Speaker 1: Today, I'm always watching. We're talking about Lanterns. That's see
Speaker 1: season one or the only season I don't know, Lanterns
Speaker 1: episode two right for this. Welcome to Always Watching the
Speaker 1: Strain of Pit podcast, where we talk about whatever geeky
Speaker 1: TV shows we feel like talking about. My name's Matthew.
Speaker 2: Carroll and I'm Jay Scotty Saint Clair.
Speaker 1: What's up, Scoots?
Speaker 2: Oh, not too much. Just enjoyed another episode of Lanterns.
Speaker 2: How you doing? What do you think? Oh? Man?
Speaker 1: You know, I liked it. I felt like it kind
Speaker 1: of found its voice a little more in this episode
Speaker 1: than the first one. I was a little complaining about
Speaker 1: the vibe of the first one, and this felt a
Speaker 1: little more like they were for one thing and this
Speaker 1: was I think deliberate. We talked a lot about John
Speaker 1: and how he is not expressing himself, and in this episode,
Speaker 1: starting out with how Jordan tossing ice in his face
Speaker 1: or like water, water, water in his face, cold water
Speaker 1: on him, and then a few minutes later he's like,
Speaker 1: quit it with the sir stuff. I know you don't
Speaker 1: mean it. Like hal seems like he's actually trying to
Speaker 1: get him to express himself, which I think which I
Speaker 1: found interesting. It's like Hal sees through his bullshit kind
Speaker 1: of He's like, you keep acting like chain of command
Speaker 1: blah blah. I yes, sir, I won't do any you know,
Speaker 1: I don't question you, sir. But he's like, clearly you
Speaker 1: do like be yourself and like it's it's it's almost
Speaker 1: becoming part of the training that Hall's pushing him towards,
Speaker 1: which I thought was interesting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with that in the in terms of
Speaker 2: like thinking back on the pilot, I enjoyed it a lot,
Speaker 2: and I know you did too, but I think I was.
Speaker 2: I was a little higher on it as we were
Speaker 2: talking about the episode. But I think there is an
Speaker 2: argument to be made that the first episode was kind
Speaker 2: of finding its footing a little bit, and then I
Speaker 2: felt like there was just a a stronger kind of
Speaker 2: like tone and consistency and kind of confidence, Like it
Speaker 2: felt like they found their footing in this episode. Yeah.
Speaker 2: What I was kind of impressed by is like, again,
Speaker 2: when you have a kind of set up like this
Speaker 2: where it is like the buddy cop thing but they
Speaker 2: don't really get along that well, having them both be
Speaker 2: kind of like equal protagonists and have this sense of
Speaker 2: agency and I'm really interested in what both of them
Speaker 2: are doing at this point. Yeah, I think John has
Speaker 2: made like strides in just an episode, just you know,
Speaker 2: being able to kind of do his own thing and
Speaker 2: have not have to be so subservient. But all of
Speaker 2: that said, I did kind of there was a conceit
Speaker 2: that I kind of had to, you know, wrap my
Speaker 2: head around, and by the end of the episode, I
Speaker 2: was kind of satisfied. But it did just kind of
Speaker 2: strike me that, like the fact that John is being
Speaker 2: sent off on this kind of like side quest, like
Speaker 2: go get my things, go fetch my things. It just
Speaker 2: felt like, I know this this hol is not at
Speaker 2: the top of his game. He's a little rusty, a
Speaker 2: little rugged, a little worse for the wear. But it
Speaker 2: just felt uncharacteristically like unprepared not to bring the thing
Speaker 2: that charges your ring with you, like at all times.
Speaker 2: You've been doing it a long long enough you would
Speaker 2: think he would have that with you in any in
Speaker 2: any scenario. But when John had that conversation with Zoe
Speaker 2: like you know what's going on with your white man?
Speaker 2: You know what's your white man got you doing? I
Speaker 2: was like, Okay, Now, the fact that it was effectively
Speaker 2: kind of like you know, as John said, all along
Speaker 2: the way, he wanted to get me out of the way. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: I was kind.
Speaker 1: Of I'm even wondering knowing that I think this. I
Speaker 1: think Howl's a little bit playing three dimensional chess with
Speaker 1: all this stuff. Like I think he's he's he's rugged,
Speaker 1: and he's not as bought into all the bs and
Speaker 1: and all the the the costume and being the lantern
Speaker 1: as much anymore. Now he's just kind of a grizzled
Speaker 1: and doing his job. Sure, but I think there's something
Speaker 1: to him where he's where he is, Like you know,
Speaker 1: we always he always looks like he's a little crazy,
Speaker 1: Like when he's taking those bodies, it was like, what
Speaker 1: is he doing? He's taking my bodies? Like this crazy?
