Summary
Somehow managing to be both quintessential Star Wars and quintessential Aardman, “I Am Your Mother” might be the most distinct outing of the entire collection.
This recap of Star Wars: Visions Season 2 Episode 4, “I Am Your Mother”, contains spoilers.
The first season of Star Wars: Visions collected works of Japanese animation exclusively, so one of the clear advantages of Volume 2 is how it folds in aesthetics and styles from all over the world.
The most surprising inclusion, at least on paper, is “I Am Your Mother”, an Aardman production that lends Star Wars all the typical exaggerated Claymation and accents you’d associate with Wallace & Gromit. It absolutely should not work.
And, of course, it absolutely does.
Star Wars: Visions Season 2 Episode 4 Recap
To be fair, there’s nothing all that new here, certainly nothing to really rattle the foundations of what Star Wars is and can be. But it’s a wonderfully personably little story about a mother and daughter relationship that calls back The Phantom Menace and gives a surprising bit of celebrity to Wedge Antilles from the original trilogy.
The connection to The Phantom Menace is in the focus on racing. Hanna City is not Tatooine, and the family race that the protagonist Anni is competing in isn’t exactly pod racing, but it’s close enough to feel familiar.
Timeline-wise, though, we’re way beyond the prequel trilogy. With Wedge’s celebrity, we’re probably in the early days of the New Republic here. But this isn’t a story that’s especially relevant to the galaxy at large, instead focusing on two characters and the typical feelings of embarrassment and quiet resentment that teenagers tend to direct towards their parents when they begin to come of age.
There’s also an obvious streak of classism, which is interesting. Part of Anni’s issues is that she and her mother are very working class, and her mother’s ship is old and battered. Their primary opponents in the race are a very snooty family who looks down on them for their circumstances.
Star Wars: Visions Season 2 Episode 4 Ending Explained
Needless to say, Anni and her mother win the race.
But there’s more to it than that. In doing so, they solidify their bond. Anni realizes how deeply her mother cares for her, and how proud of her she is, and she sees how that is more important than what her mother can materially provide for her.
READ: Which Episodes of Star Wars: Visions Season 2 are Canon?
Likewise, Anni’s mother gets to feel that parental pride of her daughter taking the reins – literally, in the case of piloting the ramshackle ship – and beginning to grow up.
You can stream Star Wars: Visions Season 2 Episode 4, “I Am Your Mother” exclusively on Disney+.
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