LANTERNS EPISODE 1 BREAKDOWN! Easter Eggs & Details You Missed!

I think I fully figured out the pilot. episode of HBO's Lanterns and I found. every detail and clue that you missed. Welcome back to New Rockstars. I'm Eric. Boss and this is a breakdown of DC. Studios Lanterns episode 1 written by. three veteran TV writers and producers. Damon Lindelof of Lost the Leftovers and. Watchmen, Chris Mundy of Ozark, and Tom. King, the prolific DC comics writer. As. a team-up murder mystery shared between. how Jordan and his successor, John. Stewart, this cosmic story gradually. unfolding in Rushville, Nebraska over. several points in history has me fully. seated and making me very nervous to.

wear this ring that I got at Comic- Con. So, I'm going to go through this episode. scene by scene to break down this. amazing pilot for the details you. missed, the DC Easter eggs, and the fun. little ways it sets up this whole world. Thank you for your patience on this. breakdown, but really getting an extra. day to make this video allowed me to. fully decode all of the mysteries and. clues. And one thing we like to do here. at New Rockstars with our weekly. episodic coverage of shows is separate. out our theories that might accidentally. spoil future plot points into a section. at the end of the video to give viewers. a chance to opt out. And for lanterns, I'm going to call that section no theory.

shall escape my sight. The episode opens. in 1996. A 60 minutes broadcast profiles. how Jordan Green Lantern Kyle Chandler. watched by a young John Stewart. The. host says, "10 years ago, no one on. Earth was aware we were already under. the protection of someone calling. himself Green Lantern. So, right away. with this opening exposition of the. series, we're establishing a 10-year. time increment. 1986, how Jordan. inherits the ring from Abendur after. Aban crashes near Rushville, Nebraska. 1996, Howal is profiled by 60 Minutes,

publicly revealing himself to the world. and to anyone else out there who might. not like him. 2006, Howal backs up his. consciousness or hologram in the ring to. warn him if aliens ever return to. Rushville. 2016, the main mystery of the. series takes place in Rushville as. mysterious aliens are in the town to. score some kind of vengeance. And in. 2026, that mystery has apparently gone. unresolved and Howal shows up dead in. Rushville with his ring missing, not on. Jon's hand either. So why every 10 years. exactly? Well, I have a theory at the. end of this video. Lindelof, Mundy, and. King pitched this show as Green Lanterns.

as a true detective story, a buddy cop. mystery that unfolds over multiple eras. of time. The veteran cop rookie cop. partnership here is between Hal Jordan, Kyle Chandler, and John Stewart, Aaron. Pierre. How Jordan is arguably the best. known version of Green Lantern from DC. Comics over the full history who bore. the moniker throughout the silver age. starting in 1959. Technically the second. Green Lantern after Alan Scott in the. 40s. Writer John Broom and artist Gil. Kaine based how Jordan on Paul Newman. and gave him a backstory as a pilot who. inherits the power ring of the Green. Lantern Corps. The Green Lantern Core.

being an intergalactic agency of heroes. with similar ring-based power sets of. flight and manipulation of energy that. can project shields, weapons, and other. objects. The core was founded by the. Guardians of the Universe and includes. other past and current lanterns like. Nathan Fillian's Guy Gardner from. Superman and Peacemaker season 2, and. Thal Sinestro, who will be played in. future episodes of the series by Oric. Thompson. John Stewart was really the. fourth Green Lantern in DC Comics, originally introduced in 1971 as a. substitute for Guy Gardner when Guy was. injured. John's original partnership. with Hal in these early '7s comics.

specifically focused on how his race. intersected with being a superhero like. this HBO series does touch on. John. Stewart became known as the mainstream. Green Lantern, at least to me, in 2001. when he stepped into the role in the. Justice League animated series. But then. in the New 52 comic relaunch in 2011, John Stewart was reconed as a marine who. had been watched by the Guardian since. he was a child. And that's something. that this HBO series kind of brings in. as well. This DC Studios continuity. establishes that Jon grew up as a '9s. kid in a military family, idolizing how. Jordan's Green Lantern during this 60.

Minutes broadcast. The host mentions. that Howal made himself known to the. world by stopping a meteor from. devastating Victoria Falls. This would. have been an interesting save. If she. just mentioned Victoria Falls here, I'm. assuming she's referring to the stunning. waterfall on the border between Zambia. and Zimbabwe. And sure, while there. might be tourists in that area, it's not. exactly populated the way a small town. would be. So, this tells us that Hal, in. addition to saving people, also wants to. protect Earth's natural wonders from. cosmic threats. Or maybe something else. was actually happening at Victoria Falls. that we're going to learn more about.

Now, we see that the Steuart household. has a satellite dish on the roof. This. 1996 household is not a cable. subscriber, but maybe getting their TV. signals from space is how the Guardians. first connect with a young John or his. father through a TV screen in their. living room. We see a DH Kyle Chandler. in his Green Lantern suit, and he. explains how Hal is an Air Force veteran. and a former test pilot. The host says. that Hal is Earth's first Green Lantern, establishing that part of Hal's opening. up to the public is to explain that he's. part of a legacy of lanterns, a full. core of intergalactic space cops. Like. this 60 Minutes host seems to already.

understand in 1996 that there is. intelligent life off Earth. Now, it's. still early in James Gun's DC universe, but in Superman in the Hall of Justice. was a mural that detailed the past. history of heroes in this world that. includes some fantastical ones. throughout the 20th century and even the. two centuries before that. We learned. that how Jordan's father was a test. pilot who died in a plane crash when Hal. was just eight. I was trying to do a bit. of age math of how old seems to be at. these different periods of time. This. crash film footage is in color and it. happened when Hal was 8 years old. And.

