The Reel Rejects - LANTERNS EPISODE 5 REACTION - HAL’S SECRET BROKE HIM!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Citizens of the Reject Nation, specifically Sector 2814. It is time to watch lanterns. The mysteries are still afoot. We've gotten some answers. We've got more questions. I'd like to ask Greg how he's doing today before we dive in. I'm doing good, Coy. I am positive, John.

Starting point is 00:00:19 I am well, and I am also positive. Good. We're all well and all positive. Thank you to Hewell for sponsoring this video. turning this video more on them in just a bit very intrigued by all that if you guys would like to watch our unedited watch along please head on over to patreon.com and slink up with your own copy on hbomax you can also get exclusive watchalongs with these gentlemen as well as discounts on teas like these let's talk lanterns john want to kick us off sure i mean you know this is climactic battle episode and as such i mean i was definitely gripped i'm i'm in a bit of

Starting point is 00:01:00 days. Like it feels like it kind of rocketed by. Yeah. And I'm sort of chewing on it and processing on it. I feel like of all the episodes so far this is the first one where like in a weird way I'm like I kind of want to like go back and reprocess that and

Starting point is 00:01:16 not because there's anything overly convoluted or hard to follow but like this did like it's really moved. I think yeah I was going to say the speed. There's really a really a fast thing and it's not even a shorter episode but for some reason it felt like one of the shorter episodes of the season to me. I really liked everything they did and uh i mean i was there for it but i feel like i don't know out of everything

Starting point is 00:01:37 because it was like mostly physical i i liked the way they articulated everything but i'm still kind of i'm still assessing what the impact is you know i wouldn't say this is necessarily my favorite episode but i thought there were a lot of good moments for characters um i think there are certain things where maybe you could have put a little bit more of the human character related toll of this situation like we've seen the aftermath and we've seen so many things to do with this situation this day and we start the episode off with with sheriff carries you know a little backstory there and and I feel like we didn't really spend much time in her perspective while this all's going down and I mean I really liked sort of the the tension and the harshness of watching

Starting point is 00:02:25 john and how will kind of operate their pieces on this board but yeah at the moment it's uh it's it's it's I'm still like we've ended most every episode and I've like yeah I've got some thoughts this episode I'm sort of like I need a second to come up with what my thoughts actually are fair yeah like I I liked a lot of this stuff it it at face value and now I'm excited to kind of dive into it with you guys and see how it turns out for me uh the big highlight for me beyond uh you know getting to a kind of a culmination of answering questions and obviously like the action and stuff was was I thought shot really well and the impact of all that.

Starting point is 00:03:01 But emotionally, the big moment for me was, there was a really interesting conversation about adversity making you stronger. And I think that ties into him turning down the ring in an interesting way. The theme of this episode being adversity and being in a disadvantage making you mighty or overall is something that, you know,

Starting point is 00:03:20 I've thought about it a lot with my current belief system with the way we're devolving. I talk about physical. media a lot. I talk about, um, and, and that's for like a minute version, right? Like, if physical media is the most simple, it's the one that I think I can, I can speak to because it's pop culture, so it's more palatable. But the less palatable extreme is our weakness as a people because of comfort, right? So like, uh, the Trojan horse of the conversation is always being like, if you own something and if you have to get up and you put it in, there's a tea ceremony, there's a process and therefore the

Starting point is 00:03:57 movie your experience is earned. The benefits are you always own. And, you always own. And, and all those things, but it's also about like the specificity of there's an action required with focus. And again, keeping it to the physical media metaphor, when you play something on digital or streaming, the point is that it is seamless. The point is that there's no speed bumps. The point is that it is the most comfortable thing. And so when I think about society, I think about how we're getting rid of every friction as a culture. And that is so every single person that controls us because we are the product now. makes more money. We're getting rid of the middle. We're getting rid of the bottom. We're just

