It looked great. Just absolutely delightful. So the Pixar stuff looks great. That's exciting.

Anything else from all of the other stuff we saw. Percy, season three, Oswald, Tangled, bluey, Ice Age, Camp Rock three, anything at all. The Greatest Showman live. Any other highlights? Shout up the, what is it, like the stage managers from greatest showmen who we ran into in the elevator. Yeah. The aerial work was very cool in that presentation.

Very, very cool. Tangled, I will say. Catherine Hahn got a huge reaction at the, the Honda Center. She's a legend. The entire arena just lost their marbles for Catherine Hahn because they showed very little footage. It was like the, the actress who play Flynn Ryder and I don't remember what Tangled herself's name is. I mean, is it Rapunzel or is it something more fun than that? Anyway, Flynn Ryder and Tangled herself. Let's look it up. Let's see. Tangle. 2010 were, like, did a little fun. Oh, yeah, it's just Rapunzel. Great. I just didn't know if it was like

something more oddball than that. Did like a fun thing from the set. But in terms of footage, it was just like sort of Catherine Hahn's hand sort of creepily around a doorway. And then, you know, she came out to talk about how she was playing Mother Gauthel. So that was, that was, the Catherine Hanov and all was very excited. And I think Tangled live action could be fun and interesting. How are they going to do that hair? I'm interested to find out.

What a wig watch that's going to be. I mean, it looked incredible in the, like, you know, the video that they showed of the two of them, her wig looked incredible, but it's going to be, it's prehensile. That's going to be a lot of CG work on that, on that hair. How much actual physical hair is on the wig versus what's added via CGI? Like, do you have to. A ton because we saw it. Yeah. I don't think they added, CGA added her hair to that like travelogue thing that they did. No. So do you have to train like an F1. driver in terms of building up neck strength if you're carrying that much hair. Yeah. Let's get Landonaris to comment on Tangled. I think a lot of it is like draped around her like a boa sort of thing.

You know what I mean? So I think it's sort of like draped. And that way you can distribute the weight. It's not just all on the neck. Okay. Tune in for more Wigwatch TM commentary with Joanna Robinson TM. Anything else you want to shout out? I thought that Oswald, you know, we really roasted Sean when he took that in the final round.

I'm still happy to roast it for it for it. The hype draft, and it was a strange pick, I think, based on where we were in the hype. Well, it was the wrong year. He really wildwooded it, you know? It's a proud tradition in the hype. Yeah, exactly. The little glimpse that we saw of Oswald, let me tell you something precious. Very charming. It's absolutely precious. Have you given away your commemorative trading card yet to another person as you vowed to? Or have you kept it? I have not found a stranger on the street who wants them. But if you want my... If you want my...

If you want my... Oh, yeah, yeah. That's a whole. All day. Easy. Great. I don't attend to give him mine. I will use it as a lure to make sure he shows up for the Oppenheimer pod. Oh, look at you. Excellent strategy.

Thank you. All right. We did it. D23. We were there. Next year we'll be potting about that news remotely. Thank you for Disney for having us. Thank you to Disney for having us.

We really appreciate. That's great experience. That experience. Now we know. Should we talk about lanterns? Yes. Opening snapshot. Oh, wait.

And really quickly. Shout out to Caitlin, who was working the event. Oh, yeah, shout out Caitlin. A lovely listener. Bad baby. Yeah. Wonderful. Your summer travels deserve an upgrade.

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Okay. Episode one, pilot. Directed by James Hawes, written by Chris Mundy, showrunner and co-creator. Daman Lindo Lov. Aviannavim Loz. Friend of the pod. Co-creator and Tom King co-creator. So the three co-creators of the show wrote this premiere.

Wonderful stuff. This is a 57-minute episode, so nearly a full hour. Meaty. Before we get into the episode itself, some table setting here. What is your relationship to just Green Lantern as a fictional universe, as a character set, anything? Not very profound. You know, I've read some comics, and I know the lore, you know, the basics of the lore. I've definitely seen the terrible movie. That movie is quite poor. Quite bad. Yeah. And that's pretty much it. You know, I've been Guy Gardner,

you know, as played by Nathan Dillian, I'm aware of, but, you know, that's about it. Yeah, talk about a wig watch. My goodness. Similar spot for me, you know, not. You know, the comic book character set, superhero set that I have the deepest history with her connection to, but that's actually part of what's exciting about the show, I think. Like, it's not only an excuse. Certainly watching this episode, I became really excited to dive further into the comics and familiarize myself a little more deeply. With the inspiration.

Yeah, but it's also, like, right away, it feels like this show can be a seminal experience for us with lanterns, which is exciting. There's a lot of exposition in this episode, but it's done fairly deftly, I thought. Yes, for sure. Guy Gardner's hair also quite important to me in the Superman film and Guy Gardner's comic excellence

of the Superman film, just something that I'd never like to miss an opportunity to talk about. You know, I thought that was great. I think that the 2011 Greenlander film is one of the worst superhero movies ever made. That's an opinion shared by many, not a controversial take, I don't think.

Did you rewatch it? I did. Yeah, I thought you would. Lamentably, I did. You know what? I knew you would. I did. Got to say.

You're very thorough. You take your job very seriously. And I was like, Mallor's going to put herself through that for some reason. It was kind of shocking to revisit it, actually. This was really an experience. What was it like to bask in the origin of the love story of Blake lively and Ryan Reynolds? Yep, it was there. Okay.

What a movie to fall in love while making. Just two people who were in existing. relationships. All right. Mark Strong's Sinestro, remember that? I do. I do. Really something. Really something. Oh, Mark. Parallax. Shout out. Shout out. Shout out. Okay. Initial reception for lanterns. Yeah. It's positive. Very strong response so far from critics and fans alike. We are recording this first thing Monday morning. So the viewership numbers from HBO are not out yet. We don't know like how many people watched. Hopefully we'll find that soon. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a little bit of a slow build. Yeah. That would be my expectation as well. Maybe start small and then we build if the hype continues to be strong and the buzz is good.

Similar to Night of the Seven Kingdoms, which had like a fairly healthy debut, but I think the strong word of mouth really grew the viewership for that show. We got to get poop robin out there chirping about lanterns, you know. 90 and 91 on the deeply flawed rotten tomatoes. More importantly, everybody at the ringer seems hyped, so that's really fun. It's like the ringer, the ringer verse, the ringer crew is excited about lanterns. That's thrilling. Joanna Robinson, I actually don't know what you thought of lanterns.

I know. You've been holding back your opinion. You know what I thought about it. But you have been keeping it. I have been deeply skeptical of this show. You have been championing the show. And I have been a little rain cloud this entire time. What did you think?

I enjoyed it. Oh, yay. Great. I've seen episode one. Yeah. And I quite enjoyed it. Wonderful. Yeah.

I would say B plus a minus is where I would put it. But like in a way where I'm not like, oh, it's all downhill from here. I'm excited to see where it goes. You know, what you told me when you saw episode one, which you did before me, was, you know, Kyle Chandler. That was basically the review. And then later other things, but like mostly Kyle Chandler. And I was like, sure. But how much can one man do in 57?

minutes. And it turns out plenty. Everything. And like, I had a great time at the, at the Comic-Con panel. I thought it was all the footage they showed. And most of that footage was in this episode. So, like, I had frankly seen a lot of this episode already because I was at that panel. But, um, but Kyle Chandler's charm and charisma. It's astonishing. Is astounding. That's the superpower of the show. And then Aaron Pierre, who's someone I was just not very familiar with, and I was, I was really, I wasn't worried about him as a performer because I had no context. So it wasn't like, I was like, oh, this guy isn't very good because I hadn't, you know, I had no opinion on that way or one way or another.

But I was quite worried about the character archetype that I thought they were setting up. Because you and I've seen so many shows recently on our patch that have really leaned into this sort of like stoic character. We talked about it a lot with Asoka. We talked about it a lot with the Mandalorian, when you had like Bocatan and Mando sort of like having a stoic off, you know what I mean? And we saw it with the last of us. And sometimes it's great, but a lot of times it's not. And this is, I just want this to go out in a textbook for all TV creators as like the best way to give us a stoic character. Because I would still call this character a stoic character, but there is like enough charm and warmth.

and, like, humanity inside of Aaron Pierre's performance here, that it doesn't feel like, you know, stiff, you know, like a total stiff up against this, like, bouncing charismatic figure. You know what I mean? He's, he's in his own right. I am deeply invested in him. So if we wind up spending more time in the 2026 timeline, work, as far as we know, Kyle Chandler is a corpse. That's right. I'm not like a post. I'm like, I'm still interested. Oh yeah, for sure. You know? And so that was something I was quite worried about, but I thought they really, like, he was really great in this, in this episode. Yeah, they're both fantastic individually and they are just, I think, electric together, the dynamic between John and Howl, which the entire premiere and it seems the premise of the show. Show series hinges on really working for me. I thought this premiere was really great. I'm, I'm, I,

I'm very excited to talk about it and to cover the show. I love Kyle Chandler. Listeners of this podcast know that he is a formative central presence in my life. I don't know Kyle Chandler. You love early edition. But can we say that you got to meet Kyle Chandler? I did. Which you did.

Yeah, I had the genuine pleasure. of moderating the preseason panel press conference for lanterns a couple days ago. And, you know, you get to meet everyone before. And it was obviously, like, helpful to know Damon, takes a little bit of the nervous edge off. Kyle Chandler was there first. So I got to meet him first. And as our lovely, you know, the moderator team was, the panel team was bringing me over. He just, like, points.

