The Ringer-Verse - ‘Lanterns’ Series Premiere Instant Reactions | The Midnight Boys

Episode Date: August 17, 2026

The Boys return to discuss the first episode of DC’s newest show, 'Lanterns.' They examine the show’s gruffer, jaded version of Hal Jordan, debate whether or not Lanterns can live up to its prestigious time slot on HBO, question if it’s odd to cook for a man who slept with your wife, and so much more! (0:00) Intro(9:53) Spoilers ahead(21:17) ‘Lanterns’ instant reactions(1:18:20) Outro Hosts: Van Lathan, Charles Holmes, Jomi Adeniran, and Steve AhlmanProducers: Devon Baroldi and Jamie YukichAdditional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopowell SUPER TROOPERS 3, only in theaters August 7. Get tickets MEOW! https://www.searchlightpictures.com/super-troopers-3#get-tickets Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode of the Ring ofverse is presented by Searchlight Pictures. More than ever, America needs a laugh. Enter Super Troopers to the rescue. The cult comedy classic returns with the most offensive installment yet with Super Troopers Three. A debauchous bachelor party, an over-the-top wedding, and a dangerous drug smuggling ring, all threaten the troops' future. Fill your leader of Cola and roll up to the multiplex for Super Troopers 3.

Meow playing only in theaters. Get tickets. Meow. Welcome into the Ringiverse. This is, of course, the Ringers Nexus podcast feed. for all things, fandom, we are Steve, the architect, the Alderman, the builder, and Tigger of things.

Jomey, explainer. The Dernor, you've got questions. He's got answers. Old man, Van, he of the receding resurgent. He had in line, coat baby chug, the 24-carric closer, Mr. Blue Jack and himself. Together, we are known as

I'm the midnight, boys. I'm sorry. Right back after this. Real Canadian Superstore has everything you need this, back-to-school season. Save on lunchbox savers, like Ziggy's sliced delimie products

for always 375. And get Life Brand Pure Vita shampoo or conditioner for $8 each. At Real Canadian Superstore, when you're ready, we're ready with a whole world and more. Chuck, I like this jacket. Let me tell you what I like.

You changed into that. I saw when you came in here you didn't have the jacket on. He had a whole hanger, a whole wardrobe change. A wardrobe change, and then when you came back, I was like, you got the city of New York joint.

If you look at the colors, I want everybody, this is going to be a breakout. You can't call your shot. You can't be like, it is the breakout. I want everybody to look. You can't do that.

I want everybody to look at the colors that Chuck has put together. And these are brilliant colors. This shit is new. You got like the little earth tones. This is all the nature. You got the city of New York with the blue. What's that? Tan?

I would say what did? This is like, no, this isn't a tan. No. It's like a brown. Yeah, brown. Like brown. So can I tell you why I'm impressed? Because if you guys notice, I basically wear like the same two or three colors.

I don't know how to match stuff. I don't know. I never know. You need to do that color theory thing. What is that? The color swatching thing. Like, I've seen these,

like, that's bullshit. Follow your heart. You really, comic bullshit. You really just got to try stuff on, bro. Try it.

Just got to try it. You got to try it. I look at that together and I'm like, blue, green, white, green, white, tan, brown,

and it looked crazy to me. I love it. But I was, who's watching, bro? What you mean, who's watching? They even got like a little pattern

on the shoulders. What's what the, it's a little pocket? It's little pocket. You know what? It's the new Sunday night show. You got to show out for the people, you know what I'm saying? I've born all of these

these articles before. But then you put them back together on some different shit, you made something new. I will say, you know, now that we in Vanity Fair, niggas can't see its outfit repeating this shit. That's true. They're going to be, like, broke. You in Vanity Fair, they're not paying you? Hey, I'll be honest.

A lot of people hit me up. That Vanity Fair shit, I didn't think that it was going to go as long as it. Pause. Let's go as far as it. A lot of, a lot of people. A lot of people hit me up because we was in Vanity Fair that haven't hit me up in a while. People were telling me how good it was for SEO.

People searched the Midnight Boys and now it goes. Actually, Dave Jacoby said that. Once again, Dave Jacoby is getting involved with what happens. Jacobi's like Midnight manager. Jacoby's the man. Jacobi's doing this fucking thing. Jacobi's out there. Bill says Jacoby's one of the top five basketball players that's ever played the game.

That's what Bill said. Bill loves Jacoby's game. We got to get Jacoby on the podcast. Talk about basketball. Talk about life. talk about SEO. So like, we need to have

midnight friends. I feel like we need to open up like the homies. Bring them through. Bring them through. Let him talk about stuff. These are all people

that watch this different shit. Bring Bill on here. Bill's never been on here. Bill has never been on here. I will, I think Bill, Bill, like,

might be a little scared to come into our world, the nerd world. Show us the respect that we're due. You don't think Bill's in the nerd world? Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay. I'm sorry. I was talking about. Hey, don't switch up. I'm not switching up. Don't switch up. I'm just saying that it's like... Come on, man.

Bill's in the nerd world, man. He's in the nerd world. Like, the rigors... He likes... He likes Superman, Spider-Man. Is he fucking with lanterns? But see, here's the deal. There's a belief that you are only a nerd

if the things that you like are nerdy. Like comic books, superheroes, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got news for the film bros. Y'all are nerds. Yeah. Hey, sports bros.

Nerds. You're nerds. At this point, when they start talking about the numbers and the percentages, I'm like, you're all the real nerds, bro. They're hip-hop nerds. There are porn nerds. You know. Porn nerds?

They're porn nerds. Wait, who's my homie who he's dating a porn star now? You're talking about Devante Yaps? No, that's not a nerd. That's a goat. That's a genius. Wait, who's a dude? Wait, who's a dude?

Wait, who's a dude? Laughette. Locked him. You haven't seen these videos. No. He's the funniest. Wait, is he the dude in the bathroom? Yeah.

Talks about it. Okay. That guy is great. Can I tell you all something? Have y'all ever seen somebody in real life and gone? That's a variant of me? Yeah, that's that is your. That's a variant of me.

That's a variant of me. That's a variant of me. But the fact that he has made that pop and work, I mean, he's popped a bunch of times, it seems like. But the fact that he's made that work and that he is good at it. and then he brings an elevated discourse and discussion. It's genuinely impressive to see how he talks about those things. And yo, I'll be honest. The actresses fuck with it.

They love it. Yeah. Because they're being appreciated. These are sexual athletes. You should bring them on higher learning. I would love to have him on higher learning. Would Rachel allow? I would love to see him to have a conversation with Rachel.

That would be so funny to me. Rachel knows because Rachel brought up somebody. I think Rachel talked about one time she knew mandingo. She had seen, she had heard of mandingo before. Oh, wow. All right. I follow some socials at the Midnight Boyspot on instant TikTok, at Ringverse on instant TikTok, Facebook and Twitter. Jummy, let me ask you something.

I don't know if you guys have realized. I haven't been on Twitter in like a month, almost three weeks or something like that. You notice I've been off Twitter? I've been off Twitter for a while. Wait, why are you off Twitter? Fuck, fuck Twitter. Okay. Hell you.

Twitter was making me very reactive. I got off Twitter. I got off certain group chats that I was on. Twitter was making me very reactive, waking up, looking for a fight, going in, talking too much. I feel like I'm a better person without it. Although finding topics Finding topics for different shit

is difficult when you don't have Twitter and everybody's talking about it because our threads threads is like Jesus Christ it's like looking at the ghost town threads is different

No the threads is popping don't get me wrong It is popping But threads is just different I can't I need that pure uncut negativity bro That's the thing

Yeah Yeah right into my vans Like the blue sky That stuff is dust Nah like I woke up today They was on AOC I was like

I had to text my brother I was like Damn what an AOC What a.O.C. do? She's freezing her eggs. That's all she's doing. Oh, I saw the freezing up the eggs. That's all she's doing. No, I don't think that. That's not what it is. No, she was like, oh, wait, what did she say about woke? Huh? Did she say something about, like, uh...

Oh, we're backing away from the woke thing? Oh, that's not what I saw. No, what did you say? That's what everybody was talking about. What happened? AOC was all right looking bad and everybody was just like... Looking bad, how? Like physically? Looking bad. Like looking good? Okay, let's find this. And everybody was...

Everybody was talking crazy, and you just got to keep swiping. You got to get, you can't get too. When you say looking bad, you mean she looked amazing? She looked good, brother. Yeah, she got it like that. Good for her, man. I'm like, hmm. Socialist Bay.