he was certainly an established Air. Force test pilot by the year 1986. So. I'm just going to assume that this crash. happened in 1966 to stick with the every. 10 years logic. Jon is unafraid of his. dad coming home and stays locked in on. the TV just so he can hear the virtue. that made the ring choose Howal was his. answer to the question, "Are you. afraid?" I mean, what would be scarier. to a son than a parent like this coming. home when they're in violation of a rule. that the parent established? But how. says that every kid's worst fear is. losing a parent? I mean, that might be. some privilege speaking there, or at.

least a kind of warped privilege of a. kid who lost a father young. For a lot. of kids, there are far greater fears. associated with their parents. In this. case, John's father's rule wasn't so. much about watching TV, but rather. watching this particular 60-minute. broadcast about the Green Lantern. This. Marine did not want his sons idolizing. this Air Force hot shot. I grew up as a. Navy kid, so I can only speak to this so. much, but there is a very real cultural. divide when it comes to branches of the. military. Specifically, a lot of. branches look at the Air Force as. thinking that they're better than. everybody else. But Jon and his brothers.

know what punishment is coming. Seems. like they have to go through this all. the time, which is horrifying. Jon is. the one who just has to grab the apple. At least it seems to be a Red Delicious. It would be a further crime to do this. to an Envy Gala or Honey Crisp, but Red. Delicious really do have it coming. John. Senior does this William Tell exercise. and asks his son, "Are you afraid?" And. Junior doesn't flinch when John Senior. shoots the apple right off his head. If. the boy did flinch, he could have died. I mean, I guess the expert sniper skills. were ones that John Junior inherited. from his father. But there is something. very weird about this moment because the.

dad hugs his son and offers to go get a. burger. When I first saw this, I'm like, this is straight up abuse. It's not a. normal thing in any military family. He's torturing his sons and. psychologically programming them in a. sadistic way that totally desensitizes. Jon Jr. from feeling any fear. It's not. a good thing that Jon is fearless as he. steals himself to become worthy of the. ring. Fear is an important evolutionary. instinct that we need to survive. But I. think that is the point. I think Jon. Senior is working with the Guardians to. condition his son here. And we are meant. to judge this moment. But now we. transition to adult John Stewart in his. boxing gym in 2016. Aaron Pierce showing.

off those guns that helped him get the. job along with his incredible acting and. his green eyes. I mean, this actor is. great. He was made for this role. On the. windows of this gym, we see this is. Coast City. Coast City is a California. city. That is Howal Jordan's hometown in. the comics in the vicinity of Edward's. Air Force Base in the DC Geography. Jon. gets a phone alert to meet Hal, but by. the looks of it, Jon had no reason to. rush because Hal is late. Rolling up. playing Boogie Shoes by Casey and the. Sunshine Band. Actually, later further. down the road, it'll be a different. Casey and the Sunshine Band song. Howal.

owns up to being late, hinting to Jon to. be more assertive in calling him out. Now, this shot of Coast City was. actually filmed in Los Angeles. James. Gunn and Peter Saffron lobbyed to get. the tax credits normally offered by. Georgia to shoot in LA. And this shot. right here is the first street vioideuct. bridge with a view of downtown LA, but. they digitally altered the iconic LA. skyline and removed the US Bank building. to make it look like a more generic. coast city in the DCU. Howal says that. for the past 2 weeks, he was on far. brokering a peace and he still hung over. from the peace celebration the night. before. To be clear, there is no fair. for that we know about so far in the DC.

continuity. We find out that Hal and Jon. have been in training for 2 months at. this point. So, the Guardians must have. chosen Jon to work with Hal quite. recently in this year of 2016. Howal. refers to the Guardians as the big blue. bosses. So, the Guardians of the. Universe, aka the Guardians of OA, are. the founders of the Green Lantern Corps, and they administer this Green Lantern. Corps from another planet. We are going. to meet at least one of the guardians on. this series, and we believe that to be. Laura Linn's character, especially based. off of the promo for the future episodes. that HBO released. If the Green Lantern. Ring is supposed to choose another based.

on the successor's willpower, why did. the Guardians intervene here to choose a. successor to House's ring and give him. time to train? That's another question. that this series will answer that I'll. address in the theory section at the. end. How says that despite what the. Guardians say, the ring chooses its. successor when the ring feels the. successor is ready and worthy. And he. demonstrates this with this crazy. maneuver to put this thing on the. dashboard and rolls out of the car. And. I love that how goes right from a smirk. to diving out in what could be a deadly. injury for him because he does not have. the ring with him when he rolls out. Similar to John Senior's Williamt Tell.

exercise, how doing this to Jon could. have killed him. How has no way of. knowing whether Jon's fear is going to. take over or his willpower will. But. thankfully for Jon, it's the latter. He. grabs the ring and it lights up. Now, I. think there was a clue earlier on in the. scene if you were looking closely as Hal. tested Jon asking whether he felt a. little mad about him being late, whether. his yes sirs were actually [ __ ] you. Look at the reflection showing Jon's. hands in the passenger side window. They. are fidgeting. He's stifling himself. from talking back to his superior cuz he. respects the chain of command. Howal. knows from Jon's hands that Jon isn't.

afraid of Hal. Jon wants to lash out at. his superior and he's really exercising. great willpower to restrain himself. So, the car crashes into the ravine. And if. you look closely in that dust, you can. see Jon in a little green burrito of. bubble wrap. Afterwards, Jon does vent. about Howal, a teacher who nearly killed. him, to the past mentor who kind of did. the same thing, his father, John Senior, who now explains that Hal is just trying. to put him on tilt. >> They're allowed to have tantrums. We're. not. So, breathe in, button down, and. bottle up. >> I like this line because, yeah, black.

men like Jon and his father are expected. to keep their cool and are judged way. more harshly if they were to ever crash. out. of their white superiors are given. far more of a cart blah if they ever. freak out. The ring lights up suddenly. and out appears a digital backup of. House consciousness recorded in 2006, 10. years earlier. >> Am I dead? >> This episode foreshadows How's death in. so many ways that it's actually kind of. surprising that it took until the year. 2026 for him to actually croak. This. 2006 Hall says that lanterns are. supposed to back themselves up weekly. for posterity sake in case something.

