Star Wars: Maul: Shadow Lord Eps 7 & 8 Review
You know what the worst part about knowing that Maul will never succeed in building his criminal empire? Not just the fact that his death, while fitting, also deprived us of a potential final antagonist for the Sequel Trilogy. It’s the fact that all the pain and suffering he endured throughout his life will, in the grand scheme of things, be for naught. And while the character is very much a villain who killed characters we know and love, I can’t help but feel pity for the life he’s had. Case in point, this latest pair of Shadow Lord episodes has Maul demonstrating a rare instance of emotional vulnerability that we dont often see in the character, and it tugged a bit at my heartstrings.
The Shadow Collective is on its Last Legs
After facing nothing but setback after setback for most of the season, Maul’s gang is on its last legs. They lost their hideout, the Empire is now combing the entire planet for them, and Maul’s cybernetic legs are beginning to fall apart. Needless to say, morale is at an all-time low, and when morale runs low, people start to think about jumping ship.
Up until now, Rook has been nothing but loyal to Maul, having served him ever since he usurped control of Mandalore. But even she is starting to see his focus on making Devon his apprentice as clouding his judgement, especially as the young Jedi repeatedly refuses his offers. Her fellow Mandalorians are even worse, though. When another Imperial attack forces them to leave behind their credit stash, a group of Mandalorian mercenaries just desert mid-battle, only to get their ship blown out of the sky! And the worst part is that one of the Nightbrothers following Maul gives his life to save him from the Inquisitors.
Yes, you read that right. Marrok was bad enough, but now another Inquisitor has joined the hunt for Maul and the Jedi. And they nearly kill him in the process. Keep in mind, the Inquisitors may look scary, but that’s only because most of the Jedi we’ve seen them fight are Padawan-level. Put them against someone like Kenobi or Ahsoka, and they go down pretty easily. The fact that they come close to killing Maul, who killed Qui-Gon, one of the Jedi’s best fighters, is a sure sign of how exhausted the former Sith Lord really is. And it only manages to get worse.
Maul’s Life has Officially Sucked!
Maul survives and escapes, but he’s left alone, wounded, and tired as he tries to find his way back to his gang. And in fiction, being alone with your thoughts is a good way for characters to reflect on their life choices. In the case of Maul, we have flashbacks to every horrible moment in his life: being taken by Sidious, his abusive training, losing half his body in his duel with Kenobi, and then losing his brother to his former master.
Real talk, here: I know that Maul is a monster. Watching him kill Qui-Gon traumatized me as a kid to the point that it took me years to want to see that moment again. And then he murdered Kenobi’s ex-girlfriend, Satine, right in front of him! Not to mention everything else he has done. But it’s in this moment, where he’s at the lowest he’s been since coming back from the brink, that we see him show how vulnerable he is. He looks at his reflection and says “I hate you.” He’s on the verge of tears after reliving all his worst memories. And most damning of all, he looks at his childhood self, a scared little kid, and tells him how he won’t let anyone else hurt him again. The evidence all adds up: Maul is a monster, but he wasn’t born that way. He was made a monster by his experiences.
Be that as it may, a lot of what happens to him is of his own doing. He could have walked away from the Jedi and Sith a long time ago and lived a quiet life with his long-lost brother. But instead, he decided to lash out at a universe that dealt him a bad hand, and only made things worse.
Well, for the moment. By the time Maul reunites with Rook, Spybot, and what’s left of his gang, he’s being contacted by the leader of the Crimson Dawn. And we know how that will end up going.
At Least Two-Boots has Wisened Up
In the meantime, though, Devon, Daki, and the Lawsons are dealing with their own struggle for survival. Devon reunites with the adults after giving Maul the runaround again, but Rylee gets arrested in the process. With the probability of him dying in Imperial custody high, this is what finally gets through to Two-Boots to make the droid realize the Empire are the bad guys. So, in a moment that will make everyone who supports the sentience of droids proud, Two-Boots decides to turn on the Empire. Unforutnately, and the Captain’s plan to exchange himself for his son goes south, and now all of them are on the run.
It’s a not a total loss, though. It leads to a pretty cool speeder chase through Janix. Maybe it’s the racer in me, but I love cool car chases.
The last we see of this band of fugitives, their only lead to getting off-world has been compromised, and now they are being hunted by the Empire. HARD. It seems that the Force does not want them to get off of Janix anytime soon.
So, it should be pretty obvious by now, but it seems that the show is setting both of these groups up to team up in the season finale. Which, based on whenever this goes up, will already be out. IGN already released a clip of the finale, and it confirms that they will be joining forces. Whether or not that will last, though, or who will make it out that isn’t Maul, is up in the air. Even so, I really liked these episodes. Not only was the action amazing and showed just how far the animation has come since The Clone Wars days, but for the emotional moments.