Starting point is 00:04:34 making it so the top has power by smoothing over all the edges. I talk about shopping experiences a lot where like the self-checkout is getting rid of labor and that savings isn't passed on to you and it isn't passed on to the grocery store. It's passed on to the people that own the grocery store. They're making millions and millions more. So it's all about friction and comfort. And then if you want to go to the less pleasant conversation, it's about like fitness. We're a bunch fat fox and it's really gross and people are dying and we put people in positions of advocating for comfort and we make it so if you mention someone being in a place of not being visibly physically well it's a faux pot even bring it up and there are exceptions there are health conditions

Starting point is 00:05:15 there's all the things but the fact that even have to say that is how far we've gone into the fact that it's not even supposed to be acknowledged because it is more profitable if we're fat fucks and beyond that we get to the point of resistance where if we get rid of all of the things that would make us think and make us have to think outside the box and function and have adversity and actually stand up for ourselves, then maybe we'd go, huh, the wealth inequality is worse than it was when we had the guillotine. Maybe we should fucking do some. And so that really registered for me as someone that thinks about these things in a non-ci-fi way.

Starting point is 00:05:49 And I try to bring it up in ways that are palatable because I do a show about movies and TV. I bring it up with like, you know, media and vinyl. but I think about it way bigger when I think about we are living in an age where we have the most ease of every fucking thing. You can get food brought to you at any time. We are practically kings of the 1700s. Like, I would like my chicken buffalo.

Starting point is 00:06:12 And we still feel like shit. And we still feel like why do we have nothing? We still feel like we have no power. We can't buy homes. We don't own anything. But we got trapped into this thing of like comfort so we don't think of the adversity because we've got so comfortable.

Starting point is 00:06:25 So that speech really hit me in a very interesting way where it made me think of all the things that I'm describing you now that you're pissed about in the comments. And I'm wondering if that was written before they cast Aaron Pierre because Aaron Pierre dealt with so much colorism in his casting or if that was something that was added when they cast her. And I'm just thinking as like a producer, it's such an interesting concept of this dude who's perfect for John Stewart

Starting point is 00:06:52 dealt with so much colorism and a specific blend of racism in a country where a cop doesn't care what shade of black you are before he shoots you. And then amongst him getting cast had to deal with that stuff. And then this woman who would always be cast probably as a not these type of roles gets to have a role like this

Starting point is 00:07:10 because of that writing. And like the chicken or the egg of that then zooms me out to what it's actually saying about where we are societally. So that monologue really hit hard. And then, of course, ties into the theme at the end of the episode of that adversity is now something he's choosing,

Starting point is 00:07:26 and it's something that he sees the problem of the comfort and sees the problem of how that corruption of power takes. So that was the thematic, like, punch in the gut for me this episode was just, I've been thinking a lot about comforts and how it causes apathy and comfort makes us weak. And then the show did that. So I had an interesting feeling here. There have been days where I'm halfway through work, realize I never planned lunch, and, you know, I opened the fridge four different times, like somehow a new meal is just going to

Starting point is 00:07:55 spawn in there. And suddenly I've spent 20 minutes thinking about food instead of just eating. That's generally one of the reasons why Huell has become such a regular part of my life for almost two years now. My God, I use it during that cut that I did last year that I didn't shut up about. I use them during

Starting point is 00:08:11 maintenance. Even on cheat days, I use them, which are a little too often now. I've got to dow back some of them cheat days. Anyway, I use black addition powder actually all the time. My favorite move is actually mixing it in with my high protein yogurt. And ready to drinks, I've basically filled the fridge with them because everybody here loves them. At this point, your options are

Starting point is 00:08:31 Huell or whatever Roxy decides to bake this week. Oh my God, the greens are also really great. And what I like about Huel compared to a lot of other drinks or powders is that it isn't something I have to add on to lunch. It can be lunch, actually. Black Edition starts at less than $3 per meal, has 40 grams of protein, mixes with water or milk in about 30 seconds. And it's a complete meal you have instead of food, not a shake on top of food, unless you want to get fancy like me from time in time with 27 essential vitamins and minerals and no artificial sweeteners, colors, or flavors. The RTD bottles is the Grab and Go version, 35 grams of protein, seven grams of fiber under five bucks a meal. So give yourself one less thing to think about. New customers get 15%

Starting point is 00:09:11 off online at H-UEL.com slash rejects with code rejects new customers only. Thank you to Hewell for partnering with the real rejects once again and also for supporting my health. Let's go. Wow. I thought the action was good. It's pretty shiny. Lantern shit. Lantern stuff happened. He did a lantern thing at least once or twice.