All right, I got to ask you a question. What up? You're always trying to get people to do extra work on socials, like by taking pictures and, like, playing games and doing all kinds of stuff that benefits your career. How come you never collaborate with me on the post? Is there something that's? going on? Why don't you ever collaborate with me on the post?

Wait, what are you trying to do here? What are you trying to accomplish? I'm asking. Is there a rule? You're being an asshole. How? Every other part that I do, they collaborate with me on the post and we don't do it on this spot. I'm asking why. We don't do it every time, but we do it quite often. We do at least once a podcast. But what I'm saying is, why don't you collaborate every time? Every time? If you want your, I can do that for you. I'm not going to post it every time. But let's get to the show, bro. You guys understand my life. You're trolling now.

You trolling now. Hold on. Hold on. You know full well Joe Me be knocking down our door, be like, hey, bro. Clap on the Post. This is the thing I don't understand about the Midnight Boys podcast, which we have a lot of other people listening to it because of the Vanity Fair Spread where we looked amazing, felt great. Everyone loved it.

My mom cried. Okay, listen. This is why I don't understand about the Midnight Boys podcast. I'm asking a legitimate question. I'm on three podcasts. Right. I'm on Ring or Tailgate. I'm on Higher Learning.

Yes. Rich Williams. Ringier Tailgate. Take Frazier, Joe Anderson. I'm on the Midnight Boys. Steve Alman. Chuck, Jomey. Okay.

Every post that's put up on tailgate or on higher learning, they collaborate. They send one every time. Every time. Sometimes I post it. Sometimes I don't, depending on how the feed is that day. But we don't do it this time. I was legitimately asking, like, you guys are making a big deal out of it. You want the option.

You want the option. Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, listen to what you're doing. You're putting all of this extra sauce into it. I was legitimately asking if there's a reason that we don't get collaborated with on the post. If there's like a reason. Every single time? Every single. I was asking if there's a reason.

And if there's not a reason, it's not a reason. No, I'm worse. I'm not a family. Jomi because you be like Joe's like, Joe's like, all right, clap on this. Can you share this van? Blah, blah, blah. It sounds like he don't do it.

No. First of all, I'm asking because he hasn't done it. And then sometimes you will ask and I will say no. And I don't want to put it up there. I like to be deliberate. right? So there are particular breakouts that I'm like, this is for Vann's audience or this could use a bigger

audience for the ring of verse for you. He collaborates when it's more so a clip for me he makes sure to put like Charles and I'm like all right I'm a collaborate. Guys, there you go that's the answer to the question. Wow. What was all of this millennial angst?

Because people don't know like, Joe everybody, let's take a let's take a photo and he's like It'll help the pot. I'm like, all right, let's take a phone. You're like, it don't help the pie. It doesn't, I just, tell me, blah, blah, blah. What I'm saying is, what I'm saying is, you guys will know one day anytime you're asked to do extra work, you should question why you're being asked to do it.

John is asking us to stand in front of the AMC and take a photo, bro. That's not what I'm talking about. And this is this is my thing that's exactly. I'm bugging. Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, guys. I'll just say this real quick. You guys have, okay, so I'll give you guys an example. Give you guys an example.

You guys have seen what I'm talking about. They are, this is the thing that I love because either my memory is better or other people are just liars. That's not what? Okay, so listen. What about me? Jomey.

Jomey, let me ask you a question. What? Did you, did you, I'm going to ask you three different ones. Three different questions. Did you or did you not ask me to sit in the theater room with you at Mateo and do a skit? Yeah. Yes.

Okay. That's a skit. Did you not ask. us to sit down and do another skit where we're guessing, Blonde. Yes. Yes. Okay.

Did you not also ask us to dance with lightsabers? Yeah. Right. All more than taking a picture. Like, reality, hold on. Let you talk. Let you get your shit off. Reality.

Reality says that when I'm saying this, then I'm right. Right. That Jomi will ask, Jomi will see the latest fucking trend on whatever, and he'll ask you to do it. But what happens when it's the little stuff where you're like, we not, uh... But it's all of the stuff together. He's all of it. And I would just want to say...

By the way, which I always do this stuff. But I'm just saying, don't come to me and tell me that I'm doing it for me. I would like to... I would like to say that the lightsaber one and the guessing one. People have been begging for us to do that. Again, we should do that again sometime. Did really well. And the skidatatatatio got like four million views across all.

It was a good skit. But hold on. But see, now you're arguing like Republicans. You're changing the goalpost. What you were saying is that all Jomi ever asked to do is you take a picture. Wrong. That might be all he asked y'all to do. But it's not all he's asked me to do.

And I have examples of it. They also did the, except for the, the, the, Mattiel one, they swing the right. So I'm just asking you to be real. Sometimes you be like, hey, Jomi, just be real. This is helping you. And I'm always like, no, it's helping the pod. No, no, no, that's not, but even that's not what I said. What I said was, is there any way you can actually demonstrate through data that this is the podcast?

Why are you being like this? I'm just saying, y'all is making shit up. Like, what I'm saying is you're saying, even the way you just said that, it ain't all of that. I'm just saying, is there any way you can demonstrate through data that this is helping the podcast? The more followers we have on our social channels, we post clips, people look at the clips, people go, oh, I like these guys. Then they go to the YouTube. They go from Spotify.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, guess what? Guess what? All anecdotal, baby, baby. Like, put together. I'm trying to help you. All right, so I got to, like, do a PowerPoint. Yeah. You got to do a PowerPoint.

I got to get the facts. Let's get to the show again. You know what you're doing. You know what you do. And I tell y'all something else. I'll tell you out something else. Tell you out something else. There's going to be a time when y'all have been on four planes and

a week. Y'all have four interviews. Y'all have sat down for this. Y'all have done all of this. And somebody asked you to do something else? And y'all going to be like, do I have to do this? And when it happens, I'm going to be sitting there with bad knees, half of my hair transplant going, going, you know how old people chew on shit that's not there?

Yeah, it's like leftover food. Yeah, I'm going to be like, I told you. I'm just like, you know. I will tell you, though, man, he's a very good sport. Usually for the most part. I must complain. Okay. We're on YouTube, like, comment, subscribe.

Share, you can put that at the end of the podcast before. We're on YouTube, like, comment, subscribe, share. You can watch every Midnight Boys and House of Art episode on YouTube. com backslash at Ring of Verson, also on Spotify. Programmer reminders, this Tuesday, the House of Arr gives you their D23 News and Lanterns, deep dive. Correct. I can't wait to see them deep dive this show because I feel like this is a very deep diveable show. Oh, very much so.

On Friday, Buttmash talks Defenders of the Crown and game cloning. Now, I have something to say. Okay. I turned on the PS5 yesterday. You didn't play MLB the show. I did play it. I'm in spring training of the 2027 season. The Dodgers have won the 26 World Series.

Not looking like it in real life. Frey Freeman won a bag title, Shoah with 75 homers. Yoshi won the the Syong and the MVP, 26 and 0 with a 1.27 ERA. You're using cheat codes, man. Like, that's insane. Freddie Freeman hit 410.

Okay, so look. God damn. So look, you know, when I got home and I turned the game on to play the baseball game for spring training, it said, Spider-Man 2 has updated. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Oh, Daddy. I went and then I played Spider-Man 2, and I played with the brand-new day suit.

It was very, very special. It was very special. Like, I was swinging around. Like, Kalika started to get very annoyed because I was swinging past people who needed help. And I was like, I don't want to help nobody right now. Crimes in progress. What are you trying to do?

I've already done everything. Like, like, 1999. Excuse me, 1999. Like, 99% it's beatings over. That game wasn't long enough, I'll be honest. It was a little longer. I like the first one a bit better than two. Now, but it's his, the story.

better in the first one. Yes. But the combat and swinging is better than the second one. Also, they patched in the new face for Peter. That was tough. And that was terrible.

I miss Old Peter. He was chopped. Oh, Peter was great. Yeah, but so I played it, and I don't know why, how smart these people are. Just adding the costume to the game,

for some reason, made me feel like, once again, I am Spider-Man when I play that game. I'm Spider-Man. Are we going to get that feeling when Wolverine comes out because there's a difference. There's a different.

