Maul: Shadow Lord Praises 9 & 10 (feat. Grant)
The grand finale has arrived!!! Let's talk about it!!
Send us an email! tvjpod@gmail.com
1 SPEAKER_01: I have a message from the Village Jedi.
Max Rebo, hit it.
Welcome to a special Star Wars Point of View brought to you by
the local Village Jedi.
If you're new here, welcome.
And if you're not, welcome back.
And welcome back, Grant, my husband.
How are you today?
SPEAKER_04: I'm good.
How are you?
SPEAKER_01: I'm doing fantastic.
I think we had an incredible finale that we're going to be
able to discuss tonight, and I cannot wait to get into it.
But before we do, I have a couple announcements starting
with Vanessa Marshall, who voices Rook Cast and Harris
Endula and Black Canary on the show Young Justice sent us an
autographed photo of her character from the Young Justice
TV show.
If you guys haven't watched it, this is a Star Wars podcast, but
I will shout out DC and tell you to go watch that show because it
is pretty great.
So that was pretty amazing.
Thank you, Vanessa Marshall.
Um, another announcement is uh I designed a new logo for the
show.
So I hope you guys like it.
It's a little more professional looking because we were talking
grand, I was like, I think having some merch would be
pretty cool, like in the near future.
So we talked a little bit about that and the new logo hopefully
will come into play with that in the future.
Um, a couple other announcements next week.
Um, I will be recording with Empire Radio Podcast and Outer
Rim Ramblin' podcast.
So we'll have a couple bonus episodes just for you guys
featuring the Village Jedi, and I will post the links to those
on my episode Friday in the show notes on YouTube, but also um
I'll be posting about it on my social media.
So that's pretty exciting.
It's exciting to get to know the fellow podcasting community and
just be involved in the Star Wars world in that way, so
that's exciting.
Um, and our episode next Friday will be just gearing up for the
Mandalorian and Grogu.
How are you feeling about that?
SPEAKER_04: I'm getting excited.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm getting really excited too.
It's been marked on our calendar.
We got the tickets the day they went on sale.
We are really, really excited to be able to go see that together.
And we talked a little bit about it.
Grant was on last week for the May the 4th special.
Um, I guess that was this week, trivia, and I feel like we did
okay with that, but there was definitely some stuff that I was
like, I have no idea what this is even talking about.
So go check that out.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the EU is definitely beyond my scope of
knowledge.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, I uh yeah.
SPEAKER_04: I am excited for Mandalorian and Grogu two weeks
from now.
SPEAKER_01: So how exciting for crazy that it's almost here.
I know.
Oh man, I'm so excited.
Um, one other thing I wanted to say, just kind of how we run the
place, is if you're not following already, go check out
our Instagram and TikTok page at the Village Jedi, or if you want
an anonymous email to be read on the and discussed on the show at
the segment at the end, you can send an email at tvjpod at
gmail.com.
Um, so before we dive in, why don't we go ahead and take a
quick ad break?
Hello there.
If you are looking to build your collection, the Village Jedi is
now collaborating with Sabre Masters to offer you$20 off your
first combat ready laser sword.
You heard that correctly, Combat Ready.
The team at Sabre Masters makes it their personal mission to
create lightsabers built to last using lightweight polycarbonate
blades with customizable settings and simple navigation.
Sabermasters is always offering a great deal for forced users
everywhere, but with my code TVJ20, you can save an extra$20
at checkout.
Simply type in the code at the checkout screen, TVJ20, and
you're done.
Link will be in the show notes.
Okay, so with all that out of the way, we do have a lot to yap
about, a lot to chat about.
First off, I was on pins and needles for this finale.
Like we pressed play, and immediately I realized this is
the end of season one.
Like it's over.
Five weeks.
That's crazy.
Ten episodes.
What did you what did you think?
Like going into the finale, what were your original
apprehensions, thoughts?
I don't know.
What what were you thinking?
SPEAKER_04: Um there were some there was a direction that I I I
don't want to say that I saw it going, um, because I was very
pleasantly surprised with what we got in the finale.
Um, but there definitely did seem to be some you could see
how the show was going to go.
Um you could see how Maul was setting things up, you could see
how his plan was coming together, especially with Devin.
Um, and so it's just uh I thought I felt like it was just
a matter of time.
Um but uh I I couldn't have been happier with uh with the finale.
So um I'm excited for season two, but also um I guess I don't
feel like I have to have more.
unknown: Right.
SPEAKER_04: Like I don't I I feel um I feel satisfied with
with what we got just because it was so good.