Starting point is 00:09:32 Yeah, yeah. He made a bubble and an umbrella. Yeah. He used the goggles more than he used the ring in this whole season of television. That was a lot of green. That was quite a sequence to follow visually. He wasn't comfortable. That was adversity.

Starting point is 00:09:51 Yeah, he was very much. That's why he did okay. that scene themes yeah yeah I always love going after a very existential coin monologue that's why we know we we do this is you're like I want to go not first and I'm like Greg you don't know what's coming you don't know where I'm been too I'm ready I'm ready for I'm ready for it I thought this episode was gripping as hell it was so fat I like the pacing of it because it there's like a conditioning that's also happened to this town that we see from the opening scene with cop lady character Cain Cain Cain Cairn is it Cary Cain called her care care officer Cain sheriff Cain so I remember the Bob Cain reference sure I think it's Cary Cain which is very comicky

Starting point is 00:10:41 okay that's the point locking it in of the episode is her name yeah yeah well with Carrie at the beginning and how like a debt can be owed and imagine like a lot of this town has this like unwielding loyalty to these higher-ups and even though she was letting her husband be the face of all this she obviously weapon she has such a control over people I like the way they've demonstrated her as a sole individual manhunter and how she uses like affection and or an empathy as a way to manipulate and wield power and I love the nuance that John Stewart was actually able to he can identify it but he also can see where perhaps there's a sincerity there because she's had to learn how at least the way I was taking it is like she's adapted and learned to be human and understand human emotions and he's someone who's been conditioned his whole life to be a robot in his own weird way and yeah has to like understand human emotions and but it's made they it's made both of them be the ultimate observers because of the way they would have been brought up.

Starting point is 00:11:52 So I've been wondering for the longest time, why is there such a connection to them and what is it that makes them drawn to one another? And I felt like this episode actually answered that. Whereas before I thought they were just doing chemistry stuff and having them hook up because of plot mechanics, but I've never really bought into like, why are they so drawn to each other exactly? I'm not fully understanding what's happening here. Like the irony that the one that the most magnetism, the most.

Starting point is 00:12:20 Most magnetic soul is not even a human soul. It's a creation, you know. And I actually like the way they've, I don't really know too much about Manhunter from the comics, but they are the way they've illustrated it here, having a human form, not just exterior-wise, but also interior, like there's still a heart there. And then it corrupt.

Starting point is 00:12:44 Like there's like organs and stuff, you know? Otherwise, it'd be pretty obvious every doctor visit. Yeah. That's why you can't detect them. machine. So I thought that was great. And then I even like the, when Will the bad guy, bad guy quote unquote, was on the phone with her and saying his goodbye, you got this like, that was the most real of their relationship.

Starting point is 00:13:08 We've seen the whole time. I thought that was like such a random nuance where you're like, oh, I'm fucking feel for them right now. I literally was like, oh, that's why you cast Garrett Dillahunt. Like that's one scene. I was like, God, damn, this is powerful. But even the guys who are hunting the manhunter, and then you get hints of the history that they had. And suddenly that gang guy is for the first time actually kind of scary. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:13:33 Like, okay, they've elevated this gentleman here. The showdown between Hal and John is, it's like, it's true. Howell did cross into a whole new terrain of like a very, he sacrificed every part of him. And so did he along the way. So it makes sense. Obviously, when he's giving that speech about. how he's also talking about himself so the conclusion that they ultimately draw here is uh is uh is uh is i thought i thought they earned it i really i really vibe with this

Starting point is 00:14:02 i feel like i vibe with a little more as a whole then i'm not saying you guys disliked it by what i'm about to say i'm just saying i feel like i really vibe with everything they did here from beginning to end in a way that left me in a nelancholic yet sort of reflective state maybe not to the extent that the little spiral you went down coy but for myself though I like when writing makes me spiral yeah no I absolutely where he landed where John Stewart landed here was I just thought that was really heart breaking actually yeah you know it's like it's like he was literally reborn you know and then in this being reborn and repatched up together saved by this person it ends up bringing him to a whole new

