Lanterns Episode 3, OutKast is the episode where John Stewart finally shows something more than following everybody orders, follow his mom, Hal Jordan, the Guardians, the guy had not attitude, because his problem with the Guardians is not the usual young Lantern doubting his elders. It goes back to how he was raised. John finds out his father was considered for the ring before Hal Jordan, admitted he was afraid and lost the chance. A Guardian later becomes part of the family decision about John, and after that his parent's raise him to become a Green Lantern and they didnt have much idea what is like to be one, but all they care is no fear at all cost, even though the kid lost a lot of a regular childhood, the show doesnt explain it that way but come on, a kid that stay still while his father takes a shot at the apple on top of his head, John didnt even flinch. John did not grow up just wanting this job, his parent's built his whole childhood around being ready for it, even knowing he might end up hating them for it, and that is way more interesting to me than the usual hero origin where somebody dreams about the ring for years and finally earns it. Getting close to it does not feel like a win by itself when you have been pushed toward the same destination your whole life. His parent's make more sense once you know what happened to his father, but that does not make their choices easy to accept, they want John achieve what his father couldnt and even though his father might not be around for the entire series at least during this episodes you can tell the guy carry the weight of knowing one scared answer cost him everything. John does not need too much explaining to be told why he has a problem with the Guardians, his childhood already does that for him.
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26545992/
- Platform: PRIME VIDEO
John Stewart's Childhood Feels More Like Programming
I also think the childhood stuff is fine for now at least because it explains why John Stewart is so controlled by almost everyone who have contact with him through Lanterns, even Macon's wife. His parent's kept him away from anything normal, restricted what he could listen to, limited who he hung out with, and ran him through training meant to kill his fear. The part that gets me most is he spent eighteen years in the same house as his family and still felt like he missed them, that says a lot about what this plan cost him rather than his character been complaining the entire time or having some kind of hate relationship with his parents. His brother's get normal lives while John gets treated like an assignment, so he has all kind of memories that are not normal for a kid but for him it was. The bird detail is small but I like it, his mother tells him birds are connected to the Guardians watching him, so something ordinary ends up tied to the idea that he is always being watched and judged, and later when a bird matters to how John uses his Lantern power it does not feel random anymore and connects after they unfold the entire bird story, it comes from something planted in his head as a kid. This also make the Guardians character a bit creepy to me even when they are not doing anything cruel to him directly but who the hell offers a monther a big ass diamond in exchange of raising his child as he is a marine with still the risk that John might not be the one they would pick after many years of them watching him before he actually work for them because thats another truth and why Hal at this point feel working for or with the Guardians is not worth for a Lantern.
Hal Jordan and John Stewart Were Built to Clash
There is that contrast and friction between Hal Jordan and John Stewart that makes things always interesting even though when there is nothing going on and this is brilliant writing, its the fact that this two guys dont like each other but want to work together sometimes and the series knows it but sometimes its just too obvious, boring time lets turn on the love hate switch between this too, but still works, its all based that John spend his life training to be Hal's replacement. Consider John spends nine months on a military operation involving Gray Wolf, only for Hal to show up, interfere and leave a mess behind that gets John the consequences and a dishonorable discharge, and that alone gives John a reason to dislike Hal before the two of them are even competing over the ring. Hal shows up, does whatever he decides in the moment, leaves almost immediately, and still keeps being the Green Lantern while John loses the career he worked for. John was trained to follow a path with discipline, Hal trusts his own judgment way more than any rule written a book, and its clear that in their own way it works, both approaches have problems, John follows orders so easily that I wonder how much room he leaves for his own judgment, and Hal trusts himself so much that other people pay for what he does. That is also what makes John going to art school afterward hit harder for me, art is something he wanted before and was never really allowed to chase, so turning to it once his career falls apart is one of the only times he gets close to choosing something for himself, think about it for a min, that alone says how much this guy has been controlled, he had to wait not only be a grown man and a marine discharged, to then do ONE of the things he most love in life, art.
The Guardians Want John to Replace Hal
Then there are this cheeky Guardians of the Universe who do not suddenly look better once John actually gets to them and start plotting against Hal, they dont want to kill him but they do want John to take the ring from him. During the interview he is told he is being considered to replace Hal without Hal knowing about it, and John reacts like somebody who spent his whole life learning that orders matter more than comfort. That should feel like a big moment for him, but it throws me off because any other guy would say "you are the boss, lets go", he finally reaches the people his parent's spent his life preparing him to serve, and one of their first expectations is that he go along with a secret plan involving the man already wearing the ring, thats a big no no for him and he knows it deep inside, thats not him. Even though they pushing John towards exactly what he was raised to want while giving him every reason to be suspicious of the people offering it. I like the Guardian in this scene because she does not need to act threatening, her calm confusion over the difference between raising somebody and programming somebody says enough a lot. John insists humans are raised, not programmed, but the episode already showed how thin that line gets when a kid has one future pushed on him for years. He is not a machine without real choices, he likes art, he has complicated feelings about his family, he can resent Hal, he can admit what he lost, and that proves his parents did not build the exact adult they wanted. Still, the Guardians manipulate him in a way and benefit from all of it anyway, a disciplined candidate who has thought about their standards since childhood and is ready to follow an order just because it is an order, but betraying his not so loved "partner and teacher" hhhmmm thats a tuff order to follow even for John.
John Stewart Needs to Choose What Kind of Lantern He Becomes
From the very first episode its clear Hal is not going to give up the ring period until he is dead, this time Hal tells John straight up that he does not need a partner and that John gets the ring over his dead body, and I like how ugly that makes the competition feel. John spent his life being groomed for this and probably expect a very welcoming teacher who wouldnt give him the ring right away but Hal position is never unless he stops breathing so never while he is alive. Hal reacts like losing the ring would cost him the one thing he cannot let go of, and neither one is treating this like a normal job while the Guardians sit behind both making decisions probably based on a bigger game than this two are trying to play. That is why Lanterns Episode 3, OutKast, leaves me way more interested in John Stewart than I was at the begining, his problem is not just whether he becomes Green Lantern anymore, I care more about what happens once he starts deciding which parts of the life built around him he actually wants to keep, at some point he will bail on the Guardians and decides I will wait for Hal to die? anyways with how wreckless he is I bet John will out live him with or without the ring, but the episode gives him enough reason to want the ring that walking away would not feel freeing, and enough reason to distrust the Guardians that going along with everything they say would feel wrong too. I also like that his anger at Hal has actual history now, Hal wrecked his military career, showed up at his family home before John could share his own news and treated him like a threat the second he got close to the position. John has every reason to resent him, but I do not want that to be the only direction this show goes for a very long time or for the entire season, the best version of John is the one who can still want the ring without letting his parents, Hal, or the Guardians decide what kind of Lantern he ends up being.
Rating: 75/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/tv.