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[This story contains spoilers from Lanterns episode three, “OutKast.”]
The third episode of HBO Max’s Lanterns doesn’t just pay homage to OutKast, the legendary hip-hop duo from Atlanta, it also serves as metaphor symbolizing the isolation John Stewart Jr. felt as a child — and still feels as an adult in his pursuit to become the long-fabled Green Lantern superhero in the DC Comics.
The episode, titled “OutKast,” shows not just how John Stewart’s parents raised him differently from his two older brothers, but also tries to explain why. Reminiscent of the discussions around Michael Jackson’s upbringing, this Lanterns episode has sparked specific conversations about parenting Black boys and children into greatness, and what actions constitute abusive or unhealthy parenting. (The hour also averaged a new series high, per the streamer: In just three days, more than 10 million viewers, with 7 million from the United States, watched the episode.)
Because the Guardians cited fear, not race, as the primary factor for rejecting John Stewart Sr. (an excellent J. Alphonse Nicholson) as the Green Lantern in favor of Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), who is white, Bernadette (a powerful Jasmine Cephas Jones), on the Guardians’ guarantee their youngest son would get a fair shot if he’s fearless, becomes determined for John Jr. to succeed where his father failed. Testing John Jr.’s fearlessness throughout his childhood, John Sr. routinely pointed a gun at his son’s head, successfully shooting an apple off it, with the younger John never flinching.
