The Reel Rejects - LANTERNS EPISODE 2 REVIEW – THIS MYSTERY JUST GOT WAY BIGGER! - DC STUDIOS

Episode Date: August 24, 2026

SINESTRO & MANHUNTERS ARE HERE! Taking care of your health just got easier – start here with Zocdoc: https://zocdoc.com/REJECTS #sponsored Greg Alba, John Humphrey & Coy Jandreau continue their Lanterns reaction with Season 1 Episode 2, “Trust Fall,” as Hal Jordan and new recruit John Stewart investigate a deadly Nebraska shooting with possible alien connections. While Hal attempts to charm the residents of Rushville, John questions his veteran partner’s methods as their uneasy mentor-student relationship is put to the test. From the investigation’s strange new clues and Sheriff Kerry’s involvement to the growing tension between Earth’s Green Lanterns, Greg, John & Coy break down the latest chapter of James Gunn’s DCU! Lanterns Episode 2 Full Reaction Watch Along:   / thereelrejects   Created by Chris Mundy (Ozark, Criminal Minds), Damon Lindelof (Watchmen, Lost), and Tom King, Lanterns stars Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan (Friday Night Lights, Bloodline), Aaron Pierre as John Stewart (Rebel Ridge, Mufasa: The Lion King), Kelly Macdonald as Sheriff Kerry (Boardwalk Empire, No Country for Old Men), Garret Dillahunt as William Macon (Deadwood, Fear the Walking Dead), Poorna Jagannathan as Zoe (Never Have I Ever, The Night Of), and Ulrich Thomsen as Thaal Sinestro (The Celebration, Banshee). Greg, John & Coy discuss Hal and John’s clashing investigative styles, the meaning behind “Trust Fall,” the alien evidence surrounding the Rushville shooting, Sheriff Kerry’s role in the case, the grounded True Detective-inspired atmosphere, Green Lantern Corps mythology, possible DCU Gods and Monsters clues, and where the Nebraska mystery could lead next. Follow Coy Jandreau:  Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@coyjandreau?l... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coyjandreau/?hl=en Twitter:  https://twitter.com/CoyJandreau YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwYH2szDTuU9ImFZ9gBRH8w Intense Suspense by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Apparel! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Follow Us On Socials:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/  Tik-Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@reelrejects?lang=en Twitter: https://x.com/reelrejects Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ Music Used In Ad:  Hat the Jazz by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Happy Alley by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! Head Editor: https://www.instagram.com/praperhq/?hl=en Co-Editor: Greg Alba Co-Editor: John Humphrey Music In Video: Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ask Us A QUESTION On CAMEO: https://www.cameo.com/thereelrejects Follow TheReelRejects On FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & INSTAGRAM:  FB:  https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thereelrejects Follow GREG ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/thegregalba/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thegregalba Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This video is brought to you by Zoc Doc. More on them in just a bit. Citizens of the Reject Nation, we are about to watch Lanterns episode two. Let's watch Lenters! All right, folks that wanted things to get cosmic fast, we are now in space. We now have Sinestro.

We have seen a lantern light. This was the second episode of the glorious Lantern series in HBO. If you guys want to watch it in its entirety, sing up with your own copy. and join us over at Patreon to watch it uncut with all that language

and dead alien dick you can dream of. They say fuck a lot. They do? They got to get the HBO it up. They got to balance the schlong. You got to earn the art. First episode had more fucks.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, they're like, we got a Rating. So check out on Patreon if you want to check out this uncut and also exclusive watchongs with these gentlemen there, as well as 15% off teas like these.

And in the age, not of pure darkness, not of yellow rings, but of copyright strikes. That is our biggest fear. And you can be the counterbalance to yellow lights. And those, for us, are yellow dollar sides. So counteracting yellow is what we're doing here with your green patrons.

Hey. In the meantime, I'm going to let Greg actually go last this time. I'm not going to do the bait and switch. I'm going to say John Coy, Greg. John Foughts. Because I want to talk about the music with John, but I don't let you go first. Of course. That's all I took away from this episode was the nine-inch.