The swinging is what does it for me. I feel like, Wolverine, I'm just like, oh, I'm just stabbing my fucking. I mean, that's the thing. You know, what? A Spider-Man game is unique because he's an open world character. Yeah. He covers a lot of ground very quickly. Like you can get from Midtown to Brighton Beach, New Jersey, very quick.

But like, Wolverine, I don't know if it's going to be the same. Well, it's a, that's like a linear story, man. Oh, it is. It's like a mission-based. It's not open world. It's like uncharted. Like, it goes through the story. Oh, I don't know.

Who else can have a big open world game? Batman. Batman's done it. You need to play those. Arkham Knight. I started playing it a little bit. Hell yeah. It was dark.

It was very dark. I think maybe when I was playing it before, if I was like 37 and my eyes were better. I don't know if when, oh, it's like the TV's just not bright enough. I'm like, where's Batman at? Like, what kind of shit this thing got going on? Anyway.

That's fair. I'm just saying, you know, we flipped a video game. a little button mask segment right there. All right, tonight, you got to get into it, guys. Long-away to show. Yep. So many questions before we talk about the show.

Is Aaron P.er up next? Is Kyle Chandler making a play for the coolest, older white guy walking right now? It's a big, I'm thinking about, when you think about Kyle Chandler and the cool older white boys, it's a lot of... TV or TV and movies? This is just... This is TV and movies, but think about it. Gagins? Mm-hmm.

Is Gaggans? Is Gaggis? Is that the same generation? Chandler and Ghanler might be a little older than Gagons, but they're close. Oliphon. So these are the guys with Oliphon. Gagins. Chandler.

You're a countdown? Is that any like... Nah, if you can't, can't. I don't think. Yeah, it's kind of like probably like a different league, you know. But you think about all of these guys, the cool older white guys that we like is Chandler with this show, staking a claim because he's cool. shit in this show. I think he might be a top

10 white father coach. Like when I think of like who would like if I had a white father who would I want to be, Chandler is probably the man. Let's make a list. Who would you want your white father to me? I'm not doing this.

Wait a minute. White family draft? No, I'm not. I can't do it. White family. I can't do it. If you had a white father because we know who Steve's going to go bill. But like what is the This is why we can't fucking do the podcast at 1 p.m. We be too loop.

Nah, bro. All right. So we have to get into Lanners right now. A lot of questions to be asked. Very deep-diveable show. Also, a lot on the line. We'll talk about this a little bit as far as D.C. and where they are when this show is premiering.

But we have to spoil the show. We're going to spoil the lantern show, the premiere episode of Lantterns. We're going to spoil a lot of things about the Green Lantern character. Steve, give me the spoiler warning. We're getting ready to do that. talk about you're listening to a reaction podcast.

The spoilers are coming. Okay, to begin our reactions, we once again bring you the midnight manifest. It's going to put you in the know about lanterns, episode one. Chuck, taking away. All right, Lanterns, pilot episode directed by James Haugh, written by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindeloff, and Tom King. In 2006,

a young John Stewart watches the first televised interview with Hal Jordan. When his dad comes home to shoot an apple off his head. Ten years later, Stuart is the Green Lantern in training under Howe. Their buddy cop dynamic is immediately tested when Hal throws John out of a moving vehicle with the Green Lantern Ring on the dash. Stewart saves himself but is met by the ring's sentient AI who tells the recruit that he needs to tell Hal that they got to go to Rushville, Nebraska.

John meets Howe and Sheriff Carrey in Rushville and discovers a string of murders plus a suspect that Howe believes is an alien, hijinks ensue, how it gets thrown in jail to get closer to his suspect. Stewart sleeps with Zoe, who is married to the mysterious William Macon. Howe gets to interrogate his suspect, and it turns out Jordan is right, and he is indeed on the trail of an alien conspiracy. This alien blows himself up before warning that more of his kind is coming, and then we flash forward 10 more years in 2026, where John returns to Rushfield to find Howe's dead body

in the stands of the football field. That has been your midnight manifest. Van, do we want to go instant reactions, or do we want to want to be? want to do some table setting because this show has been marketed as true detective meetspace. After the first episode, did it work for you in that way where it's like they set up a procedural that is HBO Sunday night intrigue while also having that DC comics lore coded into it.

So, yes, I think that the show over the course of the season will set up different parts of that expected premise at different times. Yeah. But what they certainly got right in the first episode, which I think is going to be key to the entire show, was not only the dynamic between Stuart and Jordan, but the chemistry between the characters, too. Chemistry was amazing. The chemistry was amazing. They have a broken chemistry, but a chemistry nonetheless, right? The show also has managed to do one thing that's very important for DC, which is give us characters that we know, legacy characters,

John Stewart, Hal Jordan, and put them into situations where we have to question fundamental aspects of their nature. Like, we know these guys really well, but we don't know them where they are right now. and that strips this show away from boredom. It also strips this show away from comparison to other portrayals of these characters. You're not thinking about a cartoon when you watch this.

You're not thinking about Ryan Reynolds and that movie, which I watched in preparation for this. You're not thinking about any other portrayal of the Green Lantern except for the one that you are watching on screen. And everything that the show gives you, it seems like, at least for me, I won't speak for you guys. You can accept it. You can accept that Hal Jordan is a celebrity.

You can accept that Hal Jordan doesn't wear a suit anymore. You can accept that the world is both used to extraterrestrial life, but not used to dealing with it firsthand. And all of those things lead this to the narrative that they're trying to spend and a grounded portrayal of two space cops. I mean, the Hal Jordan that we get in this is so interesting to me, and I think it is quite honestly the best choice that the show makes, which is the

Howl Jordan that we're used to getting in the comics is closer to that Ryan Reynolds character. That's not a good movie, but he's cocky, he has no fear, he doesn't care if he's crashing planes, and the how Jordan we get, and it's really clear why they got Kyle Chandler

is, he's gruff, he is older, I don't want to say there's a nihilism to him, but it's like, he's been in this so, why don't you want to say it? get your shit off when he barked it and he's like

no but like I really felt like that was the correct choice to almost take Green Lantern as a character more seriously he wears that character like he is that

like that Ryan Reynolds version with a life lived of like 30 plus years and then he's learned way more than a character like that if he were young and that is perfectly held

by him I think that this pilot was like kind of pitch perfect, especially when it comes to John Stewart. Because I think that the idea of, like, there's so many great ways in scenes and dialogue that, like, are both expository and really good at establishing his character. He talks about how he got this job and he's still talking to his dad, who is, like,

indoctrinating him about being without fear, which is clearly a prerequisite for getting the job of being Green Lantern in the first place and wanting desperately to become that. and I'm constantly intrigued like what's his goal for being Green Lantern because he was clearly groomed to do this since he was a kid. Like that's incredible to me.

Jomey? To quote Van, I apologize. Because when the show was coming and when the death of the trailers, I was like, I don't know, man. Like, I like the ideas and like the things that people said about it.

I'm into, right? True Detective, Demi Land DeLaw. lanterns, that all sounds great, but can they make it cohesive? Can they make it work? And by the end of this episode, I'm like, yo, where's episode two? Lock me in. Lock me in.

Lock me in. How did you guys feel about, they changed something very fundamental with the Green Lantern Ring, where the Green Lantern Ring in the comics is something that the ring finds you. You need to have, A, no fear, but the willpower to wield it. And what I found so interesting is that John does not get it that way. he is a trainee at this point. And I guess this would be the ongoing mystery of why was he chosen?

Why is he basically separated from how most other green lanterns are chosen? Why? Because how almost seems annoyed with the fact that he has to train this guy. Yeah. Ha, therein lies the most important lesson for me from this pilot,

which is a negotiation between what is and is not in your nature. Okay, so Hal Jordan is a test pilot. So his occupation lends itself to this tremendous risk. Why did he decide to become a test pilot? How did he decide to become a test pilot? Some guy wants to build an engine that flies at Mach 19,000, right? I just read something about the fact that,

They're going to start sonic flights again because they figured out the sonic boom. The sonic boom doesn't go boom anymore. It booms up now. It's not going to mess you up anymore. So the reason why they're not do these sonic flights anymore, these hypersonic flights, or these subsonic flights, I can't remember how whatever you say. The reason why they don't do them is because of how they affect the ground, right? Do they affect the ground? They boom, your fucking windows go crazy.

It's loud. Your dog goes crazy, Bose and bark. And they figured out how to do it. Well, I always think about stuff like that. It's like when they invent this fucking plane or whatever, somebody's got to go out there and fly it. Somebody's got tested. Somebody's got to test all of this stuff.