Speaker 1: Why is he doing this? Dragging naked bodies are on
Speaker 1: the street, And then you realize, oh, totally makes sense,
Speaker 1: Like he's doing a thing that makes And I think
Speaker 1: some of his madness is it very deliberately looks like madness,
Speaker 1: but it is like very intentional and he's doing things
Speaker 1: that matter. And I'm wondering if there's even a world
Speaker 1: where like he sent him away to be attacked by
Speaker 1: those guys. You know what I mean, like oh, interesting,
Speaker 1: like something where he like, I need you to go
Speaker 1: back because you know, my security system shows me there's
Speaker 1: some guys on my house. There's something like whatever, like
Speaker 1: he's he could I know they said if they followed
Speaker 1: him or something, but like some some way where he's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I need you to go find out that piece of information.
Speaker 1: I needed to know who it was. And I knew
Speaker 1: somebody would track you down because you look like the
Speaker 1: weak link, you know, like they're not gonna come me.
Speaker 1: They're gonna come at you as soon as we're separated.
Speaker 1: But I knew you could handle yourself, you know, like
Speaker 1: I could see something like that in the future of
Speaker 1: the show where Hal realized you realize Hall's kind of
Speaker 1: had it all under control from the beginning.
Speaker 2: For sure. I really like that line of thought and
Speaker 2: that kind of theory. The one thing that kind of
Speaker 2: makes me questioned a little bit, and it doesn't make
Speaker 2: it untrue, but it would just you know, at a
Speaker 2: wrinkle or maybe a potential other reveal is when John
Speaker 2: does decide to, you know, fess up and say, hey,
Speaker 2: this went down. They didn't want me to tell you,
Speaker 2: but like what do you know about manhunters? I do
Speaker 2: believe that Hal is a manipulator. He he omits a
Speaker 2: lot of things. But I believed him when he said
Speaker 2: when he was like, you know, when he goes to
Speaker 2: Sinestro and says, like, what do you like? I believe
Speaker 2: him when he does not know about manhunters. It was
Speaker 2: kind of like set up, like was how the one
Speaker 2: that you know brought this this man hunter here for
Speaker 2: you know, safe harbor? And I was suspecting, like a
Speaker 2: couple of times in the episode, I was like this
Speaker 2: carry is the is the sheriff the man Hunter? Because
Speaker 2: it kind of feels like they have rapport?
Speaker 1: Thank you? That is my exact I think that would
Speaker 1: be if I was writing this show, she would be
Speaker 1: the man Hunter. Like it's it may be a little
Speaker 1: too obvious because she's the She's the only one they're
Speaker 1: getting to know, So it would be the highest, most impactful,
Speaker 1: and we've got a lot of runway to go left
Speaker 1: on the show. It also just immediately who gets to
Speaker 1: walk around the detectors? Who gets to not go through
Speaker 1: the middle detectors the police? Like immediately I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: she's got Like I was thinking that actually before this episode,
Speaker 1: and then this episode, I was watching it and that
Speaker 1: Detector thing happened, and I was like, yeah, I think
Speaker 1: she might be the Manhunter.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that alone, that like the mystery of who
Speaker 2: is the Man Hunter? I think that is another reason
Speaker 2: why this episode feels like we're kind of off to
Speaker 2: the races already with episode two, and like this this
Speaker 2: show has kind of got it. It's hook, you know,
Speaker 2: like it's just it's so much fun, like who is
Speaker 2: the Man Hunter? Anybody could be the Man Hunter? Like
Speaker 2: I said, I believe how when he says he doesn't
Speaker 2: know who the Manhunter is and he kind of suspects,
Speaker 2: you know, Aben Suur his predecessor must have brought the
Speaker 2: Man Hunter and that the Manhunter killed him. Now I
Speaker 2: don't know, I suspect that the Manhunter did not kill Abbenser.
Speaker 2: I think that's kind of a red red Hair scribe. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think the Manhunter is gonna end up being a
Speaker 2: sympathetic character before this is all said and done, but
Speaker 2: maybe not.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree completely think that. I mean, well, for
Speaker 1: one thing, I can't help but think this is Martian Manhunter.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's true. I think manhunters are
Speaker 1: a different thing, at least at first Blush.
Speaker 2: That's immediately where my mind goes as well, like Manhunter's
Speaker 2: right there. Of course it's Martian Manhunter. He must be connected.
Speaker 2: But I guess in the Green Lantern mythology, the Manhunters
Speaker 2: are something a little different.
Speaker 1: Okay, gotcha. I wasn't sure if like Manhunter was a
Speaker 1: species or if it was like a type of like
Speaker 1: kind of like the Lanterns or the Lanterns. I didn't
Speaker 1: know if the man Hunters were like their own core
Speaker 1: kind of not that not necessarily like a core like
Speaker 1: a lantern core obviously, but like, could Martian, that last
Speaker 1: Martian have become a Manhunter for a time and then
Speaker 1: maybe he turned on the Manhunters to join Aben Sour
Speaker 1: and get hidden in this place, and then that's how
Speaker 1: he ended up on Earth, and then that's how we
Speaker 1: like he has a backstory that connects to abn soor
Speaker 1: is my mind's going. But I don't know anything about manhunters.