happens to them. But 2016 how never told. Jon this basic thing. And I like how Cal. Chandler plays 2006 how to be less. certain and more fidgety. I. >> I haven't. taught you how to fly in ever. >> He's kind of like a super nervous coach. Eric Taylor. I love it. But yes, this. tells us that there is a reason that. Howal since the year 2006 has not. continued to back himself up. That. during this time as he started to get. grayer and crabier and less trusting, but still just as chairman, the only. thing he considered this backup to be. useful for was to warn him about the.

hail in Rushville. This is the message. that the 2006 hologram gives Jon to give. to his present self. >> There's hail in Rushville, Nebraska. >> So that tells us that as far back as. 2006, there's a specific Rushville. related mystery that Jon knows is going. to be recurring in this town that he's. going to need to set this reminder for. At the taco stand, Hal is mobbed by fans. wanting to take selfies, including a mom. who misses Hal wearing the suit. Howal. says that he still wears it on special. occasions, but when the cook asks him, how compares a suit to wearing a tie. when you're young and eager to prove. yourself at your job, but as you get. older and wiser, you realize that kind.

of dress up as a pain in the ass. I. mean, who knows? Maybe there's some. other reason how isn't that crazy about. the whole iconography of the Green. Lantern Corps and doesn't want to wear. this space cop uniform. The whole idea. of space cops disguising themselves in. plain clothes and wearing masks was a. theme that Damon Lindelof explored in. HBO's Watchmen. And I think there's a. similar theme running through this. Jon. drops a message that 2006 hologram. shared and suddenly we see how look more. serious than we have seen him yet. Even. hearing that his hologram even popped. out at all changes his demeanor. So when. he hears the hail in Rushville message,

he immediately jets off breaking the. sound barrier. Meanwhile, I love this. montage of John Stewart being left. behind to fly commercial, probably on. his own dime, and wait for a Herz rental. car to drive out to rural Nebraska to. catch up. For the town of Rushville, production shot in Piru, California, up. in the Santa Clara Valley, north of Los. Angeles. Let this be a lesson to every. film and television production. The. reason Hollywood is headquartered here. is because Southern California can be. made to look like anything in the world. That goes for you, Marvel Studios. Stop. shooting all your [ __ ] in the UK and in. Spain. And I like how for many towns in.

the plain states, the brightest lights. on a Friday night would be from the. local high school football field. We're. long accustomed to seeing Kyle Chandler. in settings like this from his time on. Friday Night Lights. The local cop who. greets John Lopez has a Sheridan County. Sheriff Department patch. Sheridan. County is in northwestern Nebraska. bordering South Dakota. House sits in. the same exact spot on the bleachers, eight rows down from the top, right. along the aisle where his corpse will be. seated in the snow 10 years after this. Kelly McDonald plays Sheriff Carrie. Kane. Her last name perhaps a reference. to Bob Kane. We'll see. She tells how.

that his jurisdiction only covers. extraterrestrial events, but he insists. that the victims must be aliens, observing that for a mass shooting, there are no crying friends or family. standing near the victim's bodies, which. is right. That is weird for this crime. scene. So, that kind of explains the. reason how was okay with Jon flying. commercial was because Howal knew that. he would have to wait like six or so. hours anyway to give enough time for any. possible grieving loved ones any towns. over to arrive to the scene. And since. no one did arrive to grieve or ID these. bodies in a small town like this, Howal. knows that something is up and can now. move on it now that his backup is now.

here. Jon uses powers of deduction to. piece together that the home team scored. the game-winning field goal based on the. score still on the scoreboard and the. kicking block still on the field and the. broken fence meaning fans rush the. field. And in that chaos were some. visiting bands, some of them carrying. weapons that led to those visitors. dying. I recently heard an ice cream. truck drive by my house and it just. rocketed me back to being a kid again. I. had such an immediate nostalgia for a. simpler time when my main concern was. scraping enough loose change to be able. to afford a bubble o bill or a chip. witch or really any ice cream. Then I.

got a slack notification and my. complicated adult life intruded and it. was hard not to feel a sense of loss. My. therapist has been great at reminding me. that sure, the idea of having nothing. more to worry about in life than your. next ice cream cone sounds appealing, but the hard work I put in as an adult. to shape my life is way more rewarding. And it gives me plenty of opportunity to. just, you know, go get ice cream. whenever I want. Therapy really helps me. put things in the proper perspective. And BetterHelp, the sponsor of today's. video, makes starting therapy easy. You.

take a short quiz, then get matched with. a licensed therapist quickly. You can. communicate however you feel. comfortable, phone, video, or text. If. your therapist isn't a good fit for you, you can switch at any time with no. additional cost. Over 6 million people. to date have gotten help through. BetterHelp, earning a 4.8 out of five. rating on the app store. Click the link. in the description or go to. betterhelp.com/newrostars. to get 10% off your first month of. therapy. Signing up using our link helps. support our channel and lets us keep. making videos like the one we'll get. back to right now. We see that the.

hometown team are the Rushville. Pioneers. their rivals were from the. town of Kimble. Even for a big rivalry. game in rural Nebraska, breaking down a. fence to rush the field is a bit much. And I wonder if that initial push on the. fence was actually done by one of the. outsiders present to use this chaos to. kill the other side trying to kill them. Notice that we do see this man in the. dark hat behind the kids when the fence. goes down. Not sure if he's one of the. aliens in the Kimble sweatshirt or what. those aliens are trying to kill to get. vengeance for, but I think he's the one. who started the push. John sees a.

discarded Kimble sweatshirt, meaning one. of the aliens who didn't get killed is. still here on site, meaning that the. whole rule of the loved ones grieving. the victims would still be lingering. there. And this dude in a short sleeve. shirt when all the other people on site. are wearing jackets and outerwear does. make him stand out. Later, this guy, his. named Whan, will say that Earth smells. salty. And I wonder if his body just has. different temperature adjusters. Sheriff. Carrie says that she also clocked this. awkward short sleeve redneck and just. didn't want to spook him so that he. wouldn't shoot up the field like all of. his dead friends. So, in case there was. any confusion here, the people in the.