Those people cannot have fear. They can't pretend to not be afraid. They have to actually not be afraid. So you have to sincerely be without fear to do that. So he found that profession because he's not afraid of anything. When we see John Stewart as a, child getting the apple shot off his head, he's being taught not to have fear. He's being groomed his whole life to be fearless. And the one thing that he respects about Hal Jordan is that he is

fearless. And the lady, the lady cop, Carrie, killing McDonald, Carrie, she flips that on him. She goes, he's not fearless, he's lonely. She actually subverts it. She goes, well, is it that he has no fear? Or does he, is that he has nothing to lose, which injects into the pilot of the show a central tension between someone that has a family and a father and this prodigious idea of duty and sacrifice against somebody who cares about nothing,

what truly is being fearless. And that is kind of what the show is negotiating, and it's also, to me, going to do that through which version of that the ring actually chooses. I mean, and what I love about this pilot is because Hal's dad dies in that plane crash and Hal is essentially like once your parent dies, what is there to be afraid of? I like the fact that he might believe that but that's not totally a true statement. The way Kyle Chandler is playing Hal, he is so lonely and he is

so, and he's almost, he uses his recklessness as a pilot and as a green lantern almost as a shield. and that genius part when they're at the taco stand and he's describing why he doesn't wear the suit anymore. Brilliant. It's almost like he is tired of putting on the costume and the mask. It's like it's the cowboy. That's like I don't want to give up the gun, but I'm tired of fire.

But also a uniform means structure. Yeah. Like a uniform means identity. You have follow orders and do all of that stuff. He doesn't want to do it. I like, do you guys, what do you guys think of the structure? structure, right? Because we start in 1996, we flash forward to 2016, and we're there for a majority of the time. Then it kind of like trips you and it's like, no, it's 2026 and you go and you're like, John, John Stewart's dead.

No, sorry, John Stewart's dead, yeah. How Jordan's dead, right? Like, I'm, I am so insanely interested in how they navigate the second two timelines. Because you have to solve the mystery of 2016, right? There's hail in Nebraska. And then who killed Hal Jordan in 2026? How they navigate that is going to be so interesting. But to me, I think, like, I think they can do it. And I'm, like, so excited. That's what we're doing, baby. We're Lindelofen.

Yeah, that's Lindelof. We're taking this story that we think is linear and all right there for us, the same way Watchman was done. And we're jumping around with it and putting new lore into it. We're taking the essence of these characters and expanding and expanding and expounding on them, at least in the pilot. I haven't watched ahead. Maybe it all falls apart by episode three. Who fucking knows?

But, like, we're taking these characters and we're subverting our understanding with them. You know, like, we're getting fusion. You know how you get, like, I don't know, like a goddamn, fucking Asian taco. Man, like an Asian taco. And you're

like, I never knew. A sushi burrito. Sushi burrito. I never knew that I wanted that. All right, sushi burritos. Sucing. It's kind of disgusting. Fusion food. It's a lot of... It's a lot of... I don't like fusion foods.

Fusion foods. I don't like Kingwaw and the gumbo. We wouldn't have gotten text mex without this philosophy. No, that's just not true. You son of a bitch you. That's not true. That's not the way that happened. The way that happened was actual people

in an actual place that's close to each other, making the different foods of one another, actual sharing. How would that exchange about this? Like, see, not some fucking chef somewhere going... Mexican- Italian. food is where I'm like, we're not doing like, so no neighboring countries. Although you ever have made some

some, what do you call it? Butter chicken pasta. It's kind of fire. It's kind of fire. So you guys, okay, so listen, and I just want to let you guys know something. I come out like a long time ago. This is the way the podcast works. I'm not backing down

from you tyrants that kick my ass for everything that I do. About you thinking Asian food sense? That's not what I fucking said. One trick ponies. said, one-trick ponies. That's not, that's not what I said. You didn't say one-trick-old.

Hold on, hold on. For me, it's the Japanese cuisine's a one-trick pony. That is crazy. That was insane. I'm not a ramen guy. So, okay. I'm not a ramen guy. But you can be having anything else.

Okay. Both things can be true. I said, when I'm thinking about Japanese cuisine, I'm thinking about sushi. That's the whole thing. It's so funny how wrong you guys all the way up. I didn't say Asian food was a one- Tripon.

Japanese food. That's what I said. And I was wrong. I didn't say Asian food was a warrant trip point. I never said that, okay? But you are not the biggest fan of Asian food and you let us know what. Whatever. But what I'm saying is that sushi burrito comes out.

You guys say, boom, I don't like all fusion food. It's a fusion food, nigger. Somewhere right now. Making fusion food. Fusion food. Why do you say? Mortal combat character? It's a fusion food guy out in it right now.

It's going, oh my God. Oh, look how the Midnight boys are being about fusion food. I love a sushi burrito. I wish Laya was here. I bet she loves a sushi burrito. So, but you guys get to say that. And it's not like, oh, my God, you don't like food, shit food. You done?

I'm sorry. Okay. All right. So if we go back to the time. The ranch and culture of South Texas and northern Mexico is how Tex-Mex got started. Okay. Not some guy in French laundry somewhere decided they was going to combine. I didn't say the Tex-Mexam's in French laundry.

What I, What I want to know about the timeline now is if Hal was already Green Lantern in 2006, 10 years later, 2016, John Stewart is training. And then in the present timeline, it seems, well, we know Hal is dead or presumed dead. Where does this fit in the Superman timeline? I think that this is probably, it's such an interesting added degree of difficulty for this show to take on because it's probably, like we've seen in the trailers, that Nathan Philean is in the show, however briefly or long it may be. So there is clearly some crossover here. And I think the biggest point is to know that both neither Stewart or Jordan have the ring when we find Hal's dead.

So the ring's gone. And that's in a particularly difficult point of crisis to know that if, okay, if another Green Lantern exists, aka Nathan Philean And if Guy's there and he knows he lost the ring So that's like a dueling thing of like Okay well now this presumed new Green Lantern is now fucked up again Or can't handle the responsibility of the ring

I don't know I mean just off the time of head right Because Guy is the Green Lantern in Superman So maybe Superman takes place I mean if we're doing like logistics Maybe it takes place in the time where Hal is dead but John hasn't found the ring yet

and they just need a green they need a green lander for Earth right sector 2814 super important because there's like 100 green lanterns that are human for whatever reason so they need a green landing for earth so maybe it was just like hey we need a guy we need a substitute teacher

right now man let's fill in the gaps between how Jordan and Jonathan Stewart in regards to like the mystery there I mean this is something that we talked about when we saw the footage at Comic Con, but the scene with how interrogating the alien.

So was that footage? I wasn't at the panel. Was that footage at that panel? Yeah, not all of it, though. Okay. Like, the good chunk of the actual conversation, yeah. Yeah. But watching him break him down, like, starting with the Nebraska stuff,

so you know where Harry Potter went to school, can't answer that. And then the Barack Hussein Obama bit. That was crazy. That's all you got. some contention about his birth certificate. So you're like, all right, for sure. Watching him, I mean, you talked about, like, the conversation that these names, John Stewart and the cop are having in the background.

And, like, that's, like, also informing, like, our, how we see how in that moment. But still, you understand that, okay, this guy, like, he talks like he the man, he walks around like he the man, but he kind of is the man. Because he knows what he's talking about when he's breaking the alien down. So there are two interrogations happening. At the same time, these writers, they try, they're just doing their thing. There's an interrogation of the alien happening in the room. And then there's an interrogation of Hal Jordan happening in the other room.

They're talking about Hal Jordan and what it means to be a Green Lantern. How Jordan is demonstrating something that this show has to get right, demonstrating the value of his experience. the value of experience. Whenever you watch something like this, old dog, young cup, whatever it is, not the wolf. I just lone wolf and cub.

It's not a lone wolf and cub. Whatever this is. It's like training. If it's seven, if it's like, whatever it is, the value of the experience of the senior officer is something that the show has got to nail. Because when you watch Morgan Freeman

and Brad Pitt in the movie seven, you go, Brad Pitt is younger. Yeah. He's, he's got more energy. He's brash. He's brash. This is the cop that you want showing up

if you want somebody to take care of a case for you. You have to create value for the experience of the guy whose age you can see on his face. That scene does it right away. Right away, you know that there's no training that John Stewart could get that is going to allow him to do that.

