As Tales of the Empire digs its means by way of the story of Barriss Offee—and her quest to outlive the rise of the Empire, at any price—there comes a second that climaxes a decade-plus look ahead to followers who’ve needed to see what occurred to the previous Jedi Padawan after the stunning conclusion of her story in Clone Wars. It’s a second lengthy within the making, and one which was essential to the actress behind her as nicely.
That second comes on the climax of the second of Barriss’ three episodes in Tales of the Empire, “Realization.” Having already accepted—and survived—the supply of becoming a member of the brand new Imperial Inquisitorius after the Republic’s fall, whereas on a mission to seek out a Jedi in hiding alongside the Fourth Sister (Rya Kihlstedt), Barriss is horrified by the Inquistors’ violence and chooses to go rogue herself, flinging the Fourth Sister off a cliff face with a push of the Drive, and throwing her personal helmet down together with her.
Within the subsequent episode, “The Method Out,” we meet Barriss as we’ve by no means had the prospect to see her earlier than. An undisclosed variety of years later, she has had the prospect to stay and get older. She’s minimize her hair, and on a distant, icy world, she has develop into a non secular healer, a smart lady who cures and advises the individuals who search her in want. It’s an enormous second, not simply to see Barriss flourish and thrive, however to see her dedicated to the the perfect of the Jedi—the perfect she’d so fiercely consider the Order had fallen away from in its participation within the Clone Warfare—and develop into somebody who is aware of when to battle and when to supply an open hand. She’s a great distance from being a younger lady so shocked and horrified by what she noticed the Order changing into, her solely response to its participation in interstellar battle may very well be violence in variety. And for Meredith Salenger—who has thought concerning the decisions Barriss made in Clone Wars for so long as followers have—it was a robust second to be part of.
“I imply, I believe it’s like in life—as you undergo your life, while you’re an adolescent you’ve bought this vitality to battle, to develop into combative, and I believe for Barriss, she was at all times so… methodical and conservative in her coaching and desirous to do the appropriate factor, enjoying all the things by the e book,” Salenger lately instructed io9 about attending to see Barriss develop and develop into the smart lady we meet in “The Method Out.” “I believe as you develop and study, and as you become older, Barriss makes errors—desirous to do issues the way in which they’re carried out—however all of it will possibly solely change if there’s an underlying love for everybody and desirous to shift folks’s views to being extra caring and extra therapeutic. As a substitute of doing this by violence, let’s do it by altering folks’ hearts and minds and displaying compassion. Serving to.”
It’s a shift in perspective that provides Barriss a possibility to be explored additional in Star Wars’ future. In a mirror to the climax of “Realization,” when the Fourth Sister lastly tracks Barriss down for her betrayal, their encounter culminates with the previous by accident managing to stab the later—and in doing so realizing that Barriss’ pleas to her to vary and see a brand new path have been attainable. Tales of the Empire concludes with the Fourth Sister, reclaiming her former identification as Lyn Rakish, carrying a wounded—however seemingly nonetheless alive—Barriss to help. It was a very long time coming, however eventually, Star Wars followers bought to see what turned of the wayward Padawan… and the way she turned a Jedi far past something the Order she grew disillusioned with might think about.
Star Wars: Tales of the Empire is streaming on Disney+.
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