Daily vibes. Got some nine inch noise vibes. Nine inch noise vibes. Yeah. I feel like it's got a little bit more of that. Yeah, they got a little more of the DJ. I saw you actually DJ a couple times over there.

And that to me is the nine inch noise. Definitely. The new sound. Definitely was. It's a Coachella. They're going to have a lanterns set next year. I would be great. Everyone's going to go.

And it's going to be greenlies. Lays or lights. In the audience. Yeah. Everyone's going to get one of those big rings that like changes color in time with the music like at a Taylor Swift show or something. It's usually a watch, but they'll make it into a ring.

This is my takeaway from the show. Also the show. I thought this was a very strong episode two. I really liked the dynamic going out of the first episode. You know, obviously we have to do all the place setting and stuff like that and establishing the odd couple. And I like the way that they split them up and put them on to, yeah, like adjacent but, yeah, very distinct paths for this

and let them spend a good amount of time being sort of, I don't know, like tested and sort of, like, tested and sort of, of exposed to things as characters adjust on their own and then yeah like coming back at the end and sort of having this uneasy meetup just thought yeah like the the uh the gradual nature of the unfolding of the mystery has been really fun and you know for a more lay person like me like there are enough things to grab onto where i'm like oh shit okay okay so manhunter's is going to be a thing mostly i know martian manhunter so i'm like okay cool is there going to be some kind of lore expansion that'll help me understand that character a little bit further or something like that and I don't know just watching Kyle Chandler do his you know doesn't play by the book sort of charming but rascally cowboy thing is great and you know watching Aaron Pierre do his just freaking you know John Stewart just like straight like like he's so good at being so expressive while being the stoic guy I think is really a tricky thing to nail as an actor so yeah I love the vibes I love the balancing of like yeah something is some of the weird is going on here and like you pointed out earlier that they let certain

quirky things play out and they don't tell you what they're for until later with the metal detectors and all that stuff that was really fun so so yeah this has been really like wonderfully solid and intriguing so far so I am

chuffed I'm on the same page for a lot of that I also want to add I'm really impressed at you can tell this is written by TV writers. And that's complimentary. I think that I got so used to comic book adaptations being, you know, long form or certain shows that I would argue at the time weren't a six-episode movie that's cut into

six pieces. To me, a lot of the comic book stuff, I thought felt episodic, but I think this feels much more episodic. I do struggle with that in-between grand. of people adapting things and it's just feeling like one long story to be binged and then like editing it and then having it come out weekly versus

the opposite I we've been currently struggling with with a lot of TV of like it's clearly written for the purpose of being week to week and having the water cooler conversations or cliffhangers of those things and then them dumping it in one or two episodes this feels really nice to have actually feel episodic it feels like this episode got to be the two of them going on their own separate ways

them both having a mystery then both having stakes but then the Sinestra button at the end, like that, it feels like good TV. It feels like when I think of like the excitement of waiting a week to have the conversation of what's going to happen, our episode one gave us that we all think, mislead of the Hal Jordan death, but then this episode, like Sinestra,

that's a huge conversation to have. So I really like the structure of the show, which isn't something I usually think about. I usually don't notice it while watching it to be like, this is exciting, but this format is really cool for something like this, to have the mystery kind of unveil itself this way. I'm really impressed that much.

I like all the characters. I caught myself, you know, noticing in the background that Macon was there and being like, oh, that's going to be a great conversation. And the jurisdictional stuff is really fun because lanterns are space cops, but you don't often see them have any sort of conversation about, like, rules and logistics. The bureaucracy. Except with other lanterns. Like, you'll see that, you know, with the great conversations of, like, the districts

and what it means to be a lantern. It's more like heady, but to have like a conversation with humans, it's really fun. It kind of makes the world feel more real. So at one point, Greg mentioned the, you know, Superman being so established,

it's cool to see the groundwork. And that was something I mentioned in my review of episode one. I'm excited to see the details that go in retroactively to a world that already has heroes. And I hadn't thought of like jurisdictions. So that was surprisingly captivating dialogue.

