Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord Season 1, Episode 7
"Call to Oblivion"
Writer: Julia Cooperman
Director: Nate Villanueva
Cast: Voices of Sam Witwer, Wagner Moura, Dennis Haysbert, Vanessa Marshall, Chris Diamantopoulos, Gideon Adlon, Richard Ayoade
We're falling a bit into "plate spinning" territory with this episode, as this obviously isn't the end for Maul, but is the beginning of his descent to his lowest point in anticipation of the climax of the series — we're not quite at the point where Maul has lost everything and things seems hopeless for the heroes, but we're heading in that direction in the back half of the season.
With Friends Like These
Beneath a Janix City under an Imperial curfew, Devon and Rylee follow Maul through a maglev tunnel. While both are distrustful of Maul, he reminds them that they're still being hunted by the Empire. While he praises Devon for holding off the Inquisitor Marokk — skills she pointedly credits to her master Daki's training — Maul also argues that neither she nor Rylee will last long without him. He does tell them that once they reach his camp, they will be free to go, though he adds that he possesses a ship that can get them all offworld.
Devon assures Rylee she isn't planning on taking Maul up on his offer, and tells him to stay close. She then asks Maul about his own master, the one who cast him aside. Maul says the betrayal of his master was devastating, but still not the worst thing he did to Maul. He also confirms that his master is still alive but, pointedly, says no more about him. As they draw nearer to Maul's base of operations, they are greeted by Spybot, who is overjoyed to see Maul and is the Best Boy Ever.
Above ground, Lawson and Daki search for Devon and Rylee, with Lawson lamenting his failure to protect his son. Daki, failing to read the room, tries to placate him with Jedi platitudes, and muses that the presence of Daki and Devon have made things worse for the Lawsons, which, duh (apparently Daki is a Master of the Obvious as well as of the Jedi). At Lawson's insistence, the pair head for Sector 10, where he believes the kids are likely to be heading.
Elsewhere, the Inquisitor Marokk receives word of an imminent arrival, while at Maul's safehouse, Maul, Devon and Rylee are greeted by Vario. As Maul and Rook Kast discuss the need to evacuate their base with the Empire closing in — and Maul insists they must bring Devon and Rylee with them — Devon and Rylee slip out. Their departure does not go unnoticed, however. In the ensuing confrontation with Maul, Devon (rightly) points out Maul told her she could leave on her own, while suggesting his plan to defeat the Empire is doomed to failure. Maul says he'll share the details of the plan with her, but only if she joins him. Before long, the pair draw sabers on each other, their imminent confrontation interrupted only by the timely(?) arrival of the Empire.
"Now there are two of them!"
Maul and his would-be apprentice quickly join sides against the Imperial forces arrayed against them, joined quickly by the rest of Maul's entourage. However, Rylee manages to get captured by some Stormtroopers, and in the process of trying to rescue him, Devon gets separated from the group, allowing her to escape from Maul once more.
Rylee is taken back to the Tactial Defense Force headquarters, arriving just after another Inquisitor, Eleventh Brother, arrives to join Marokk in the hunt for Maul. In the tunnels beneath the city, Lawson and Daki are on the trail of Maul when a distraught Devon approaches them from the other direction. Learning of Rylee's capture, Lawson makes a beeline for TDF headquarters, while Daki suggests to Devon that their involvement with the Lawsons has only made things worse, and they might be better off without the Jedi. But Devon insists on helping rescue Rylee.
Back at Maul's base, his crew succeeds in fighting off the Empire and proceeds to head towards their ship, though the more mercenary elements of the group, led by Kebris, rankle at having to leave behind their credits. Maul and Rook discuss their loyalties, with Rook offering a note of caution and suggesting Maul's obsession with Devon is a liability.
At TDF headquarters, Rylee is briefly reunited with Two-Boots, who finds the treatment of Rylee suspect. Outside, Lawson attempts to make contact with Two-Boots, who is forced to hide his commlink to avoid unwanted Imperial attention. Elsewhere, Maul's crew comes within sight of their escape craft just as the Empire — as well as the two Inquisitors — catch up with them. As Maul engages the two dark Force users in lightsaber combat, Rook leads the rest on a fighting advance towards the ship. In the confusion of the battle, Kebris and his mercenaries make a break for the ship, blasting off and leaving the rest behind. However, they are quickly blasted out of the sky by more Imperial ships.
Meanwhile, the fight with the Inquisitors quickly turns against Maul as his injured cybernetic legs hold him back, a weakness the duo exploit to their benefit. As they corner Maul inside a cave, Maul falls to his knees and raises his hands as if to surrender. The Eleventh Brother tells him the Emperor wants him dead, and Maul remarks that the feeling is mutual before using the Force to pull down the ceiling of the cave onto all of them.
Force Facts
- The opening of the episode includes pans down across some truly gorgeous cityscape backgrounds that look like matte paintings done in watercolors.
- Seriously though, Spybot is great in this episode; purring like a cat, worried about Maul, disdainful of the Jedi
- I like that this episode acknowledges that Vaario and Devon were both captives of Maul together earlier in the season without calling it out via clunky dialogue.
- The Eleventh Brother first appeared in the Ahsoka-centric Tales of the Jedi episode "Resolve" (which is similar in construction to the plot of the Ahsoka Young Adult novel but is considered its own separate story).
- The ship which delivers the Eleventh Brother is the Scythe (or a similar Phi-class shuttle), the command ship of the Inquisitors, which first appeared in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
- Lawson having worked with a Jedi in the past and holding them in a regard contrary to the official Imperial stance on them feels like one of those fun bits of backstory laid down for a story in the future to pick up and expand on.
- When Maul and Rook are having their discussion about the limits of loyalty, a snippet of the Emperor's theme can be heard in the score when Maul talks about allegiances being severed.
- Leg injury Maul sustained from Daki in their episode four fight plays a key role in this episode, hindering Maul against the Inquisitors and giving them a weak point to expose.
- In case you can't keep track of the Zabrak brothers either, according to Wookieepedia, it is Scorn who is killed in this episode.
Maul/Vader Fight Probability Index: 35%
The presence of another Inquisitor doesn't eliminate the possibility of a Darth Vader appearance, but it does decrease it slightly.
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