For seven straight weeks now, Kyle Chandler has earned the praise and mandate of heaven from fans and the general audience for his portrayal of the Green Lantern, Hal Jordan. This take on the character was met with hesitation as the idea of a one and done, older, and more grizzled take on the character. It wasn’t exactly what fans had in mind at the thought of this blossoming universe but Chandler’s performance and arc for the character has quickly become the pride of the show.
The Jordan Boys’ Legacy
Throughout the first season of DC Studios’ Lanterns, we’ve seen bits and pieces of Hal Jordan’s past, mostly in his prime as Green Lantern and stored consciousness of a 2006 backup. Until last episode, we’ve never gotten a glimpse into his childhood, and the pivotal death of his father that led him down the path that would see him claim the ring. Established in Jim Owsley’s Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight, a near constant in all depictions of Hal Jordan finds him inspired by the death of his father, Martin Jordan, an army test pilot that died in an accident that pushed him to follow a similar career path.
Lanterns depicts Hal’s father’s death as an apparent suicide. In the opening moments of Episode 7, we find a young Hal Jordan, clutching a worn-out baseball and sporting a flashy new black eye. Ejected from his baseball game for refusing to give up the ball. His father shows up to bail him out, resulting in matching black eyes. He takes Hal to the airfield where he tells him about his own father, about going to fight in the war and about how if he didn’t come back, Martin would have to take care of the family, giving him a key to a safe where he found a note revealing the true nature of his father’s death.
Martin shared with Hal that this was no coincidence and this was a demon that has followed the Jordan men for years. Their legacy was to meet a tragic and sudden end at their own hands. Hal would face a similar scenario himself when his father died during a test flight months later, discovering his father’s own note, revealing the similar nature of his death to his grandfather’s.
Are You Afraid?
In Episode 6, during Hal Jordan’s funeral, John Stewart is provided with an autobiographical eulogy to read by Carol Ferris, declining to read it herself and attributing it to a lack of bravado. We laugh at the idea of Hal Jordan writing his own eulogy, a fitting description of who he was and who his character is. Episode 7 makes you look at that scene a whole lot different. While following in the same patterns of his father and his grandfather, he left behind a note, but it wasn’t a suicide note. Instead, he wrote a testament to the honour of being a Green Lantern and the immense pride it gave him.
“For there is no greater honor or privilege, the weight of the ring is a heavy burden, one that demands exceptional courage, sacrifice and willpower and sometimes even those won’t get the job done.” – Hal Jordan
During his conversation with his father, he tells him he has to stop holding on and has him throw the game ball he’d been holding onto all day. He doesn’t want his son to suffer similar to him and doesn’t want him to get hung up on things that will just prolong the suffering, unfortunately for Martin and the Jordan legacy, Hal Jordan is one stubborn and spiteful bastard.
Early on Hal says that once you lose a parent, there’s nothing left to fear, we hear that from a man who has lost half of his world, and if you can face that then there isn’t anything in the universe that could break your will. In the previous episode, Hal says that he was never afraid because he was brave but because he was broken, he admits this inner turmoil to John through his hologram. Hal Jordan tells John the truth he has wrestled with these struggles his entire life and has carried on through the sheer power of will. He wasn’t going to succumb to this mental storm that’s poured on his family for decades.
Hal Jordan Mattered
What made Hal Jordan so powerful was his strength to keep on living, to face the demons in his head and to flip ’em the bird and keep on kicking ass. Hal says in his eulogy “Maybe it was easier to fly than it was to stay on the ground.” There is no doubt that these are the reasons that Hal Jordan was chosen to be the first and only Green Lantern of Earth. There was no precedent, there was no guidebook, there was just sheer willpower, a gut feeling, and the need to keep on going.
His need to keep on going is what sealed the deal, getting chosen is just half the battle but maintaining that strength would take every ounce of willpower he had. It was easier to fly for Hal because the ring and the mantle gave him the ability to channel all that pain into willpower, being the Green Lantern made his suffering easier to handle, he had a method to funnel that torment into something good and it kept him on his feet. He wasn’t always the most clean-cut hero, but he was the man, and he set the standard for others.
The same and likely crowds take to social media and they complain about what they’re seeing without thinking. The series rightfully hints at and builds up the power of John Stewart but it’s simultaneously doing the same thing for Hal Jordan. It’s questioned in the show how and why Hal Jordan was worthy of that ring and this episode reveals why. Wearing that ring gave Hal Jordan a sense of purpose, at that point in his life he didn’t have much to lose anymore, there was nothing for him to be afraid of.
The show goes to extreme lengths to re-contextualize these characters and their origins to add such an immense depth to who they are and what inspires them. Hal Jordan was not perfect, but he had what it takes and he mattered.
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