CSTB coming and goes, moderator moderator that was great and i texted you after got to shake kyle chandler's hand pretty proud of myself that i didn't faint and i didn't so that was great i'm proud of you panel was wonderful delightful to meet tom king that was really fun it was great um so i love this premiere i think that kyle chandler is genuinely wonderful as how jordan like it's a are you born he's he's coach Taylor, he's always been coach Taylor to me, but it's like, are you, were you born to play How Jordan at this stage in How Jordan's life? He's coach tailoring, but with like a couple added flavors into the Kool-Aid, and it's, it's pretty fantastic. And I mean, like,

I will say this to be clear. Like, am I, you know, if we spend time in 2026 in other episodes in the season, am I interested? Yes. Am I interested in like an entire, like a season two where he's not in it? I would be a little worried about that. But they set up in this, you know, given that we are like, we are in 96, 2000. We have a context for 2006. We're in 2016, 2020, and also in the 96 broadcast, which is where we start, there's the 10 years ago. So, 1986. So there's 86, 96, 2006, 2016, 2020s.

So a lot of opportunity for flashback, Hal. And the Hallogram. Hallogram was incredible. Hallogram is just like a perfect opportunity for like if Hal is really dead and we can talk about all the theories that are cooking around that at the end. But like if he is dead and he stays dead, they have set it up that they can still have Kyle Chandler with less gray in his hair for the rest of the run. Perish the thought. The pepper in the hair, the salt in the hair is part of the charm. I agree.

I think it looks great. But I was like, why did Kyle let them like make him so gray? and it was so that he could show up with less gray in his hair and you could see that it was 10 years previous. Wonderful stuff. The wisecracking, the smart ass, but also in the primary timeline of 2016, the kind of jaded, increasingly cynical.

I loved those quick glimpses of Hal across time that we got to see very quickly inside of this one episode how something clearly had changed for him, the evolution and his demeanor and disposition. This was my first experience with Aaron Pier and I thought he was wonderful. Like really, really captivating and great as John Stewart,

obviously a character who means so much to so many people, one of the first black superheroes in DC comics, listening to Aaron Pierre talk about what that means to him has been like really moving and beautiful. He is just like so thoughtful about the role in the character. That's been great. The Are You Afraid question, this was like very centrally present in the trailers

and the marketing for the season. Obviously this is this is lanterns canon. This is a core part of the Green Lantern story in question. But the fact, so of course, here. It's like the perfect thing to mine inside of a prestige TV HBO version of a Lantern's adaptation. I have such a spicy take on this. Oh, I don't know. I actually don't know if it's bad. No, I'm not, I'm not anti. I just have a potentially like, I'm excited to get to it. Peppery take. Okay. Well, this is a salt and pepper podcast because of the Hal Jordan here.

So great. It's fantastic. I think also this question with that Hal, John trainee dynamic of which path to the ring is like more valid, which path is worthier being chosen or having to work for it, having to earn it, that challenge that John issues to Hal on this episode, like shit, maybe you should have, is so good and so interesting. It's interesting because you identified that to me early when you had seen the episode as like sort of a central premise of the show, which I thought was really compelling. But it was so interesting inside of this episode, and we can talk about it a little bit more. I don't know if it's my like...

Denax cusp, like, distress of authority. Sure. But I'm like, maybe I do trust a magical ring over like, you know, an organization where I don't quite know their intentions in terms of why they're putting John there and stuff like that, you know? And it's like, on the one hand. Absolutely. Like when you presented those options to me, outside of the context of me seeing the episode,

I was like, well, obviously the path where the person did the interview and did the work, And then that surely is the message of the show that it's just sort of like Kyle Chandler, the charismatic white guy gets it handed to him. And then this like young black man who has worked so hard his entire life and done everything right and had to like work 10 times harder than Hal Jordan ever had to. Surely the message is like that's the more merit-based path to Green Lanternhood. Right. But I was just like, I don't trust these. They're not people. I don't trust these folks.

You know? And I'm just sort of like, but at the same time, is this magical artifact, I don't know if that's what we want to call it, this magical piece of jewelry, like how trustworthy is that? Is it as trustworthy as a sword and the stone? It picked Guy Gardner. That guy kind of sucks. So I don't know, you know, like. I think a complicated.

I don't know. These things are mysterious sometimes. Yes. And I think that the initial presentation of this clash of. inside of the Hal John relationship is a scintillating start. My expectation would be that there is a complexity to what we will explore from there that will be very interesting to track. And then, you know, I think the last kind of big picture item is just Rushville,

Nebraska, the setting, because lanterns is inherently, the green lantern comic book universe is inherently cosmic, galactic, vast, sprawling. It's the green lantern core, right? There are lanterns in all of the sectors across the... the galaxy. So all different colors. Yes, the idea of rooting us in this very specific, dusty, small town at a high school football game. You know, Nebraska forever. People have been talking about and describing this in part because of Chris Mundy's involvement as a showrunner, right, Ozark, True Detective, etc. as like

Lanterns does True Detectives. There's, uh, a very grounded, earthbound element to this sprawling galactic story. And I think in the premiere, at least, that balance felt to me pretty compelling. Like putting the mystery, giving us the mystery, and having these moments where we already get a sense that Howl's origin with the ring connects to this place. John is really pressing him like, fuck. Hale, it even sounds like aliens. You know, what happened here?

The ship crashing. Do you agree that hail sounds like aliens? I was like, wait, oh, hail, okay, I got it. Take me a minute. Halions? I guess so. Well, from the show that brought us Hallogram, you know, aliens. Hologram's great.

The initial glimpses of in the 60 Minutes newsreel footage, the suit, and then, you know, in this episode, a little initial flash, like the first time that, you know, John reaches to use the ring. We just get the green as the car is crashing. how the construct of the counterfeit money to fire up the jukebox. The I thought instantly iconic bottle cap opener and wink to Sheriff Kerry. It worked on me. Of course it did. Sheriff Barry made a stronger stuff. It worked on me, folks.

And just the first time we see Hal like pop off into flight, the incorporation of those comic book superhero elements felt flawlessly entwined in this Nebraska setting to me, and I think that could have gone wrong so far it doesn't feel like it has. Yeah. Do you think this season ends with John putting the suit on?

Do you think that has to happen the finale of this season? Well, I think like you're, what you've already kind of pinged about because this premiere ends with the 2026, the twist of discovering Howell's body and giving us, you know, the clarity that we have at least in that one closing scene

moved into the now what is the present timeline of the rest of the DCU, the possibility that we spend more time there, of course, you know, not to jump ahead to the end of the pod, but John picks up, like, Howell's hand, dusts off the snow, no ring on Howell's hand and no ring on Johns. So somebody has taken that ring. Where is it? Who has it? Does that mean that John didn't get it in the, in, does that mean, 10 years in between? I think we'll have those suit at some point. No, I'm just curious because, I mean, that's sort of the like MCU model we had been seeing. You know what I mean?

Like Wanda suits up and then like Wickin suits up. You know, like that sort of like finale moment. So is that something that this show will want to do? Of course, logistically, I have a ton of questions. I mean, inside of this episode, they're like, there can only be one earth on Green Lantern at a time. And we know Guy Gardner exists. So that complicates a lot of things for us in the 2026. You know, have the rules changed by the time we get to 2026 or like, you know, or what's going on.

Did the ring choose Guy Gardner instead? Is that what happened? My God. You know, so a lot of questions. But I can just see that being like a big finale moment. I'm just asking questions. That would be entirely plausible. Yeah.

Entirely plausible. Should we get to the episode breakdown? Let's do it. Okay. We start in 1996. We start in the past with young John, his brothers, his dad, and 60 minutes, and crucially, a red apple. And a red apple. Journalism and a red apple. Oh, man. How do you feel Team Red being associated with, frankly, irresponsible parenting? I'm just going to say it. It's a brave take. Brave take. Bold take for me.

Shooting apples off your kids' head is not something that you endorse. Is that not how your parents marked your height as you were growing up? Was it mirror masking tape on the door jam? You know, my parents never did the leg now. You're this tall thing on a doorframe or anywhere. They didn't care. I always thought that was fun when we went to like other people's houses. They were just like, now you needed another pair of sneakers again?

You grew again? All right, so we're in the past. Young John and his brothers are watching this 60 Minutes clip where Hal is revealing his identity. As you've noted, we hear in this clip, okay, well, before we know, he's a, he's been around 10 years. So he's been the, he's been Green Lantern. Since 86. But he's about to say his name. Yeah. And there's this notable distinction right away where

John's two brothers are very anxious that dad is going to come off. Would you say they're afraid and he's not afraid? I would say that that seems like a notably intentionally conveyed contrast. You know what else is a great cover for digitally de-aging someone? 90s Tube TV. Yeah. It still was a little like that's a de-aged face. For sure. But the grainy, you know, tube TV really covered some. No question. And he is, Hal is in the suit.

And he looked hot. He used to wear it a lot more. That's right. I loved that conversation of the taco stand about the suit. Notably, he's also more earnest. He's more measured. He's less jaded. He's less of a smart ass now this is a television interview.

But he's very much like, this is my responsibility. And I'm here to tell you about it. It's a different tone. And thus a nice setup for how things have changed for Hal as we move across time. We get some of the biodeats in this 60 Minutes clip that are familiar from the cannon. His father was killed in a crash test flight pilot. How was it? Hal becomes a test flight pilot as well, becomes an Air Force pilot, and then the ring chosen. How are you chosen? Is there a test? It's only one question. Are you afraid? And you said no, I did. Big question. Yeah. Do you believe him?

that he said, I am not afraid, or that he was not actually afraid. I believe that he said it, because I believe that Hal Jordan is defined by his bravado and also as a character who doesn't always tell himself the truth about how he feels. The ring's ability to parse the truth beneath the lie is interesting, but of course, this is also one of the interesting things about Green Lantern canon. The idea of fear and will as these opposing forces and the lantern's channeling will manifested Will. You know, the way that, and we get, are you afraid, no, sir, we get young John asked this question too when his father comes home and takes him out to shoot apples off his head. And we see

all the holes in the garage behind him. So it's very clear right away, like, this is the routine. He's been training him to become a lantern, which is like very interesting and odd. I just, I just, my TV watching hackles go up when, yes, I know that this is like comic book canon, but if we just hear it from one character and a character who later has proven himself, you know, we hear other versions of, more information about this story from Hal in the bar. And again, just like it's... Pretty intense. But like, I don't fully believe, I think there's something untrue about this origin story.