I I don't feel like oh man, I just it has to get better.
Like, no, this was this was peak.
SPEAKER_01: I do feel a a similar way, just this episode
tied it up perfectly.
Like there wasn't a sense of like, okay, well, what happens
here?
It was just a genuine sense of, oh, I can't wait to see what
happens next.
So it really did.
It was a beautiful finale, it did exactly what it was supposed
to, and I cannot wait to dive in and discuss it because there's
so many key points.
We were talking about it all weekend.
Like as soon as we finished it, we had some stuff to do the rest
of the day, and both of us were just like kind of speechless for
the first hour or so because we just were trying to to like not
accept, but pretty much just digest what we had just seen
because a lot of the scenes, I'm sure listeners will agree, were
pretty intense, some disturbing moments, and it just did leave
you kind of rattled as a fan at some points.
So we will get into all that.
Um, chapter nine, right off the bat, strange allies.
There was lots of action this week, non-stop.
The last half just goes by so quickly.
But we pick up chapter nine with Maul camped out in Demis's
penthouse, and the gang here is still trying to figure out how
they're gonna get off world.
And so Maul meets with Dryden Voss, who is kind of aiming to
be the head of the Crimson Dawn Crime Syndicate, and we also see
his character in solo.
Um, he's the same actor that plays Vision in the MCU movies,
and we also see him briefly in a hollow call at the end of the
Siege of Mandalore arc when Maul tells the syndicates to go into
hiding.
Um so Dryden ends up offering Sanctuary and a ride off Janix
in exchange for an assassination of Crimson Dawn's current
leader, boss Rintaro.
So I thought I would ask you, at least for me, this felt like a
good way to set up season two.
Like not in your face, but very subtle.
Okay, this is kind of what we're gonna be focusing on in this
next set of episodes after this season.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, sure.
Um honestly, I guess from my own personal opinion, um I'm not
super interested in the time period that we're coming into.
SPEAKER_05: Really?
SPEAKER_04: Um, yeah.
That I mean so, okay.
With the exception of I think that um Andor was brilliant, of
course.
Rebels is brilliant, of course.
Kind of the beginning of the rebellion, kind of that that
time period.
Um but and I guess not Rebels was kind of right in the heat of
it, but um, I don't know.
I just Solo wasn't my favorite movie, um and so I'm sure that
this story will continue to be great.
We're just kind of getting out of, I think the the period of
time that I'm most interested in.
Um, but that's okay, because I think the storytelling is still
really good.
SPEAKER_01: Right.
So would you say you trust Falone and Faloney you trust?
SPEAKER_04: Um, after season one of Maul Shadow Lord, I mean the
man can do whatever he wants.
SPEAKER_00: Hashtag give it to Dave.
SPEAKER_04: It's it's peak.
SPEAKER_01: It's true.
Okay, so Maul tells Rook and the other Maul Deloreans to make
preparations, but there's still one last thing I need to do.
Maul is not planning on leaving Janix without Devin.
And so with this in mind, he says, Well, perhaps Captain
Lawson can be of some use to us.
And the scene ends with him closing his eyes.
We cut to the intro credits, the chapter nine, Strange Allies is
the name of the episode.
So then we cut to the good guy gang, and they're kind of hiding
out underground in this abandoned building in the city,
and Devin's sleep is disturbed by Maul reaching out to her in
the force because they're connected.
That was an incredible scene.
And Dockie ends up seeing this as a trick by Maul, but Devin is
convinced that it's a chance to escape because she trusts him.
So seeing their connection develop into this at this point,
she's like, No, we need to do what he says.
I trust him fully, has gotta be terrifying for Docky, I'm sure.
He's like, What happened here?
Like, you don't think you don't think this is fishy at all?
Even Lawson is like, uh, I don't really know.
And she's like, no, I'm I'm sure we can trust him.
We need to go, we need to go meet up with him.
Super, super crazy.
SPEAKER_04: Well, and it's interesting what Master Dockey
says also is he knew that Maul had to have some sort of
connection to Devin.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_04: And that connection for Maul to communicate through
the force, he's using the dark side of the force.
So he's not, I mean, he the the force is the force, but he's
using it in a certain way, and he's connecting with Devin in
that way.
So I don't necessarily know you know um the science behind that
kind of force communication.
Um, but it would make sense to me if he mall had already the
seed of um the dark side of the forest had already kind of been
planted.
SPEAKER_01: The seed of Sith.
SPEAKER_04: And that he was I would imagine as soon as he was
able to tap into that and communicate with her across the
forest, that was kind of a telltale that, hey, she's not
headed down a very good path.