So yeah, I'm enjoying the language. I'm enjoying the format. I think the acting is great. To your point about John Stewart, I think his eyes being like magnetically expressive allows him to really know

how little to do with his face. And then when you see him emoting, it feels even bigger. How you train for that? I don't know. Aaron Pierre, great eyeball and face acting. But yeah,

this is all really working for me so far. It's doing just enough intrigue that I'm curious about the mystery while also being a fanboy excited to hear lanterny thing. So it's all. the things I personally hoped HBO would play equalizer-wise

and then it really went at the end like It's a space show which surprised me which is also fun. Wow. Nothing but a bunch of shills. Yeah. What shit do you want to talk, Greg? What's wrong? Pick some nits. Tell us what flaws. Like everything. Yeah.

I got so many problems. So many. Oh boy. Oh, get ready. Sorting them all. He's got so many. I'm not going to I'm not going to damp in the mood though. Don't worry, guys.

I'm gonna reel it in. Because I know you snowflakes are so sensitive. I'm already crying. Let me just, let me just, bullshit my way. Make some shit up. Through compliments. Oh boy. Yeah, I need it.

Salve me with compliments. I think it's a solid episode, man. He says. Real talk for a second. I'm not going to get into, you know, all the personal details, but recently my wife and I both had to see doctors, and it was one of those very adult reminders of,

oh yeah, we actually have to take care of ourselves and be really smart right now. I'm usually terrible about this. I think I need a book that appointment, and then remember the phone calls, the whole music, the back and forth, the monotonous stuff, you know, figured out who takes my insurance, and suddenly I'm like, you know what?

I'm probably fine, terrible plan. Walking off like the old man used to say. Anyway, that's why this video is sponsored by Zoc Doc, which my wife and I actually use recent. Zoc Doc lets you search and compare local in-network doctors. Their website has tons of reviews from real patients and detailed doctor profiles, so you can look through your options and choose the one that feels right for you. Then you can see actual appointment openings and click to instantly book a visit.

Instantly, no phone tag, no waiting on hold, no putting it off another three months because the process is annoying. And Zoc Doc, it's free to use. Your health matters and taking care of. of yourself shouldn't be complicated. Find and book the right doctor with Zockdoc doc. You can head to Zocdo.com slash rejects to get started and check that appointment off your to-do list. That's Z-O-C-D-O-C dot com slash rejects. Thank you, Zock, Doc, for now being a part of our life and for sponsoring this video.

It's a solid episode. There's a solid episode. I really am. I'm enjoying both of their individual performances. Aaron Pierre does have that effortless charm. I kind of liking it to an extent how I sort of feel about Chris Evans and Captain America, like straight-laced military guy. But you have to cast someone who is so effortlessly charismatic where it just comes off of them, even when they're not attempting to be charismatic, you know.

And that's a really specific type of casting because it's very easy for. him to be the boring one when you're compared to Hal Jordan because this show has to sell us on wanting to watch his adventures after, you know, he's supposed to be a man of tomorrow and we want to be able to watch him without Hal Jordan. And this episode, I thought it was a really good idea to separate them because it allowed us to be invested in John Stewart's solo mission without feeling like we need howl around in order to find him interesting. So it was a good sell. The progression of it is very fascinating to me because they continue to double down on a lot of things of like everything just feels a lot more barren and empty. Like even when, like, nothing really feels like populated.

Even when the most populated part was the freeway. Yeah. Outside of the freeway. Everything outside of the town. Everything was outside. Well, I mean, like, you go to his neighborhood of where Hal lives, it's quiet and empty and isolated. Isolation is like a big part. He gets abducted by those aliens who put the plant in Stewart's head.

