At a certain point in the third episode of Lanterns, John Stewart is handed the power ring and asked to make a watch. It’s a key moment in John’s life for several reasons, but also very appropriate in this specific episode. That’s because this episode was like a Swiss watch of storytelling. Jumping between multiple timelines, we follow the life of John Stewart and his family from his very first days. And, by the end, everything we thought we knew about Lanterns was not the same. Let’s discuss.
The episode started super mysteriously, with John falling from the ceiling of a shopping mall and following random arrows to a back room. There, Laura Linney opened the door and asked John to take a seat. He did and remained there for the entire evening. Linney returned, pressed John on why he waited, and he said he was told to wait. We still didn’t know who or what was happening, but John and the audience had a pretty good idea.
Linney is playing a Guardian, one of the rulers of the galaxy and creators of the Green Lanterns. She’s interviewing John to become a Green Lantern, which John finds curious. Don’t the rings choose the Lanterns, John asked? That’s true, but since one of the Guardians died recently, things have changed. A mystery for another day.
At this point, Linney’s character explained that most people ask her, “Why them?” John says he knows why she’s speaking to him, and we cut to the night everything changed. John, a baby, is in his parents’ room when his mom runs out to help one of his brothers, and a green light suddenly lifts his father, John Sr. ( J. Alphonse Nicholson), from bed. “Are you afraid?” it asks. “Yes,” he screams, and the light goes away. It’s the moment we learned about in the first episode. The moment John’s father lost the opportunity to be the Green Lantern, which then went to Hal Jordan.
We also get to see the moment John Sr. figured that out. A TV news anchor talking about Hal Jordan (when he still had a secret identity) tells the story about the “Are you afraid” question. John Sr. is so angry about it that he shoots the TV. John’s mom, Bernadette (Jasmine Cephas Jones), is frightened. Apparently, John Sr. has not taken any of this well, especially since Bernadette doesn’t even believe that it happened, and it is now endangering his family. She asks him to leave.
Soon after, Laura Linney (who never gets a name, so we’re just going to call her “Laura Linney”) shows up at the Stewart residence. She’s looking for John Sr. and explains that the Guardians recently realized their methods may have caused “emotional turmoil” for some humans and apologizes with a massive diamond. Bernadette still doesn’t know what’s happened and asks her to prove she’s an alien. Which she does, but morphing into her very tall, very blue self (though we only see it from the back).
The conversation continues inside. Bernadette explains to Linney that you can’t just ask a black man in America if he’s afraid. They deal with things aliens would never understand, and Linney agrees that they don’t. “Even in space y’all don’t consider us,” Bernadette says. Talk about a powerful and well-written scene. Bravo.
Linney is also impressed by Bernadette and has an idea. Obviously John Sr. can’t be the Green Lantern anymore, but maybe John can. Humans only have a short lifespan after all. The Guardian proposes that if Bernadette and John Sr. were to raise John to be fearless, then he could be the next Green Lantern. The Guardian gives Bernadette her word that John will be given a fair shot.
So here’s where a few things happen. One, we realize that John has literally been raised since birth to be the Green Lantern. Also, from here on out, the episode would use the job interview we now know he’s been waiting for his entire life as the focal point to jump back and forth between different periods in John’s life. And it involved a lot.
Let’s break it down. We learn that on John’s fifth birthday, his parents revealed to him that his destiny is to be the Green Lantern. That he’s been raised and treated differently from his brothers because of that, and now his real training will begin. That training includes all manner of fear-erasing exercises, like dropping John off as a child in a scary neighborhood, and also having an apple shot off his head. Later, John would be asked to shoot an apple off his father’s head, and he’d refuse. There was still fear there.
John’s parents told him the Guardians were always watching, posing as birds. Which is why he likes birds so much (and would later manifest one from the ring, we presume). However, after John couldn’t shoot the apple off his dad’s head, his mom revealed to him the bird thing was a lie. He was so upset by this that he pushed his fear down and shot an apple off his mom’s head. It was a moment that changed everything.
That fearless upbringing led John to follow his father’s footsteps into the Marines, where he became an ace sniper. A sniper who was assigned to kill a gangster thought to be impossible to find. To do so, John had to go off the grid and wait for this person to appear. It took nine months in the wilderness, but eventually, the man showed up. And just as John was about to take the shot, Hal Jordan arrived, blew up the entire area, and flew away with the guy.
Because of this, John was forced to take a dishonorable discharge from the military to take the fall for the events. Which he, of course, did without question. Bernadette then enrolled him in art school to try and bring some happiness into his difficult life, and it was there, seemingly out of nowhere, that he was approached to reconstruct a watch to prove he had what it takes. John then jumped through a portal, right into the mall we saw at the beginning of the episode.
Deep breath. It’s a lot of backstory, but it helped both the audience and Laura Linney figure out more about who John is as a person. He’s a very, very good person. Not a happy person. Maybe not even a loving person. But a good person. A person who, we now know, had his life changed or ruined multiple times by Hal Jordan. It was Jordan becoming the Green Lantern that set his family up for its difficulties. If not for that moment, John would have a better relationship with his parents, with his brothers, with himself. It was then Hal’s rogue actions that forced John out of the military as well.
John says he’s not mad or bitter toward Hal, but it seems the Guardians are. Linney proposes that John pretend like he’s going to be Hal’s backup, but in reality it’s just a ruse to eventually replace him. Yes, the Guardians are conspiring against Hal Jordan, and John Stewart gives them the perfect opportunity to do so. It doesn’t help that Hal also harbors some love for his former master, Sinestro, who killed one of the Guardians before Jordan apprehended him.
Having finally been (sort of) offered the job he’d been raised his whole life for, John is excited to go home and tell his parents. Only, Hal Jordan beats him to the punch. It’s typical Hal: loud, obnoxious, and charming, though the Stewarts’ faces make it obvious they aren’t so charmed. Hal takes John outside, and while he starts to play nice, he makes things very clear. He doesn’t want a partner. He doesn’t want a protege. And he will not be giving up the ring under any circumstances. Training starts Monday.
Basically, while the first episodes made it seem as if John and Hal’s partnership was more or less friendly, we now know it’s not the case. John is there to replace Hal. To stop him from being the Green Lantern. Hal doesn’t know this for sure, but has a feeling and resents him for it. That’s why, last week, Sinestro said John was Hal’s biggest threat. Because he represents not just him losing the job, but basically the entire galaxy being against him.
This week’s Lanterns may not have moved the Nebraska story forward at all, but it delightfully filled in some crucial blanks. It’s going to be very interesting to jump into next week with all this new context about each character.
Assorted musings
- We have to give a special shout-out to all the actors in the Stewart family. Jayce Eiland is excellent as the young John, and Cairo Cash Lee, who also appeared in the first episode, is even better as adolescent John. Plus, we truly think Jasmine Cephas Jones should get awards consideration for her work as John’s mom. She and Nicholson are incredible together as parents, making a very, very hard choice for their child. “He’s gonna hate us.” “So be it.”
- This is kind of random, but who was the person in the office with Laura Linney at the beginning? Another Guardian? Is he important at all? We’ll have to see.
- I’ve seen this episode a few times now, and while I was originally a little frustrated by it because it detoured from the Hal/Sinestro cliffhanger last week, I now realize it’s the perfect way to follow it up. We don’t see Sinestro in this episode, but we feel his presence throughout all of Laura Linney’s questioning of John. It feels like Sinestro’s actions, and Hal’s reactions to them, are a huge reason why the Guardians want Hal out and John in. It’s all connected and crucial.
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