You think he said, I'm fucking terrified and the green bubble yanked him anyway. I don't know, but I'm just saying I'm just, I'm just not taking this at face value. I think that whether the reaction in real time to waking up hungover in the green bubble and getting asked that question and answering whatever he answered in real time is different from the fable or truth that he recounts, however apocryful, that bit of myth-making might be, I think the, as this episode, you know, really, I think does a nice job right away of you through something like Sheriff Carey's moment with John as they're watching Howell and Terragut, Whalen, great scene. Mm-hmm. He's not fucking fearless. He's lonely. The truth. And so this is my, yeah, this is my pepper take. Tell me. Which is like, so the Green Lantern, and I don't, I genuinely don't know. And you've spent more time thinking about this and actually interacting with people who've worked on this show. So you have a better grasp of this than I do. But I'm curious if this sort of emotional absolutism of like you have to be. wholly unafraid, will versus fear. Yeah. Is that the message of this story that that is the way to be?

Oh, I would be shocked. I think it'll be the opposite. So this is what I'm saying is like it's just really ringing Jedi bells for me, right? Where it's just sort of like the Jedi Council is like here's the inhuman absolutist way for you to be a Jedi. And it is an unreasonable expectation for someone. And like, do I believe that like fear, you know, something that that is really interesting is in the opening, like the, it's not credits, it's like the logo of the show. We start with the yellow light, which is the fear light inside of, I know, I know you know, I'm just saying in case someone listening doesn't know, but like is the fear light

inside of. So, like, obviously, the yellow light, the fear light is, is present inside of the story. We know Sinestro's, like, in this show. Like, all of, all of that is, is obviously part of it. But I just don't know, you know, and to your point, what Kelly McDonald's character says about fear. But I just, you know, Damon Lindeloff is working on the show. Yeah, exactly. I don't know how much of his interest, you know, when he talked to us about his Star Wars project and the fact that his interest in interrogating the Jedi Council and their ideas of emotional absolutism is something that was already on his mind. Yeah. So like how much is that being ported over into this world where in the canon of lanterns these various lights represent these good and bad emotions and it is quite a binary kind of world?

I just think it's, you know, and John has been trained his whole life. Yeah. To say he's not afraid. Right. And Hal obviously, you know, I think what Kelly McDonald's character says about, I just think Carrie is like a really kind of dumb name. I don't know why. It's like hard for me to say.

Keep saying Kelly McDonald's character. But anyway, you know, what she's saying about fear, fear means you have to have. attachments, very Jedi. Sure. And isn't that the better way, the better, more rounded person to be? I don't think this is a peppery take. I would be shocked if the series was not interested in exploring the nuance of what drives people to say, I'm not afraid, or to try to talk themselves into that being a way that they need

to live their lives and whether that is appropriate or even possible or good. I feel like that's part of the appeal. of making a television show version of this where you get to really live in those character. I think even the complete shit show of the 2011 movie, which is bad, as we already said, but also I would say not nimble in terms of like, what's it really like to be a person? Right. And also not nimble in terms of not showing us repeating footage from the first five minutes of the movie five minutes after. It's just one of the weirder things.

But like even in that movie, Hal has his big. I'm terrified moment. Like I think that's part of the, that's part of the world too. But I think the core framing, to your point, undeniably, is more, I like the Jedi comp a lot

in terms of like the structure of the world. Yeah. I think that it is the need to answer the test, are you afraid by saying no. It's much more like dune-coded fears the mind killer than Thrones. How can a man be brave if he is afraid that is the only time a man can be

brave, which is obviously I think the world, we love both those stories, but that's maybe the thing that feels more like emotionally true. What you already said, though, like, I don't know. I just, to me, like a Damon, a show that Damon Lindelof is involved with in any way is going to be interested in exploring the insecurities and terror of our humanity born out of our trauma and our loss and our pain and our fear. Fear will be the driver. So I agree with you.

I just think I guess that would be my husband. I've just been seeing a lot of takes from people who love the comics of this like fear versus will binary. And of course, that's been like consistently yellow versus green light sort of like binary idea. And I just am excited for the possibility of this show to give us something much muddier in the color palette. You know what I mean at the end of the day. That is my hope as well. Yeah. You noted just in general earlier the idea of flashbacks and how flashbacks plus the halogram, etc. could keep hal on the show.

Obviously the fact that the show opens with young John promises John flashbacks as well. So it feels like we'll be moving throughout time with all the characters, which is exciting. And that, of course, to the true detective point, you know, that true detective comp had been thrown around since the very beginning, as you mentioned, in terms of what they were hoping to deliver with this show. and I was curious what elements other than like, you know, two, you know, investigators who have different personalities and are, you know, exploring a murder in a sort of small town setting or something like that. Yeah. But I think the time jumps or the parallel timelines, and again, I don't know how often will be in 2026, but this idea of like parallel murder cases inside of, you know, like, you know, like, you know, like. like Hal's death in 2026 and whatever's going around happening in 2016. Yeah.

That's the rest cold time is a flat circle. Yeah. Like, you know, this is like, let's reopen that case in order to understand what's happening with this case. That is what's going on. And then, of course, the like, making family, we've got our fingers in all of the levels of authority in this town sort of vast conspiracy. That, of course, is also, like, classic true detective stuff. But I was just, like, quite pleased that, like, the true detective element was, the roots were sunk a bit deeper than I was worried they would be.

I was trying because the premiere, you know, we got, unsurprisingly, this season on. They've released three or four trailers for the show already. But the, this season on after the premiere always has new stuff in it. And because this episode ends with, in 2026, John has the goatee. Oh, you were like marking how much? And he had a, I will say, he had a, goatee in more shots maybe than had been in other trailers? Other trailers? So I was like, oh, does that indicate that we're going to spend more time in 2026? But I don't know.

I know the Guy Gardner footage. He's talking to goate, John. Yeah. So whatever Nathan Philly is role in this seems to be in the 2026 timeline. No, maybe John will grow a goatee earlier. Sure. Possible. But maybe they've done markers to help us. Done a time marker. Yeah. Yeah. And we've. Appreciate it. So, 2016, Hal and John go for a drive, and Hal picks up John in front of one of our offices. This was just fucking wild. So weird.

Hal, pull a speed-in-up to pick up John. He's late. He's about to joke and button push about being late. And I was just like, pause. Is that girl in the goat? That is girl in the GOATO complex? Is that the Spotify downtown office? What?

Do you know how often I've seen people filming around there? I know. And I've like never seen, you know, it show up in something I was watching. Why I was playing back in my mind some of the days where I was like just desperately trying to get there on time for recording a meeting. And I'm like, oh, I got to go. Oh, no. One of Kyle Chandler just been right there. Well, don't worry.

Don't worry. You can tell past you that Future you was going to meet him anyway, one way or another. True. We get this just instant feel for the Hal John vibe and dynamic howl thinks John is square. You know, he likes to go to him. He likes to push his buttons. He likes to press. John is a rule follower who thinks Hal is a joke. We will hear him say elsewhere in the episode that he does respect him, but he's also like, I don't really have like time or patience for your bullshit. Like, how are you the one with the ring? We get to feel that right away. Is John annoyed that Howell's late? No, sir. Is he annoyed that Hal went off planet and ghosted him for two weeks? No, sir. Carlos, what do they say next? Sir. How come it is every time you say, sir, it sounds more and more like fuck you. I have no idea.

Sir. Just delightful. This is great. He's really good at this. Really, really good. The charm and the humor, but the tension and the conflict established right away. Joanna, we see in this scene during this car ride that John's training, or lack thereof, is something of a sore spot. It's been a couple months, but he hasn't yet learned to fly, as we will soon see with the halalike.

Graham, has not been off planet. Hasn't even worn the ring yet. Yeah, 2006 Hal is quite shocked and appalled by the state of training. He really is. He's like, oh, you haven't done that yet? He's like, you're my trainee? You should know this. That was great.

Don't get hung up on the jewelry, Jr. You'll wear it when it chooses you. I thought the point was that the Guardians shows me, that's all. The big blue bosses may think that you're hot shit, but you're just a substitute teacher, junior. You're not ready to get up in front of the class until the ring says you are. How jealous are you of John that he has a nickname from Kyle Chandler? From Coach Taylor, aka Hal Jordan. Not as jealous as I am of Sheriff Kerry.

Who got a beer open for her? Yeah, just like when she walks away after talking shit in the bleachers and he's like, she's something incredible. I mean, that was real goal stuff. But, you know, pretty much jealous of everybody who gets to share them all. Jordan loves. He loves Gossip Park, just like me. So Guardians of the Universe, Oa-based founders of the Lantern Corps, you're on watch. You're on watch, as you've already established.

I don't trust authority. John is like, I trust authority and I say, John, I don't. Respects the chain of command. We hear him say that else. I don't. So Hal is slow playing John's training. Hal a lazy, sloppy teacher, maybe, threatened, maybe. Definitely. I mean, definitely. Yes, probably to both of those, but certainly more the latter. He's like, you're not going to take this ring from me? And maybe something else is going on.

So it's test time, right? You want to learn? You want to be trained? Okay, I'm going to pop this ring. Here on the dashboard, there's a great taco stand, three miles down the road. Meet me there. And then he just opens the car door, rolls out, and the car shoots over the cliff and crashes. And then we cut to John completely fine and unharmed.

We will learn later that he, the opening logo. And then. Yeah. And then John completely fine. He made bubble wrap to save himself. Yeah. It's interesting to, I think it'll be really fun to track what these guys are making with the ring, right? Yeah, definitely.

For Hal, it's counterfeit money. Yeah. A bottle opener. Wow. And a shield to protect them all from an explosion. Yes. That's right. Yeah, the bubble.

