A little side story involving one of the most well known of Lanterns brings Sinestro into play.
What They Say:
Prisoner of Sinestro
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Green Lantern continues to move through some good stories with its return, from the Steam Lantern episode to some really good stuff involving the Blue Lanterns and bringing Razer back into the fold. Getting an episode that has Sinestro in the title though, well, that just raises the interest level through the roof. The show has worked the character appearances carefully so far, keeping it fairly minimal with some good nods here and there, but mostly letting it focus on the core characters and some new ones. With Razer back in the show now though, we get to have some good conflict side come into play since there’s some definite tension between him and Aya, a relationship that I still find myself really wanting to see succeed.
With this show, their journey has the crew running into a call from the sector that Sinestro is working out of and we get it made pretty clear that Sinestro is living legend and one that Hal has spent a good deal of time learning from and admiring for what he’s accomplished. Even Kilowog has nothing but good to say about Sinestro. His arrival makes for a pretty decent action sequence and we get a good dose of his personality through his interaction with Hal, making him someone that you can see some conflict with but know that it’s backed up with a lot of experience. Things don’t get easier when he comes on board the ship, first in seeing a Red Lantern there and then the way the ship comes across as more of a luxury liner rather than the powerful weapon that it is.
While Sinestro is pretty confident about things, he’s definitely off his game as he ends up trying to kill everyone out of the blue after a bit. But it’s something that he doesn’t remember happening in the slightest when he recovers. But Sinestro isn’t the only one off as things keep rolling with Razer coming across as different next. The reason for it becomes clear after not too long, but it makes for some fun sequences as we see friend turn against friend, including a really good bit from Razer as he practically seduces Aya in order to get a weapon. With the way that everyone is being controlled, it’s amusing that they’re not able to use their ring abilities and rather focus on the weapon that Sinestro brought on board with him.
The level of distrust that comes out isn’t as big as some shows may play it once the realization of what’s going on hits. But there’s still the problem in figuring out who it is that’s being controlled and seeing if there’s some quirks to the method they’re trying to get to the bottom of it. Not surprisingly, Sinestro is the one that makes the big play in order to figure out who is being controlled, and through him we also get some clarity into the attack that started off the episode. Sinestro comes across well throughout here, showing us a Lantern that’s strong, capable and quite confident without being cocky in a youthful way. Getting some Green Lantern time with him wearing that ring is a real treat once again and he first into the show surprisingly well.
In Summary:
After a couple of very strong episodes since returning this year, Green Lantern: The Animated Series has a good episode here as it introduces us to Sinestro. I’ve always liked Sinestro in the comics and seeing him interact with the unusual crew that the show runs with definitely hits some very good notes. But that said, it’s not a knockout episode since it’s working to be a quieter and more intense piece. Sinestro dominates the episode and definitely shows off some solid sides of his personality that may come into play later, but it also balances things well with the rest of the crew, including advancing the Aya and Razer story just enough.
Grade: B+
