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Contains spoilers for "Lanterns" Season 1, Episode 1

"Lanterns" always had one massive hurdle to cross, even before the first episode dropped: Ryan Reynolds' infamous "Green Lantern" (2011), which is easily one of the worst superhero movies ever made. The film famously went all in on the visual space opera and glowy green stuff, which left "Lanterns" with a problem: How to approach all the visual ridiculousness that's inherent to the Green Lantern comics while avoiding callbacks to the 2011 film's overkill? 

Fortunately, "Lanterns" finds a way. It opts to addresses much of the absurdity in dialogue, discussing outlandish feats and showing neat power ring tricks like backup personality copies. Gigantic, glowy green energy constructs and superpowers are used sparingly here, because Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) has already shown us in "Superman" what the DCU power ring can do. As such, "Lanterns" can largely kick back with the occasional power ring flex like fake money or a bottle opener, or some very unceremonious flight courtesy of Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler). 

All of this works with the overall detective show vibe. It also fits very well with Hal's understated approach to superheroics, since he doesn't even like to wear his Green Lantern supersuit if he doesn't have to. This cleverly weaponized inversion of "show, don't tell" also means that when Hal actually has to use the ring's powers to contain an alien self-destruction mechanism, it comes across as a monumental moment. 

John Johnson/HBO

To be fair, even if "Lanterns" had gone all in with special effects, there wouldn't be much risk of assuming that the project is connected to the "Green Lantern" movie. The 2011 film is an unabashed, garish sci-fi superhero blockbuster, while "Lanterns" is a moody, "True Detective"-lite buddy cop show with grounded aesthetics and Damon Lindelof's twisty storytelling sensibilities. 

Still, in its efforts to establish its own identity, "Lanterns" has clearly put an impressive amount of work into its understated aesthetics. Perhaps the best comparison point is the brief glimpses the series premiere offers of Hal's Green Lantern outfit: it's a far cry from Ryan Reynolds' Green Lantern costume (which probably shouldn't have been greenlit in any sense of the term). Of course, the "Lanterns" trailer had everyone saying the same thing about the show's Green Lantern suit — namely, that its color scheme isn't bright enough. You can never please everyone, right?