The Whalen bubble. For our guy, John, it's the bubble wrap. it's the lighting of the cigarette. That was hot. You know? I think the lighting the cigarette and the cigarette lighter and the bottle opener pretty much like same, same, same, right? I mean, yeah. Bubble wrap and shields.

Kind of same, same, but a more, like, inventive, like, because he could have just made a bubble. Right. But he made bubble wrap. Yes. Which is just sort of like, is John a more creative thinker or like, you know, or is that more pragmatic? I don't, I actually am interested to track. Counterfeit money, though. Doesn't seem great to me.

Doesn't seem great use. Manifested it with his will. Doesn't seem great. Manifested it with his will. Yeah, on the creativity front, you know, during the Whalen interrogation scene, he's drawing. He's drawing. He's sketching.

So we get to see John with his sketchbook, that creative mind. We get to see when he, you know, obviously we get to create, when we meet Billy and Sheriff Cary's son, Noah, Aviator Nation sweatshirt. What a time for us, too enthusiasts. He's in, uh, he's in weapons. And he was in, what was that? What else? Spider-N-War.

Yeah. Right? Yeah, he's just out there thriving. He's been working. Loaded IMD-B already. Obviously, we get the great coach Taylor, you know, a moment. There's so much Coach Taylor. There's so much Friday nightlights.

There's so much football in this episode, but we get to, like, offense, defense, wherever they need me, sir. Good man. But then it's John who goes over to the tire and it's like, just, you know, don't aim. Imagine. Imagine things. So John's imagination, creative mind is very present, which makes sense in terms of how the ring functions. Canonically, John is an architect. It doesn't make him an artist, I think, is like a fun sort of sideways way into that.

But like, yeah, the way in which his creative mind is connected to what he makes manifest with the ring. Yeah. Fun to track. And I like to also the, certainly to how he'll use the ring thinking about that, but also just the way that we're thinking already inside this episode about like how perspective is manifesting for John in multiple forms. Because when we glimpse the sketchbook, that's in the same. scene where he's in the same moment where he's saying, like, we're all aliens. It's just a matter of, like, which planet we're on. So John is a character who's thinking about perspective.

And also in that scene, because of the way the two-way mirror is set up, like his reflection is laid over Hal's reflection inside of that. Those were cool shots. Yeah, very cool. Very cool. John calls his dad. Sheriff Kerry was overlaid with the alien. That's right. Are you on Theory Corner? I mean, it's Secret Scroll Watch once again, is it not? Are we not back on? Are we not back with the faceless men and the secret scrolls? Are you putting your flag down right now? You think that Sheriff Kerry is an alien? I don't know.

Because she's in the 226 timeline, maybe not, but maybe even more so. I have some questions about the ages of the Macon family. Same. Because they're basically all the same age. Yes. Yeah. It's like House of the Dragon, you know, where... Can I give you these ages?

Yeah, please. Absolutely. Okay. Gary Dillan, Big Daddy Macon, looks great, is 61. Zoe Macon, pornage, Nacanathan, 53. Looks unbelievable. Looks fantastic. Kelly McDonnell, 50.

So supposedly the next generation down, 50 years old. And then baby face, Jason Ritter, 46. Yeah, I mean, he looks 23. That's insane. He's 46? He's 46, yeah. So, like, you know, granddad and grandmom are 61 and 53. Mom and dad are 50 and 46.

And then Noah is like a very small child. Yeah, an actual child. Yeah. I just have some question. Is that funky alien, you know, Secret Scroll Watch stuff? Or is that just sort of like, we cast these actors because you really like them and Kelly McDonald can pass for younger, which you can. and, you know, certainly Jason Ritter can.

Or it's just Jason Ritter passing for younger and he married a slightly older woman or, like, you know, something like that. Because technically the only age that actually really needs to make sense is William and Billy. Right, because is Zoe supposed to be his stepmom? Right. Is that, I mean, racially, I would say yes, but it's not really overtly established in the episode. No, no. It's not. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay, so everyone could be an alien. I'm just asking questions. Young Noah. I mean, we hear that that kid is an all-state quarterback. That sounds like alien behavior to you? It does. Okay. It does.

We saw from, you know, Wayland was really like, I'm on football reference. Ah. You know? I learned what I needed to know about Nebraska. Don't you think we should be asking questions of every single person we see in this town? Absolutely. There's hail in Rushfield. There's hail.

There is hail. And Hale sounds like aliens. Sounds just like aliens. So John, before he gets the Hale and Rushville Hallogram update, he calls his dad. So we had seen the flashback with his dad shooting the apples off his head. Here he is still, in essence, in training with his dad, even though he is, of course, actually formerly training with Hal Jordan at this point, calls him to talk through. This guy tried to just like fucking kill me, right? And his dad says, he's just trying to put you on tilt.

He's testing you. They're allowed to have tantrums. were not. Most important line of the episode, I would say. Tell me why. You know, for obvious racial reasons, I would say, is like this core, you know, and that's comics canon in terms of like John Stewart's path versus Howl Jordan's path and stuff like that.

But, you know, just thinking about the fact that my guy, Stephen Williams, who I love, is directing at least one, if not a couple episodes this season. Stephen Williams, a lost director. It's exciting. But also directed the absolutely iconic watchman episode, This Extraordinary Being, has done, you know, when I did The Lost podcast, I talked to him a lot about Michael's storyline and Lost and sort of his thoughts on that and like inside of this extraordinary being what that incredible Watchman episode had to say about sort of like race and the path to being a hero inside of that world. And so I think undoubtedly having these characters, these creatives behind it, this is clearly something that they're interested in exploring. And I think the way that they're allowed to have tantrums, we're not. And the way that you watch John sort of stifle any sort of, he's been trained to not fear, but also don't get angry, don't get upset, be deferential.

at all times. Yes. And like, when's the lid going to come off of that part? And I think it should, you know?

Yeah, absolutely. The ring pulses. Out pops the hologram. Less gray in the hair, different jacket. Still a good jacket, but a different one. It's a leather jacket this time.

And different energy. He apologizes. And we're already, only a few minutes since the episode struck by that. And of course, John is struck by it as well. He says that he must have a

concussion is the only plausible explanation for Al apologizing. Howell's like, am I dead? That's right. What's going on here? So this idea that Hal has grown a little bit colder, a little bit less kind over time, you know, these questions of what has changed for him. Because, yeah, sure, right now, as of the last couple months as we, as we hear from the training timeline that John provides, he's got a trainee. That's probably, let's put his hackles up, led to some of this. But He hasn't backed himself up. He hasn't backed himself up in 10 years. So something started sooner. And then even that, he's not in the lanterns suit in the halogram. Not wearing the suit has a weird reaction to hearing the recitation of the oath. You know what I mean? Just sort of like what is his relationship to his role to the greater authority to all of that? And, you know, the halogram makes me so happy because a ton of our listeners.

may not be, you know, connected to this reference, but people will make this show definitely are, which is the show Quantum Leap. And the show Quantum Leap, which features a guy and his favorite, his best sidekick is a hologram named Al, and who was a real guy, but was a hologram named Al. And so the way in which they can have this quantum leap dynamic as much as they want going forward and just use Kyle Chandler as much as they want to going forward is such a smart thing that they did as such a smart twist of the canon because this isn't this isn't in the comics and so like not in this form and so I just think from a TV storytelling perspective because he could pop up wherever and like we don't know yet can everyone see him or is it only if you're wearing the ring

only if you're wearing the ring but like he seems corporeal right I don't think he walked I don't think John walked through him but I'm just saying can only John see him. Right. And so like it's like that, you know, it's a, it's a ghost construct, which can always be really fun inside of TV storytelling. So yeah, fantastic stuff. I thought this was great as well, not only because of what it potentially unlocks for keeping Hall around in some capacity in the future, but, you know, again, on like the evolution front. Yeah, what happened? Yeah. And how many times along the road, you know? Because like based on what we'll hear him say at the taco stand in the next scene about why he stopped wearing the suit, it's like,

Halogram is more engaged and still more like earnest and chipper and maybe sincere than 2016 primary timeline how, but already he had ditched the suit. And he's like, I don't need to wear the tie and try to impress people already. Like so something has already changed for him a little bit. It feels like there's like a progression before whatever maybe more seismic happens in this last decade here. I mean, he's not wearing the suit in that exact moment, but we don't know how often he's not wearing the suit. No. But like he could have easily been in the suit. the hallogram and he wasn't. So it feels like an intentional choice given that the next thing we hear

him say is about why he stopped wearing the suit. So I don't know. It's highly possible. Tocoposand. He's signing autographs. He's taking selfies. He's winking at the cashier. Everybody is thrilled to see him, which like, I love because that's not going to remain true. You know, we're about to head to Nebraska where Sheriff Kerry is like, what's the plural for eat shit? You know, and just thinks this guy is like such a pain in the ass. The fact that all of these people here are worshipping him. And we get to see that he is simultaneously like happy to pose, happy to take the pictures, happy to flirt with the mom. But he's not necessarily like trying to impress them, right? Felt like an interesting thing to establish. But it's just so like,

you know, we'll hear him say, I word searched it in the transcript. I think it's, I think it's just four different times. But it's 2006 halogram and 2016 miring. Very golemy. Not very. The ring. My ring. Sure. And so, I mean, simply, yes, it is his ring. But the way he's saying it, like, what does he need from that ring? And what does he need from that attention he gets at the taco stand?

You know what I mean? Of course. He's not trying to impress them, but at the same time, you know, he is. And, like, you know, I'll get used to saying it. Share carries. Point about the fact that he doesn't have anyone outside of this. then these sort of like vapor fumes of connections with people is like all he has to form his identity around except for the relationship he is building with John, right?