Speaker 1: Hal Jordan doesn't know anything about Manhunters. We're all, I
Speaker 1: guess we're all going to find out next episode, like
Speaker 1: a little more about who the Manhunters are.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean The one thing we do know is
Speaker 2: that they apparently have the ability to shape shift, which
Speaker 2: again is something that they share in common with the
Speaker 2: DC version of the Martians. John Jones is a shape
Speaker 2: shifter as well. So I could totally see a scenario where,
Speaker 2: you know, the DC studio heads or the writers say,
Speaker 2: they recognize that we're going to have the exact conversation
Speaker 2: that we're having, So like maybe we make the Manhunters
Speaker 2: and the Martians, you know, one and the same, or
Speaker 2: maybe it's a faction that's evil. But there was the
Speaker 2: character the subtitles named him as Anton, who was kind
Speaker 2: of the leader of the group that abducted John there,
Speaker 2: and that's where we really learned the most about the Manhunters.
Speaker 2: And he described them as like synthetic beings, and that's
Speaker 2: kind of what really differentiated them from the Martians. To me,
Speaker 2: it sounded like they were almost like an artificial intelligence
Speaker 2: that gained sentience and is just continuing on that trajectory
Speaker 2: and that evolution.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I didn't get and it actually didn't I
Speaker 1: remember mentioning that now, but until you said, I didn't
Speaker 1: actually catch that for whatever reason. So yeah, like I
Speaker 1: wasn't sure at all, but it did seem like, why
Speaker 1: would you do Manhunters twice? I don't know, it just
Speaker 1: seems weird. It seems like a thing where like if
Speaker 1: you're taking it into the movies or the TV verse,
Speaker 1: you would like change the name slightly so that it
Speaker 1: didn't give this misdirect of the margin Manhunter for people
Speaker 1: that like that is such an obvious connection to DC
Speaker 1: for sure. Yeah, a couple of cool DC connections this episode.
Speaker 1: The Sheriffs from Gotham. That was fun. Ye, that's fun.
Speaker 1: And of course seeing sin Estro. I don't know, I'm
Speaker 1: I know that the Green Lantern movie was hated, but
Speaker 1: I always like, I just I'm a guy who gets
Speaker 1: excited for the next one, you know, whenever they do
Speaker 1: like a hook and that one ending with like the
Speaker 1: his his mentor turning dark and how like there's like
Speaker 1: it was I think in the in the post credits
Speaker 1: of Green Lantern with Sinestro, I was like, ooh cool.
Speaker 1: I know this in the comics is a thing, but
Speaker 1: I've never seen it. I was always excited, so seeing
Speaker 1: this uh version of Sinestro is exciting to me. And
Speaker 1: what Sinestro said was intriguing too. He said, oh yeah, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: he says, the man Hunter is your second greatest you're
Speaker 1: facing Yeah, and then he said, so tell me more
Speaker 1: about uh, John Stewart, John Stuart. So is he saying
Speaker 1: John Stewart is his greatest threat?
Speaker 2: That is exactly how I read it.
Speaker 1: Yes, Like I'm wondering what that means. And we know
Speaker 1: that Sinestra is an ex green lantern. Does that just
Speaker 1: mean that you see that they're training your replacement. That
Speaker 1: means they'reetting ready to get rid of you. Is that what
Speaker 1: that means? Like that's a threat thing? Or is something
Speaker 1: else going on with John Stewart? Oh?
Speaker 2: Interesting? Yeah, No, that very very interesting question and I'll
Speaker 2: be curious to see where it goes. But just knowing
Speaker 2: what I know about Sinestro and the fact that he
Speaker 2: was a green lantern that made the change to yellow,
Speaker 2: and where the green cores is all about willpower, the
Speaker 2: yellow cores is all about fear. So I took that
Speaker 2: as like a manipulating manipulation tactically, like what what would
Speaker 2: you know? What would how be scared of? What would
Speaker 2: be his greatest fear is being replaced? Thinking that you know,
Speaker 2: he he can no longer you know, have this power
Speaker 2: and this responsibility that's made him who he is for
Speaker 2: for so long. I mean, I may be stretching a
Speaker 2: little bit, but I get the sense that How one
Speaker 2: of the things he made. Well, we'll see where the
Speaker 2: season goes, but I think there's gonna be a conversation
Speaker 2: between How and John about their fathers. And I think
Speaker 2: Hal has some unresolved trauma and and grief around the
Speaker 2: death of his father where he just really kind of
Speaker 2: like poured himself into becoming you know, the next test pilot,
Speaker 2: and then that immediately went into being a green lantern.