Kimble sweatshirts were these visiting. aliens hellbent on vengeance of some. kind. As Whan the alien later confesses. to, but were somehow identified before. they could get it and shot dead when the. fans rush the field. This suspect runs. for it and Jon sprints after him. This. reminds me of the opening act of Men in. Black, where Agent Jay has to chase down. the alien suspect in a foot chase. When. the alien is disguised as a human, the. suspect runs right into John's fist. And. when Carrie refuses to allow Howal to. interrogate, Howal's first instinct is. to hit up the local bar to use the ring. to manifest a $20 bill and basically do. the John Melany what's new pussycat salt.

and pepper diner prank. But with. Melanie's 1971 brand new key, the music. that we hear over the valley nightclub. at the top of Boogie Nights. Yeah, how. Jordan really seems to have an affinity. for 70s music from the disco era. Howal. punches in 143 at least three times as I. decoded in yesterday's Vision Quest. video. That is an old school text code. for I love you. And I love that the. whole time Hal and Jon talk at the bar, Zoe is sitting right behind Jon out of. focus. Like we don't notice her at the. beginning of the scene because we. haven't met her character yet, but she. is totally sitting there just in the.

background of the shot listening to the. entire conversation. Jon demands to know. how Hal got his ring, saying that maybe. he should have had to interview for it. Another line that points out the. privilege disparity between these two. men. Jon has had to jump through all of. these hoops to prove himself, worked. twice as hard, whereas for Hal, it just. kind of fell in his lap. Howal. acknowledges this, that he is the. benefit of some kind of privilege here. And he senses that Jon thinks that Hal's. ring origins connects to the. extraterrestrial mystery that they're in. Nebraska to investigate and decides, hey, okay, maybe I do need someone to.

help me with this. And he says that when. he was just a few years into being a. test pilot, one night when he was drunk, his whole room vibrated and he found. himself in a green bubble and he felt a. voice come from within him asking, "Are. you afraid?" And on this, we cut again. to Jon with Zoe in the background. She's. getting a full account of how Jordan's. origin story. Remember that Howal said. that when he said no, he's not afraid, he was zipped hundreds of miles in a few. seconds and dropped to a site in nearby. Rushville, where the alien pilot had. crash landed, pink and bald, coughing up. blood. But when Hal put on the ring, he. could fully understand the alien's.

language. And the alien introduced. himself as Aban sir and said that he was. responsible for protecting the peace and. sovereignty of sector 2814 and said two. more words that were either good luck or. a book. I kind of a feeling that this is. more than a joke and we're going to find. out that those two words actually meant. something else. Now in the comics, while. the very first Green Lantern in. publishing history was Alan Scott, the. Green Lantern of the Golden Age, that. version of the character really predates. the whole Green Lantern core that's now. considered the canonical backstory for. the Howal Jordan era and all success of. Green Lantern since. Abinsurer is. considered the predecessor of how Jordan.

in the comics. He's an ungared species. that came to patrol sector 2814 since. the 1860s. Kind of seems like they. really did want to get the sector 2814. detail accurate for this show. How says. that Earth is way off-rid for the. Guardians, a galactic backwater and did. not intend on any lantern coming. anywhere near Earth and never would have. wanted a lantern ring going to a human. So from that, Hal has always assumed. that Abinsur's crash in Nebraska wasn't. an accident, but was really part of an. extraterrestrial conflict that would. eventually come home to roost in this. exact spot. Now, as John Melany explains.

in his What's New Pussycat bit, the. second time the song plays, everyone. assumes the song is just longer than. they remembered it being. But the third. time it plays, and every oddnumbered. time is when everyone gets on to you and. people start losing their minds. So Hal. is doing this to intentionally start a. bar fight so that he can get. incarcerated to talk to the suspect. and. he leaves his ring on the bar top to. avoid him accidentally activating it and. killing these guys when they fight. I. like how earlier he had ordered three. cocktails from the bar and now he downs. a second and then when he gets a look at. the size of the good old boys, he downs. a third. Like he ordered three drinks.

not knowing who was going to start a. fight with him and now that he sees it's. the biggest guys playing pool in the. corner of the bar, he realizes I'm going. to need that third drink. But only when. Hal gets up to start the fight does the. scene now focus on the eavesdropper who. has been hearing this whole. conversation, Zoe. To get Jon to further. blab that he's Howal's space cop trainee. and that they have bosses and that. they're only supposed to have one. lantern on Earth. The fact that Zoe is. this deceptive, I don't trust her. reaction to anything he's saying. I. think she knows the answers to a lot of. these questions she's asking. But. meanwhile, I like how Jordan had only.

put in three entries of Brand New Key. And after the third time we hear it, the. jukebox just changes to Leon Bridges. coming home. So how didn't even go as. far as John Melany did with what's new. pussycat. He just did three back to back. to back which is just enough to start a. fight with these good old boys. Zoe lurs. Jon to her truck and they hook up. She's. definitely not wearing a wedding ring. here. And even she called attention to. the whole idea of wedding rings by. joking that Howal's ring was like a. proposal. So that Jon would probably. look directly at her hand to see if she. was wearing a ring. Like if you're a. single guy in a bar and you see a woman.

of a certain age, one of the first areas. you're going to look is at her hand. Here, Zoe says, >> "You gonna give me a lighter? >> Then I give you a light.". >> I honestly wonder if they designed the. lantern ring this way so that it's the. same size of a car cigarette lighter. It's awesome. I like how this show also. doesn't allow Howal's dumb plan to work. out because he's just gets put in the. broom closet later. It's a sign of good. writing when characters halfbaked plans. don't really work right away to get them. into deeper trouble that they have to. get out of with either a different kind. of ingenuity or relationship building as. this pilot episode does. But in the.