Yeah, and the idea of like needing the validation of the public and like having that level of adoration from strangers fuel you, but also feeling the burden of it is an interesting superhero psyche space to explore. like what Chris Mundy said at the little feature at the end of the episode about this, no human has ever been a green lantern before Hal got that ring. The pressure of being the first person to ever do this job, you can't underestimate how important that is in the mythology of Hal. The idea of living up to what the public thinks of you as a superhero, that's tiring. So in some ways, I think Hal doesn't even want it anymore. And yet, if it was taken away from

him, then Hal lost his identity. So that push-pull of like, this is who I am. And and strangers asking to take a picture and asking me why I don't wear the suit anymore is the only way that I know who I am. And I don't, the threat of this other person who's seeking to rob me of that. To take it and make it his instead would of course be something that you felt almost like on a base instinct level the need to fend off. But it's like, what's the other side of this? The fact that you live in the public eye exhausting, the fact that you are Earth's protector. pressure. And then there's the whole, like, you made that decision in 96 to go on 60 minutes.

Like, what inspired that? What inspired him wanting to tell everyone I'm Hal Jordan? You know what I mean? And even the test of the ring, however true or false your answer is, that's also instantaneous. Like, there's nothing methodical or deliberate about, unless you're John and you trained your whole life. Yeah. But for Hal, it's like right away and then you go.

and you see a pink, I've been sort of a pink alien with glow in the dark goo. And you're like, this is pretty intense. And then that's it. Your life changes fundamentally forever in a second. It's a fun distinction in their journeys for sure. And their relationship to the idea of inhabiting this world and carrying that responsibility.

And then every minute of your life being defined by that decision. Like if you live your life working toward that outcome, it's a radically different thing. It's really interesting. If you decide to be a podcaster who's on camera, How can you get tacos in peace, you know? Oh, my God. Those tacos look great.

It's like when you're eager and you'd like to prove yourself, this is what Hal says in the suit. So you wear a tie. So people will take you seriously. When you get older and wiser, you realize ties are a pain in the ass. I love this. So we have all of these different dynamics. We have, as you talked about, with the phone call between John and his father, race, undeniably very present here. We have the different paths to the ring, undeniably very present here.

we also have age and generations, right? And not only like the fact that they are from different generations, but the question of just like youth versus somebody who's further along in their life and their relationship to the role of being Green Lantern, when you're young and you're like the precocious, the dress for the job you want. Yeah, like you're in the phase of everything is ahead of you. You are eager. You're strong.

You're energetic. when you're at the Hal phase, it's like, are you washed up? Are you tired? But also, are you wise, right? Have you gained something from your experience? Are you more pragmatic? Like, growing older isn't only bad. And especially if other things in Howell's life are going to make him feel like you're washed, then maybe part of what Howell do is try to say, wait, no, this is like. I know things. Yeah. I drink and I know things. I drink and I know things. This is what I can provide. It's also just like a very Gen X sort of attitude coming off of them here. Millennials versus Gen X, a survivor, survivor season back in the day.

I miss the themed seasons. I really do. That wasn't the best, but I do miss them. Yeah. For you, it was the Brains versus Braun versus beauty. You loved that one. Some great players on those drives. As you know, I'm a David versus Goliath enthusiast.

So John tells Hal about the Hallogram. He's like, you were a lot nicer 10 years ago. And Hal just immediately, when he hears about the hallogram, hears about the message. Hale and Rushville shoots off into the sky. If I have one note for this episode, it is the flying effects. You didn't like it? I thought it was fine. What would you like to see instead?

It's a great question. Yeah. Come with solutions, not just problem. Okay. That's a good note. I'll think about it. He's genuinely, genuinely curious. I'll think it's the one thing that I'm sort of like, that looked a little funky thing. Yeah, okay. But we're operating with a TV budget. What are you going to do? I was just looking at his hair blowing in the wind in his jacket.

I thought it looked great. Rushville. Okay, so this is where we really start to lean into the space cops, go true detective, energy, and blend. John flies in the old fashion way. He has to book an airplane. Great montage. Wonderful.

Incredible stuff, waiting in the security line, all of it. Did it make you really optimistic for our flights to Baltimore? Hopefully everything will be smooth. Has to deal with the lippy officer outside of the stadium. Sidekick, that did not go over well. And then he is allowed to enter the stadium And he finds Hal sitting on the bleachers And he's like, why did he have been here six hours?

You came here just to sit on the bleachers? In the exact same spot, we will find him in 2026. So how often is Hal returning there to think about this moment And what happened here? It's a little favorite spot. Or his least favorite spot, the one that makes impensive. I love that we get our first introduction to Sheriff Kerry via walkie-talkie. Yeah.

And to hear her call Halla shithead, great stuff, very amusing. And then How's like, well, you're going to find out why I've been, why I've been sitting there for six hours. Here she comes. Should we address the-the-accent? The accent? The corn-fed elephant in the room. Let's do it. Kelly McDonald. Yeah.

An absolute icon. Love her. She's the best. Train spotting. Boardwalk. Really bad accent. It's confounding. It's just very strange.

Yeah. It's confounding. Is that a reason to put her on Alien Watch? Maybe. Oh, interesting. Is it intentional? I don't know. Huh. I would like to think that the aliens would be able to know how to do a better accent than this one.

I'm going to give it a pass. Here's what I'll say. It is one of those bad accents where it's so consistent that I can kind of just get used to it. And then it just sounds like I don't know where she's from, but at least it sounds like she's from the same place word to word. So I can just sort of like tell myself a story about it. Yes. To me it sounds like she's from a Cohen Brothers movie. Yeah, like, yeah, closer to Fargo than anything else, but not, but still not of this, of this earth, I would say.

I love that this is part of what's triggering your alien theory. This is incredible. I was perplexed by the accent. I think the performance is wonderful. Yeah, she's the best. Yeah, she's fantastic. The accent is, is notable. No question about it. On the noted front. Yeah. You're a big shot, noted. Really killed me. She's just ripping off Zinger after Zinger here. I have a very strong feeling. Howell says about the aliens being involved. Well, then by all means, the scene is yours. Like, she's just... I loved their flirtatious hatred, like, right away. The vibes are strong.

The energy was good. And he's the lovers. You love it. I do. It's a cherished trope for a reason. I ship it. I don't mind saying that I ship it. And could that be, like, in terms of, again, thinking about the Jedi,

forming attachments, earthly attachments. Yeah. Give them something he's afraid to lose. And Jr.? his junior, his trainee, his pseudo son and wifey, who happens to be married. But when's that stopped a Green Lantern in this episode? Once that stopped a member of the Macon family. That's what I'm saying.

Exactly. I mean, that's a very, very open on that ranch, which, listen, I'm interested in learning more about the agreements than Zoe and William have just seemed to have with each other. It's great. Hal observes the mellow nature of the scene, the fact that no one's upset, that no one's with the bodies. I thought this was actually quite important to show us, because Hal's making a lot of jokes, he's getting dunked on. We needed to actually see his competence in this episode, his observational prowess,

the fact that he is clocking something in this episode. So we get it in a couple different ways. Obviously, he's right about Waylon. Yeah, I agree. The bar fight that he insights, that's a clever tactic. Yeah, a student of human nature who knows that type of provocation will work. Yeah, and then the interrogation scene, of course, that he's right about it. His gut is right, right? I think it's equally important that we see John

fuck a married lady because in terms of like his, I'm on the straight and narrow, I'm like a Boy Scout. I think he needs to do something, you know, messy in order to sort of add dimensionality to that character. He didn't know that she was married in this episode. Would it have stopped him? He still fucked a lady who just met in a truck. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing to do, but it is a slightly messy thing to do. You want to walk me to my car, John? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, he does.

Oh, yeah. Speaking of whether or not sparks might be in the air, Carlos, can we see this, I thought, very compelling moment between Gary and Al? It was nice to meet you. Now, if you both kindly stay the fuck out of my way. She's open a creveling. I think she hates her guts. Yeah, but it's the way she hates them. This is just wonderful.

Do you know who I'm freshly jealous of? Tell me. The hair-j-jur on Kyle Chandler. Whoever's job it is to like put the pomade in there and then just like rumple it up. The jacket is iconic. The rumpler in chief on the set of this show. Is that the official title you think? If it is Kyle himself, then I would like to know.

Taking union jobs, but that's fine. Oh, man. So, Hal's like, why don't you tell me what's going on, right? Makes it another little lesson, little test. John reads the scene, four dead, all in visitors sweatshirts. Runs us through the end of the game. But I love that, the visitors, like if they're aliens. Visitors indeed, yeah, yeah.

From Kimball or somewhere further away, perhaps. Kicking blocks still out, game winning field goal, rush the field. It's Nebraska, they're carrying. Okay. How? John says, knows something, right? He's not just observing what's in front of them on the field. He's like the halogram.

You're saying it's a feeling, but it's something more. And we will get a little bit more information at the bar, but right here, Hal is still like, this is my job. As long as I'm alive, dun, done, done, done. That ain't changing. I don't plan on dying anytime soon. And then John's like, 10 years is a full decade. It's a good run. I agree.

It's nice to know that there's a decade ahead for these two. For these two. I hope we get to spend all of it with them. Again, that's like the other option is like, yes, the half a half year. Halogram exists, but also there's just like, we can explore the time between 2016 to 20206. I quite agree. John is like, you didn't tell Sheriff Kerry that you spotted this other guy who has shed his sweatshirt and he's in the short sleeves and it's freezing. Everyone's cold.

John was like, no, I didn't. Well, I would have. I respect the chain of command. All right, go tell her. Well, she already knew, Joanna. And she didn't want him to get spooked and run. Then he does. We get a little chase scene.

Great runner, Aaron Pierre. Really good runner. Fantastic stuff. Hal with the little like. The shrug. Mm-hmm. You go do it. Great stuff.

And they knock out Whalen, take him into custody. Hal's like, I'd like to speak to him. Sheriff Gary says, fuck off. And so we go to the bar to watch Hal get himself arrested. Did you ever see the, this is an old Don Malaney bit when he had his original face? And he tells a story about playing What's New Pussy Cat over and over on jukebox? No.

