Lanterns' John Stewart Is A Lesson In Textbook Compartmentalization — Allow Aaron Pierre To Explain

What defines a superhero? Is it their powers? Their costume? Or is it their mommy-and-daddy issues? 

HBO's "Lanterns" gestures at the death of Hal Jordan's (Kyle Chandler) father in the pilot episode, and Episode 3 zeroes in on the upbringing of John Stewart (played by Aaron Pierre as an adult, and Cairo Cash Lee as a boy). Like an inverted Thomas and Martha Wayne, John's parents are extra-present and obsessively devoted to raising a brooding, emotionally broken ass-kicker. 

"We probably don't have enough time for me to go into all of the details of how I personally feel and what I discovered John feels," Pierre told TVLine when asked about his character's relationship with his mom. "But I think John has, as many of us do... an immense amount of trauma that is unresolved and internalized."

During flashbacks in Episode 3, we see John Senior (J. Alphonse Nicholson) and Bernadette (Jasmine Cephas Jones) repeatedly lie to young John about the Guardians of the Universe and his status as Green Lantern prospect; discourage his artistic inclinations; deliberately alienate him from his older brothers; shoot apples off his head; force him to walk through a dangerous neighborhood alone at night; and when the Guardians don't respond to any of her attempts to contact them, Bernadette tells her youngest son that his continued fearfulness is to blame.

But if John grows up to be the Green Lantern, then all this strategic, high-pressure abuse will be worth it... right?

"We have reports that many of the candidates considered for the role of Green Lantern have been experiencing emotional turmoil," a Guardian (Laura Linney) explains to Bernadette after John Senior's surprise audition and subsequent meltdown. Perhaps unintentionally, the Guardian also foreshadows John Junior's upcoming childhood and whatever happens to make Hal Jordan so ornery.  

When the Guardian warns a curious Bernadette that "my natural form" upsets Earthlings, she responds, "I don't get upset." Decades later in a conversation with a commanding officer, Marine sniper John Stewart echoes his mom: "I don't do panic."

Apparently not. In three episodes of high-risk sleuthing, John Stewart has yet to flinch. Furthermore, he repeatedly refuses to express any ill will toward John Senior and Bernadette. 

"John's exterior is very calm, it's very clean, it's very accurate, it's refined, but there has never been a moment internally for John as far as I'm concerned... where he hasn't felt so, so many volatile emotions just flying around," said Aaron Pierre. "He's just gotten very good at mastering them enough to get the job done at the most elite level."

Pierre continued, "He's become an expert at internalizing things and... It's almost like, if internally, it was a house. He's found the perfect space in the house where... the place looks spotless [from the outside], but if you find that room, it's hell." — with reporting by Kimberly Roots