Uh right.
And here's some evidence.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
Yeah, it's true.
So they end up finding Maul at the place that he told Devin to
meet them.
They all kind of meet together, and Maul ends up offering them a
safe way to escape off-world together.
And he mentions that he already believes that Lawson can help,
and so this we're learning is how he he wants to use Lawson is
you know the ins and outs of the city better than anyone, you're
part of the local law enforcement, so you know the
loopholes kind of where um you know, not so good doers would
have a higher chance of getting around undetected, and so Lawson
ends up knowing the best escape route with the city lockdown.
So Maul proposes this.
He says our only chance of escape is an alliance.
And while the gang's talking it over, I we talked about this.
Um, Maul is standing in the background, and it's sort of
this watercolor blurred effect, and it just is such a testament
to the creativity of the art style that even in the little
things like the background, it just looks so cool, especially
that scene.
He's standing in the background, but he just looks like this
blurred watercolor.
It just looks it looks really good.
SPEAKER_04: Well, that specific shot, he never moves, so I'm
sure that it was from from what information they've been
releasing, I'm sure that it was a watercolor.
Um, and because he doesn't move, it's not even animated.
Right.
So, yeah, uh it I remember when the when it very first came out,
and I'm too I was too naive to pick up on exactly what I was
looking at.
Um, it really the whole show has given me um kind of a sort of uh
Star Wars Visions um kind of vibe.
And not necessarily I can't think of anyone in particular,
but just kind of that um that extra artistic touch um that we
saw through different episodes and visions, um, it's just kind
of what it reminded me of.
I I absolutely thought it was it was stunning.
Yeah, um just it was very, very well done, um, just in terms of
just going above and beyond in the art style.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I like it too.
So Dockie ends up saying, Okay, well, let's do it, but we have
to remain cautious of the shadow lord.
And that just sent shivers down my spine when I was putting in
the notes together, like that's what Dockie refers to him as.
That's what Vario refers to him as in the second episode where
he's kind of explaining to Lawson, like, hey, have you ever
heard of the Shadow Collective?
And so Maul's the Shadow Lord, and so it's just kind of another
one of those full circle moments that we're getting with the
finale, is the show name name drop, just in that one line of
dialogue.
So I thought that was cool.
So they end up forming this alliance, they're gonna make
their way through the underground of the city to
Dryden's rendezvous point, and Devin ends up revealing to
Dockie that she has this connection with Maul because he
rescued her from the Inquisitor when her and Riley were on the
run.
And we learn that the way that the force works in that sort of
situation is in order to communicate with someone else,
like we saw, there needs to be an established connection.
You have to open your mind to that person.
And so I wrote down that we see that with Luke and Leia.
We see Ben and Ray do this, we see it with Ahsoka Invader,
Kenobi Invader, we see it with Luke and Kenobi.
So you're using the force to connect with someone else, but
you have to open your mind to that person.
It's not just a random stranger, like it has to be someone you've
formed a connection with.
So just very telling of where her character is at right now.
She trusts Maul, she's opened her mind to him, and as a
viewer, you already know, like, okay, she's safe.
Like, she's making it out of this season, she's making it out
of this finale.
The jury's still out for everyone else.
Like, but we know these two are making it out.
So very, very interesting.
Um, so we end up needing to get through an Imperial checkpoint.
Um, and I thought this was funny.
One stormtrooper notices Maul.
He's slowly walking toward them, dragging his blade across the
ground, and immediately the stormtrooper goes, Call for
backup.
Like he sees Maul and he's like, Ugh.
But Spybot ended up, he jammed all the calms.
Maul is just yet again so confident, he's not threatened
at all.
This battle ensues, everyone's getting involved.
Even Riley, he picks up a gun, and Maul ends up taking out this
walker single-handedly.
Like we saw this scene in the trailer, but just seeing it play
out on screen, how nonchalant, like he's him.
He is him.
He walks into the room and he knows he's coming out unscathed.
Just the confidence rolling off of this guy is phenomenal.
So I loved that scene.
And then at the very end, when he kind of slices it and dices
it, he walks away and he just like reaches up and force grabs
his saber.
And I wrote down that it's a very like Iron Man-esque walking
away from the explosion, like the aura coming off of this
character is crazy.
Every single week, you're like, he can't get cooler, and then he
does.
He somehow does.
So that that was crazy.
That was pretty crazy.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, there was just a small detail in that um in the
Walker scene where when Maul goes to cut off the leg, right?