There's also the scene of the football field where he's like their thing. And he's like, what would you do? And then he's like, to go talk to the cops. He's like, go ahead. And he turns out, that's like obviously the wrong act. Yeah. And not only is he, as in how Jordan not making a move, but she knows enough. Yeah.

In that situation, not to spook this guy, so he runs away. So the only one that's got Simulak on his breath that thinks that he knows. Would you say he was kind of a plucky? Plucky. The only one, the only one that's- He's way too serious to be plucky. He's way too serious to be plucky. That's a thing.

That's a thing like a- Yeah, yeah. When he sleeps with Zoe, I'm like, you want a job, bro. Come on. Hey, I respect the game. But once again, like mistakes being made or not even mistakes being made. This is John Stewart's training. John Stewart thinks that his training is going to be how to create and will things with the ring.

He thinks that his training is no. His training is this. It's in the field. It's trial by fire. When he makes the car go off the cliff. and tells him to save himself, there's not a better training exercise you can do. Sing or swim, live or die.

Like the stakes here are really, really high. And throughout this entire episode, as we get into this world that we don't quite understand, Lindelof loves militia types. This is kind of watchman-esque in that, like, you see the same open world with militia types and what are they doing,

who's got the power, and the whole nine. But the entire time we're doing this, we're seeing what these characters are good at right now and what they have to get better at. Do you think, so what's funny about this is when we see Guy Gardner and Superman, James Gunn is not afraid at all to show us the ring, to show us constructs.

This TV show is doing something a little bit different where they're being very, very intentional with how they show the ring, what it can do. And I wouldn't say they're hiding it, but I did notice it out there like they're slow rolling it out. Definitely. I think it's interesting with what he chose to make Kastros. He's constructed a dollar bill for the jukebox and a bottle opener.

Yes. And then only when it comes time to saving something does he construct like a bubble. And then and also kind of like the sentient ring version of how. Right. Which isn't green. That's built into the ring though. Yeah. But like it's interesting because he's clearly using the ring for like his own things.

Like selfish and like abuse. Some would say abusing it. And others might say that he's. kind of seasoned into it. He didn't abuse the ring, you're wrong. Well, if it takes power away from the ring and he needs to use it for an actual important thing.

But he used the ring to make the $20 to incite the guys and get in the fight with them so they can then go interrogate the guys. Why are you hating on white people? You know, I'm supposed to be in the bag for him. Whoa. I'm proud. Oh.

I'm proud. Steve, are you about to become are you about to become you're with us I mean are you a critic of whiteness say it I mean Vanity Fair said that I had unapologetically black sensibilities Wow

I agree with Vanity Fair Yeah put that in your Instagram bio Unapologetically black sensibilities That's gonna go crazy I fuck with it But no to your point though I see what you mean I do think that at some point Like it's not without intention

No I'm not counterfeiting money I use my will pass to conjure money, whatever. So he's like, he's playing it off. It's just, it's very funny to me where it seems like this show wants us to take the character seriously. And then once we fall in love with them, they're like,

here's the suit, here's more the constructs, here's more of the alien shit. Because any single time we get, like, even the flying, he flies like once. And they're like, all right, you got it. Hey, he took, hey, man, first of all, he took off. Like he said, made a check, he was gone. I thought it looked cool. Like, for the second he was gone.

I looked better than the trailer. For sure, for sure. Yeah, we got to start having a conversation about some of these trailers, okay? Because it looked fine. And in the trailer, it looked dumb as fuck. And so these trailers playing, if y'all think that y'all in the position to play red herring with these, y'all better put the shit in the trailer that y'all want people to watch the motherfucking show. I mean, I feel like they got the notes and then they just go back into the lab and fix up the CGS show.

What do we say after watching the Doomsday trailer, at Comic-Con, they're like, they'd just be selling this garbage at the first one, just so we talk about it. And then we come, they show us, like, the actual stuff.

We watch the show, and it's great. And we're like, this is where it should have been all the time. But he lived John out there to go pay for the flight. Yeah. I will say,

I did hear John Stewart, Sr. on the phone. He was like, yo, they get to act like that. Not us. I'm like, what do you mean?

I was just like, wow. I was like, superheroes, white phones, man. You're jail phones, man. You're a jail phones.

I mean, I mean, speaking of that phone call, though, I don't, does John's dad want it more for, for himself than John? Oh, clearly. Because he was like, you won't does, don't you son? Like, yes, sir. Then lock in. Click. Yeah. Go do your job.

I don't, I was, I was a little iffy on the beginning, though. I was like, you can teach your son not to be afraid. It don't have to pull out the blicky. Brother. Like, that was, that I was like, that's insane. What do you mean? Yeah. Oh, you was watching TV?

before I got home. Bit, go get my gun. What? But as I watched that scene, so that's a really interesting scene, too, I'm glad we got to it. As I watched that scene, when he said,

go outside, I thought the fucking switch was good. And I was going to be like, man, this is tough, right? And in a way, and I like this scene work, in a way, he does something both more traumatic

and also kind of heartwarming? All right. I can see where he's from. I can see it. I don't know if I can condone it, but I can understand it. It's obviously something that would never happen and something that exists in a television show.

Sure. But after he shoots the apple off of his son's head, he then expresses affection and pride in him, which normally at the end of a scene like that when they're showing you the structure that your father gives you, that scene ends with a fundamental distrust between father and son

that informs how a character moves throughout the world taking that out on people. That is not what concluded it at the end of that scene. Even though the middle of it, I'm not, gosh, it's fucking nuts. Yeah, yeah, I get it. But at the end of it, he wipes the apple off the top of his head, smiles,

we're going to go get a burger. Hugs him, let's go get something to eat. So I found it more fucked up. So he's, he's, he's instilled. feeling confidence in his son. Right. So the worst way possible. Because I like,

because clearly if he's in, he's done that to him for years. Yeah. Because as a seven year old boy to endure that and not feel anything. Well, you can, he's clearly been doing it for years. You can see the bullet holes up and down that shed wall or whatever.

And his, his, uh, brothers are like, hey, bruh, that's all you. You want, you want to watch 60 minutes.

All right. Fuck off. Watch the 60 minutes as a kid has got enough. You think they had like eight kids, but now they're only down to three. Yeah, Yeah, probably like, because there's different. The wife left.

She's like, I can't do this, no, I can't watch you shoot the apple off the kid's head anymore. But look, though, even the decision to watch the television set, he's not afraid of his dad. Yeah. So, like, everybody else in the room is, there's little stuff that the show is doing in the scene where everybody else is scared. But the dad looked at their son. Pussy-assie-adding. Yeah, like, everybody. Yeah.

Like Laid. Don't John Luke John walked out like a jeep You're like, yeah, man. I was going to burger. Y'all starve right. Everybody else is scared and he's not scared.

So the same thing, the same thing that actually makes Jordan a fighter pilot, it's in there for Stewart as well. He's not scared, but it's also being cultivated in him. So which guy ends up being a better Green Lantern? The natural, Hal Jordan, or the build of Green Lantern and John Stewart.

Or both of these guys have to learn something from each other. Does obviously Hal Jordan have to learn structure from John Stewart? And does John Stewart have to learn to trust his instincts and his gut from Hal Jordan? So if we talk about the conspiracy that's kind of like underlying this, it's no secret if you've read Green Lantern comics. they always circle back to the same thing, which is the little blue guys, the guardians. Not the greatest leaders, I would say.

You know, they're a little magocoded, you know? It's a little bit. I find it interesting that Hal has not updated his Green Lantern Ring because they say you basically, it updates your consciousness. Like every... It's supposed to be like every couple of weeks or something. But I imagine it's kind of like Captain's Logs and Star Trek. He's supposed to be doing it on the regular.

And he's like, we're not... It's like, I'm not, why would I do that? What if Hal Jordan was AWOL for 10 years? And they got Guy Gardner in his stead? What I think, I think that's part of it. I think he's also, the reason he's treating Stewart like this is he's like, why did the bureaucrats choose you? Oh, he doesn't like the way this is being done.

Yeah. He's like he doesn't, not only does he feel that the younger guy is there to usurp him and like take him, nobody wants that. Nobody wants to train their replacement, right? But he also is like, what the fuck are you doing? The way this, when he tells the story of how it happened to him, that's exotic. That's exhilarating. That wasn't somebody going, hey, we need to put somebody else in there and get them ready.