scene, if you listen closely, when Jon. walks in, Sheriff Carrie says this on. the phone. >> Tell Barb I said hey. >> Could this be a reference to the DCU. Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl? And could. that mean Carrie is on the phone with. Commissioner Jim Gordon or someone else. at the GCPD who's a mutual friend of. Detective Barbara Gordon? Hey, when we. did HBO's Lanterns experience at. Comic-Con, I definitely saw a Gotham. Gazette on the wall of Sheriff Car's. office, meaning she is keeping tabs on. the criminal activity in Gotham City. Judge Janet Sloan pushes Hal during his.

arraignment to name what law enforcement. agency represents. Jason Ritter enters. the courtroom playing Billy Min, an. attorney for the wealthy local Min. family and Carrie's husband, but she. doesn't look very happy and seems to be. pressured into this marriage. They later. refer to some debt that she owes the. family. Even though the judge doubles. the bail from 100K to 200K based on. How's cheekiness, Billy hardly blinks. and offers to have his very rich family. pay for it and cut a check by lunch. They are that liquid? I mean, they could. have the whole town bought and sold if. they wanted. I think they have a very. very wealthy backer that I'm going to.

get to later. The Mon family ranch is a. gate marked with the phrase study the. past. What a bunch of [ __ ] nerds. I'm. just kidding. These guys are clearly a. Dutton family cult of armed militia men. running tactical drills and target. shooting. Study the past is certainly a. clue to the min family's true purpose. here in the Rushville area. As Will Min. will later explain, he is a student of. history and colonization is always the. direction things go when civilizations. clash. Jon and Hal meet Carrie and Billy. son Noah. He gets mentioned in the final. scene in 2026, so I assume we're going. to get to know him as a young adult in. the future timeline. Hal offers Carrie a.

beer, and she says, >> "God, yes.". >> Sounds like having to spend time with. the Min family is kind of torture for. her, and he uses his ring to conjure a. bottle opener and seems so smug with. himself with this parlor trick, but he. also seems to be on to Carrie and her. complex relationship with the Makans. >> Sounds like a woman in debt. >> They meet Will Makin, Senior, played by. Garrett Dillah Hunt. Despite ordering. tofu steaks for Jon, Will still uses a. meat cleaver to chop up these bloody. ribs right in front of him, he clearly. got his hands yucky so that he wouldn't. have to shake the hand of the guy. banging his wife and chops threateningly. to make a point. Now, I have to rant.

here not to tell a man how to barbecue. his own meat, but I have some questions. about Will's grilling technique. I. thought he was chopping already cooked. ribs, but the red juice on his hands is. myoglobin from raw meat. And we see him. at the grill after this clearly grilling. some of that meat, which means that Will. was chopping his ribs before cooking. them. You don't grill ribs individually. You smoke the whole rack together. wrapped up. And you don't wait for your. guests to arrive to start cooking. You. slow cook them for hours before they get. there. Now, I thought Will was just. grilling the tofu steaks last. But no,

you see those red ribs right next to. Howal on the table, and Will takes both. grills and corn on the cob off the. grill, which means that Will served them. shitty, shitty, toughed, overcooked. ribs. I know I overthink this, but. that's what I am put on YouTube to do. Will explains that they're not some Waco. compound prepping for war against the. feds. They're forming a militia for all. of Earth against alien colonizers, specifically right here in Rushville. How claims that the galaxy he's seen is. mostly peaceful, but Will says, "Well, what do they need space cops for?". >> Yeah, he's right. There is more going on. in space than how is letting on. But.

yeah, what we're hearing from Will are. kind of the nivist fears that years from. now will make the public so reactionary. when Lex Luthther publicizes his. translation of the Kryptonian message of. Jorel in 2025 Superman, where Superman's. father encouraged his son to rule Earth. like a fascist overlord. Will's mission. with his militia is to protect Earth. from being colonized. And he says that. he represents some powerful. organization, not the government, but. some other organization. And he says. that he can't talk about them because. he's under an NDA. Some organization. that specifically funds his army. So, who in the known DCU has a lot of money.

and hates the idea of alien. colonization? Well, I have a thought for. the theory section. John sees Noah. working on his throw. in as an expert. marine sniper who grew up learning from. his dad how important perfect aim is. tells the kid that instead of. intentionally aiming to just imagine the. ball going through the tire. Yes, the. creative power of imagination is really. what unlocks the lantern's abilities. A. little detail here. They hid a CGI. football. When the kid throws a. football, it's a CGI ball going through. the tire. When the camera dollies right. behind Jon, they hide a practical. football behind him in frame for Noah to.

go pick up. It's smooth and it works and. doesn't require this kid to have to. throw a football through a tire attire. Before Jon can tell little Noah about. the horrific abuse of his dad putting. red deliciousnesses out of their misery. on his head, Jon learns that the woman. he hooked up with the night before was. Zoe Min, Will's wife and grandmother to. Noah. After dinner, Will gives Hal a. to-go bag. >> Well, we drank all your beer, but put. together some leftovers for you. >> Much? >> Yeah. Even Hal sounds annoyed to have to. eat these shitty, shitty ribs. Will. indicates that he pulled strings to let. Hal interrogate the suspect and tells. Jon, >> "Nothing better than eating off another.

man's grill.". >> Yeah, the fact that Will knows is. interesting. I'm assuming kind of like. Dutton and Yellowstone, he's got. operatives all over town keeping an eye. on his wife's movements. But also, maybe. he and his wife just have an open. marriage. And maybe he even endorsed his. wife getting closer to Jon because this. family might just be working every angle. to get closer to these two lanterns. We. got more on what's really going on in. this dynamic in the theory section. Carrie explains that the suspect is. Wayan Sanders, who's been working as a. commercial truck driver for 5 years, and. that X-rays showed nothing unusual about. his anatomy. But Jon says that they know. of 14 species that have the ability to.

impersonate humans, so that MRIs, X-rays, and blood work cannot tell the. difference. Throughout the scene, Jon is. sketching the suspect's face. This first. episode doesn't really get into it, but. Jon has been described by preseason. press as an architect by trade, which is. part of how we're going to see him do. some really interesting Green Lantern. Conjuring. John tells Carrie, >> "You know, we're all aliens. Just. depends which planet you're standing on. >> Yeah, this whole idea of who's the. colonizer, who's the alien, it's going. to be an interesting theme that this. series explores. Howal tells Whan, I. imagine you just want to phone home. Get. home, I bet.