He hits the leg with his lightsaber and it stops for a
second, and then he pushes it through.
SPEAKER_01: Right.
Oh man.
SPEAKER_04: And and that's something um that I feel is a
little inconsistent in Star Wars.
Sometimes we see the lightsaber.
Um, like I I just saw a clip today of um Order 66 when
Ahsoka, she's getting shot at by the 501st, and they're on
they're on the ship, and she cuts her way up into the
ceiling.
Um super easy.
But then Phantom Menace, they're cutting through the blast
shields, the blast doors, and it takes some time to cut through
that metal.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_04: So I just there's a little inconsistency, but I like
to see it.
I feel just like it's a little more realistic that hey, this is
a gigantic steel leg.
You don't just you know, I mean, of course, two seconds later he
cuts through the whole thing and it's no big deal.
SPEAKER_01: But right, but it did take some effort.
SPEAKER_04: Took a little force, yeah.
Yeah, it was just a little tidbit that I like.
Um, it just kind of, I don't know, makes adds a little bit of
realism, I think, to something that's not real.
SPEAKER_01: Right.
Yeah, so then after that, we end up cutting to the Inquisitors,
and you and I were talking about this at length, that we see
them, they are Jedi hunters.
Like I think you mentioned that, that they're slowly tracking the
Jedi.
They have been trained to hunt down force users.
So we see him, he's like using the force echo, touching, you
know, the area, trying to get a pulse, and like the crow is
using his senses, he's trying to figure out okay, how many people
are with them.
Like, they are hunting these force users.
And I just liked how you said that because I hadn't thought of
it that way.
Like, Maul obviously calls them that.
Have you have you thought about what you're gonna do when you
run into the Jedi hunters?
But when you see them in action, you're like, oh, this isn't a
game.
Like they're they are tracking and hunting them down.
It's pretty intense.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and it's it's interesting because most of the
time we see the Inquisitors almost as like a um like a
tactical team.
Like they show up and they they're just here to fight,
they're just here to fight uh Canaan, you know, or they're
just here to fight Ahsoka.
But here they're actively looking, and it kind of gives
some perspective of of what's been going on.
Um we see it a little bit in Kenobi when they show up on
Tatooine and they're hey, we we heard that there's been some
force use going on here.
Um, but here definitely um and as an outdoorsman, um definitely
just seeing like they're taking their time.
Yeah, and you can see you can they're they survey the
situation, it's very cold-blooded, um, very uh
they're not in a hurry because they're the predator.
Yeah, they're in control of the situation.
Like when they walk over the grate and they stop, they both
are like, yeah, nope, they didn't go this way.
You know, you're following the tracks, they're they're
following whatever force signatures being left behind.
Yeah, just very um it was just awesome.
It was awesome to see them at work and just just cold, it was
cold.
It was awesome.
SPEAKER_01: And it's very on theme with other Inquisitor
material we've seen where they work in pairs, and the reason
for that is because each of them has a different skill set.
And so the point is, I'm sure as an outdoorsman, you are more
successful when you have a partner.
Like maybe he saw something that you missed, or you see something
he missed, and so your your chances of being successful are
higher.
You still want it to be you, like you still want to be the
one that gets gets the thing, but you recognize the value of
working as a team, and so I like that we see them working as a
team, but you can still tell they're in competition, like
they do want to like please Sidious and be the one that
comes out on top when the mission is said and done.
So they're just cool characters, and I like how this show did a
good job giving us another dimension and element to them.
Um, so we get back to the gang, we're headed to this underground
jungle as quickly as possible.
And when you look at it on the surface, it is an odd group, but
I wrote down their Very capable.
Like, I wouldn't want to run into this group.
You got Maul, Rook, a couple Mandalorians, you've got Icarus,
who's a Zabarak baddie.
You have two force users.
One of them is a Jedi Master, a police captain, a droid.
Like they're they're kind of an odd bunch, but you can tell Maul
was like, no, if we work with them, this is gonna give us the
best chance of getting off-world.
It's not just because I care about them, it's because we have
a lot of assets just in this small group.
So I kind of liked that.
And so Rook even says that.
She goes, What do you want to do about the old man?
And Maul goes, have some respect, Rook.
He's a Jedi master, and we need him for now.
And you really liked that line.
You really liked that line.
SPEAKER_04: I did.
Um just because I think, you know, I some of your reels and
stuff have been have been kind of poking fun at like making
turning Maul into a likable character.
Yeah.
Um and I think what this especially dialogue like that,
um, it really shows that Maul is Maul is a bad dude.