Speaker 2: So he's poured so much of himself into fulfilling that role.
Speaker 2: When that gets taken away, what's what's he left with? Yeah, well,
Speaker 2: I kind of love that. The construct with the bird, Oh,
Speaker 2: it was just a fun you know, through line throughout
Speaker 2: the episode.
Speaker 1: It was fun, but it also really meant something.
Speaker 2: At the end, Okay, where are you going with it?
Speaker 1: We talked a lot about how he's he's still trying
Speaker 1: to keep his his self private, his emotions private. Okay
Speaker 1: to me, that bird did mean something to him. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: And at the end of the episode when haw asks him,
Speaker 1: tell me about the bird, like clearly that meant something
Speaker 1: to you. He's like it's just a bird and just
Speaker 1: crushes it. And like that's just him still scared to
Speaker 1: express himself, either because he's he scared to like show
Speaker 1: who he is, scared to show emotion not necessary or
Speaker 1: not scared is the wrong word. Like he's just resisting
Speaker 1: showing emotion for whatever reason. And some of it, as
Speaker 1: we discussed last episode, like being a black man and
Speaker 1: like feeling like he can't screw up, like his dad said,
Speaker 1: like you can get angry, he can get angry. You
Speaker 1: can't get angry, you know, like we can't do that.
Speaker 1: There's that whole thing, there's this superior officer thing, or
Speaker 1: there's just something in him that he's been trained to
Speaker 1: not allow his emotions to sort of get in the
Speaker 1: way of being the perfect soldier. And like Hal knows
Speaker 1: that those emotions and the will and like what you
Speaker 1: create is a big part of being a green lantern.
Speaker 1: And I think he's I think that's why the water
Speaker 1: at the beginning, and that's why all this he's trying
Speaker 1: to push him a little more to be a little
Speaker 1: more open with with who he is. And I think
Speaker 1: that bird was a representation of that and I loved it.
Speaker 1: This episode is flitting around. It gave his character a
Speaker 1: little just just a little mystery of like what does
Speaker 1: the bird mean to him? You know, like and how
Speaker 1: it felt like he just had this little buddy, this
Speaker 1: little friend. I liked it a lot. I really liked
Speaker 1: the bird. And then at the end, him just being
Speaker 1: willing to crush it was heartbreaking in a weird way,
Speaker 1: like to me because I was like, what a cute
Speaker 1: little birdie and he just crushes it. But you know
Speaker 1: that that's like like he was very protective of the bird,
Speaker 1: like he caught it while he's like flying through all
Speaker 1: those cars and stuff, Like he was protective of the bird.
Speaker 1: But then when asked what it meant to him, he's
Speaker 1: just like, nothing means anything to me, you know. And
Speaker 1: that's a that's a dark way to live. And I
Speaker 1: don't think how it's trying to pull it out of
Speaker 1: him a little more.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Yeah, just I you know, this is totally speculation,
Speaker 2: but I have to imagine at some point there's there
Speaker 2: going to be some revelations about that bird, and it
Speaker 2: might be in the form of a flashback. And the
Speaker 2: obvious place to go is, you know, maybe an interaction
Speaker 2: with his father. You could we could see him as
Speaker 2: a kid again and maybe he has this moment or
Speaker 2: he wants to protect the bird, but the father encourages,
Speaker 2: you know, harshness or you know, don't be soft like that.
Speaker 2: But the other thing that I kind of noted in
Speaker 2: this episode, and I can't remember in episode one how
Speaker 2: much we learned about what John's history before becoming a
Speaker 2: lantern in training was. But he made the note about
Speaker 2: where hal got shot. He said through the shoulder, you know,
Speaker 2: clean through. That was clearly a warning shot. So I
Speaker 2: was like, okay, he's got some combat training.
Speaker 1: Well he called him a sniper. I don't know. He
Speaker 1: said you snipers, that's right, which I don't think we
Speaker 1: knew until until this. But he's like, you snipers are
Speaker 1: all the same or something like that. And then he's like,
Speaker 1: that's through and through. That's a great warning shot. Like
Speaker 1: he's a sniper and knows knows a lot about being
Speaker 1: a sniper.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And he frequently refers to halis Jordan, which is
Speaker 2: a very like military coded thing or like police kind
Speaker 2: of like you know, combat training kind of thing to
Speaker 2: refer to your your colleagues by their last name like that.
Speaker 2: But I'm wondering maybe, you know, with this bird again,
Speaker 2: maybe it'll be a flashback to a combat scenario he
Speaker 2: was in where he wanted to, you know, protect an
Speaker 2: innocent that could have been represented by this bird, but
Speaker 2: instead had to follow warders or make the tough call.
Speaker 1: Sure, so I wonder if it could connect to his mom.