That's being whisked away by dying purple alien, like spewing, glowing, a dark blood who takes the ring out and the ring chose you and it takes you to this place and all of that stuff. that story is out of this fucking world. And not only is Stuart, like, privileged, he's boring. Like, it's boring to do it this way. Like, the ring choosing you is grandiose. That's the sword and the stone. That's all of that stuff. Well, it's different, right?

The ring chose how, but the guardians chose John. Right. Why? Yeah. Interesting question. I have another one. Would you cook for the man who slept at your wife? This is I understand.

This is a great question. Well, I think they got an open situation. I think he was mad at John and Zoe because it's like, oh, yo, you being messy. Like, I'm really into all this alien shit. I know all the superhero shit. Come on, just tell me first, you know? I guess my thing is this.

You know, it is kind of a situation to where everybody kind of knows, but like you all kind of fucking with me. Because, like, I never did well in those situations like that. It's always good to eat off another man's grill. I'd be like, yeah, and I ain't good, too, motherfucker. See, now, that's that's too far. And, like, I ain't good, too.

Nigga, I want seconds. You're trying to, what you being? Hey. You still are. You got to come about it, Gus. Can the midnight boys become midnight, man? What? I'm saying, like, you're trying to, you're trying to,

you're talking shit? Like, yeah, what the fuck? Yeah. It's like, like, what? You're trying to play with me now? I didn't even know. I don't think he was playing with him. I think it was just like,

what are you talking about? That was. He was definitely playing with him. That was a microaggression. It's good to eat off another man's grill. I want you to know that I know that you slept with my wife. I'd have been like, yeah, okay, we're playing that way. Don't play with me, dude.

See, y'all let niggas play with y'all. Who said that? Yeah. You know, I don't. I know you don't. You, I know you don't. You, though. You let niggas play with you, don't you?

The guy with all the guns. I mean, I guess I am the Green Lantern. So at some, you know what I'm saying, I could throw some hands. But, like, I mean, even John himself's like, yeah, I would have been, I, here's a thing. Real talk, I would be tired of like she tasted grape. Yeah, yeah, yeah, what's talking about? I want to. Don't play, don't play with you.

All right. Don't play with me. I like it. I like it because she's seasoned. She's been here for a while. But the meat's still. All right. All right.

I'm just saying, like, don't play, don't play with me, though. What you're trying to do? Hey, dog, don't play with me, bro. For real. Like, I didn't even know that was your wife. You know what I'm saying? Like, you want to, Craig, because you got niggas around here with guns.

Yeah, you talk about it. Like, I'll fucking green this whole bitch up. Remember you, January 6th. But I respect how, though, because he wasn't even, hey, he's like, oh, shit. Like, hey, I'm afraid. He thought he was a stick in a month. Look at you. First day.

And how, like, you, it's kind of a man a little bit. Yeah. I'm fucking with it. What did you guys think of that, like, entire sequence? Like, you know, I like, you have the scene at the scene at the courthouse where, you know, her husband comes in, which by the way, I think this is a reference for like three people listening. But as soon as I heard that guy's voice, I was like, that's Dipper Pines.

I know, I know. What's his name? I can't believe him. I'm forgetting his name. His dad was eight simple rules. Oh, oh. John Ritter. John Ritter.

That's his adjacent writer. Oh, yeah. I know that I know that voice anywhere, right? And so to see him, it's great. But then, like, that entire sequence, because obviously there's something going on between Big Macon and the sister or the wife

or the yeah because she's like yo listen you don't want to owe this guy right and they have that conversation when he's cooking the corn where he's like

you know aliens are here I know aliens are here nobody that was like conversation about colonialism that like Is that immigration metaphor a bit too on the nose

it's not too on the nose but it's gross when like I mean, in the current state of America, it's, it's, like, just, like, really awful. And then you have, like, again, extremely on the nose about aliens colonizing, and you're like, like, these people, like, really exist, right?

It's not actually about, like, you know, aliens from the sky. Well, that is, like, what they're, that's what they're saying, but I'm hearing, like, you know, obviously, like, people coming in from, you know, all types of places across the world to America. And I'm just like, it's a knowing. Like, I get why it works in the story. And I get why, like, they're using that metaphor, but I'm just like, It's a bunch of white dudes in the press.

It was gone. Why are you worried about this, right? I was thinking about this, thinking about Spider-Man brand new day. Is there any way for you to not fuck with the mutants, but you're not racist? Because I'm thinking if I'm in the MCU, right? And this terrorist girl going crazy, she, like, she my controlling fucking half of New York. I'm like, damn, I don't know if I'm, if I'm, fuck like that. So like fuck with that and they're like you racist.

Okay, exactly. So no. I mean like this is the deal. And then they've got powers. And so the reality is that if the mutants existed in the real world, I mean there would have to be a conversation. You know, I mean, it's, you know, it's like I'm not going to treat my kid differently because he could read my mind. But we got to talk about the fact that you could read my mind. Okay. That's like a whole thing. All right and how to use that.

Yeah, but the fifth time Magneto fucks up upper New York. I am a little bit like, hey, bruh, Professor X, this is your man. Why do you keep letting this slide? Hashtag not on mutants. Yeah, I understand it, but a nigga, you know, only takes one.

In this situation. Oh, my ass. We're talking about people who can flip the world on its magnetic axis. Okay. We're not talking about people. Magneto can flood New York City. York City by himself.

Yeah, we're not talking about like, oh my God, these guys are six foot seven, six foot eight. That's not what we're talking about. Like, they could dump. We're not talking about that. That's not what we're talking about. We're not talking about, oh, my God, they can run so fast

and all that. They got big dixies. We're not talking about legitimately people who can conjure conclusive blasts from their eyes. There has to be some sort of conversation. I'm not saying that there has to be like a, we got to put them in fucking the jail to the Krokoa, send them all in there

live on the island. I'm not saying that. But we do, we have to talk about it, right? Yeah, but like, I would be, I would be a little freaked out if I was like, oh shit, y'all got an island for the second time and y'all all fucking each other and now you're immortal. It's just, it's tough. You know, you come into your son's house

to his room, he's in the room and you're like, hey, what's going on? And he's like, I don't want to show you. And you're like, you can show me, son. I love you. And he turns around and he has angel wings. it's like, you know, I'm open-minded, but I'm going to be like... You're still going to love your son.

Yeah, but I'm going to be like, fuck. You know what I mean? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm going to love him. You got to love him, but they're wings going out of his back. Right, okay? So we, there's, there has to be some sort of conversation. No, because I'm just like, oh, we go into the league, bro.

Yeah. He's going to be an X-Men. This is sick. No, but this is the real question, though. Do you know what you get for being an X-Men? combat. The real question is if you find out your son or your daughter is a mutant, do you send them to Professor X?

Yeah, I would. But I would definitely send a Professor X because you have to at that point. You go to a place. You send them to boarding school then? But even that, though. It's not even that because. I could make an argument that sending your kids to a school with upstate New York is cruel. That blows up everything.

But here's the other thing. I'm going to, I would be one of those toxic helicopter parents because if I send my kid to the ex-manchant and he's a bench warmer, he's not even on the bluer goal team. This nigga, yeah, but if you have a son like Leach, what are you going to do? I'd be so disappointed. Okay. What if your son, what if your kids are one of the Morlocks, man?

Yeah. But look, what are the whack world? I love him. I would love him. I'm saying that I, you know, it's not like, I'm not saying that I'm going to be against the music. I'm with the mutants. You with the mutants?

You're with the mutants? You know what I'm saying? I'm with the mutants. Yeah. But also, you know, they can turn into other people. So you never know if you actually with the mutants. But I'll just say this. Seeing some of the cast and for the X-Men, I think the race metaphor going to be tough.

Because like, if Storm fucks up, I'm like, hey, yo, that Storm, you know, she's a proud black woman and a mutant. We letting it slide. Cyclops goes full like fucking terrorist crazy. I'm like, this nigga had everything. everything. He had Gene. He had a white teen. I like, I like the idea of like, because you watch you watch it on TV, man. And X-Men Saving, you know, some somebody somewhere. He looked at the TV like, hey, where my son at? He said he was going to get in.

He said he was playing today. Hold on. What happened? Oh, he had an injury in the danger room, man. Two to four weeks. Yeah. My kid got injured in the danger room. I'm suing. I'm suing the hope. But can't be real? Like, also, though, like, some of these kids can't control their powers. Right. So you got other kids.

