The Green Lantern series, airing on Sunday, is a DC adaptation from HBO. While it wears the superhero cloak, it is essentially a True Detective-style buddy cop mystery, with the setting shifted from the American South to Rushville, Nebraska, in the Midwest.
Protagonist Hal Jordan (top right, played by Kyle Chandler) wears a Green Lantern ring with no more than 5% charge, meaning viewers won't see much display of superpowers, which also gives the production team a perfect excuse to keep costs down.
Since only one Green Lantern can be stationed per planet, Hal isn't particularly invested in his apprentice, John Stewart (top left, played by Aaron Pierre). After all, teaching your apprentice could mean putting yourself out of a job. For John to earn the Green Lantern title, he'd have to wait for his mentor to retire or kick the bucket, but Hal has no such plans.
Upon hearing that Rushville needs backup due to strange occurrences, the mentor flies over using his (partially charged) ring, while the apprentice takes economy class. The local sheriff in Rushville is played by Kelly Macdonald (Boardwalk Empire), making a comeback. These strong supporting actors make significant contributions to the eight-episode storyline.
The show's main appeal lies in the contentious mentor-mentee relationship, giving the entire series a grounded, realistic feel that makes mentions of Gotham feel momentarily jarring to viewers. If fans dig into the source of this realism, they'll find that one of the writers for Watchmen is among this show's scribes, while the creator hails from True Detective and Ozark. The series currently holds a 90/100 Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
