Lanterns ends its first season with its characters doing more talking than space-faring. In its review of the finale, The Wrap calls the ending quiet, with little action as the central characters move toward resolution. It also argues that the show’s science-fiction elements often distract from, rather than mesh with, its small-town drama.
That restraint has a point. The finale makes John Stewart’s path to becoming Earth’s defender turn on a moral choice and his own judgment. His story has room to breathe because the show treats the role as something he must understand for himself. A ring can grant extraordinary power; it cannot do the thinking for its wearer. That is a sound basis for a superhero drama, and it gives the quiet scenes a job beyond delaying the next fight.
The trouble is that the scale sometimes feels borrowed from another show. The Wrap notes that much of Lanterns could fit into a crime drama, even as the finale briefly flirts with space spectacle. The contrast can make the character work feel grounded, but it can also leave the central superhero premise waiting outside. A power ring should change the possibilities of a scene, not just decorate familiar dramatic rhythms.
The best version of this balance would keep John’s hard-won judgment and let it operate in a world that feels stranger and larger. Human stakes give superhero stories their grip; spectacle gives those stakes a setting that ordinary crime drama cannot supply. Lanterns has made a case for the first part. Its next adventure should give the ring more to do.