>> Yes, sir. >> Ha. That was an early test by Howal. He. made a reference to ET, the. extraterrestrial, and Whan didn't pick. up on it at all. Yeah, this whole scene. is an amazing alien touring test. Alien. Touring. Allan Turing, who the test was. named after. The goal being how to catch. an alien impersonator in a lie. I mean, this whole first episode and all of. Peacemaker season 1 were really perfect. examples of DC doing a much better. secret invasion story than Marvel's. Secret Invasion. Howal catches Whan on. saying, "Hang my hat." Like it's very. practice Nebraska expression that this. alien has just learned. He quizzes Whan.

on Nebraska's football history. And. again, this coming from coach Eric. Taylor, it does kind of sound like. someone you would be very afraid to give. the wrong answer to, but Whan is well. rehearsed on this subject, saying. Nebraska won its first national. championship in 1970 from coach Bob. Deainy. and he asks about Nebraska's. first 200-yard rusher and first Heisman. winner. And Wayan's overly quick answers. tells Hal that this guy just knows. Nebraska football stats maybe a bit too. well, like someone who just crash. studied in order to blend in and make. small talk in Nebraska. So now with Whan. feeling confident, Hal just quickly. drops this.

>> Where did Harry Potter go to school? >> Excuse me. >> Smart. Because how just learned from. this brief exchange that Whan had been. here for 5 years and the Harry Potter. film franchise wrapped in 2011, 5 years. before where they are now in 2016. So. any alien blending in in the past 5. years would probably consider other pop. culture in sports history more relevant. homework to brush up on. Also, we see. you HBO plugging the huge streaming. series you want us all to stay. subscribed for. How says that they made. like 22 of these movies. In fact, there. were only eight Harry Potter films with. the Fantastic Beast franchise was just.

beginning in 2016. But I think it's. another attempt to try to catch him in a. lie because if that guy were to say, "Oh. yeah, 22 Harry Potter movies." He'd be. like, "Aha, there were only eight of. them." But either way, how's kind of. making a point here that Harry Potter. was the inescapable pop culture. franchise of the previous decade, and. any adult who had been alive before 2011. would know the answer of Hogwarts. Whan. also claims right now to just ask who. Jordan is, but I'm sure this alien on. this planet would know who the Green. Lantern is. Carrie and Jon, meanwhile, debate over whether Howal Jordan. deserves to be admired. Jon does admire. Hal's fearlessness, but Carrie reframes.

fearlessness as just having no one in. your life that you're afraid of losing. and therefore just being alone. So. really, having no fear is not a virtue. It's like what Mufasa tells Simba, even. powerful kings should be afraid of. losing their sons. Howal tells Whan. about other pop culture and historical. things that he wouldn't know about. >> But I bet you can't tell me about the. Boston Tea Party. Kelly Clarkson, Barack. Obama, or Rup Barack Obama is the. president of the United States. >> Howal was just about to say RuPaul or. RuPaul's drag race before he was cut. off. But yeah, how push is whining on. his opinion of Barack Hussein Obama as a.

rural Nebraskan, particularly in the. year 2016 when the 2016 election was. really bringing out the worst in certain. parts of America when it came to. President Obama. And at this point, Whan. can no longer hide it. And I love how we. see the change in his demeanor. He sits. back in shadow and even Carrie looks. dumbfounded in her reaction reflecting. in the glass. I will now call this. person Whian. And I love how John. introduced the whole idea of homophonic. code for alien. He said, "Hail sounds. like alien." And Whan does kind of sound. like alien. Whanian says, "Um, let's say.

you're right, hypothetically, that I'm. not from this salty, smelly world. Smelly and salty are such fun modifiers. for an alien who probably does have. different olfactory senses, unaccustomed. to a planet covered mostly in salt. water." Whian calls football a pointless. contest that distracts the public from. the deteriorating atmosphere and the. hunger of the least fortunate. He says. that if all this were true, he would be. on Earth for a very important purpose. and would go to great lengths to hide it. from a galactic peacekeeping mission. for it concerns the opposite of peace, namely war. So, we get an interesting. picture of this guy. He is concerned.

about the hunger of the people of this. planet, but also just feels like a very. noble crusader on a very necessary war. path to enact certain vengeance that. needs to be committed to fix some. injustice in the galaxy. But now, this. Wayen leans back and says that he has a. biometric neutron device woven into a. skeleton that he can activate with a. thought. We are now in the you are. sheltering enemies of the state, are you. not part of the interrogation where. things are suddenly very tense and edits. are faster, the guises have been. dropped, and everything's about to. explode. Now, are we meant to look at. Wayian as a suicide bomber? Or is he. just kind of a kamicazi soldier? Someone.

who once he got close to his target. could just activate this device and kill. anything in the vicinity? Howal counters. that he could bubble up and contain. whatever explosion comes. But Whian. says, "You've been here 48 hours. Did. you bring the lantern to recharge your. ring?". >> Ooh. Howal takes a moment to respond, but Cal Chandler is amazing in the fact. that he doesn't flinch. He just waits a. second too long, telling us that he is. shaken by what he just heard. We see. later in the scene that he does have. enough power to contain the blast, but. hearing this tells him that this alien. threat knows quite a bit about the Green. Lantern core and how they operate. While.

their rings are charged by the willpower. of the wearer, they do need to routinely. recharge them with these lanterns that. are connected to the central lantern on. OA powered by the collective willpower. of everyone in the core. How does this. alien rogue know that? What else does he. know about the core? Who told him all of. this? When House says that he certainly. has enough power, he's half bluffing. He. hopes that he has enough willpower to. contain whatever is coming. Whian says. that how's want to die violates his. precious oath and tauntingly begins to. go through it. >> In brightest day and blackest night, no. evil shall my sight.