Speaker 2: I thought about that for a second too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just because it's a I mean, it's just a
Speaker 1: story thing to connect to the parents. And we've seen
Speaker 1: his dad and I'm sorry, if your dad is shooting
Speaker 1: apples off your head, your mom is not in the picture.
Speaker 2: Definitely not. Definitely not that is.
Speaker 1: A single dad activity. I think. Yeah, I think you're
Speaker 1: totally right. I think we'll get some sort of flashback
Speaker 1: that elucidates why the bird is important to him and
Speaker 1: also like his sort of secret emotional core that he's
Speaker 1: been so resistant to share because his dad trained it
Speaker 1: out of him.
Speaker 2: You know, Well, his dad didn't show up at all
Speaker 2: in this episode. And I know we're here to talk
Speaker 2: about episode two, but thinking back on episode one when
Speaker 2: we wrapped last week, I kind of wanted to message
Speaker 2: you immediately after we wrapped and say, hey, can we
Speaker 2: pick up and do a quick recording here because episode
Speaker 2: one ended on the cliffhanger of you know how, his
Speaker 2: frozen body there in the bleachers, which we we got
Speaker 2: to see him do again in this episode, fully leaning
Speaker 2: into the Friday night lights of it all. But they
Speaker 2: didn't even touch on that in this episode. I immediately
Speaker 2: wanted to, you know, get back on and record because
Speaker 2: I thought, and I know I'm not alone. I know
Speaker 2: other people on the Internet have come to this conclusion too,
Speaker 2: but Haligram, what if that was a haligram?
Speaker 1: So absolutely absolutely could be a haligram. Good call, and
Speaker 1: I would love it because I would really like to
Speaker 1: as much as I want, obviously John Stewart to become
Speaker 1: a lantern, I would love to see how Jordan stick
Speaker 1: around too.
Speaker 2: I love this.
Speaker 1: I love Booth the actors a lot, and it would
Speaker 1: be a great twist if it's not training his replacement,
Speaker 1: it's actually how Jordan's still gonna be around in the
Speaker 1: universe with John Stewart as later and there could be
Speaker 1: three lanterns on Earth.
Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, sure, yeah.
Speaker 1: Let's see. Oh, speaking of the bird, we're talking about
Speaker 1: the bird a lot. You could see it on it
Speaker 1: on I loved how they played it because as soon
Speaker 1: as you created the bird and then took off the ring,
Speaker 1: Hal's eyes did this thing where he's like, huh, his surprised.
Speaker 1: It was a surprise in his eyes. And then we
Speaker 1: find it out that like, not only is making a
Speaker 1: living construct impressive, but keeping it going after the ring
Speaker 1: has been removed, and then he kind of not knowing
Speaker 1: how much he's being challenged, he's able to hold on
Speaker 1: to the will through all the stuff he goes through,
Speaker 1: which I got a question a little bit, because how
Speaker 1: do you hold onto your will when you're unconscious? Twice?
Speaker 1: Good question. I was wondering about that. But maybe that's
Speaker 1: the thing. Maybe you're maybe you're if your focus is
Speaker 1: good enough, if your willpower is strong enough, even in
Speaker 1: your dreams, you're you're you're focusing on that bird. But
Speaker 1: he says, if you lose concentration, the bird will disappear.
Speaker 1: And then he like keeps it through two being knocked
Speaker 1: out twice, which yeah, that seems weird, but uh, they
Speaker 1: but they call it him possible and then he says
Speaker 1: it a little later, he's like, there's no there's no
Speaker 1: way they're telling the truth though, because you would have
Speaker 1: at least given me a Hurrah, right, which hourrah is Marines? Right? Generally,
Speaker 1: uh rah is Marines. Okay, I'm wondering if maybe maybe
Speaker 1: he was Marines. Maybe it's a marine sniper just given
Speaker 1: to the but I don't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm pretty sure how was Air Force? But h yeah,
Speaker 2: it could be that that John was was geens.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's what That's what I meant.
Speaker 3: Yeah, looking, I'm looking up the uh hohorrah associated with
Speaker 3: what military branches to make sure I'm not like making
Speaker 3: that up.
Speaker 1: Oh, it's units, it's army battle cry. Hoorah is primarily
Speaker 1: associated with the United States Army.
Speaker 2: Oh, okay, I guess uh similar variations.
Speaker 1: Interesting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, in the Navy it's who.
Speaker 1: Yah who yah. Yeah, it says, uh.
Speaker 2: We get we get shipped for that.
Speaker 1: Who rah rah is the Marine Marine Corps is the
Speaker 1: US Navy, and who is the US Army to express agreement.