They go to like, this abandoned barren office space. Like, it is, everything is just so. There's a lot of, like, vacant and it's supposed to be sort of, I think that's supposed to lend itself to a bit of an ominous tone. And I thought it was smart because he's being told not to trust Hal for reasons. And then he's got that woman. who is telling him, you know, like certain philosophies and thought processes. He's having his own individual dream about us as the audience have been with Hal and we see what

Hal's been doing. And it hasn't been anything to like fuck over John Stewart by any means. But so when they do meet up, though, at the hotel, you can see the tension between them and the distrust that's forming. Like, it's one thing to have like a paranoia about what's going on in the town. It's another thing when the partners are having a paranoia about one another. and a distrust with one or not. Even the fact that they went to John Stewart first without going to Hal made him suspicious.

And then he goes to Sanestro. And Sanestro is like, tell us about John Stewart. Everything. It's like I love the paranoia that it's ultimately cultivating. And yeah, I like the Vince Gilligan vibes. It is kind of funny how like Vince Gillen's doing an alien show right now. And now we're doing a lantern show, which feels like they took a page out of Vince Gilligan. Gilligan's directing playbook, like everything about the morgan.

It's like it moves faster than a Vince Gilligan show, but everything about the morgue and then going to the alien detectors was very Vince Gilligan. And there's, there's, sometimes I do feel like the, uh, if I felt this way about the first half of Logan, the F words I feel are a little, this is going to sound like the most pussyfitting thing I've ever said. The F bombs I do feel sometimes are a little bit like a little, a little, little too much. Yeah.

I agree. like the call attention to it I get it we're a cool edgy show for adults yeah I get you can say the efforts and sometimes it's a little distracting because I don't know I feel that way every time I watch Logan in the first half of it and I kind of feel that way

now because I'm like I know when you're in the movie there's going to be no efforts when you're in manna tomorrow so it's just like and he's talking to Sinestro and I'm like I know when there's like a lantern's movie there's going to be no F-words happening there, so it just kind of pulls me out a little bit. It's getting them out now.

So many, so much F-words. You're just so excited because mom and dad are around. It's so interesting. I only noticed like two. In the first episode, I noticed it a lot. In the second episode, not as much. Two in this episode, so it's funny. I'm like, I don't remember. Yeah. Yeah. In the first episode,

I felt like every major character was like, got to have a cool fuck in there somewhere. Even the sheriff, everybody. Everyone gets a cool fuck. Everyone's dropping it all the time. Yeah, I do wonder how the reception to this will be going down because it does seem to be intentionally going out of its way to not feel super heroic at all, which is going to be something that a lot of people love, and definitely something that a lot of people are not really going to like. And truth be told, I'm a little somewhat conflicted about certain moments. I feel like we're going to get a heroic moment, like a true heroic moment.

And it's like if you did that shit now, it wouldn't just fit the fucking vibe. it really wouldn't fit the vibe if he was suddenly like if he was like so I know it's lanterns. It's so cool, dude. It's so cool. It's a lanterns review. I'm going to try it next. But when, wait,

what's the time? You were talking about being conflicted about the, like, having a heroic moment, it wouldn't fit at this stage in the show. Greg, it fucking long. Well, there's like a psychology that I get an impression of that he kind of has a bit of a there's a layer here with the

dynamic that he's kind of cautionary with John Stewart because he's kind of he's trying to protect him and he's also seen some shit and he's seen some corruption. It's also not as fancy and pretty so he's more jaded and I feel like he's putting a lot of his own like conversion of horror

and you know projecting it onto John and making him like keeping him intentionally at a distance over these things even right down to like the dismissal. There's a there's a much bigger reason to why he doesn't rock the suit, you know? It's not just because

he doesn't like the uniform, because he's older now in suits and whatever the fuck he's in the last episode. It's not about that. There's something much bigger. Something happened. Yeah, there's something much deeper to that. So it's just so interesting, like, oh, the first time you see the suit just hanging in the closet, and then he, like, puts on the suit, just walks outside of the hotel.

