Gaming ‘Lanterns’ Series Premiere Recap And Review: Not That Super And Certainly No ‘True Detective’ By Erik Kain ,
Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about TV shows, movies, video games, entertainment & culture. Follow Author Aug 16, 2026, 10:00pm EDT --:-- / --:-- This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more . This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more . Lanterns Credit: HBO There is something oddly magnetic about Kyle Chandler’s eyebrows. They’re disarmingly expressive, and Chandler’s grouchy-yet-charming Hal Jordan, Earth’s one and only Green Lantern, uses them to great effect in the season premiere of HBO’s latest superhero drama. If I were to critique Lanterns solely on eyebrow charisma, I’d give the show five out of five alien-powered super-rings.
Alas, after watching just the first episode, I’m really not sure what to make of it at all. Like most critics, I was given seven episodes as screeners, but I decided to only watch the premiere before penning my recap. This is what audiences will see on Sunday night, after all, and it’s all they’ll have to go on. I might as well have the same experience. It can be fun to watch along with the audience as a reviewer rather than skip ahead. That way you can come up with theories and be part of the discussion. That’s especially true when it’s a mystery.
In any case, there will be spoilers here since this is both a recap and review of the first episode, but I want to talk about expectations before we get into the story itself. I think my reaction to this season premiere has a lot to do with the expectations that were set leading up to the show’s release.
You’ll notice in the headline up above I say that Lanterns is “No True Detective .” Maybe I’ll change my mind about that once I’ve seen more of the season, but it only took one episode of True Detective Season 1 for me to know that this was something special. It was dark and eerie and terrifying and, more than anything, it instantly immersed us in the Southern Gothic swamps and bayous of rural Louisiana. The sense of place, whether or not it was at all realistic, was palpable and felt at once authentic and grounded, but also disturbingly surreal. We were lost in that fever dream from start to finish.
And the two detectives – Matthew McConaughey’s Rust Cohle and Woody Harrelson’s Marty Hart – were the perfect pair, totally incompatible in almost every way, yet somehow perfect for each other. Was this a deconstruction of the buddy cop genre or a full-throated embrace of its conventions? Whatever it was, it set the bar high. Too high for subsequent seasons and too high for most shows in the detective genre writ large. “What are some detective shows like True Detective ?” has to be an incredibly common Google search. Certainly forum threads and listicles aplenty have been written pointing hungry fans of that perfect season of television toward other contenders. We are often disappointed.
So it was a rather ballsy move to market Lanterns as a superhero detective story inspired by True Detective Season 1. And perhaps not altogether wise. The season premiere has plenty going for it, but Lanterns is nothing like True Detective so far. Yes, it has two major timelines that the story will unfold across, similar to Rust and Marty’s investigation (which took place across several timelines). It has two detectives whose personalities mix like water and vinegar. It’s a mystery, though the nat…