Speaker 1: All right, that's enjoyable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's something uh incredibly uh you know, it instills
Speaker 2: a lot of camaraderie when you just you just start grunting,
Speaker 2: you know, all together. It does something for the yeah
Speaker 2: spirit the corps.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: I was mistaken. I said, who rah it is the Army,
Speaker 1: That's what I searched, But it's who ah is the
Speaker 1: Army without an R. But they said an R in
Speaker 1: the episode, so I don't know. That's closer to ourah
Speaker 1: to me, which is the US Marine Corps. I don't know. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I was wondering if that might be a small clue
Speaker 1: to who he was, like where he's from.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I uh. This may be based on some
Speaker 2: comics interpretations, but I was always kind of under the
Speaker 2: impression when it comes to John, like I get the
Speaker 2: sense that he's like a combat like architect, Like I
Speaker 2: know in the Navy, they have a unit called the
Speaker 2: CBS and they kind of go ahead and they basically
Speaker 2: build like the infrastructure for like a temporary like battle
Speaker 2: station setup. So they're like, you know, creating roads and
Speaker 2: they're basically architectural engineers but also have the combat training.
Speaker 2: And I know that's an element of John Stewart from
Speaker 2: the comics for sure. That's kind of what differentiates him
Speaker 2: from the other Lanterns. He's got that architectural kind of
Speaker 2: engineer mind when it comes to his constructs. So it
Speaker 2: is interesting that he's so talented at creating a living
Speaker 2: being in this interpretation or this adaptation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, he's he's apparently very talented lantern.
Speaker 1: He's with very little practice that we can tell able
Speaker 1: to do that. And and it was impressive that he
Speaker 1: can even just do it. Looked like how was impressed
Speaker 1: even just removing the ring. It's interesting. We talk a
Speaker 1: lot about how little John seems to want to express
Speaker 1: and how he's holding his cards close to his vest
Speaker 1: or whatever, but really Hal is doing the same thing
Speaker 1: at least when it comes to like honesty about lanterns,
Speaker 1: honesty about the guardians, honesty about the training, like all
Speaker 1: of that stuff seems very like like Hal's keeping a
Speaker 1: lot from John, And I wonder what that what that is?
Speaker 1: Is it similar where he's just part of his personality
Speaker 1: that he's grumpy he doesn't want to be replaced, or
Speaker 1: is there actually like a lack of trust there?
Speaker 2: You know, I think it's a little bit of column,
Speaker 2: a little bit of columb Yeah, at this juncture, because
Speaker 2: it's you know, John had the conversation with Onton when
Speaker 2: he kind of has he susses him out as an alien.
Speaker 2: The word choice of proximity as opposed to closeness. We're
Speaker 2: not not close at all. Yeah, that is a very
Speaker 2: two sided coin.
Speaker 1: Mmm. I think that's true. So I think a lot
Speaker 1: of the sort of stilted vibe in the relationship is
Speaker 1: really like they're still just so. They've been working together
Speaker 1: for a while. I forget how long they said, was
Speaker 1: it a year or whatever?
Speaker 2: I cannot remember. I can last.
Speaker 1: Episode he had mentioned he'd been you've been training me
Speaker 1: for this long, you still haven't let me do this
Speaker 1: or taught me to fly or whatever. So it seemed
Speaker 1: as if that car crash last episode was the first
Speaker 1: time he gave him the ring, Like it seemed that way.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's the case, but it was
Speaker 1: like here and you want it, here it is, and
Speaker 1: and gave him the chance to use it. But like
Speaker 1: it's it's like he's testing him for his talent, like
Speaker 1: the car crash and then the bird, but he's also
Speaker 1: testing him for like whether he can trust him or
Speaker 1: is he just a guardian stooge kind of you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Because I think Hal has the idea
Speaker 1: of like being the green Lantern is more than just
Speaker 1: serving the like sort of uh, chain of command. He
Speaker 1: does his own thing, and I've been sure apparently did
Speaker 1: the same thing, so right, Yeah, I don't know, it's
Speaker 1: it's I'm enjoying the.
Speaker 2: Show a lot. It's it's cool. Oh yeah, absolutely, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's uh it's stellar quality. Damon Lindelof's doing his thing.
Speaker 2: We're only two episodes in, but uh, I'm pretty pleased
Speaker 2: with it thus far. Yeah, and I was not anticipating,
Speaker 2: like they're doing a great job in terms of like
Speaker 2: we got the suit in episode two, he's on another planet.
Speaker 2: We're very interstellar kind of things. And in episode two
Speaker 2: that's really exciting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that was and seeing that, just seeing the
Speaker 1: lantern was cool. It reminded me a lot of Watchman
Speaker 1: when they were like certain relics of the Watchman stuff
Speaker 1: would like come out and just sort of beat these
Speaker 1: little sci fi elements, you know. And seeing him charge
Speaker 1: his ring and say the oath like very nonchalantly and
Speaker 1: rush it's it felt so.
Speaker 2: Wrong, like how many times have I done this? How
Speaker 2: can I do it in the quickest way?
