Welcome to the fourth of our nine days of covering Star Wars: Visions! Some notes up front: we’re not going to be talking much about the studios that created these short films, both because of my general ignorance of the various producers involved, and also because I want to attempt to take these stories at as close to face value as possible. As with “Tatooine Rhapsody,” there wasn’t five thoughts worth for me to dig into, which isn’t a knock on the episode, but rather a knock on my mental faculties. So, pull out your yellow lightsaber, and let’s get to it!
1. The Star Wars turned almost all the way down
This episode begins and ends with a Jedi, known only as “F,” and an older man who acts as her mentor of sorts. If you clipped out those two scenes, there’s almost nothing Star Wars about this episode. Sure, the position of the big bad is occupied by Separatists, but it could just as easily been any evil monolithic organization just as easily.
That said, this is, perhaps, the most emotionally rending episode of the series thus far. We see a young couple wed, but their celebration is a dour one, as they are prepared to sacrifice their lives for the protection of their village. The bride is the leader, and her new husband was to join her in her sacrifice in a show of love, but her little sister doesn’t accept this arrangement. Not just that her sister is the chosen sacrifice, but the arrangement in any capacity, and she attempts to take out the goons sent to carry out this mission.
And here is where F can do her Jedi thing, and “The Village Bride” gets all it can out of the brief action sequence. F has the entire Jedi thing down: the pose, the dialogue, the swordplay. Despite its brevity, the Star Wars sequences are the most memorable of the episode, but still feel somewhat disjointed from the smaller, sadder story at its core.
2. Another interesting era
This episode specifically mentions that the Separatists are the oppressors here, setting the story in the period between the end of Episode I and the start of Episode III, aka the Clone Wars era. In a way, this is a story that seems like it could’ve, with some squinting, have been a Clone Wars episode, with Anakin or Obi-Wan being sent to protect the planet from this cruel ritual. It is also, far more effectively, sets up the Separatists as bad guys than anything in Attack of the Clones does.
3. We want more F stories
Despite the limited screen time, F is a compelling Jedi and one that seems poised to have more stories told about her. Much like the Twins from…well…”The Twins,” we’ve had a glimpse at a new character that suggest a lot of interesting possibilities moving forward. It’ll be interesting to see what, if any, new stories come from F in the future.
Also, I want to know more about the old man with the robotic headgear. I like the little tastes of him that we got, but I’ve got a lot of questions.