It's a really good. It's like... Did he use a counterfeit 20? No, but he and his friend, the story he tells is that he and his friend played What's New Pussy Cat 21 times.

Except they put one in that wasn't, like seven What's New Pussy Cat's in? Yeah. They put in one, it's not unusual. Okay. Just so that everyone in the room could be like, okay,

it's over. And then it started up again. Anyway. That's actually diabolical. The way he tells the bit is so funny. And I was just, thinking about it a lot when I thought about when we saw this. Do you think that, well, was that before 2016? Like, could, is it possible that that's where Hal Jordan got the idea? I'm sure.

I'm sure. Howl Jordan loves to red John Mullaney Fits on YouTube. He's invoking pop culture throughout the interrogation scene. So, you know, also, brand new key is a banger. And I've definitely played that song more than three times in a row. Like, I think I've played that song 10 times in a row and I would have a great time with it. I love to listen to songs on loop. So I would I would not have responded the way that this billiards playing Rushville local did, but Hal knew that he would, and he was right. The unconventional tactics, as you know, it had fun to see here. Also, the fact that Hal is, once again, like, positioning his withheld tutelage as masquerading his wisdom, right?

It's like, well, that's the whole ball game, Junger, you know, the win and how to use the ring? This is good. It's great. And this is what John uses as an opportunity to ask him, Okay, wait, how did you get the ring? Like, the story I know can't possibly be true. Why do you give a shit about how I got my ring? My ring. My precious. It's mine.

Mine own. You should make that a meme. The Gallum mashup, the Gallum hell mashup. I'm not great at memes, I would say. You're great at sending them to me. Okay. That's not the same skill set. I'll leave it to the professionals.

I got it the old fashion way. I sure as hell didn't interview it. interview for it. Well, shit, maybe you should have power like that. Shouldn't you have to work for it? Excel prove yourself instead of just getting randomly selected. So this is that kind of core question that we already discussed. And then John pushes for more of the story. And how tells them, Green Bubble, Are You Afraid? No, yanked him to Nebraska. He's like, I'm a pilot, right? Airspeed bearing, distance, like, I know where that bubble put me down. 20 miles from where we're sitting listening to the same song on loop. On a scale 1 to 10. Yeah. How cute do you think it is that this

episode's called Pilot? eight and a half? Nine? I quite like it. Yeah. Are you putting it at a solid 10? You going seven? Well, it's just been done before.

But I do like it. Yeah. It's good. It could have also been called my precious, but maybe they'll save that. So it's a pilot and it's called pilot, and he's a pilot. He's a wonderful. I love it. I do.

I really do. And there he was. Ab and Sir, pink dying alien gave Hallis Ring and his responsibility this next This next bit absolutely killed me. And then he said two more words. His last words and he kind of whispered them. So I've never really been sure whether he said good luck or odd fuck. Right.

Absolutely incredible. Oh, my God. A human was never meant to have the ring, Hal says. Earth is a backwater. Hal has always suspected that the crash was not an accident. And so he kept a look at. He wanted an alert system, a warning, and that is why the halogram appeared with the Hale and Rushville account. To me, this means that HAL should come on House of R because he's on Theory Corner.

I don't quite understand entirely how the system works, but I'm excited to lean in. Same. How exactly is that? Yeah. Where is the halogram? Yeah, the hologram that there's Hale and Rushville. Is it like a motion sensor? Yeah.

Something. Is it a, like, are we talking simply safe? Is it like, I don't know. Yeah. Little tease here as well in this, in this origin stretch here. We have the kind of dual origin. This is the origin with the ring. We have the prior kind of family history origin with losing his father.

How will the guardians see Earth and think about Earth? This idea that the ring was not supposed to come here. This is also a familiar lantern's beat, Green Lantern beat, but established here. And then, you know, the murder mystery driving the premiere entwined to Hal getting the ring. Hmm? Smart. Again, this connects us across all those decades. All of them.

John gives John the ring. I know. Takes a couple shots. It's like, it's going to look pretty bad. You're going to be tempted to help. And John's like, I'm good. I was like, all right, tough. No, Hal's reaction.

So good. Kyle Chandler, King of the Rumpel double take. Just like, he's like, all right. This is really good. So good. As you know, I think he has just the most expressive. sad eyes. I love it. He does. At one point in this series run, it's possible that I will say to you get a grip and then we'll just say it with so much love in my heart.

Which episode? Make a prediction now. How many weeks in next week? Maybe by the end of today's episode, we still have a couple more scenes to hits. We'll see, we'll see. So how goes to get his ass kicked and then this lovely woman at the bar who we will learn? Zoe Macon. Is Zoe Macon? Start asking. But no one's like, Grandma! Yeah. Starts asking a lot of questions. Yes. And we, you know, if you rewatch the scene, Zoe is visible.

Oh, yeah. She's listening. In the whole scene, listening to the conversations. Ears are peeled. That's not something one says, but I'm going to say it. Her ears are peeled. Yeah, why not? Your eyes are peeled, but her ears.

Well, she's just like kind of carefully not looking at them. Yeah. But like, yeah, but like really listening. Yeah. And then just asking a lot of space cop questions. Yes. Space cops have bosses? I mean, backup quarterback.

And John's just spilling to her in more ways than one. But like, you know. Are you proud of me? Very. Wow, look at you. On all the Friday night lights ties, so you're the backup quarterback is very high on the list. I know. You and I were just sitting there at San Diego Comic Con just like every single one

were just sort of like check, check, check, check. I loved them all. I loved them all. I'm patient. No year. not keen observation there from Zoe. Yeah. And then they go fuck.

She's a student of human behavior. Sure is. And then they go fuck and it's pretty compelling. Pretty compelling scene. And then she goes home and tells her husband, I guess. Open marriage? Let's find out. Good for them.

Good for them. Hal meets the makins. Yeah. He gets arrested and Sheriff Care. So John shows up to bailout and Sheriff Carey's like, listen, I know this guy's game. I know exactly what he's trying to do. It's almost like he wanted to get arrested. so that I would put him next to the exact guy that he said that he needed to talk to when I told him fuck off.

So she put him in a broom closet. She rolls. That's just amazing. Very good. So he's got to get arraigned. And the judge, much like Sheriff Kerry, is like, I'm not really interested in your bullshit. She's like, come on. Yeah.

And then which agency are you with? And then Jason Ritter is here. And I just say once again, nobody told me Jason Ritter was in this show. Delightful. It's a wonderful cast. I love Jason Ritter. He's great. He's great. Smart me little mustache.

Remember when we spent multiple years and seasons of Yellow Jackets being like, when is Jason Ritter? And he had like allegedly filmed an episode that they like never aired. I mean, we talked about it so many episodes. Right. And then he's also like randomly like a background mushroom zombie in The Last of Us. That's right. Yeah.

That's right. So when is Molly Nolinski going to show up in this show? That would be wonderful. That would be welcome. Or on Matlock. These are the questions I have. Or on Matlock. I believe Jason Ritters on Matlock right now.

Oh yeah, absolutely. A show I do not watch, but I support it. No. But we've seen commercials for it. Well, I don't watch football. I haven't see them. Oh, yeah, you don't see commercials. I see commercials during sporting events, yeah.

I have seen his, like, Instagram reels of him dancing in his trailer on set. That's my exposure to Jason Ritter on Matlock. His Instagram is wonderful because he has a lot of cat content. Oh, yeah. Big cat dad. He's always been, like, he has been like on the like sort of meme beat for a long time. Very good. So he's here on behalf of dad, right?

Yeah. Hal, you're going to lawyer up? Okay. Hal pulls him aside and says, hey, just one note. Usually the guys who offer me hundreds of thousands of dollars, no strings attached, wind up being the bad guys. Billy's like, oh, there are strings attached, actually. Dad wants you over for dinner tonight. So we learn here that William Macon, this is a junior, right?

Billy, married. Junior. married to Sheriff Kerry. And our guys are going to go to the ranch. This was definitely the entrance. Carrie doesn't have the Macon last name. No. Well,

I've got questions about their marriage, all of it. Not just the... Like, is she coerced somehow? Well, just, yeah, like what is the dynamic? Yeah, the Hal line about like, yeah, sounds like a woman in debt about Papa Macon. Yeah. But just in general, like...

I mean, marriage is tough, but I wasn't really catching strong. vibes between Sheriff Kerry and Billy? Oh, she's not interested in Jason Redder. She doesn't understand his allure. I do, but she doesn't get it. She does not see all of his excellent cat content on Instagram and TikTok. The entrance to this Macon Ranch was definitely the most, I thought, Sheridan

coded. I mean, we actually get a Sheridan County sign. A bit like this has a real Yellowstone feel, like pulling onto the ranch, the militia. But what do you make of the fact that the coming into the Macon Ranch? Yeah. Which every time I say it sounds like Bacon Ranch to me. Anyway, coming into the Macon Ranch, Study the Past is what it says on the entry there, which is half of the quote, study the past, if you would define the future. But what do you make of that being something that the Macon family feels important enough to put on their ranch sign?

Well, like, do they strike you as? Is it their ranch? Oh, you think, though, the benefactor, the benefactor is like a big Confucius guy. Well, the benefactor is Confucius. Maybe that's, because it's another mystery who's your employer. Okay, there you go. The benefactor is an alien who was once Confucius and is now opposing as something else. Or maybe Confucius was an alien all along.

That's what I'm saying. Yeah, I mean, it's all in the next year. And now that person is here. And it's written his own quote, study the past. Exactly. If you would define the future or divine the future. It's all possible. Yeah.

Whether anything that William Macon says in this premiere is something we should believe is an open question. I think the thing that seems, you know, he's invoking his NDA in the kitchen, et cetera, can't share anything about, he's just a caretaker of this property. Joanna can't share anything about who his employer is, who the property belongs to. He is happy to share that he's a student of history, though, right? That part he offers up freely. So he's a Confucius guy. It's certainly Usually when a guy

who's like meat cleavering ribs says he's a student of history, I think of like that scene in succession when Tom's like Have you read mine com?