Speaker 1: It reminded me a little of Luke Skywalker throwing his
Speaker 1: lightsaber behind him.
Speaker 2: Oh a little sacrilege. Yeah, yeah, a little sacrileges. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm glad you brought up the lantern too, because we
Speaker 2: you know, we talked about the potential of three lanterns
Speaker 2: being out there between how Guy and John. But I
Speaker 2: could be mistaken, but I kind of thought the design
Speaker 2: of the lantern here and it's various iterations, like I
Speaker 2: thought it was kind of a throwback to the original
Speaker 2: original green lantern Alan Scott, who like debuted in like
Speaker 2: the thirties where he was much more magic based and
Speaker 2: a little more flamboyant in his in his garb and whatnot.
Speaker 2: But fact that may have been a reference to that,
Speaker 2: And if so, I applaud them for it.
Speaker 1: That feels one hundred percent like something Lindeloff would do,
Speaker 1: like after his Watchman stuff, like he just loved using
Speaker 1: just like kind of really period stuff that felt much
Speaker 1: older and and drawing connections to like imagined histories and
Speaker 1: stuff in that show. And so I could I could
Speaker 1: absolutely see that here. Let's see. I like the line
Speaker 1: and this goes with him trying to get John to
Speaker 1: loosen up and show him who he is. You know,
Speaker 1: he has that line Jesus Christ, Almighty, unclench.
Speaker 2: I really liked it.
Speaker 1: Another helline I really liked was when he say he's
Speaker 1: bantering back and forth with the sheriff and she says
Speaker 1: something about it, well, it won't make my marriage an
Speaker 1: he's smoother, and he says, your marriage is unsmooth.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that kind of makes me think of when
Speaker 2: he interrupts, like the town hall too, and he's sitting
Speaker 2: with Jason Ridger's character and the sheriff's honey, and both answer.
Speaker 1: So good, so good. It's so it's so cruel.
Speaker 2: Are you all talking about me? Oh? You are talking
Speaker 2: about me?
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is a long pause. You're talking about me.
Speaker 1: It's really good. Last thing I've got my notes is
Speaker 1: them show showing John the tragedy. I kind of wish
Speaker 1: we'd gotten some flashes of what he was seeing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that would have been nice.
Speaker 1: It's it's an effective scene, but I just like there
Speaker 1: were later moments when I was wanting like a visual
Speaker 1: representation of John seeing it again or something like, there
Speaker 1: were later moments when John was clearly I don't know
Speaker 1: how affected is John by that vision, because it seems
Speaker 1: like it could be a very powerful thing to make
Speaker 1: someone live through the pain of the tragedy that everyone
Speaker 1: there is a people experienced and I can't tell how
Speaker 1: much John has been impacted by that. The fact that
Speaker 1: he even brought it up to Howl almost immediately makes
Speaker 1: me think he's less impacted, like he's he's still on
Speaker 1: the hall side.
Speaker 2: I agree, But there was an agree version.
Speaker 1: Of this where he could have been like, uh, COSO
Speaker 1: affected by seeing that tragedy that he's like near flipping
Speaker 1: on hal You know, yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Think part of it is the approach that they chose
Speaker 2: to do that because he started off by saying, you
Speaker 2: guys are about to torture somebody that doesn't know anything,
Speaker 2: and they says, we're not going to torture you, We're
Speaker 2: going to recruit you. But they effectively torture him because
Speaker 2: I mean, that is very painful, and maybe in their
Speaker 2: eyes I can see like, we're not torturing, We're showing
Speaker 2: you the truth, We're showing your story. But I kind
Speaker 2: of agree with you. That was my read to the
Speaker 2: fact that even though he is questioning because he has
Speaker 2: the conversation with Zoe, you know, can I trust him?
Speaker 2: And she says, if you have to ask that question,
Speaker 2: you already know the answer. He still confides in him
Speaker 2: and how says like, did you go to the did
Speaker 2: you go to the Guardians first? He says no, I
Speaker 2: report to you. So again, even though it seems like
Speaker 2: it's a little bit of a character flaw in some
Speaker 2: regards at this point, how stoic he is, there's still
Speaker 2: something to be said for that resilience, that will, that
Speaker 2: training that he has yeah to be able to withstand
Speaker 2: those kind of things.
Speaker 1: And I think there's something really about that where he
Speaker 1: is trying to be there is a moment where the
Speaker 1: whole his whole character is based around this idea that
Speaker 1: like they asked, how are you frightened? And he said no?
Speaker 1: And that was supposedly a big part of what made
Speaker 1: how Jordan howl Jordan, and that's what he's aiming for.
