‘Lanterns’ Episode 3 Achieves Highest Ratings of the Season

HBO’s ‘Lanterns‘ has spent its initial episodes crafting a slow-burn mystery centered around a small Nebraska town, an alien conspiracy, and the complex relationship between veteran Green Lantern Hal Jordan and his rookie partner John Stewart. While the first two episodes garnered steady audience scores, they didn’t hint at a significant breakout moment for the show.

That all changed with a surprising structural decision in the third episode. Instead of furthering the Rushville investigation, the episode took a different approach by focusing entirely on John Stewart, presenting the hour as a nonlinear job interview with one of the Guardians of the Universe, portrayed by Laura Linney.

This gamble paid off handsomely. ‘Lanterns’ episode three, titled “OutKast,” premiered with an impressive score of 9.4 on IMDb, a notable increase from the 8.3 ratings of the first two episodes.

This significant leap indicates a turning point in audience reception, at least among those rating the episode. Rather than progressing the alien mystery, “OutKast” delves deeply into Stewart’s fragmented backstory, intertwining his unconventional childhood, a challenging Marine Corps mission, and an unexpected detour into art school, all leading to the moment he receives a Green Lantern ring.

Much of the acclaim for the episode is directed at screenwriter Vanessa Baden Kelly, who skillfully pieced together Stewart’s backstory across multiple timelines while maintaining an emotional core. The episode also provides Aaron Pierre with more opportunities to showcase his character’s struggles stemming from a childhood focused on suppressing fear.

However, not all feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Collider’s review took a more critical stance, rating the episode a 6 out of 10 and suggesting that the show has spent two consecutive episodes overemphasizing John’s role in the broader narrative.

Despite this critical feedback, it remains somewhat of an outlier compared to the broader wave of praise the episode received. Vulture and Den of Geek both rated it highly, praising the episode’s willingness to embrace its sci-fi elements to create a richer, more humane character study.

The jump from an 8.3 average to a 9.4 rating indicates that “OutKast” resonated with viewers on a fundamentally different level than the show’s slower-paced opening episodes. This marks a significant shift for a series just three episodes into its debut season, especially since the increase came from an episode that intentionally paused the main plot.

With the Rushville mystery now on pause for an entire hour and John Stewart’s origin story fully explored, ‘Lanterns’ has set a much higher standard for itself as it moves into the next chapter of the season. Whether the show can maintain this level of audience engagement once the central investigation resumes remains one of the more intriguing questions for the remainder of the season.

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