Happy Friday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle with a review/reaction of this week’s Lanterns episode, “OutKast.” If you’d like to see our review of last week’s Lanterns episode “Trust Fall,” check it out here. I have mixed feelings about Lanterns “OutKast.” I watched the episode three times and went back and forth with how I read this flashback episode, and “OutKast” is a flashback episode, and this episodes use of the chosen one cliche. Let’s start this discussion with “OutKast’s” use of flashbacks.
I figured Lanterns “OutKast” would feature plenty of flashbacks. The pilot took place in 2016, showed glimpses of the Nineties, and ended with Hal Jordan dying in 2026. Oh! Spoiler alert is in effect. I don’t know why anyone reading a review/reaction of the third episode in a television series would not have seen the show’s pilot, but I’m sorry to the one or two readers who haven’t yet seen Lanterns “Pilot.” This review will contain spoilers. Consider yourself warned. While last week’s episode “Trust Fall” continues the 2016 storyline, “OutKast” recounts John Stewart’s past. While watching “OutKast” the first time, I kept hearing my writing instructors in my ear. No! Not a flashback episode. If you need to write a flashback episode, it probably means you didn’t start your story where it should’ve started.
But I enjoyed “OutKast.” After I pushed away those critical voices in my head, the episode explored themes I hoped the episode (and the show as a whole) would explore. John Stewart’s upbringing fascinated me. You could tell there was a lot going on behind the scenes during the show’s pilot. The fact that John’s father was a Green Lantern candidate with Hal Jordan added some nice depth. The scenes between John’s parents (specifically his mother) and a Guardian harkened to classic Green Arrow-Green Lantern comic book storylines. I love the following interaction:
Bernadette (Johan’s Mother): Do you understand how unfair it is to ask a Black man in America if he’s afraid?
Lianna (Guardian): By “Black,” you mean… brown skin?
Bernadette: We are terrified daily of persecution and still show up, sometimes better, than everyone around us. Did you know that?
Lianna: I did not.Bernadette: Even in space, y’all don’t consider us.
I can’t help but make a connection between this scene, and the one found in Green Lantern (Vol 2) #76, where a black man confronts Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern:
I been readin’ about you…how you work for the blue skins…and how on a planet someplace you helped out the orange skins…and you done considerable for the purple skins! Only there’s skins you never bothered with! The Black skins! I want to know how come?! Answer me that, Mr. Green Lantern.
Ah! I don’t care that scene is a little hokey by today’s standards, but I love it. That scene is one of the first images that pops into my head when I think about Green Lantern (Hal Jordan). As soon as I heard Lanterns would include Hal Jordan and John Stewart, I hoped the show would lean in, at least a little bit, to some of those classic 1960s Green Arrow-Green Lantern issues. The scene between Bernadette and Lianna paid homage to this classic Green Lantern comic book scene, but it took it in an interesting direction. Bernadette directly tells a Guardian. This causes the Guardian (and by extension, the audience) to recontextualize fear. I love the idea of Hal Jordan not having fear because he was a white man, and John Stewart Senior had fear because of his race, but he overcomes that fear.
Ultimately, I’m of two minds in regard to “OutKast’s” use of flashbacks. Yes, Lanterns could’ve woven these flashbacks throughout the rest of the season. Conventional storytelling teaches writers to do that. But Lanterns only has a handful of episodes remaining. A flashback-heavy episode was bound to happen. You might as well have one flashback episode in full instead of multiple episodes littered with flashbacks. Funnily enough, “OutKast” had a flashback (John’s past) inside of a flashback (John meeting with a Guardian), which was a flashback to the flashback (the events of 2016 with Hal and John). Wait. I’m confused. Despite a lot of flashbacks, “OutKast” was easy to follow and a fun ride. I love John Stewart’s backstory in Lanterns.
And we get to the chosen one cliche. I mentioned it in the opening, and I have to deliver here. Again, I’m of two minds. Using an unkind reading of the story, “OutKast” is guilty of using the chosen one cliche. Lianna (the Guardian) mentions that John Stewart (Senior) was chosen for a reason and his “worthiness” could be inherited, and she mentions that John’s mother (Bernadette) was formidable in her own right. One could easily read the chosen one cliche from this interaction. I certainly did the first time I watched Lanterns “OutKast.” But John Stewart (Junior) corrects Lianna by saying that humans aren’t programmed, they’re raised. A kind reading of this story leans toward a battle between nurture versus nature.
I go back and forth with Lanterns “OutKast.” On one watch, I may view the episode through an unkind reading. On another, I switch to a kinder reading. Regardless, Lanterns has been surprisingly rewatchable. I’d still like to see more costumes and powers, but the show holds my interest. On a completely different note, I love the reference to Atlanta Hip Hop stars OutKast. And I love the closing track, “Gasoline Dreams.” Ah! So good and it fits.
Those are my thoughts on Lanterns “OutKast.” Let me know yours in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
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