With it’s third episode, we find Lanterns continuing to pick apart the the very foundations of the Green Lantern character while still pumping in a hefty amount of emerald-coloured grit for the bargain. However, while past episodes have sought to give us a decade spanning, earth-bound, True Detective-style mystery to plough through, while drip feeding us those all-important cosmic aspects of Green Lantern lore, “OutKast” instead leaves Rushville behind in order to delve into one of the intriguing stories of the show – how John Stewart became chosen as a Green Lantern.
While previous incarnations of the story simply had the power ring pick a successor, here we find that the Green Lantern recruitment process is a little more involved – and while it’ll surely give Green Lantern purists something to complain about, it makes for weighty, dramatic television as we discover the incredible dedication it takes to become a jade-clad space cop.
In an episode that zips between John Stewart’s childhood and his final, fateful interview with the Guardians Of The Universe in 2016, we get something of a telling overlook of his life thus far, ever since his father, John Sr., failed the original test to become earth’s first ever Green Lantern. Afraid to leave his family, John Sr. was ultimately passed over in favour of Hal Jordan, but in the aftermath of his admittedly terrifying interview (enveloped by a big, green bubble in the middle of the night couldn’thave exactly been relaxing), we find that the Stewart patriarch has been suffering PTSD from the experience that is aided by the fact that no one, including his wife, Bernadette, believes it even happened. However, when Lianna, one of the Guardians, visits the family in human form, she offers their youngest child, John Jr., a change to apply once he’s old enough.
Thus begins John Stewart’s training as his family push him to eradicate fear from his life and become something better – but while they see shooting apples off his head and leaving him to find his way home from bad neighbourhoods as vital experience, others would see it as straight up abuse. However, as the years roll by, John eventually follows his father into the Marines and becomes a sniper of some renown, but whilst on a mission to take out a target, he sees a nine month assassination attempt end in failure when Hal Jordan shows up out of nowhere as whisks the target off to Guantanamo Bay after blowing everything up. Accepting a dishonorable discharge in order to allow his superiors to save face, it seems that Stewart’s quest to become a Lantern may be over, but after following a long held dream to be an artist it turns out that the Guardians think he has the sauce after all.
However, his first meeting with Hal Jordan shows that this celebrated hero is something of a bitter, cantankerous type who really doesn’t want anything to do with the training of his own replacement.
Just when you think that Lanterns couldn’t possibly add more down-to-earth gravitas to a show already containing more thematic weight of the gravitational pull of Venus, it ditches the whole cop show aspect entirely in favour of plunging deep into the complex origins of John Stewart. As a result, we get an impressive rundown of his timeline starting back from the when he was a baby and his father was traumatised – to around a couple weeks before the 2016 plotline starts when he’s recruited by the Guardians. This proves to be especially intriguing because, up until now, Aaron Pierre’s Stewart has mostly been a tight-lipped rule-follower who has visibly bristled every time Hal Jordan has done something that’s either against the rules – or just flat-out shitty. While there’s some who will no doubt cry woke at the suggestion that the “are you afraid” question takes on a far deeper meaning when it’s asked of a black man living in 90s America, the failure of John Stewart Sr. is essentially what drives John Stewart Jr. as its actually his mother, not his father, who pushes for the extreme treatment of their youngest child.
This means that Stewart’s origin story takes on a much greater, social meaning as the notion that a black person has to work twice as hard to be taken as seriously is given a rather sobering reframing compared to how much leeway the swaggering Jordan is afforded compared to how disturbingly dedicated John has to have been in comparison. Of course, those just wanting some superhero shenanigans, or even just a solid cop show might find this diversion something that’s simply unnecessary – but to decide that, is to ignore some great performances, a full understanding to what makes Stewart tick and yet more aspects of Lantern lore to seep into the story. With the introduction of Laura Linney’s nicely odd Lianna, who has taken on a human guise (alongside all the other aliens in the show thus far), we finally get a real glimpse at the Guardians Of The Universe, thus unlocking another piece of the Green Lantern puzzle.
However, it’s Pierre who takes point in this episode, retaining that commanding presence despite the episode spending something of a time-out in flashback town. We see just how much of a negative impact Jordan has had on his family since this whole thing started (being chosen in the first place, his clumsy destruction of Stewart’s sniper mission and military career), but we also see the complex emotions Stewart’s had to juggle when it comes to the lengths he’d go in order to wear the power ring. How exactly are you supposed to feel when your family have treated you differently your entire life in order for you to literally succeed where your father has failed? However, rather than becoming a mindless robot, it’s a nice touch that it’s actually Stewart’s art skills that seemingly seal the deal when he’s asked to create a contruct working wristwatch from memory.
Laying the history of John Stewart bare, Lanterns has decided to put a sizable chunk of its central story on hold in order to make some fairly heavy points about the experience of being black in America and what it takes to succeed. Is it too heavy? Well, that depends on your stance on whether comic book properties should be focusing their time on such things (hint: they really should – because a lot of the time, that’s what’s caused them to be created in the first place), but surely making us wait a little longer for more Sinestro or a glimpse of a Manhunter is worth it when a show like this actually has something profound and important to say.
An unflinching look back into the events that led John Stewart on the path we find him now, Lanterns seems deadset on dismantling everything we thought we knew about the Green Lantern Corps and the universe they exist in. Using themes of systematic racism and examining extreme methods to raise your children to rise above the social hurdles in their path, “OutKast” ensures that the formative years of John Stewart is no mere throwaway origin story.
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Where to watch Lanterns – Episode 3, Outkast: