7.8/10
92%
80%
72%
3.7/5
83%
John Stewart’s background becomes clearer as this episode focuses on the reasons he has become a Lantern (well, a trainee at least) and the path that brought him there.
In my review of the Pilot episode I mentioned that a young boy had an apple shot off of his head by his father but the reasons behind this weren’t clear at the time, and now they are.
Back when Abin Sur’s ring was searching for a new Lantern it seemingly visited multiple people trying to find someone who was worthy of wielding it, and one of those people was John’s father, John Senior.
He’s woken from his sleep, trapped in a glowing green orb and is asked is he’s afraid to which he screams “Yes!”.
Later, he tries to explain to his wife, friends and colleagues what happened but they all think he’s going crazy — but of course they don’t know about The Green Lantern programme yet.
After failing the test and no one believing his experiences, John Sr’s life begins to fall to pieces. He is drinking too much and, now Hal Jordan is revealed to be a superhero, he can’t understand why he wasn’t chosen and that he must have done something wrong.
Because of the negative impact the ring had on several people while trying to find a new wearer, the Guardians step in to try to make things right and attempt to visit John Sr. but end up meeting with his wife, Bernadette, instead.
After a conversation over coffee, it becomes apparent that the Guardians have no idea how race on Earth works and that given the way Black people were being treated by the majority White power base, asking if someone is “afraid” is not a fair test. Of course her husband would be afraid, they have to be afraid in order to survive.
The Guardian counters that perhaps if they were to bring their baby, John Jr. up to not be afraid, then maybe he would be a suitable candidate to take on the role of a Green Lantern.
Interspersed with John’s upbringing and how his parents were grooming him for a role that wasn’t even guaranteed to be his, we see his interview to become Hal Jordan’s protégé and eventual replacement. I guess by 2016 they realised that a ring randomly putting people in green bubbles and asking if they were afraid was probably not the best way to recruit people.
We also find out that Hal Jordan was directly responsible for John being booted out of the military as well, so we have to ask if John there to replace Hal as Green Lantern or is he seeking revenge?
DC Extended Universe
A Momager From Hell
🟢Warning! Spoilers for Season 1, Episode 3 OutKast ahead!🟢
This is the first time we’ve seen John’s mother. In the pilot we just saw his father shooting an apple off of his head.
I had assumed that this was a stern father scolding a child for watching TV when they weren’t supposed to, instead all that happened to John Jr. happened at his mother’s request.
Bernadette takes the Guardian at her word, that if they train John Jr. to be fearless and focussed he might one day be worthy enough to join the Lanterns.
I’m not sure whether she is trying to pull her family back together by giving her husband, still tortured by the missed recruitment attempt, something to focus on or whether this is a way for Bernadette herself to cope with the strange events in her life and her own lack of power.
What I am sure of though is that Bernadette is a woman obsessed. In the pilot I had assumed that it was a father trying to “man up” his son, but instead John Jr. has a “momager” on steroids who actually went as far as to insist John Sr. shoot an apple from her son’s head.
It’s almost like her whole existence is being held together by the thought that one day her son might achieve greatness — to show the world that her son, a Black man no less, could be the saviour of the planet.
It’s left me questioning whether this is actually the path that John wants for himself or if he’s merely following this path because it’s his mother’s dream.
The one time that John appears to be truly happy is when he’s enrolled in art school, after his mother says he’s done enough for the time being, and of course it’s during this period of normalcy and happiness that the Guardians choose to reappear and see if John is up to his destined role, ripping away his dream and replacing it with his mother’s once more.
Both men know that John is there to replace Hal, the question is does John bear a grudge and if he does, what does that mean for his relationship will Hal?
Does John even want to be a Lantern or was that just an idea that was forced upon him? And given Hal’s seeming lack of care over the role and responsibility he’s been given — going off and doing things he’s explicitly been told not to do, getting drunk and generally not upholding Lantern standards — how does that make John feel considering his whole life was devoted to becoming what Hal seems to take for granted?
Now that we know a bit more of John’s backstory, it’s certainly going to make for some interesting dynamics between Earth’s Green Lantern and his trainee.
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