Hal Jordan’s killer was revealed, and I’ll refrain from telling you who gets the ring in the end, just in case you haven’t caught up to the finale yet. But once you’re all done with the HBO Max show, you might need something that’s a bit of a change of pace. Fortunately, I know just the series to dive into next, and it was a massive sci-fi hit back in the 1990s.
The show is The X-Files, and even though it also features aliens and a pair of odd-couple cops, it couldn’t be more different. Lanterns was a bold new take on DC comics’ various Green Lantern heroes. While the character has most often been associated with grand, operatic space adventures, Lanterns was a grittier, more grounded affair.
Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) is the cocky, go-with-your-gut veteran superhero who was selected to be Earth’s first Green Lantern, part of a universal protection force whose members use powerful green rings that can generate pretty much whatever the wearer can imagine out of green light. Tired of Jordan’s rule-breaking behavior, the Guardians — the alien beings who oversee the Green Lantern Corps — select serious-minded ex-Marine John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) to become Hal’s partner, which is really just a ruse to have Stewart replace Jordan. Together, the two investigate a deadly incident in the small town of Rushville, Nebraska.
The X-Files also starts out with a bit of a ruse. The show is about a pair of FBI agents who investigate cases involving paranormal phenomena. The cases are referred to as “the X-Files” and they’ve become the obsession of Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), who has a strong belief in aliens and other supernatural elements.
Prior to the events of the series, Mulder had been a hotshot criminal profiler in the FBI, and the higher–ups at the agency are now looking to bring him back into the fold by giving him a partner who will debunk his work on the X-Files. They select Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), a trained medical doctor who believes in hard science, and is wildly skeptical about the wilder elements of Mulder's work. For both Lanterns and The X-Files — and pretty much all media about mismatched cops — the two partners gain a begrudging respect for each other.
In Lanterns, Jordan and Stewart come to admire one another's bravery and sense of honor. On The X-Files, Mulder learns to appreciate the tough questions Scully asks, while Scully comes to realize that Mulder’s theories and beliefs aren’t quite as wild as she’d originally thought. Mulder and Scully also develop a romantic relationship over time, but that takes several seasons to come to fruition and it’s done really organically.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