One of the all times One of the all time scenes in the history of television genuinely. Unbelievable. That brings to me not confucius but listen we can contain

multitudes. You know, listen Makin is like Hal, don't worry I'm not a weird isolationist racist and it's a real like Oh,

The way that he cloaks it, the way that he cloaks it in talking about the, like, native population of Nebraska, I'm like, give me a fucking break. Nothing worse than being the one who's colonized. Here's my favorite, like, menacing thing that he does. Yeah. Not just the sort of like. Not the meat cleaver? Well, not just the like I looked you up. You didn't look me up exchange, which I think is really good.

Yes, I quite like to that. But this, the etiquette of inviting a vegan into your home. saying I got you some tofu steaks, but then doing your raw meat business in front of them is just like that's... Well, at that point, does he already know that John did his raw meat business with... Oh, absolutely. No, but that's what I'm saying is part of the intimidation. But it's just sort of like, I'm, you know, I have friends with many vegetarians and vegans and I would never seasoned meat in front of them.

No. Bloody hands as he's creating them all meaty? No, absolutely. That's a, that's a posturing, you know, putting your dick on the table sort of move. Quite. Without that, I did quite like that that's either trust or arrogance. I'm trust. I'm arrogant. I'm not. I'm arrogant. I don't trust anyone. Exchange. That was great. The, you know, the fact that Macon is claiming to be a student of history, but then saying, you know, but I'm not these other things. Obviously very like present day, fear mongering, coded in terms of. of we need to fear anybody who isn't like us. And you agree, you see it, we agree. It was so important, obviously, in this episode that Hal is like...

Are there Americans who go that way? That Hal is like, I don't... That's the thing, Will. I don't know if our interests are the same, right? Important, certainly, to have Hal push back on Macon in this episode and say that. And then that question of, like, what is... Because more generally what's going on with Carrie and this family dynamic, We get like a specific wrinkle where Will's like, I'll clear that brush.

You want to talk to this guy and then tells Hal as they're leaving. You're going to be able to, I talk to Carrie. You're going to be able to go talk to this guy. Yeah. Why? How is he able, he tells Carrie it has to happen and then it happens. What hold does he have over her? The mysteries are a massive.

And where was the meat cleaver when he had that conversation, you know? Indeed. Indeed. So we had one of the clips that they showed at Comic-Con was this. Nothing better than eating off another man's. Grill exchange. Just wonderful stuff, including... I'm just very compelled by the fact that Zoe, like, told him directly.

I mean... It's very interesting. Same. I'm very eager to learn more about their marriage. I also quite liked on the Hal John front, the way that Hal was like... I'm impressed. I'm barely been here 24 hours. I'm impressed.

Just great stuff all around. So a lot of mysteries mounting in that scene, both big and small. Hal's late. Late for the interrogation. Classic stuff. You know what I just really? I realize reading your notes here, which this section, Hal and Terrigays Whalen the alien. Whalen sounds more like alien than Hale does.

I can't see. You're right. If I'm an alien, Whalen's not the name that I'm using to disguise myself. Do you think all the aliens accidentally gave themselves names that sound like alien? Is this like if you're going on the lamb and it's like the easiest way to maintain the lies? Oh, because their name is alien? It's me, alien. I mean, Whalen.

Exactly. You think that's what happened? Yeah. Probably. Quick rattle of some other names that sound like alien. Um, let's see. Alien. Nope.

Bailey? Bailey could be one. Bailey? That's all my God. Do you have any? Nope. But Whalen does. It does more than hail.

I'm just going to say. More than hail. The bars and hell, but it's cleared it. Oh, my God. Whale in the air. alien. Great stuff. Carrey's like, listen, this guy's human. He had to go to the hospital for scans because of his injuries, pass the scan. All the organs are there. And this is where we got to get the great no hidden antennas, the plural for antenna as antenna. I want some plural for each shit. Which just

absolutely killed me. I thought it was hysterical. John... 14 alien reasons can now pass as human. Secret scroll watch. Nothing. Nothing here. On Earth, no technology. can discern that they're actually aliens. I mean, like, do you, if you cut them open, do they goop? Like, is there any, like, how do we find out? Right. Is it just like the cat scans and the MRI and x-ray machines aren't telling them? But if you slice them and green goo comes out?

And if it's like, oh, whoops, that was a person. It's like, shit, too late? I don't know. Well, it's just like a little nick. You don't have to, like, cut their head off. I don't know. You're just asking questions on behalf of Whalen and Bailey the aliens. Whelan and Bailey Esquire.

Yeah, I'm just always asking questions. Okay, I thought this interrogation scene between Hal and Whalen was fucking great. Again, we saw this at Comic-Con, which killed in the... Like, this scene... They only made like fucking 22 of them. It's so good. Well, yes. You, I'm sure, love that.

The, like, the, like, the Harry Potter stuff was really good. The, like, the concept of, like, let's rattle off the things that all American

knows, Kelly Clarkson, like, et cetera, et cetera. Uh, the Barack Obama bit. I mean, just like absolutely killed all of Hall H. It was so good.

So, like, this scene is just, was a perfect advertising for the show. Some great Nebraska football facts, you know, Johnny Rogers, Frank Solich, et cetera.

This was just, it was great. Really, really, really, really great. And I, and then, you know, how it's,

like, that's the rub, right? you learn all these very specific things. I'm sure you can tell me everything about the truck you drive. But not about Kelly Clarkson. You don't just know what it's like to just be a person in the world. So ask every member of the Macon family about Kelly Clarkson.

I think it's a good idea. Yeah. And then one of them will say, well, it's just where I hang my hat. And then how can once again say one of a delightful expression? It'll be great. It'll be great. So Kelly is, Kelly, Carrie. Maybe Kelly.

Maybe Kelly Clarkson is also marveling. Everyone's marveling. Yeah, instead of like the Void Conf test and Blade Runner is the Kelly Clarkson test. I love it. Sheriff Kerry, just marveling watching this. We're delighted by Hal. And Sheriff Kerry's like, this guy is so full of himself. As this is where she asked John, how can you work for someone you don't respect?

And John says, I do respect him. He's fearless. And this is the exchange we've talked about if you care about people. Husband, wife, parent kid, then you're scared of losing them. First time he strutted up to me, I could tell. Jordan doesn't care about anyone and nobody cares about him. Yeah. Carrie Kane doesn't care about anyone.

He's fucking fearless. He's lonely. Carrie Kane doesn't like her husband or her in-laws. But she seems like she probably likes her son. So she's got someone she cares about. Noah made Allstate, you know? Not by himself. Takes a village to make Allstate.

Don't you think? I like that the emphasis was like Allstate Insurance. Yeah. I think you're the fast. I know so much about football. Allstate. You know more after this episode. I've watched a lot of Chad Powers recently, so Nattie is what they call nationals.

Sure, Natty. I learned it. Yeah. Got to go win a Natty. Yeah. Yeah. This is a great sports show. Sports Joe. This was I thought.

That's even better than Allstate Insurance. Going all the way in the Natty? The Natty. I thought this was quite cutting and quite cruel as a thing to say. about a person you don't know. Possibly true. But accurate. Possibly true, but quite harsh. And then how cracks Whalen? Waylon, dragging us, dragging all of mankind for care more about football than the just complete disintegration and decay of our planet. Who's us here? Good note from Waylon. Who's us? You. Miss Natty. Miss Natty over here. Miss Allstate insurance. It's like, I'm not going to fall into the hands of the lanterns that if I do, I've got a plan for that. I'm not here for peace. I'm here for war. If I'm taking it.

can captive, I'm ready. And Hal's like, what? What are we talking? We talking cyanide. And Whalen says, you're thinking very small. And Hal says, then give it to me big. Interestingly, also what I would like to say to Hal, Jordan. It's not get a grip time yet, but I'll let you know when it is. Oh my God. He just looks so good. Whalen mentions Chekhov's recharge here. Right. Just some rules. This episode is a lot of rules. You need the lantern to recharge the ring. Do you have the lantern? You've been here 48

hours. How's like, I've got plenty of power left. Okay, but for how long? Yeah. A real, I don't need that Viagra move from Hal. I got plenty in me. And then, Waylon mentions the oath. And something just immediately changes. It changes in How's face. It changes in his demeanor. This was really, really a wonderful and very rich moment. Carlos, let's see it. It almost seems like you. want to die, Hell, Jordan. Does that not violate your precious oath? In brightest day and blackest night. No, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evils might beware my power. Green lanterns light. Harry Potter, like to Hawk Ward, you ignorant alien fuck. So what's your, what's your, I've seen a lot of people interpret that, that Howl's reaction to that

differently. What's your interpretation of Howell's reaction to reciting the oath? So what pinged for me right away, the way that his face changed and then the don't, the shut your mouth, the I said don't, was that we're tracking this progression across time with Hal. We're very rooted in the 2016 timeline where he is very cynical. He is very jaded. He has this edge. He has lost some tether to the thing. And hearing that, it's like there is still something sacred about that, that he will not let this guy sit across the table from him and mock. Keep my oath out of your mouth.

Yeah, that was how it played to me. And I really see it that way. And another interpretation I've seen is that that's actually another indication of how being so disconnected from his green lanternness that he doesn't even want to, like, hear the oath. Oh, interesting. Like sort of like really two radically different interpretations that mean entirely different things. I'm actually not sure which way I feel about it. Yeah. Oh, I think, I like, I like that as well. Yeah. I

both seem plausible, I think, at this point. A couple comments on this from the little feature out at the end of the episode, uh, from Damon. What are the non-negotiable ingredients that need to be in a show called lanterns? One of those things was the oath. We have to get it into the pilot in some way. So this insight into when they were plotting out the show, the fact that there had to be a moment around the oath right here at the beginning that this is like this elemental thing. And then Tom King said it's essential to the character. It connects them to what makes the Green Lanterns different than other superheroes, which is the fact that they're a part of a community. So even the, what you just said, like the other possible interpretation of that, either way,

is it a, is hearing me of something that Hal feels protective of? Is it something that reminds of his distance? Either way, it's to and against a reminder of that thing, that community, the pledge, what it means to have put the ring on in the first place. I wonder how long it will take us to hear either Hal or John say it. We watch them try to recite it together at Comic-Con. But I wonder, and like, but it's so earnest and versus who Hal is. Yeah. Well, I think that was another thing with that, like, this is a sacred thing.