Speaker 1: And so all that every you know, fear, desire, things
Speaker 1: that are in his own mind seem like weaknesses to
Speaker 1: him that he's trying to purge. And I think that
Speaker 1: I really, like, I still feel like we're going to
Speaker 1: find out that's either that's not the question he asked,
Speaker 1: or that's not how he answered it, or John's going
Speaker 1: to answer it differently. Something is going to happen around
Speaker 1: that that is going to be revelatory, like as to
Speaker 1: what that question truly means to to how and to John.
Speaker 1: Like I'm waiting for some that to be a pivotal
Speaker 1: moment in the show, either when we see it through
Speaker 1: how it went through in reality versus the story, or
Speaker 1: when we see John.
Speaker 2: Go through it. Yeah, yeah, I think you're right. There's
Speaker 2: like the answer to that question that you think that
Speaker 2: he wants to hear, but the reality is no. I
Speaker 2: want you to say that you do have fear because
Speaker 2: you have to.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Like fear is part of it. It's having
Speaker 1: the will to keep fighting. You have to have fear.
Speaker 1: You have to have a concern for others and yourself.
Speaker 1: And I don't know, there's just a lot going on there,
Speaker 1: but uh, it's it's kind of subtle. It's subtle so far,
Speaker 1: which I like, there's obviously like I don't know, there's
Speaker 1: it's such a it's such a fine line. It's like
Speaker 1: we were talking we did a patron hang today for
Speaker 1: them c Ucast and we were talking about like brand
Speaker 1: new day, which I won't spoil here, but there's there's
Speaker 1: a big pivotal moment in the thing that I feel
Speaker 1: like wasn't set up well. But then I'm sitting there
Speaker 1: thinking like how could they have set it up well?
Speaker 1: And would it have crossed the line into cheesy if
Speaker 1: they did set it up too well? Like you know
Speaker 1: what I mean those things of like, uh, it's a
Speaker 1: constant thing that shows if you, if you, if you
Speaker 1: go too much into like explaining or giving too much
Speaker 1: context to one of those pivotal moments, then it can
Speaker 1: feel like like a mister Belvityer episode or whatever, like
Speaker 1: you're just too much. It's like like you're sitting down
Speaker 1: and saying the moral out loud, But then there's the
Speaker 1: other version where you don't set it up enough and
Speaker 1: then you don't get to feel the payoff of the emotion.
Speaker 2: Like I think that's but is that actually actually that's
Speaker 2: what they were saying for me? But it's open to interpretation.
Speaker 1: Right, And I want I don't want to sprint spoil
Speaker 1: brand new day on a Lanterns podcast, soft off, I'll
Speaker 1: tell you what I'm talking about. That feels that feels rude. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, Well, you got anything else you want to
Speaker 1: mention about this episode?
Speaker 2: No, I don't think so there's another solid episode. Like
Speaker 2: I said, it feels like the season is kind of
Speaker 2: finding its footing, and I feel like we're we're kind
Speaker 2: of off to the races from here. So I'm I'm
Speaker 2: pretty excited and enjoying it and looking forward to the
Speaker 2: right ahead.
Speaker 1: Yeah with you man, all right, well, uh, you want
Speaker 1: to tell the people about anything you got going on.
Speaker 2: Well you can catch both of us over on Multiverse News.
Speaker 2: It's a stranded pan of podcast where we talk about
Speaker 2: the latest and greatest in movie news, TV news, sometimes
Speaker 2: video game news. So, uh, there's been a lot of
Speaker 2: great things going on on over there with the D
Speaker 2: twenty three and out to check that out. And then
Speaker 2: for my personal stuff, I am I am developing a
Speaker 2: short film, So check out at jay Scotti for Real,
Speaker 2: my YouTube channel, and other social handles to find out
Speaker 2: about that. Looking forward to rolling some stuff out very soon.
Speaker 1: Sweet man. Yeah, I can't wait. And uh, well yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm on those things too, And check out Marvelson Macivers podcast.
Speaker 1: We've got a lot coming up with Vision Quest popping
Speaker 1: in October, and then immediately after we get that, well
Speaker 1: no before that, we have Endgame Encore coming out, and
Speaker 1: we've got so we're talking about whatever the four minutes
Speaker 1: they're adding to the movie or whatever. I'm sure we
Speaker 1: will talk extensively about those four minutes. There will be
Speaker 1: hours and hours of podcasting about those four minutes, for sure,
Speaker 1: at least four hours, yes, four hour per minute. That's
Speaker 1: about That's probably pretty fair about what we do over there.
Speaker 1: So check out the marvels and macavers, pocast, and anything
Speaker 1: else over strandapina dot com. We will be back very
Speaker 1: soon right here on Always Watching, covering Lanterns Peace, We'll
Speaker 1: be watching. Thank you for listening to Always Watching a
Speaker 1: Stranded Panda podcast. If you dig this podcast and want
Speaker 1: to see what else we do, go to strandedpana dot
Speaker 1: com for all our other myriad of podcasts in this
Speaker 1: geeky TV space. Thanks again