Culture 4 min read By Lauren Baxter
«Lanterns» Episode 3 Explores John Stewart's Backstory in Uneven Flashback Hour
The HBO series «Lanterns» dedicates its third episode to John Stewart's decades-long backstory, revealing how his parents prepared him to never feel fear. The review notes the episode succeeds in explaining his behavior but falters with repetitive scenes and unresolved questions about the Guardians' motives.
The latest episode of «Lanterns» trades forward momentum for a deep dive into John Stewart's past, and the results are a mixed bag. Titled «OutKast,» the hour fills in the gaps between the time jumps introduced in the pilot and the second episode, showing how a teenage boy came to smile while his father shot an apple off his head. The episode explains a great deal about John's daredevil attitude and his soft but dangerous demeanor, but it also risks overstaying its welcome by hammering home the same point repeatedly.
The backstory unfolds against the backdrop of John's Lantern interview, revealing that his entire life had been preparation for this role. Laura Linney plays the alien interviewer with a peculiar weirdness that makes her character both disarmingly nice and genuinely unsettling. Her smile and mannerisms separate the character from its human form, creating a fascinating contrast. Linney's trustworthy appearance is weaponized effectively here, and the performance adds a layer of suspicion to the proceedings.
That suspicion extends to the Guardians themselves. The episode raises questions about their true intentions, particularly regarding Hal Jordan. The ring is presented as having a kind of sentience, choosing who will wear it next, yet it malfunctioned when it was John Sr.'s turn, leaving his son as the next in line. Viewers are left wondering why the Guardians seek to remove Hal despite his competence, and whether they have created the perfect replacement to take him out and take over.
John did not grow up with fear, so he does not know suspicion or instinct. He understands threats and how to neutralize them, but he remains as gullible as a baby. The episode suggests that fear has utility, helping people detect dangerous situations, but too much of it can be paralyzing. John's parents simply could not find the balance. As a Black man in America, John Sr. had known fear since he was young, and after failing his own Lantern recruitment, he and his wife swung to the extreme with their child.
Fleshing out a character over decades in a single episode is dangerous because it risks repeating the same point until it becomes boring. At some point, the message that the Stewarts wanted John to never be afraid is clearly communicated, and then the episode indulges in extra scenes without escalation or substance. A montage would have served the story better, leaving more runtime to make John seem like a person rather than a robot. Maybe that is the point, but the conflict would be elevated if John were as complex as Hal.
By the end of the hour, viewers learn why John's construct was a bird and get some lore behind the ring and the lantern. Yet the mechanics of how the entire system works remain unexplained, and that should be the next mystery to explore. The ring's sentience is interesting, but it does not make sense without knowing what it is made of or why it holds so much power. The episode speed-runs decades of backstory to build an interesting character, and it succeeds, but it also risks becoming convoluted in the process.
