“Star Wars Visions: Volume 2” was released on May 4 and received critical acclaim. The show is an animated anthology series consisting of shorts developed by different animation studios from across the world.

Although the series isn’t canon to the “Star Wars” lore, the teams behind the episodes creatively interpret the franchise’s universe. .

This creative freedom proved successful as the first season was met with a lot of positive reception. Rotten Tomatoes stated on their “Critics Consensus” section “Gorgeously animated and wildly creative, Visions is an eclectic, but wholly enjoyable collection of Star Wars stories that breathe new life into the galaxy.”

Following the highly experimental first season’s success, Volume 2’s nine episodes . live up to its hype by presenting creative tales that encapsulate what makes “Star Wars” so beloved, all with their own unique flair attributable to the various studios.

This notion is best conveyed in just the first two episodes of the season.

The first episode, “Sith” animated by the Spanish studio El Guiri, follows Lola, a former Sith apprentice, as she tries to move past her trauma through the art of painting.

This gives the episode a beautiful motif, as Lola  channels the emotions such as hatred and jealousy that once pushed her to the dark side, into more positive ones., She uses painting to find inner peace with herself and move on from her past actions that still haunt her. In doing so, this episode embodies the powerful message that no one is past redemption, and how even when it seems impossible, people can heal from the faults of their past by learning from them.

The second episode “Screecher’s Reach,” by Irish studio Cartoon Saloon is another notable episode in that it’s much more of a grim tale told in a simplistic 2D art style which adds to its creepy atmosphere. The story involves a sweatshop worker named Daal and her friends Baython, Quinn and Keena, as they explore a cave called Screecher’s Reach in order to find a ghost rumored to be there.

Once they find the ghost, who turns out to be an old Sith woman, Keena, compelled by a necklace she has, kills her. Afterwards, it’s revealed that through the necklace, she was being influenced by an elder Sith lord named Sith Mother, and the woman she had killed was Sith Mother’s old apprentice.

Sith Mother offers Keena the chance to become her new apprentice, and in doing so, escape labor. But this offer doesn’t extend to her friends, so as Keena accepts the deal and walks with Sith Mother away from the shop, she takes one last look at her friends and is greeted by looks of disgust for her abandonment.

“Screecher’s Reach” is a standout episode of this season because it highlights how the dark side of the force, and by extension, absolute power, can corrupt a person by making them strive for power at all costs. In doing so, power can destroy a person down to their very core and make them betray those closest to them.

Although Keena ends the episode in a better place than where she started it, she leaves behind all her cherished friends and memories to satisfy her own desire for power under Sith tutelage, which will no doubt be a path paved in pain and torture.

Overall, “Visions: Volume 2” is just like its prior season in that it continues to tell impactful stories through the unique lens of each studio’s animation and uses the “Star Wars” brand to tell intimate stories about various aspects of life.