Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord Season 1, Episode 1
"The Dark Revenge"
Writer: Matt Michnovetz
Director: Steward Lee
Cast: Voices of Sam Witwer, Wagner Moura, Dennis Haysbert, Vanessa Marshall, Chris Diamantopoulos, Gideon Adlon, John Carroll Lynch and Richard Ayoade
Star Wars has flirted with putting its spin on crime fiction before, in everything from Obi-Wan's semi noir-ish hunt for bounty hunters in Attack of the Clones to the cancelled live action Star Wars: Underworld series. But nothing yet has channeled the beats, aesthetics and tone of classic gangster stories as thoroughly as this opening episode of the new animated series headlined by the bisected former Sith Lord, Maul. "The Dark Revenge" is heavy on plot setup and exposition, but in the process, it does a marvelous job of establishing the tone of the series, of a world just off the beaten path in which a tenuous balance between crime and order is perfectly primed to be upended by a revenge-seeking, Force-wielding, would-be crime boss with penchant for the dramatic.
A Mandalorian and a Zabrak Walk Into a Bank…
"The Dark Revenge" opens, as so many crime stories do, with a bank heist. Led by the Mandalorian Rook Kast, a gang including two horn-headed Zabrak and a spybot droid hijack a Space Armored Car, along with a bank teller droid. Pursued by the local Tactical Defense Force, the stolen vehicle rendezvous with a waiting shuttle. As the TDF forces surround the gang, the ramp of the shuttle descends, and a hood figure wielding a double-bladed lightsaber emerges dramatically: Maul. And…title card!
Meanwhile, two Jedi — de facto fugitives in the post-Order 66 Empire — debate the moral implications of using the Force to steal food. Master Eeko-Dio Daki insists the kindness of strangers will feed them, while his young Twi'lek Padawan Devon Izara takes a more proactive approach, lifting some fruit from a nearby street vendor. She is spotted however and accosted by a pair of police droids. Daki, hoping to avoid a scene (and possibly to teach his Padawan a lesson) tells her to comply with the officers.
The next morning, Captain Brander Lawson of the TDF arrives at the scene of the heist along with his droid partner, Two-Boots. He quickly deduces, in a way that provides handy exposition, that the heist wasn't the work of any of the local criminal organizations, both due to the sophistication of the operation and the way it would upset the tentative balance between crime bosses Nico Deemis and Looti Vario, given the bank that was robbed belonged to Deemis.
Sure enough, Deemis has already settled on Vario as the likely culprit, but manages to restrain himself, ordering a meeting with Vario before launching an all-out gang war, all while being watched by the spybot from Maul's crew.
At Last We'll Have Our Revenge
At their lair, Maul explains to Rook Kast — and the audience — his overall goals of gaining revenge on those who have wronged him, including the Pyke Syndicate, Crimson Dawn and crime lords like Deemis and Vario, while still maintaining a low profile (it goes unstated, but worth noting, his old boss/master is now Emperor, so this tracks) as he seeks out an apprentice of his own — someone the Force is currently telling him is close by. Determined to prod Deemis and Vario into action, he has the head of the bank teller droid delivered to Deemis with a message, the Star Wars equivalent of the Godfather horse head in the bed.
At TDF headquarters, the Jedi Devon briefly crosses paths with Lawson before being thrown into a cell, after which Lawson reviews footage of the heist and subsequent confrontation with Maul, learning the identity of the "laser-sword" wielding individual has been classified by the Imperial Security Bureau. Not wanting to involve the Empire, he tells Two-Boots to keep it quiet.
That evening, Deemis and Vario meet over dinner; when the Bank Teller Droid head arrives, a fight breaks out. During the ensuing melee, Vario manages to both kill Deemis and avoid being captured by Maul and his team when Lawson and the TDF arrive and take Vario into custody.
At TDF headquarters, Vario name drops the "Shadow Collective" before getting tossed into a cell across from Devin. At the same time, Maul and his two Zabrak henchmen are stealing into the building, with the spybot droid hacking the TDF network to get them the access they need. When its intrusion is detected, a fight breaks out between Maul and the TDF, with Maul and Lawson briefly coming face-to-face before Maul breaches Vario's cell. Vario manages to save extend his life by offering to help Maul get to the leader of the Pyke Syndicate. As Maul's gang gets ready to leave with Vario, Maul notices Devin in the opposite stall, realizing she is the presence the Force has been directing him towards. He enters her cell as she whispers his name in recognition.
Force Facts
- This series is set roughly 18 BBY aka 18 years before the events of the first Star Wars, or a couple years after Revenge of the Sith. That places it roughly contemporaneously with the animated Bad Batch, about eight years before Maul's cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story, and about sixteen years before the Star Wars Rebels episode "Twin Suns."
- For those that don't remember, the Shadow Collective was the name of Maul's criminal alliance and rival Sith Order during the Clone Wars, when he united the criminal Black Sun, Pyke Syndicate and Hutt organizations along the Mandalorian Death Watch and Nightbrothers to oppose both the Republic and the Separatists, with the Clone Wars-neutral world of Mandalore as his seat of power. During the siege of Mandalore (depicted in the final season of The Clone Wars) Maul sent the leaders of the Collective into hiding in the wake of his imminent defeat and the ascendency of the Empire. While he ultimately escaped captivity, his comments in this episode suggest the Collective directly betrayed when he attempted to resume control, sparking his mission of revenge here.
- Rook Kast was with Maul in the earlier Clone Wars episodes. The two Zabrak henchmen, Scorn and Icarus (though I'm not sure which is which) are new to the series.
- The planet this is all taking place on is a new world called Janix. It has been described as being a big city planet, but not as big as Coruscant, a Chicago or Kansas City to Coruscant's New York City.
- While done in the traditional 3D Star Wars animation style, Shadow Lord also utilizes some watercolor finishes in its final animation, which gives everything a richer, grittier look that fits the overall tone. It's especially noticeable in the more ragged edges of Maul's lightsaber, which is almost reminiscent of the crackling energy of Kylo Ren's saber.
- Shortly before the first two episodes dropped, it was announced that the show had already been renewed for a second season.
Maul/Vader Fight Probability Index: 10%
Rumors are already swirling that at some point in this series, Maul will fight Darth Vader (something that's been depicted a few times but never canonically). Even given LucasFilm's proclivity for shoehorning Vader into things, I find it dubious that it'll happen, but nevertheless, I thought it might be fun to track the likelihood of it happening across the episodes.
So we'll start off at a low 10% chance of a Vader/Maul showdown, mostly driven by Lawson's mention of the Empire and his desire to keep them out - which almost certainly means they'll be coming to Janix at some point.
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