You come in the kitchen. The whole kitchen is burned up because your son has turned it to a nuclear reactor. That's like going to music school and you can't play the guitar. I'm like, it's a teacher's fault. Yeah. Your son got upset. He didn't turn it to a nuclear reactor. Blown up half the fucking kitchen.

They got parent-teacher conferences. Yeah, it was like, but let's be real. Gene was going through some shit. I will be honest, though. She got real militant real quick. Gene killed like 50 people in Brandon. We'll get back to Lantern. Like Gene,

like Gene got a lot of work to do, bro. She's a school shooter. Yeah, Jesus Christ. No, she is, bro. Wait. No, Gene Gray in that movie is a school shooter, bro. And they got to her and talked her down before. Spider-Man and May talked her down?

They talked her down. But, like, she still got her shit off a little bit. Yeah. And Peter was like, you want to be like Frank? Yeah. And then another school shooter. She was like, oh, hell no. All right, back to Lanners.

Back to Lanners. Okay. So with Gary Dillan and, because they had that conversation about the car. Yeah. Where they're like, yo, like, I, you want to get rid of aliens? I want to get rid of aliens. That seems like an uneasy alliance because I've seen Gary Dillan in a lot of stuff. He's amazing.

He's great. But always slight. Don't trust him. Is he old enough to even be his dad like that? I was going to, I was so confused because I think this is what happens when you have different timelines where I'm like, all these white folks look the same. I was like, yeah Maybe they had Gary Dillan's 61

Oh wow Shit Man shout out to Dillan He looks great Had her young You know And then they had But even like Zoe

Like she had older one But I was like Her and Carrie are like Okay so Jason Dillah Like Garrett Dillant Is Jason Ritter is my age She's 46

Dillan is 61 So it's a 16 year old 15 16 year old That could be a dad In Nebraska Nebraska Yeah that's one That flies

Yeah, Nebraska, that's a situation. But, like, all of this stuff is right now murky. Yes. We know that this militia, maybe they exist to fight aliens, but it doesn't seem like they do. And I also point something out. By the time Stuart comes back, that ranch is destroyed. Yes. Okay.

So it seems, but Kyle, but Kyle, but how Jordan is still. there. Like he drives by the range. Yeah. I thought that was just the town or at least the jail where it happened. Because I think it was like a transition shot of him driving through like the main drag of the town. Yeah, right. But it seemed like something had like the whole town has decimated. Something leveled the town. So right. So, but I

feel like that he at some point drove past something that was the remnants of the gate. It could be. Yeah, okay. That was that the militia was behind. But let's, the town is still destroyed. Another of the town must still remain that she's there. Yeah. Right. That she's still.

But yet and still, Jordan is back there again. Yeah. So whatever happened in 2016 does not seem like it was figured out. He's there again. He keeps coming back to this spot. It ends up being a spot to be down. That is the one thing where I was like,

all right, this is a little too true detective, though. Like, I was like, y'all took the whole playbook. I was like, this is. Which also like, hey, shout out. them. Now, can I ask, do we think, would you like, if Hal becomes Parallax, are we, like, not as too kind of bookie? In this show? Or just in general, because I'm like, you don't, the thing with killing off

Kyle Chandler is I'm like, I know Kyle Chandler don't want to be Hal Jordan for the next 15, 20 years. It's not happening, yeah. No. But part of me is I'm like, if you kill him off, Spector, Parallax, or that seems more James Gunn than Damon Lindelof. True. I think that that's the overall question of like how like not kooky but like how deep into comic book

Enis is this show willing to go. Because I hate it to Spector. I hate it. Because like they only allude to the guardians. They only like kind of like they tiptoe around some stuff but I never feel like they're like afraid to go there. It's not the tone of the show.

No. Well, I mean at Comic Con we did see some stuff where there's going to be Sinestro in the show. and stuff like that. Right. And so my question is like, was there ever point in how Jordan's, like, life where he took the yellow ring, right? Like, are they going to allude to that kind of stuff, you know?

So who knows how far they'll go into the well. Parallax as like, I don't know if it'd be the villain of this show in particular, but like that'd be interesting. How Parallax? Like John, if they ever gave John a movie, John having to go up against Kyle. Kyle Chandler. That's neat. We're great.

Especially this show could almost set that up. let me ask you guys a question. So this first episode was solid, very good. Very good pilot. It is, I will say, it is among one of the best of these type of show, like a superhero show.

Just solid, knows the tone, there's intrigue, all of the characters are great, the dialogue. Like, even the stuff that, like, didn't work for me. I was like, this wouldn't work in a regular episode. Like, it's just like, it was just such a solid episode. In the grander scheme of things, the DCU has had problems doing one thing, which is establishing not the tone, but the rhythm of their world. What Marvel was able to do was take different styles of movies

and put them all into one linear storytelling experiment and still maintain this thing that existed from movie to movie, right? Some of them were a little bit more serious. Some of them were a little bit more lighthearted. Some of them were a little bit more comedic. But it all felt like you were in the same place. The DCU hasn't done that, and it doesn't really feel like it's tried. Lanterns is a great show based upon this pilot.

This pilot was great. I'll say that. Let me not say it's a great show. Let me say it was a great pilot. Does this pilot fit with what we've been seeing from James Gunn and everything else that he's been putting on screen? No. And I actually think that that is its success. where to me for the DCU to kind of prove that it has any type of staying power,

the thing about Supergirl that I think a lot of people pushed up against was the James Gunn of it all, was it feeling like, oh, this has so many of the trappings, where it's like lanterns, Damon Lindeloff, Chris Mundy, all of these people are not just experts, masters in their field. I want to see Dame Lindelof's vision. I want to see Tom King's vision. I want to see how they want to do the lanterns. And almost to me, long term, the DCU will be healthier

if we can get a Matt Reeves Batman and a James Gunn Superman and a Lindelof lanterns. And then leave it up to a very, very talented director to be like, okay, how can we make all of these characters exist in one movie? I think my main curiosity is to know that this show was long in the tooth as far. as development. And to know that Guy Gardner, this show was being developed

before James Gunn even took over for DC. And to know that Guy Gardner's in this show as an addition after the fact from Superman, I'm very curious to see what that looks like in this show. Yeah.

Because those two, to me, in my brain, don't mix. Right. We saw, we saw... Guy Gardner and... Yeah. Yeah. Wait, so my question, though, is and I feel like this is going to be unfair for lanterns because part of my enjoyment of this pilot was me not thinking of the larger project.

Where at this point, thinking of the larger project is just so exhausting. Yeah. But I do think a lot of viewers will come to this being like, okay, do I feel like I'm in safe hands with the DCU? Do I feel like something new and exciting is happening that's going to like explain the world to me? And I think that's unfair to put on the show. but I think it's almost inevitable

because Supergirl didn't do what it did where you're kind of looking for like all right Superman worked but what's the second thing that's gonna work? And that's I'm like I don't know if the show that's a lot for a show that's a lot for a TV show especially in the wide universe of DC

when you have like Batman you're like where's Batman and all these things and we're getting Superman next year but this year what it's Supergirl this and Clayface you can't expect lanterns to to buoy the way especially after what happened

Supergirl. So ultimately, you're left, like, you don't want to put too much on lanterns. If it's great, fantastic, we lauded it. But you can't, like, especially after episode one, you can't be like, all right, we're going to put our, we're going to put our bags on for lanterns and ride because, God forbid, it don't want to. No, I'm just wondering if fans are going to be patient enough or they're just like, I want to see Sinestro now.

I want to see the Guardians now. I want to see the constructs now versus this is, this is a very traditional to me, like, HBO show where it's, like, they're slow rolling it. I mean, HBO, right? We know what we're getting. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? This is Sunday night. This is 6 p.m.

This is succession time. Big Little Lies. Game of Thrones, baby. Talk about that decision. That, to me, is the biggest gamble. Like, without a doubt, Sunday night HBO, after House of the Dragon is over, lanterns, they believe in this show,

or they want us to believe that they believe in it? So, to me, it puts a bull's eye on the show's back, because I will be honest, this does not feel like an HBO show to me, and that is not a ding at the show at all. It's like there are levels. True Detective, that's a masterpiece.

That first season, this is inspired by True Detective. It doesn't feel like True Detective. It has so much to do. It has CGI. It has lore. They're introducing so many characters. So part of me was like,

I guess it gives it a sheen of prestige. Right. But is that what this show really needed? I mean, to me, it's a show that's begging, begging to be treated with a degree of seriousness. It wants that. And when you watch it in its totality, I'm wondering if HBO was just like, you know what? The way to go all in is to go all in. The show wants to be treated seriously.