Starting point is 00:14:46 realization of like a new skin new person you know as fucking and it's interesting we say about the colorism part I totally forgot about all that in an episode where he gets his skin back after all that they literally talk about ask if you wants it darker yeah and there's also yeah there's that there's that like conversation about the brothers right like they've they've been ostracized their whole life seeing that be a plot element I thought was a really bold way to tie the metaphor together by like even bringing his brothers into it and how you know that is something that he's felt guilt over he's felt guilt over he's felt guilt over he's felt guilt over being the chosen being the lantern all these things and like guilt towards his father but also even like in the inner family dynamics adding like a colorism element was really interesting doubted he mislead the do we know what the group that group of people's called

Starting point is 00:15:33 no I don't remember it was like episode two I don't remember what they're called did he mislead them solely so they can just start killing each other like so they can wipe each other out yeah that's what I got that's what I gathered okay so he's not willing to direct kill, but he'll... He'll allow kill.

Starting point is 00:15:51 Because it's against the oath. If you guys kill each other, uh... Yeah, yeah. Something's got to give. That's what I detected from it. Okay, so that's why he was doing that. Yeah, it took me a bit, though. I'm not gonna lie.

Starting point is 00:16:02 It was like halfway in. I was like, I think this is for the purpose of death. Or he could have just incapacitated them. No, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, you can't use that ring for too much. You know, it's interesting. They've talked about the ring being used in a military kind of way, like a weapon. Like, you know, you only use your gun

Starting point is 00:16:18 in the military when you're up against all odds and the ring being like that but this is the first episode where I was like I'd say it calls for it now like knowing that little beat gave me a lot of leeway right knowing that detail I thought gave it a lot of leash for the other episodes kind of a war

Starting point is 00:16:36 this is the time to be left and right I just go ahead and time we should be lantern yeah it's the first time I was like I'm feeling the lantern light absence yeah shine a light on it me yeah that i think that's my only negative um that pulled me out was just an awareness of like i like i like like obviously it's tv there's only so much budget and i i think it's suited the story because you

Starting point is 00:16:59 want it grounded this is the first time i was like oh i'm aware of it in my nonfiction life like i'm affected by it no it was like what are you doing how just pensive he's a little pensive yeah but i felt like he would be a little more concerned about saving some lives here yeah that's only that's my only negative of uh of the writing for that element because it has worked for me for the most part he did save one life You know that that little watch these out that little girl man crazy. This did carry a sense of toll though. It definitely did.

Starting point is 00:17:26 Like this is an episode where like every little character beat and nuance you feel like the difficulty of like even though there are moments in this where you're like, whoa, scale. It never. It feels not cool in the right way in the sort of like, oh yeah, this is a this is a tragedy for this town and also of great personal cost to. the characters that we followed directly and I definitely never lost that sense like that was a permeating feeling the whole time true true well I got

Starting point is 00:17:58 well this uh you feel good yeah all right this was a thick boy we'll be back next week I'm very curious uh if you know we've we all love Kyle Chandler's L Jordan so much like somehow he's alive who shot Mr. Burns yeah we're also going to find out how it leads into

Starting point is 00:18:14 we know John Stewart's and man of tomorrow and we have obviously Guy Gardner being the Lantern. I liked that they kind of left this an interesting spot where you can be like, Laura Lenny's got to give it to Scott Cardner. So I'm very curious what next week looks like. It has been quite the journey. Please let us know in the comments what you thought of episode

Starting point is 00:18:30 seven. Let us know how wrong Koi is about comfort and how it's important for us to be lazy. And let us know what else you'd like us to discuss with existentialism when it's supposed to be just superhero stuff. Guys, that's not supposed to mean anything. Why isn't there more action?

Starting point is 00:18:46 Shiny object. Appreciate your reject. We'll see you next week. Bye.

The Reel Rejects - LANTERNS EPISODE 5 REACTION - HAL’S SECRET BROKE HIM!

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