'Lanterns' Focuses on John Stewart in an Excellent Third Episode

Was John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) destined to become a Green Lantern, or was he shaped for the role after decades of rigorous, fanatical training imposed by his parents? That is the tragedy at the heart of the third episode of LANTERNS, and the first major chapter of DC’s series so far. Split across three flashback timelines — one to John’s childhood, another to his final mission in the Marines, and a third to his interview with a Guardian of the Universe (Laura Linney) — this chapter shows the many ways Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and the very idea of the Corps influenced, guided, and defined John’s life.

• Who Are the Guardians of the Universe in 'Lanterns'? Meet the Leaders

It all begins when his father, John Sr. (J. Alphonse Nicholson), is visited by a ring as a possible candidate. He reacts with fear, however, and is passed over by what will eventually become Hal Jordan’s weapon. John Sr. begins displaying disturbed and even dangerous behavior, especially since not even his wife Bernadette (Nicole Ari Parker) believes him. Everything changes, though, when Bernadette is visited by the same Guardian who will one day interview John for the role of Hal’s apprentice. She apologizes for the system’s “imperfections” that traumatized John Sr., but makes one thing clear: the ring sensed something in that family, and John, their son, may be the answer.

From that moment on, John Sr. and especially Bernadette decide to devote their youngest son’s entire life to the mission of one day joining the Green Lantern Corps. That means being used as a human target every day, being abandoned in the most dangerous neighborhood in the city, and eventually even giving up an honorable military career to cover up Hal’s (unplanned) involvement in the capture/death of a Russian criminal. Growing up emotionally distant from his siblings and treated by his parents more like a soldier than a child, John Stewart spent years seeing nothing beyond the mission: becoming a Green Lantern. His entire life — watched by the Guardians of the Universe through birds* reporting his achievements and mistakes back to the aliens — led him to the metaphysical chamber where the Guardian questions him and, eventually, approves him.

*Between Lanterns and Day D, we’ve got two major sci-fi releases in 2026 that treat birds as creatures connected to aliens. Curious.

So I ask again: is John Stewart a “chosen child” in the Harry Potter mold, destined for his place as a hero, or someone who, from his earliest memories, was conditioned to believe that? There’s enough here to read his story either way, but the series seems far more interested in the second possibility. This is an episode grounded in the Black experience in the United States, a people who generally face more obstacles when it comes to, say, getting and keeping a job. They can’t make mistakes. They can’t fall apart. They can’t be afraid.

It’s easy — and, I’d guess, intentional — to compare what happens between John and his family to real-life figures. His parents’ rigidity brings to mind Earl Woods, forcing Tiger Woods to practice the perfect golf swing even when he had nothing left in the tank. We also think of Richard Williams, forging young Venus and Serena Williams into champions through a training routine that would exhaust even the most conditioned professionals. And then, of course, there’s Joe Jackson. Maybe the clearest comparison of all, since it also involves the youngest son, Michael Jackson, being “the chosen one” among a group of siblings. Like Michael coming home from a show only to hear his father criticize the dance moves he got wrong, John grows used to placing an apple on his head every night and standing still while his father aims a rifle at him.

These parents were, undeniably, cruel to their children. The question, of course, is that success came. Would the talent of Tiger Woods, the Williams sisters, and Michael Jackson have been enough to carry them to the top of their fields on its own, or was the treatment they received, however often terrible, indispensable? The same doubt applies to John. Was he already the perfect candidate to be a Lantern from birth, or did he become one?

What’s most striking, though, is how little he seems to care. If Lanterns is going to be a great series, John’s certainty, especially in the interview scenes, will need to be challenged at some point down the line, but for now, the coldness with which Aaron Pierre answers that yes, it was worth growing up without his family’s affection so that he could take up the ring, is the season’s biggest dramatic moment. Pierre is unshakable in the role, and it’s that determination, so visible in the actor’s light eyes, that makes us believe everything he went through.

There is, however, one final crucial detail about John Stewart’s life that we see here. In the comics, after serving in the Marines, John became an architect, and here that comes through in his time at art school, an environment that restores the creativity of a boy who, as a child, hid his beautiful drawings from his parents’ eyes. Being a Green Lantern isn’t just about being fearless and vigilant. It’s also about unleashing the imagination. The Lanterns script gets it exactly right by including this element before his encounter with Linney’s character (who, by the way, is fantastic).

Flashback episodes always carry a risk, and Lanterns surprised by placing John Stewart’s story in just its second week on the air. Still, this is the series’ first truly great hour. One that establishes John as the central dramatic focus of this story.