Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord Season 1, Episode 10
"The Dark Lord"
Writer: Matt Michnovetz
Director: Nathaniel Villanueva
Cast: Voices of Sam Witwer, Wagner Moura, Dennis Haysbert, Vanessa Marshall, Chris Diamantopoulos, Gideon Adlon, Richard Ayoade
Turns out the battle for Devon's soul goes through Darth Vader.
Dark Lord of the Sith
Darth Vader attacks, quickly striking at Maul's injured leg while deflecting blaster bolts from Lawson and Two-Boots. As Maul, Daki and Devon engage the Dark Lord, Lawson leads the rest of their group through the remains of an old fortress, deeper into the forest towards the rendezvous point with Dryden Vos. Even as Vader blocks the attacks of his lightsaber-wielding foes, he also pulls down chunks of the surrounding ruins, trying to stop the non-Force users from escaping. Maul quickly clocks that Vader is something more than another Inquisitor, but when he asks what he is, the titular Dark Lord remains steadfastly silent. At one point, Vader seems to get the upper hand on Maul, but Devon saves him, and together, they're able to force Vader back enough that Devon, Maul, and Daki can flee.
Elsewhere, Vario leads the Lawsons and Two-Boots towards the rendezvous point with Dryden Vos. Behind them, Daki tells Devon that he suspects Vader is a Sith Lord. She asks how they can possibly defeat such a foe, and Maul suggests she needs to let go of her restraint and tap into her rage, while Daki insists she must remain calm, that their true power lies in patience and cunning. Maul counters that Vader knows how Jedi fight, and thus they must adapt their tactics. He tells Devon that he knows how to defeat Vader because he was trained by the most powerful Sith Lord, Darth Sidious, the man who orchestrated the Jedi Purge and made himself Emperor. He insists tapping into her rage is the only way to win, but Daki sends her ahead to look after the Lawsons while he hangs back with Maul.
Daki tells Maul they can defeat Vader if they defend each other, but this debate on strategy gets put on hold when Vader executes a jump scare on Maul by bursting through a wall of rocks, resuming the lightsaber duel. Just ahead, Devon finds her way blocked by Marokk and the Eleventh Brother, and before long, Vader has shepherd Maul and Daki to the point where a three-on-three battle ensues, with Maul battling Vader while the Jedi take on the Inquisitors.
Things aren't much better for the Lawsons and Vario, as they find their rendezvous point swarming with heavily armed Stormtroopers. They attack the troopers from the shelter of the forest, but this sends the parked shuttle into the air to perform strafing runs and blocking Vos' ship from landing. Two-Boots suggests they need to get the heavy blaster cannon from the Stormtroopers and use it to take down the shuttle. The group convinces Vario — the smallest and thus easiest to hit of the four — to serve as a decoy. With their attention torn, Two-Boots and Lawson manage to turn the cannon on the shuttle, bringing it down.
"At last we will have revenge"
After Daki manages to take out Marokk, the distraction of the crashing shuttle allows Maul and Daki to press their attack on Vader, but Vader further targets Maul's cybernetic legs, taking him out of the fight. With Devon occupied by her fight with the Eleventh Brother, Maul uses the Force to push Daki closer to Vader as he escapes across a bridge. Daki briefly holds his own against Vader, even scoring a minor hit on his shoulder, but is ultimately overpowered by the Sith Lord, struck down before a watching Devon. Enraged, she turns on the Eleventh Brother, but he withstands her attacks and separates her from her lightsaber.
Just then, Maul arrives, and tosses Devon one half of his saber. She drives the Eleventh Brother back, at which point Maul joins the fight. Elsewhere, Dryden Vos' ship lands, and Vario quickly scampers onboard. But Rylee and Two-Boots are pinned down by the remaining Stormtroopers, prompting Lawson to ask Two-Boots to look after Rylee before he draws the Stormtroopers' fire, allowing them to get aboard the ship but sacrificing himself in the process.
Back at the ruins, Vader rejoins the fight, and Maul uses the Force to pull rubble down on Vader, just as Vader had previously done. Vader uses the Force to shield himself, but it proves enough of a distraction to allow Maul and Devon to escape. Awash with a desire for vengeance, Devon wants to stay and fight, but Maul tells her she's not strong enough yet. He does promise to train her however, and vows they will have their revenge.
As Vader emerges from the rubble he watches Maul and Devon reach Vos' ship and blast off into space. Devon bangs on the wall, sobbing, while Two Boots comforts Rylee. Maul greets Dryden Vos and promises to uphold his end of the bargain, then joins Devon. As Maul sits beside her, she looks him in the eye and tells him she is ready to become his apprentice.
Force Facts
- The title of this episode was initially announced as just "Finale," with "Dark Lord" first appearing as the title in the episode itself, in order to hide the surprise of Vader's presence.
- I love that Vader immediately goes for Maul's busted leg.
- Also, the fact that he doesn't even use two hands in the first confrontation with Maul, Daki and Devon.
- All else aside, at one point Devon very deliberately saves Maul from a killing blow from Vader, justifying his season-long insistence on keeping her around and not leaving the planet without her.
- The ship Dryden Vos is using here is just described as his shuttle, and appears here for the first time.
- Daki says that "true power lies in patience and cunning" and while he ultimately is killed, it's worth noting that the simple strike he landed on Maul's leg back in episode 4 continued to bother Maul and hold him back throughout the rest of the season, suggesting there is something to be said for Daki's "patience" approach.
- Picking up from his introduction in the previous episode, Vader is full on Movie Monster here. By the point that he's smashing through a wall trying to grab Maul, I'm half-expecting to hear a "grrr, arrr!" come from him (in fact, much of Vader's menace throughout the episode comes from the fact that he never says a single word).
- The ship causing all the trouble for the Lawsons is a traditional Lamda-class shuttle, of the same model used by the Rebels in Return of the Jedi.
- Marokk seemingly gets pitched off a bridge to his death here, but we know from his appearance in Ahsoka he survives in some form.
- More score Easter eggs: early in the fight with Vader, strains of "Battle of the Heroes" from Revenge of the Sith can be heard; later, when Daki dies and Devon gets mad, the music from "Anakin's Dark Deeds" (after he slaughters the Separatist leadership) can be heard.
- Is Lawson dead? It sure seems like it, but as with Rook Kast, we notably don't see a body. Also, Lawson pointedly sees Maul's betrayal of Daki (when he pushes him towards Vader), which feels like one of those things that will come back around (ie Lawson shows up alive and breaks Maul's hold over Devon when he reveals that Maul was culpable in Daki's death.
Maul/Vader Fight Probability Index: 100%
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