Max Nocerino 
Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord is giving die-hard Star Wars fans exactly what they want, and things are heating up in this week’s episodes!
In this week’s episodes of Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, things are heating up for Maul and his (unwilling) allies as the Empire locks down Janix! In the last episode, the dogmatic and meddlesome police droid Two-Boots went over Captain Lawson’s head and called for the Empire to help deal with Maul. The preceding episode ended with an Imperial-class 1 Star Destroyer ominously hovering over Janix City, hinting at an inevitable Imperial lockdown.
The Empire is really portrayed well in this series. While I have reservations about plot redundancy, I really like how the Empire is showing what a tyrannical police state it was always intended to be. The Stormtroopers are nasty and cold and quickly begin searching the city, hassling innocent onlookers and demanding they show their scandocs (form of identification, similar to chain codes). The Imperial officer in charge is a typical “factory-grown” light-skinned human male with a clipped and condescending British accent (seriously, where does the Empire find these people?) who is also cruel, controlling, and antagonistic-taking over Captain Lawson’s police station, interrogating and “reassigning” Lawsons’s supervisor and then subjecting Lawson as well, to a creepy interrogation with the sinister Imperial Inquisitor Marrok.
MARROK RETURNS
Fans of the live-action Ahsoka series will need no introduction to this masked and silent sentinel. It is very fun to see this guy actually speak and do the dastardly deeds of the Empire. He personally interrogates Lawson, and the image of him standing behind a seated Lawson, his hands creepily on his shoulders, was very powerful and alarming, like something out of a “Freddy Krueger” horror-movie-nightmare. I also am impressed with Marrok’s dueling capabilities, as he can hold his own in a duel with both Maul and Devon, almost to the point that I think they watered down Maul’s lethality too much for this series.
I also don’t like Maul wincing in pain as his prosthetic leg is worked on, but that’s another matter entirely. Marrok also has the power of Psychometry, which is neat and a great “plot hole fixer” for how he finds Lawson and the Jedi so quickly.
RELATED: Check out this week’s Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord Character Posters.
LAWSON
Immediately after Lawson “passes” his interrogation session, he returns home to his worried son and to two unexpected guests: fugitive Padawan Master Devon and Daki. The Empire almost apprehended them and needs help to get offworld. They don’t have any contacts besides Lawson, so I understand their desperation. But I really think it’s a bit selfish of Daki to pull Lawson and his son into their affairs. Lawson can’t really afford to be a fugitive of the Empire since he has his life, job, and parental responsibilities to worry about. But I guess Daki cares more about his survival than others, at this point (?). The Inquisitor tracks the Jedi to Lawson’s apartment, and just like that, Lawson and his son Rylee are traitors of the Empire.
It’s very disheartening for poor Rylee, as he is just a kid (and his mom is an Imperial!). Still, I love Lawson’s guts as he shows no hesitation in defending himself against the Empire and implicating himself further. He just accepts that he is now considered a criminal and cannot go back; he must fully throw his lot in with the Jedi and get offworld as fast as he can. He tries to use his criminal contact, whom we were introduced to earlier in this series. But this idea quickly goes sideways, and they must steal an Imperial gunship to get out of there.
DEVON IZARA
I like how Devon is kinda edgy and difficult to deal with. Lawsson is certainly not 100% trusting of either Jedi and voices his disbelief a few times during firefights, but he knows he needs to stick with them if he wants his son to survive. Lawson is really starting to grow on me as a character, and I would actually like to learn more about him at some point in future stories. I hope he lives.
My biggest complaint about these episodes is how much trouble Maul has when facing Marrok. Don’t get me wrong, Marrok is cool, and I’m impressed that he survived the “presumed Inquisitor disbanding/purge,” but Maul was a Sith apprentice to the most powerful Dark Lord the galaxy has ever known. However, he is wincing in pain as his leg prosthetic is repaired, and his dueling is subpar. Why have his skills and aptitude atrophied so much? I know that his dominating Marrok in a duel is anticlimactic, but I have built a lot of respect for Maul as a warrior. He deserves better treatment than this.
INQUISITOR TRANSMISSION
Marrok is unable to catch Maul and the Jedi, and the final scene is of him holographically contacting his superior, stating that Maul is more dangerous than he realized. This figure is, of course, not fully visible, but is wearing a dark hooded robe, and it is obvious that he is one of 3 possible characters: The Grand Inquisitor, Vader, or Palpatine. I honestly don’t care if it’s any of them. But having it be Palpatine would actually make a lot of sense since Maul was once his apprentice and is (arguably) far more dangerous than any surviving Jedi and still holds the possibility of “outing” the Emperor to the galaxy as a Sith Lord (despite the limited and moot point that would be).
I read another online review that Palpatine is both the most and least likely person, and I honestly love that wording so much (so I’m including it here). Palpatine appearing in the season finale would make a great fan service “event”, but yet again, I grow weary of predictable plotlines in Star Wars.
VERDICT
Honestly, this whole situation is Two-Boots’s fault for “snitching” to the Empire. So I felt a sense of satisfaction at seeing him realize that he had made Lawson a wanted criminal, and at the condescending order from the Imperial commander to remove his “non-authorized” boots, stripping him of some sense of his “personhood” and individuality. He deserves it for the unwanted hardships he has caused—dumb droid. But I can’t complain. This show is giving die-hard Star Wars fans exactly what they want.
Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord continues on Disney+ with two episodes each week, culminating in a finale on Star Wars Day, May the 4th.
Max Nocerino is a regular Staff Writer for The Future of the Force. He is a passionate Star Wars fan and loves the literature of the galaxy far, far away. Follow him on Twitter where he shares his love of the Force frequently!
