The second half of the animated Star Wars series Young Jedi Adventures recently dropped on Disney+, providing plenty of exciting adventures with these younglings in the High Republic era. But it also included a surprisingly emotional lesson in a show designed for young kids.
The series stars Jedi younglings Kai Brightstar, Lys Solay, and Nubs, alongside pilot Nash Durango and her droid RJ-83. They train at the Jedi Temple on Tenoo, and of course they have plenty of action and excitement fighting off pirates and learning lots of things. Another major character in the series is Cyrus Vuundir, prince of Vuundala, who has developed a close relationship with the Jedi. But unbeknownst to them, Cyrus is also one of their big enemies, the masked Taborr. So we’ve known that, at some point, the heroes were going to have to find out Cyrus’s big secret, and that happened in the mid-season episode of season two, “Unmasked” (season 2, episode 12).
While retrieving something from Cyrus’s locker, Kai finds his old training lightsaber (the one used by Taborr), as well as Taborr’s mask. Stunned by this revelation, Kai keeps it to himself while the gang tries to fend off pirates, but he is distracted and winds up confronting Cyrus about it. He gives Cyrus an ultimatum: either give up being Taborr, or give up being his friend. He can’t try to do good here while doing evil behind the mask. Cyrus refuses, going about the mission alone. But the Jedi decide to help him out, and they arrive in the nick of time to rescue Cyrus and fend off the pirates.
And that leads to a moment we’ve seen frequently in Star Wars, with the villain at a crossroads. Kai offers Cyrus his hand, wanting his friend to join them. Cyrus hesitates a moment, pondering it, but then declines, fleeing from them and determining to continue his adventures as Taborr. It’s a pretty surprising moment for a lighthearted show aimed at young kids, with Cyrus choosing to remain in his darkness rather than give it up.
Afterward, on Tenoo, Kai breaks down and is comforted by Master Zia Zaldor Zanna. What follows is an especially touching conversation, and one that addresses some very powerful themes.
Kai: Master Zia, I know I did the right thing by helping him, but I feel so bad. It hurts. You once told me that Jedi were supposed to help people find the light in themselves. Well, what happens when someone doesn’t want to find it?
Master Zia: Kai, I firmly believe that Taborr – that Cyrus – can choose to do good, even though he’s done bad things. But one of the hardest lessons for a Jedi to learn is that even when we guide people toward the light, toward good, they still have to make their own choices. Even if those choices end up being bad. All we can hope is that one day they do choose good and that we can be there to help them.
Kai: That sounds really hard.
Master Zia: Yeah, it’s not easy. But neither is being a Jedi. I need you to know how proud I am that you trusted the good you saw in someone else, even when it was hard. Never lose that.
I wasn’t expecting the episode to hit as hard as it did. It’s about the boldest choice that the show could have made, to have Cyrus choose not to accept Kai’s offer and embrace the light. But it might have been an even bolder choice to actually show Kai, devastated, processing his grief and guilt. To give him a chance to pause, if even for a minute or two, and cry. To show a Jedi master comforting a youngling learning some really hard lessons.
It’s important. It teaches important lessons for kids (and adults, too, for that matter) watching to learn alongside Kai. (1) For one, it teaches us that it’s not a bad thing to be looking for the good in others. In a day that seems to run on skepticism, and where people always seem to rush to assuming the worst, Master Zia praises Kai for being willing to act on the good he saw in Cyrus. That is not weakness. It is strength. (2) Second, it teaches us that people can choose to do good. Cyrus isn’t too far gone to choose that, and neither are the people that we come in contact with – even those people that most frustrate and annoy us. There is still hope. (3) But, third, the hard lesson to learn is that it’s still their choice to make. We cannot control the choices of others, so no matter how much we might plead with them to embrace what we know to be true and good and life-giving, they might still reject it. And that’s a hard burden to have to carry, if we assume that it rests upon us. But Master Zia’s lesson to Kai is that he has done his job by pointing Cyrus toward the light, and hoping for the good in Cyrus. What Cyrus does with that is out of Kai’s hands.
It’s an incredibly powerful scene, and one that took me by surprise watching a fun, lighthearted series like Young Jedi Adventures. If you’ve been sleeping on this show, it might be worth checking out.
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