Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord Season 1, Episodes 7 and 8 Review: Maul breaks down

The seventh and eighth episodes of Maul – Shadow Lord are officially out. Here are my thoughts about them.

The article contains major spoilers from this episode and references events from previous episodes.

If you are feeling lost watching this show, or reading our review and not remembering details of events for context, check our complete guide to everything you should watch and read before watching Maul – Shadow Lord. Missed out previews reviews? Catch up:

Maul’s plans to take the Empire down

Since Maul learned of Devon, he has been actively trying to find ways to recruit the young Padawan. Despite his ability to control entire syndicates, he knows that isn’t close to being enough to take on the whole Empire.

Even if Devon becomes his apprentice, there’s no way for him to do anything that could actually hurt the Galactic Empire. Crime Lords only work for something if it means one of two things: money or self-preservation.

I’m sure Maul and everyone in his Shadow Collective could make a huge profit with him as the head of the organization, but all the credits in the galaxy can’t bring you back from the dead. Going directly against the Empire means making yourself a target of the Imperial Navy, the ISB, or worse.

My point is that no lucid criminals will make themselves an Imperial target just because Maul has a personal vendetta against the Emperor. How does he actually expect to “take on the whole Empire” with some weak goons, a few Mandalorians, and an inexperienced apprentice?

The only thing I can think of is an unknown Force power or weapon. This could be the reason why he ends up stranded in Malachor V, a planet known for being the place where Meetra Surik activated the Mass Shadow Generator.

A superweapon that killed almost every living creature on the planet (including Jedi), putting an end to the Mandalorian Wars.

Being able to use a weapon of such power requires more power than Maul has, but if this isn’t what he has planned, I can’t think of any way for him to eliminate the Empire and his former master.

One Inquisitor is better than two

Last time, Marrok was able to take on both Maul and Devon at the same time. Sure, the duel was brief, but he was never put into a dangerous position. It actually felt like the other two were at a disadvantage due to Devon’s lack of experience fighting against an opponent like an Inquisitor.

I could be wrong on this one, but I feel like every time the number of Inquisitors increases, their individual threat is reduced by an equivalent amount. When one or two Jedi face a single Inquisitor, it feels like a truly powerful antagonist.

Good examples of this would be the Second Sister in Jedi: Fallen Order, the Grand Inquisitor in Rebels, and even Marrok in the previous episode.

But when the number of Inquisitors is bigger, they don’t seem to be that dangerous anymore. We also saw this in Rebels with the Eighth Brother, Seventh Sister, and Fifth Brother.

I know that the reason Inquisitors are often dispatched in pairs is that there are many surviving Jedi who are too powerful for Inquisitors to defeat on their own, but I still wish that their threat level matched their imposing appearance.

Marrok was amazing in the last episode, while in these two, he is “just another Inquisitor”. Don’t get me wrong, I really like the Inquisitors, but I am still expecting to see something that we haven’t seen before with other Inquisitors. Especially since we already know how both Marrok and Crow die at the hands of the same Jedi.

Maul’s ghost keeps haunting him

My favorite thing about these episodes was definitely seeing Maul face his past. Everything that has contributed to his fear, hate, and suffering strikes him at once. I love how they used sounds from The Phantom Menace and The Clone Wars to make the scene more dreadful for him.

Dathomir, Mother Talzin/his brothers, and Savage Opress. These are the three most painful losses that Maul has suffered. After being taken at such a young age by Sidious, Maul spent many years devoted to a Master who was ready to cast him away at any time.

As a result, this path led Maul to his fight (and defeat) against Kenobi, which also led to an unimaginable amount of pain and suffering that still haunts him. While Sidious is a big contributor to Maul’s torment, we have to admit that his former master didn’t force him to do any of the actions he took after being found by Savage Opress.

Watching Maul apologize to himself was a very touching moment and one of his most vulnerable moments, but the best part of that moment is his next dialogue. “I won’t let him do this to anyone else”.

This means a lot for someone whose main goals have mostly come from a selfish motivation. Maul is going after Sidious to prevent anyone else from sharing the faith he and everyone he cared about suffered.

I’m not saying Maul is suddenly a philanthropist, but this breakthrough moment could redefine our perception of Maul. That is, if his words are backed by his actions.

Two-Boots gets it together

It only took Two-Boots eight episodes, but he finally realized that the Empire doesn’t play by its own rules. Official procedures and protocols are meaningless if the goal is to capture an important target.

For better or worse, most droids don’t care about right or wrong. They just follow orders and stick to their programming. I found Two-Boots behaviour a little exasperating in the past, which is mostly because I was expecting him to behave like K-2SO. Trying not to break the rules, but having his partner back at all times.

This didn’t happen with Two-Boots. As a result, the Empire has taken over Janix, and Chief Klyce is very likely to be dead, but at the same time, I can’t put the entire blame on a droid that was doing its job.

At least Two-Boots realized what was really happening before Rylee got hurt and managed to escape before the Inquisitors returned. I’m very happy to see that Lawson will have Two-Boots by his side. Things will only get worse from here.

Maul meets Dryden Vos

The importance of the last scene can’t be understated. I think we’ll actually get to see how Maul gets involved with Crimson Dawn. In Solo: A Star Wars Story, Dryden Vos already answers to Maul.

Seeing how they first meet is going to be very interesting, considering the ruthless and aggressive personalities of both characters. We could see something similar to what happened in Mandalore when Maul took over the Death Watch after killing Pre Vizsla in a 1v1 duel.

Receiving that call after what just happened is the closest thing to a miracle that Maul can expect. Crimson Dawn’s secrecy and efficiency are the things that allowed them to thrive in a galaxy already saturated by enemies. If there’s someone who can help Maul in these dire times, it’s definitely Dryden Vos.

Final thoughts

These two episodes were by far the most intense, both in terms of action and emotional impact. Maul broke down in a way that we’ve never seen before. It encapsulated so many emotions: anger, regret, sadness, sorrow. But most importantly, it also gave Maul a new and arguably more powerful purpose.

Two Inquisitors were incapable of capturing the Jedi and Maul. Darth Vader isn’t going to be pleased with this. If we have learned a thing with the other Inquisitors is that when they fail, Vader comes to clean the mess.

I’m very eager to see more about Crimson Dawn and learn more about their early operations before the Solo movie and the events of Star Wars Outlaws. Most importantly, this also means that there’s a small chance of seeing Qi’ra for the first time in a Star Wars animated show.