Fans may be tempted to call foul, protesting that this short doesn’t play by franchise “rules” and upends decades of George Lucas’ “Star Wars” ideals. But consider the utterly ambiguous note that “Sith” leaves viewers on and how thrilling it is to wade out into uncharted waters in a 45-year-old franchise that, admittedly, had begun to feel a little stale.
“Sith” chooses to find balance in the Force by contrasting two very different worldviews. Lola begins the short having appeared to have found a way out of her former life. It’s not important to know exactly how, but that she’s done so and that it isn’t fully working out. We meet her in the middle of an unexplained nightmare, after all, surrounded by stark black marks emanating from her body. But clearly, life as a Sith didn’t sit well with her, either. If she can’t find balance as a Jedi-like hermit or as a dangerous Sith, the unspoken question at the heart of the story pointedly asks us: What else is out there for her?
The answer, as it turns out, is a combination of both. “Sith” aligns with the franchise’s time-honored notion that atonement is never out of reach. It just might require a slightly different method than Anakin, Ben Solo, or anyone else ever dared to walk themselves. By embracing her inherent darkness but upholding the undeniable Light expressed through her painting, Lola unlocks a third option for herself.
We’ll likely never know whether this works out for her in the end, but by dangling that question and asking fans to wrestle with the complicated nuances of the property they love so much, “Visions” once again does what the movies could not.
Season 2 of “Star Wars: Visions” is currently streaming on Disney+.