>> Damon Lindelof said that the writers had. certain non-negotiables for this pilot. episode of a Green Lantern show and. getting the iconic oath in there was at. the top of the list. They devised this. way of having an alien repeating it. sarcastically to both show how invasive. this group is, the fact that they know. it and how seriously how takes his oath. as the thing that triggers him. I love. this shot right here. Empire went to. Hogwarts. You ignorant alien [ __ ]. >> All four characters faces are perfectly. lit, perfectly expressive, and in focus. here. This is amazing shot composition. Whian just straight up begins to beep.

like an actual bomb. And he says one. thing that he's here for vengeance. And. how tosses him into the corner, creates. a green bubble around him, and then. presses his whole body over the bubble. in order to push the blast back. And. that bubble blows out outward by I'd say. around 400%. Indeed, this blast would. have probably incinerated the entire. town. It cracks all the windows in the. downtown area and we see Billy Min come. out of his law office to take a look. The final scene of this pilot episode. jumps ahead 10 years to the year 2026. The snow flurry looks mysterious and.

beautiful. It kind of looks like the HBO. series Chris Mundy just worked on before. this True Detective Night Country. Jon. now has a goatee and he passes the Mon. ranch where the study the past gate has. been destroyed. Cal hugs Carrie and asks. how Noah is. She reports he's tall and. that he's now the quarterback for the. Pioneers that this kid's going all. state. But in this same football. stadium, they find the corpse of Howal. Jordan, seated in the same spot he was. sitting on the bleachers in 2016. His. body seemingly frozen, sitting upward, but with a projectile wound on his. forehead, wearing the same old coat. Not.

nearly enough outerwear for this kind of. weather. Jon brushes a snow off of. Howal's right hand to show no ring. And. Jon does this with his own right hand. No ring there either. The song that. plays over the credits is Conval by Scud. Mountain Boys. It looks like the song. was written and recorded earlier this. year for the Lantern series. Interesting. timing because lead guitarist Bruce Tol. apparently died after a brief illness on. June 22nd, 2026. Yeah, just in the past. couple months. So, I'm guessing this is. one of the last tracks that Bruce. recorded. The song's lyrics reference. the Daredevil stunt man of Evil Conval.

The lyrics are, "If I tried to leave the. moon, would you ever care? And if I let. the earth too soon, would you ever. dare?" Yeah, it's painting this grim. portrait of a daredevil kind of like. Howal Jordan who began this episode. doing what? Rolling out of a car before. sending it off of a cliff. A kind of. evil conval stunt if you ask me. So yes, the how Jordan of the DCU is now dead in. the year 2026. There are instances of. how Jordan dying in the comics, specifically 1996's final night after he. became parallaxed during the Emerald. Twilight story line where Hal sacrifices. himself using the last of his power to.

destroy the Sun Eater and reignite our. son. Afterwards, Hal exists as the. spectre for a time. But with this. series, Damon Lindelof, Chris Mundy, and. Tom Kang are doing something very. different. We're still going to see a. lot of Howal Jordan in the 2016 era of. this show. We know that from trailers. and Cal Chandler doesn't sign onto a. show if he's just going to do one. episode. And sure, future DCU stories. could even explore House's past heroics. before the year 2016. The way I feel. about it is my era of Green Lantern was. really John Stewart from the Justice. League animated series. So overall, I'm. okay with this. I'm excited to see him. in Man of Tomorrow. And the creators.

have said in their after show podcast. with Guju that Green Lantern is about. legacy, and you cannot have legacy. without loss. But yes, it's a twist. This series is a true detective murder. mystery where the whole mystery is how. did one of the detectives die? Who. killed Hal Jordan? What mystery in 2016. stayed unresolved until 2026? And where. did the ring go? Well, to begin to. answer those questions, let us now end. this BREAKDOWN WITH NO THEORY SHALL. ESCAPE MY SIGHT. You can stop watching. now if you don't want my theorization to. accidentally spoil anything. But look, I. didn't get press screeners for this. series, so I have no idea what happens.

in episode 2 or beyond. Okay, first. let's address the possibility that this. corpse might not really be Hal, but. rather an alien shape shifter, one of. the 14 known species that can pass as. humans without being discovered. The. reason I highly doubt this is we don't. know if any alien can like scrolls. perfectly embody another human and if. that embodiment would hold up upon. death. Also, I think faking us out would. rob this big plot twist of its dramatic. impact. Trust me, I've been following. Damon Lindelof's TV work for the past 20. years and he had a very firm rule during. Lost that he has upheld with every show. he has written since that if a character.

is implied to be dead, but if you don't. see the body, you're welcome to not. trust that. But if you see the corpse, that character is dead. Now, yes, you. could say we saw resurrections like John. Lockach in Lost, but that was another. entity taking the form of Jon and we did. see other characters who were dead alive. once more, but that was in alternate. timelines. So, Hal Jordan is certainly. dead. Where did the ring go? Well, in. the after show, Tom King indicated that. the ring has gone to Guy Gardner. There. was a like a hidden mystery in the like. like Guy Gardner was Green Lantern. >> Yeah. >> And that was a mystery cuz.