This is with being made with the creator that we have a tremendous track. record with and Damon Lindelof. And we want people to watch this and we want people to treat this like the next best prestige thing that's on HBO. But did this give you the feeling of like

a Last of Us first season where I was like, oh, HBO believes in this show. They know it's a hard sell to give you a video game zombie genre play. And that first season very much felt like HBO was like, no, we

we know what we're doing where this almost felt like an after-the-fact thing where it's like, all right, there's been in long development. I don't think at first this was developed as an HBO show. It's HBO Max. I think it was a Macs show at first. And we've seen this happen before where it's like the pit was a Mac show before it just. Right. These distinctions really don't mean anything anymore.

Especially since all of that stuff has nothing to do with the actual creative of it. That's business stuff, streamer stuff, and HBO reorganization stuff, Warner Bros. stuff. But I think the math is they saw the show. They was like, oh, this is kind of gas. Let's give it to prime time slot. Right? Because, I mean, they've seen all the episodes. They know what they got. You wouldn't put lanterns

on at 6 o'clock, a specific time on HBO if he didn't think that it could carry the weight as like again, like a House of the Dragon on Game of Thrones did for all those years. So I think they know what they're doing. And so far so good. And if anything last of us kind of paved

the way for stuff like this, really even Game of Thrones for stuff like this with lore and fandom to kind of be on it a little bit. We just have to see how serious the audience takes it because people are making green things floating around in the sky. First episode out,

I laughed, I was interested. There's a mystery. I was just like, hey, I wish more superhero shows could land the plane in their pilot like they did. We'll see. We'll also see where it goes from here. Before we get out of here, questions about anything coming up, questions about anything like in the show?

What's your biggest question coming out of the first episode of the pilot? I am so fascinated with how they are fully going to, because I'm going to be real. We only saw a little bit clips of it, but we've seen it in promotional material how Jordan's suit is kind of. Wonky. It's a little walkie. It's the biker jacket with logos on it. It's bulky. It's a little, it's a little much.

And I'm going to be real. They need to, and I would, Guy Gardner's suit from Superman, little hokey. Yeah. They, my man, my man, Aaron Pierre, needs to get a fit off. That Green Lantern suit, they need to introduce John Stewart to me as a superhero character that can go, not toe to toe to with Superman, but when it's in a lineup with Batman and Superman, like, Green Lantern looks cool.

And they have yet to me in live action. and being able to make Green Lantern look cool. Counterpoint, though, has any Green Lantern in live action had a cut as fresh as Air and Pierre? It's going crazy. Here's going crazy. Because that thing is, dog. He was, brother, they lined him up.

All right, places action go. I almost made me feel like it was a hairpiece. Not that he's not that he's not. Like fake semexical? But like his hair is going in the haircut Hall of Fame right now. Right now is Steve. Right now is Steve Harvey, is Boise,

and it's John Stewart right now. Boy, he needed to call that Barbara up for Force Awakens, bro. Oh, but this nigga's on another planet, man.

They didn't have shit. They don't have shit. They don't have shit. You think Tatooine got black people man out here? Yes. This niggas on another plan. Tatooine is black and brown people. I know,

but they probably, clippers and different shit, they're trying to cut this nigga here with life. They got lasers. You know what I mean? My question, my central question for this, oh,

you guys got one? I got, I mean, I mentioned this beginning, but not to, you know, quote Joe Lickap here, crazy like that, but two timelines, right? The two timelines piece is extremely interesting because obviously we have to solve the mystery of what happened in 2016. We have to solve the mystery of who killed Howe Jordan 2026, right? And so how do those timelines interweave and intersect and like bump off each other? Extremely interesting. Like, we've seen a lot of shows try and do that and fail. And so what does it look like when?

And you do this again with all the Green Lantern Hokie-Hokiness and pokiness of it. I'm interested to see how they land that plane. Yeah, it's a, it's a collision of the inherent weirdness and kookiness that is Green Lantern mythos with the tone that this show is giving us. And I think that the show has at least a little bit more courage to lean into a lot of that stuff.

Like if the Manhunter is getting here, if like we get to see the Guardians or at least anything that. We're seeing a guardian. We're seeing a guard. We've got to see the guards. Got it. But like, again, like, how is that going to be? look, is that going to be very

dour and serious? Because I think we could ride a bit of a finer line between the Snyderverse and gun here. I mean, also real quick, because we didn't see any protection. I was wondering, you think John would ever use the ring for the condom, him and Zoe, we're going

after it. Yeah, I don't think he cared. I think he just went for it. He has no fear. We in Nebraska. No fear. No fear. No fear. Can't be fear. Can't have any fear. He didn't have no fear. Can't be having fear. She knew he had no fear either. They even give him the name.

No fear. Lost me in a car, crazy bar. You knew what it was? Something like incredible happened in this pilot. And it's the death of Hal Jordan. Hal Jordan is the Green Lantern. That's a legacy character and an identity of a legacy character. Now, the Green Lantern has been better at mantle making than a lot of other characters have.

I guess you could say the Flash has to. some Flash. Wallie West. Flash has been pretty good at it. I still, Barry Allen is still my Flash. No, Wally West is Flash. There is whatever. But to me, it's Barry Allen, but we'll see.

And I think they think it's Barry Allen, too, because every time they do it, they do Barry Allen, but whatever. What are you talking? The animated show is the animated show. They do a movie. They do Barry Allen. All right. Wally West has all the good comics.

Okay. Barry Allen Flash. Okay. So that's okay, though. That's okay. We can disagree. The Green Lantern is the enduring character of the Green Lantern.

There have been many Green Lantern but it has been Hal Jordan. How Jordan died in this episode. Howe Jordan died in this episode. The central question of this show for me is what is this significance of the death of Hal Jordan? I mean, this is on par with them killing Superman, them killing...

I mean, this is the character that the entire lore is based around. And that character is dead in the bleachers of a school at the end of this episode. So in establishing the world of the Green Lantern, through the death of Hal Jordan, there is an incredible narrative load to get to at the end of these eight episodes to, like, pay that off for people that have followed comics and know it. and the importance of the show is going to be in some way tied to the dismissal really very unceremonious dismissal

the firing if you will of Hal Jordan I love it I mean it's a it's such a tremendous swing it's the kind of thing that like in the hands of lesser people it would just be cheap okay you come out and you fucking kill Hal Jordan in the first thing everybody goes oh my God

anything can happen but in this though it feels deeper it feels like there's something more to say because even the way John like rolls up to that situation he's confident he's reserved he looks the same

but you can tell he feels different and when he looks at him there's a lot in that look so that just hooked me to the rest of the show how are they going to earn that scene

how are they going to make that not a stunt and something that the show earns and if they can do that they'll probably have a successful first six. I didn't agree more. All right. You know what, God damn it. That's it. Lanterns, baby. Woo! This is a... Lanterns. We got the thumbnails. And, you know, and

at the same time, you know, I don't have to do extra work. You know, it is... What? It's not necessary all the time for me to just boss me around, tell me what to do. Is that what... Is that what... John Stewart felt like when he saw...

That's what he felt. When he saw a dead body? That's what he felt like. I don't need to do extra work. That's what he felt. I'm like Jomey just toss you the ring and run the fucking. Oh, by the way, we should say that that where he picks him up is, uh, that's the old, that's the old building. Yeah. Spanify.

Spotify building over there. That was a jump scare. That was like, what the hell, nigga? That was crazy. Because I'll be honest, ain't no white man making me fucking way outside of Mateo. Like, come on, dog. You sure, man? He came out from the same block that the taco spot was.

Yeah, he'd go to girl in the goat, man. Get your little something come out. This Tuesday, House of Argue. gives you there, D23 News and Lantern's Deep Dive on Friday, Buttonmash Talks, Defenders of the Crown and Game Cloning. What the fuck is game? I literally have no idea. Okay. Our producers today

are Al-Lia Zanaris, Jacob Cornett, Devin Boralde, Jomi, Jomey, Denner on, on socials. Hashtack, is Jomey Afraid? No fear. No fear, no fear from Jomi. Additional production from Arjuna Ramgo Powell. Chuck, take us out. Lanterns is fire. Zoe

John in the mood and I'm sorry for dissing any Mateo food.