He goes up there, and it's everything so, like, everything in, like, Lantern Corps is all drab. That's not, like, colorful. Well, even that is, like, barren. That's what I mean, yeah. There's an emphasis on, like, decoloring and drabness and barren that it fits for the show right now. So that's why I'm talking about, though, like, where DC's kind of been having a bit of, like, audience difficulty in the areas where they have been, it's, I'm like, I don't know if this show's going to do itself any favors with that.

But setting it aside for the show itself, it works, though, like in the world itself, on my personal opinion, it works. so yeah it's just like kind of interesting I was just the thought I was having I am very the bird too the bird is very vibrant I am very curious about the overall

lanterns audience versus comic audience versus DCU audience like there's so many different types of fandoms and that's the fun of the comic book world is the spinner rack of experience and I personally tend to gravitate more towards terrestrial than cosmic

and I think that's why Kyle Reader's my favorite lantern is he feels the most like a guy that would want to protect Earth more than he'd want to go out in space cop. So I am curious about people that are like diehard cosmic lantern if they're enjoying this take. Because it is, I think what you're saying is like, it's such a specific take and it's nailing its take. But I'm really curious how that's received. So yeah, I think it's a very well-written show. And I keep being wrapped up in the mystery.

And it's not usually my genre. It's like I watch the mystery and cop shows once they're, regarded well. Like True Detective season one I watched didn't watch two I watched some of three I kind of just catch

the ones I hear are great and this would be one I think even if you got rid of the lantern elements that I'd be like I hear it's good I'm curious what that new HBO show is so I'm curious if that audience

is also scratching the edge of like having a cop show but yeah I'm digging it's got that classic invasion thriller vibe it's so weird to me how Peacemaker's season two which was

that's all right for me where the that seemed to be setting up something much bigger for the DC universe I mean the man of tomorrow

I feel like it's gonna come right out of peacemaker right like that there's that and this show seems to be more thematically

setting up the bigger universe stuff yeah in a more overt way I feel like the shows are more setting up

the world than the movies are like the shows have so much time They have like six hours. I feel like the biggest conundrum is finding a way to truly interlock them so that you have people in a non-gripey way keeping up with all that. Because, yeah, I think it makes sense to expound upon all this in TV because that's where you have all the time and space to add details that we don't have to rush past.

But it is a funny, I do wish they would have a better because even you were talking about the swearing. It's like, oh, yeah, probably if this ever becomes a movie. It's like everyone's going to talk and move a little different. So, like, I don't know. in the great experiment of comic universes, it still feels like things are going to be relatively detached, but I hope that something like this could create maybe better cross-s synergy. Because, too, like, I like wondering how the tone is going to carry itself.

These first two episodes have been very terrestrial, but we ended on a very cosmic note. So while I expect the show to remain relatively terrestrial for most of the time, part of me wonders if there could be a cool balance of like, oh, man, this is getting like... Spacy. Maintaining the tone, but doing... more of this stuff in space or if we moved

into a season two if it would be more cosmic than that. Like I like the way they can like push the tonal boundaries and give us in the TV setting especially things that blend a few genres. Yeah, we don't have a lot of like superhero stuff yet but we have a little bit of crime. We have a little bit of cosmic. We got

some natural comedy. You know, there's like a little bit of a lot of stuff gestating in here and that's exciting for the world at large, I think. And I'm really curious how John Stewart is in the world of heroes. Like that's one of the things I was thinking about, like him being a man at tomorrow.

I'm excited to see his fully form himself. How vibrant will he be? Like, what will his suit look like in those details? So, yeah, I'm in. I'm excited to keep going on this show. We're back for episode three. So please like, subscribe, comment. Let us know what you're thinking,

which direction you're coming from as a comic book fan. I don't know what's going on over there. I'm checking in that. I don't think of a fuck is going on. Yeah, there it is. You got it in. There it is. Look at that HBO dialogue.

We'll see you soon, like, subscribe, comment, Patreon, etc. Appreciate you. Bye guys.