>> like how do we get there? >> Why? How did we get there? Cuz at the. end of this episode, Hal's dead, but. also you see Jon's hand. He's not. wearing that ring. Guy has the ring. >> So why is Guy end up with the ring? And. where do we go after this? Because this. moves us forward. >> He has the best haircut. >> I'm just going to say. >> Nathan Villian's Guy Gardner will appear. in this series, but the events of. Superman take place before this in May. 2025 before House Death in 2026. Also, when you watch Superman, Guy's ring also. look different than this ring. And yes, the stated rule is that there can only. be one ring and one lantern person on. Earth at any given time. But I do wonder.

if Tom King was throwing us off there or. maybe Hal has been dead for a long time. and just kind of posed here. We'll find. out very soon. But perhaps whoever. killed Hal was a worthier being in the. line of succession who did claim the. ring. Maybe Howal turned bad in the past. 10 years and he needed to be killed. But. either way, the answer to this question. is probably why the Guardian selected. Jon Stewart, breaking the tradition of. letting the ring choose. I think they. knew that Howal would die in some way. that would take the ring to less. deserving hands. As Carrie explains, willpower and fearlessness aren't always. the best virtues. And the Guardians.

wanted someone good naturatured to be. closer to Howal to claim that ring when. the time came because in the comics. physical proximity does matter. When the. ring leaves Howal, it could have gone to. Jon or to Guy and Guy Gardner just. happens to be closer. So maybe that's. where we're going to find out that. because there was some parting of ways. between Hal and Jon. The ring just kind. of zipped over to Guy Gardner by. mistake. But here's really the biggest. question. Why are all of these things. happening every 10 years exactly? 1986, 1996, 2006, 2016, 2026. One theory is.

that the repeated number six is a. reference to sector 666 and the massacre. perpetrated there by the Manhunters. So, we know the Manhunters will be part of. the series from HBO promotional. material. >> What do you know about manhunters? >> Where'd you hear that word? >> I think it could explain what Whian's. vengeance line was all about. So before. the Green Lantern Corps, the Guardians. originally created the Manhunters, which. were robotic sentinels designed to bring. peace and justice to the universe. But. because they could only distinguish. between legal and illegal, they were.

unable to see right from wrong. So they. ended up glitching and decided to remove. all of organic life, starting with the. massacre of all of the worlds in sector. 666. The Guardians had to destroy most. of the manhunters, but they never. admitted to their mistake. And so one of. the five survivors of that massacre was. Atrocidus. And there are rumors that. Paul Ben Victor's character who you see. in trailers for the show named Anton is. actually Atrocidus and he could be. leading this group of aliens on their. assault on Rushville to kill a manhunter. who could be hiding in this town. Or. maybe a manhunter programmed to return.

here every 10 years or something. I. think it was a manhunter that Absur was. trying to hunt down when he crashed here. in 1986. And here's my theory. I think. that disguised Manhunter is going to be. someone we've met. And for this video, I'm going to make the case for Zoey. There are a lot of clues pointing to Zoe. here. John is surprised to learn that. she's a grandmother, an older generation. than she seems. We know she's deceitful. Also, Will Min said that some of the Min. family members were present at the game. He said he almost lost a couple family. members during that shooting and it.

probably included Noah with Grandma Zoey. because Noah aspires to be on the team. So, I think it's very possible that. Grandma Zoe, a secret manhunter, was. actually there and she was the one to. kill all of these aliens as people were. rushing the field and they were trying. to kill her. Also, in interviews before. the series, the actress who plays Zoe. mentioned knowing that guardians are in. the show and if she were just a grounded. Earth character as a two-time wife in. the Min family, why would she need to. know which characters she's in a scene. with were guardians? And maybe that kind. of explains why Sheriff Carrie feels so.

bound to the family is that the son that. she has, Noah, is part of this bloodline. of bioorganic beings called manhunters. And so she feels this kind of need to. keep her son protected and serve this. family that she doesn't really like. Now. the question would be, would Will Min. know what his wife is? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe Will Min and this group of militia. and the people who are backing him are. totally okay with manhunters if it means. killing off all other invasive alien. species. Bringing us to our final. question of what organization does will. make Makin represent. It's got to be. Luther Corp, right? I'm not sure if it's.

Lex because in Superman, it was implied. that Superman started doing his heroics. just 3 years before that movie started. So that would be 2022, 6 years after. where we are now in 2016. Now, Lex could. still be around, but I think it might. actually be his father, Lionel Luther, because James Gun stated that he called. the corporation Luther Corp in the 2025. movie as a nod to Smallville and how. this company really could be a legacy. company with leadership in an earlier. generation. and that would be Lionyl. Again, I don't know how accurate any of. these theories are. I have not seen. episode two. I have no idea where this. show is going. Comment down below with.

your thoughts on this first episode. And. a special thanks to one of our NR. Underground subscribers, Justin. Showrock, who supports us at the. executive producer level. You can get. all of our exclusive bonus content by. clicking the link in the description. below or going to nr. underground.supcast.com. This is how you get exclusive access to. our Monday podcast episodes like this. recent one where I talked about how. uncomfortable it can be to be a YouTuber. like me hosting videos on a channel like. this. And suddenly everything changed. because previously I like the people who. I was interacting with on YouTube and.

like in the comments and on Twitter and. other places were people who like knew. who I was and knew what our journey was. But now with our coverage of things like. Wanda Division and the Loki series and. these other the big Disney Plus Marvel. Studios streaming shows, we had a a wave. of new viewers who were only now. discovering who New Rockstars was and. didn't have that kind of journey they. went on with us. They were they were. kind of new people to the neighborhood. and they didn't see a channel that they. had been following since, you know, they. were like 750k subs to now. They just.

saw a channel with a big two in front of. their subscriber numbers and they're. like, "Oh, this is a 2 million view. channel. This is a huge channel. I am. going to view them as like an IGNsized. news outlet." When really we were a very. small scrappy team uh who had just been. doing this for a while. So now what I. realized is that I went from every once. in a while people recognizing me when I. was out and about and having like my my. DMs have people sending me theories and.

people tagging me on Twitter asking me. about theories or commenting on things. that they saw in videos I made to now my. mentions. I was getting tagged in. conversations that were about me that. were not intended for me to see at the. beginning of that conversation. Get the. full episode at nr. underground.supcast.com. Big thanks to. Studio Tech Brian Kim, New Rockstar's. editors Joshua Steven and Abby Freel and. all of our supporting editors for their. work on this video. Follow me at EA. Boss. Hit that subscribe button. Thanks. for watching and I'll see you next time.

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