The Red Lanterns are explored to good length here with more of their past revealed.
What They Say:
Reckoning
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The slow but steady exploration of Razer has been quite interesting to watch as he works with Hal and Kilowog, coming to a better idea of himself while letting the viewer understand his motivations and why he became a Red Lantern. With the group having come to the asteroid where the Red Lanterns are operating out of, they’ve spent a lot of time observing and collecting information while waiting for more reinforcements to come in order to deal with the problem. Unfortunately, their investigation and acquisition of the details of the Red Lanterns are proving to be frustrating for Razer as he comes to realize just how soft he’s become by working with them. Being close to other Red Lantern’s has reminded him just how far he’s fallen.
What’s really neat to watch is when Razer sets out to the asteroid himself and gets among the other of his kind, charging his ring and reciting his oath. Bringing out several other of the Red Lanterns is quite engaging to watch as they fill in a few small blanks along the way and we get to see Atrocitus step onto the stage, making sure his presence is definitely felt. And Atrocitus is no slouch either, he knows what Razer is really up to and puts up a simple facade in order to draw him out and deal with him. Getting to see how the other Lanterns defer to Atrocitus is instrumental in showing how this corps works and the kind of power that Atrocitus wields in order to ensure he controls it.
The episode does a very good job of filling in some of the blanks about the “origins” of this particular galaxy and how they viewed the Guardians, the Manhunters that caused issues and the rise of the Red Lanterns themselves. While Atrocitus and the others have some strong moments here, it’s the overall mythos exploration that really got me and how it expands things. There are some good things that happen with the Green Lanterns as they figure out how to move throughout this place and deal with the Reds, but also to see how Razer continues to align himself with Hal and the others and goes through his changes. I like it, but I also like (via the comics at least) how there is very little of this because the Reds have their beliefs and are fully behind them. It’s very rare to see a Green Lantern give up, but the Reds are considered evil because of what they do with their rage.
In Summary:
With so much of the Red Lantern Corps being a mixture of the rage and hate, Razer is the odd one out at this point as his hate has diminished but there is still rage to be channeled and utilized within him. For Hal and Kilowog, they get to understand more of what’s going on int his galaxy and the Red Lantern Corps themselves and that’s definitely going to be something that they’ll likely expand on as it progresses. But it really is Razer that dominates this episode, rightly so, as he deals with Atrocitus and what he stands for. The two have a history between them and we see it in a few ways here, letting Atrocitus finally get some great screen time and upping the ante. I love the place where the Red Lanterns operate out of and the whole look of the show is just strong and highly appealing. An excellent episode that really affirms just how much I’m enjoying this series.
Grade: A-