Yeah. And almost what felt to me like a reflexive, like instinctual response to that. And there's also a little bit of the, like a little bit of the, like a little. bit of shame. You know, a little bit of shame of hearing that thing and maybe feeling the... I'm not living up to that. Yeah, the distance from it. Yeah. Um, Whalen begins to beep. So are you beeping? Are you beating? Incredible. Absolutely incredible stuff. Why are you here? Why else? Vengeance. Fascinating. Fury corner. Oh my God. And then how it tosses them into the corner. Vengeance for what? Well, I don't know. What do you think? I don't know. What do I know? Alien stuff. Maybe something happened to Bailey.

Justice for Bailey the alien. Get to Gatto. You know what? And justice for Bailey. I'm getting on board with Bailey as it sounds like alien. Bailey the alien, yeah. You're a compelling person. We do this for work.

Got to get to Gato. I liked that shot of Hal constructing the bubble and then kind of standing there holding it. But also, I loved the sound design on the aftermath. That it's not a big explosive sound, that it's the ringing. Really good. Just the way also, especially because we are setting so much of the story, it seems, in this place, the way that the explosion reverberates through the town. You know, everybody getting out of their cars, the shattering of the windshields, etc. So we pan up into the sky.

We go from day to night, snowflakes are falling. We pan down. Here's John. He's got to go tea. Winter is cool. I was going to make a winter's coming next spring, but it's summer jokes. So that doesn't work. But remember that?

That was great. That was this year. Is that true? Oh, my God. That really just, who. Sheesh. I mean, it started at the tail end of last year, but... Yes, that's right. We talked about the trailers last year, but you're right. The show was this year, wild stuff. Sheesh. Drives past what certainly appears to be the decimated making ranch.

Someone wasn't a good enough student of history. If you don't freeze-framed Mahoney on this, the gate is visible there, the walls, the fence, etc. So something's happening here. And he meets Carrie. They hug, they embrace. You know, you have an aged a day. It asks about Noah. This is so. I thought this was an interesting way to show us that they clearly grow close enough and fond enough of each other in the events that we will watch across this season to create each other warmly to ask about family. But not so close that John already knows how Noah is doing. It helps us understand the passage of time. That kid we saw is now a high school quarterback.

That's right. Dude, if you're all state in Nebraska, like you're getting a legit D1 scholarship, you might be going pro. Okay, little Maddie Saracen. Well, Jason Street, pre-accident. I mean, Moa. The Mad Saracen vibes with the throwing the football through the tire was, we're very much. Unbelievable stuff. Unbelievable stuff.

So, they walk in. Does anyone else know, just the groundskeeper? Know what? Hal Jordan's fucking dead. Where is he? On the bleachers, as you noted, in the same spot. And this is a big decision. This is a big twist.

So bullet hole in the head. In the head. Blood dribbling down his face. No ring on either of their hands. I think probably many people, given the way that this show was positioned as the trainee. Oh, and all the trailers, my replacement sort of thing. Thought it was entirely possible that Hal Jordan might die at some point in this show. I did not anticipate that we would see that Hal Jordan died in the first episode.

I think this is really smart to show us this, but to do it in a flash forward 10 years into the future because it allows them to say like, and we know. We know that John Stewart is in the next Superman movie. John Stewart is going to be a huge part of the DCU. As the Green Lantern. As the Green Lantern. So something has happened. I mean, but also, again, if Guy Gardner is also the Green Lantern, like maybe just the rules are out the window. We are marching toward a tragic thing.

What is the state of their relationship? Well, but here's my question for you. Yes. Like, in some ways in terms of TV storytelling, this is a sort of better call-sol tactic of, like, better-call-t tactic of, like, better-call Saul, if you've ever seen that show, has a flash forward at the beginning where you see this, like, many years in the future, what is going to happen to this character. So that's just looming over this character. You're watching it the whole time. And it is like, contrary to what some people think, which is like, oh, it ruins everything that I know he dies.

On the contrary, I think it could be really powerful storytelling to just have that, like, fate looming. Yeah. Would it be interesting to you or disappointing to you? if Hal is not dead in some way. If that's an alien and not actually Hal or any number of other like comic bookgery hijinks that could ensue to make it that that's not Hal at the end of the day. Interesting question. I think on the one hand, given that to some degree in a comic book universe where we are so accustomed to resets or some. version of this person is back for some reason either because the thing we thought we saw wasn't

exactly what we thought we were seeing or some other reason. That possibility is almost like, I think, always in our minds. You mean coming from D23 when Chris Evans and Robert Johnny Jr. were on the stage? Could have something to do with it? Yeah. Could have something to do with it? And so, you know, maybe there's always a little part of you that is primed for that possibility. Would I, I think the question of how I would respond to it ultimately will depend on how it's handled, if that is in fact what happens. However, I think that because this premiere, which was really strong and really rooted in this relationship between Hal and John and also just specifically Hal and his journey, his relationship

to the idea of being Green Lantern, to choose to end it in this way was such a bold decision and stroke. And so, like, you don't want them to undo it. I don't think I want them to undo it. I agree. Yeah, I agree. Especially because, as you said, there are so many ways to give us time with how without having to undo it. Theory corner is always open for any possibility.

We'll hold these theories loosely and we'll think about them. But I agree with you that to make this a sort of big shocking moment of the premiere and then to walk it back somehow, I think would be somewhat narratively disappointing. Again, there's so many workarounds in terms of like the 10 years in between that they can cover or the halogram. I don't think the halogram is a cheat. I think that's just something that they've set up that they could use for. I also have fresh in my mind, us talking to Ryan Condal about House of the Dragon and him being like, the way we got James Norton is that we said it was just one season. So is do we get Kyle Chandler to say, hey, Kyle, you're going to have to wear this superhero suit, but also A, not very much. And B, only one season, you know? That would be a bummer for all of us. It does feel completely possible. But it's very possible. Yeah. I, I really like that they did this. Like I gasped when I was like, oh, no.

But then very quickly really came to like and admire this decision. And I think the kind of the multiple tragic interpretations of this, depending on where we find Hal and where we find Hal and John together, like, do they become very close and brothers and lean into that version of their relationship? How do you read John's reaction? Heartbroken. mentor's body here. Yeah, heartbroken. I mean, he wasn't like, but stoically so, because that's his way. Yeah. He wasn't like, oh my God, and now the ring is mine. It was like a tender, gingerly

lifting of the hand to dick the ring. But it's like, that's kind of what's interesting to me about it, because we don't know what exactly is ahead for this version of these two characters. Obviously, there's a ton of story about the relationship between Hal Jordan and John Stewart, but for for this show's version of this tale, you know, if it is really tense and really rocky and the conflict and the tension remain very palpable and present in their relationship, and then how's gone, then that is deeply tragic in its own way. If actually there is a breakthrough and a camaraderie and a partnership and a partnership that forges, and then this happens, then that's tragic too, right? And obviously also given that line we got from Sheriff Carey just about, you know,

fear and the connection to loss. Like, we were talking about what we'll learn, hopefully, about Hal's relationship to those ideas, but this is a loss for John. You know, so what will John's grief look like? Right. And in terms of, like, his ability to connect, again, in that Jedi sense, he's been trained to fear nothing, you know, to be so stoic. But, like, what will Hal crack open inside of him?

what will their relationship crack open inside of each other? It's interesting to think about a second season of lanterns, which, you know, there have been some conversations about, like, the writers that they're engaging for that and what that looks like, but to your point, if Aaron Pierre is showing up in the current timeline as the Green Lantern, do we want a Lantern's season two that is, like, 2018? You know what I mean? Like, do we want to keep just, like, mining the past for, you know, this John or, you know, I don't know, just something I think about.

Any other theories you want to toss out? Not right now. About Dead Hell, about Bailey, about anything. Anyone could be an alien, is what I say. Yeah. And I can't wait to find out. Same. I can't wait to keep potting about the show.

Delighted that the premiere was good. What a thrill. I know. I hope it maintains. Same. Yeah. Same. May it be another penguin experience where the skepticism turned into euphoria while watching it.

That's my preferred. I don't know. I just like, I'm just wired differently. I prefer to be a little storm cloud and then be pleasantly surprised by something. Not me. I'm like, Mando and Grogu will change our lives.

And it did. Just not the way we thought. All right. That is the D-23. News and notes. Vision Quest. Vision Quest is legitimately less than two months away. I mean,

it's around the fucking course. I'm so excited. Unbelievable stuff. Unbelievable stuff. Doomsday is also this year, but most importantly to me, Vision Quest is soon. And then we got to get to Gato. Get to Gato. Got to. D23 News, Lantern's premiere. We will be with some of you in Baltimore this Thursday.

We can't wait. In the rain or no. Rain or shine. Rain or shine. And then we will have the episode from The Warehouse posting on the feed a day or two after that exact time in TBD. A mysterious show. Everyone's traveling.

But I think people will like. Yes. We have a plan. We do. We do. There was a plan. That's like you sound like Nick Fury. Incredible.

That was a reference. You're the best. Thank you to our team. Our guardians. You know? Our core. That's right. Carlos Chiraboga.

Scott Lee. Jacob Cornett. Jeff Sharon. Jeff. Yeah. Joining us today. Very new. Delightful.

Our Juno Ramka Powell, Joe Me, and Deneron. We will see you. on Thursday at the yard. Stuff full of crab is what I've been told. Just covered in old base season. Smeared. Bye.