I mean, we're talking bad.
Yeah, slaughter of the innocent.
I mean, he's he's a bad guy.
He's a bad guy.
But he's smart, and he hasn't stayed alive this long, he
hasn't been successful in his endeavors this long without
respecting, and not necessarily respecting, but he never
underestimates his opponent.
Right.
And so he doesn't underestimate, he's fought Docky.
He knows what he's capable of, he knows how strong he is, he
knows how well he's trained Devin.
And so to the untrained eye, yeah, it's this old timer.
But to Maul, he's like, no, no, no, no, no.
You don't understand.
This is he he he just respects his enemy, and and that is what
leads him to be so successful, is he never comes in unprepared
until the end of this episode.
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
Yeah, that's a good point.
So then we cut back to that burning imperial checkpoint that
Maul and the gang kind of left, and the Inquisitors arrive.
And Merrick, he approaches one of them who begins to report the
incident.
He's like, Sir, like here's what happened, blah, blah.
And Merrick walks up to him and he tilts his head, and he's
slowly getting closer to the trooper, and then the trooper
kind of like starts to slow his words, and as Merrick walks
away, the trooper kind of like drops his head.
And so, re-watching this, I was assuming Merrick probably
searched his mind to quickly gather the info.
Like, they are not wasting time, they're like, we are on the
hunt, we're getting closer, and if we don't make our move now,
they're gone.
Like, we know they have a ship, we know they're trying to
escape.
You need to talk faster.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't have time for this.
SPEAKER_01: And I I really liked that detail.
They are like ruthless.
SPEAKER_04: And in hindsight, I can't remember, I feel like they
say something along the way that indicates that they know where
they're going.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04: Um, and I can't remember where exactly in the
episode that is, but what I like is they're that's probably
another reason why they're not in a hurry is they know that
they are funneling them into I don't know what else you would
call it, a killbox, basically, where there's one way in, yeah,
there's one way in, and maybe one way, one other way out.
But yeah, they know that it's unlikely that they'll even make
it to the other way out.
SPEAKER_02: Right.
SPEAKER_04: So that's why they're not in a huge tear, is
because hey, we once we get there, we got 'em.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
Yeah.
And I do feel like re-watching this episode knowing who they're
working with adds to their urgency that, yeah, they're not
in a hurry to get this done, but they are in a hurry to like,
they don't want to waste Vader's time.
They're like, we're on a schedule, and he's our boss, and
so we need to be at this point at this time.
So tell me what I need to know so that we can keep this
rolling, because he's gonna be here soon, and we've gotta get
things, get our ducks in a row for him to fill a alive.
So, yeah.
So we cut back to them, and they have reached the city's toxic
waste dump.
And the most efficient way to cross ends up to have spybot
sort of pushing this skiff across the acid two at a time.
And you actually were like, Why can't Spybot just carry them?
Like, I saw them carry a stormtrooper, like, why can't
they just carry them?
SPEAKER_04: Yes, it still bugs me.
Um, because we were like, well, maybe it's over his like load
capacity.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04: There's a there's a scene in episode I don't know.
I can't remember.
It's when they're on the bridge, and it's Riley and Devin and
Maul, and they're on the bridge, and Spybot grabs a stormtrooper
and yanks him off the building, like carries him, so I know he
can do it.
Anyways, that was just a small thing, but you gotta make it
dramatic somehow.
SPEAKER_01: It's true, it's true.
We've got to add, we've got to add some sort of element here.
So Lawson and Riley end up going first, they have this
heart-to-heart conversation where Lawson's like, you know, I
I haven't really been there for you.
And like Riley's like, it's okay, dad.
Like, look at the bright side.
This is the most time we've spent together.
And I know, bro.
Looking back, when I tell you, re-watching that episode and
prep for the show, knowing what I know now, I'm like, wrap it
up, wrap it up.
SPEAKER_04: I could tell, yeah, I could tell something was up.
I knew it wasn't gonna be good.
SPEAKER_01: Oh man, like it totally went over my head
because when he died, like I was not expecting it.
It just it felt like someone took me out at the knees.
I was like, whoa, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_04: And that's another that's another point that I want
to kind of talk about a little later.
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, we'll we'll get into that.
So um on the other side, Docky is the first to sense
approaching Inquisitors, and so this is a reflection of his
years of training.
Then Maul feels it, and then Devin feels it.
And so Dockey and Devin end up taking sort of like a defensive
position, and Maul walks closer to the tunnel.
He's ready for the frontal attack.
And so, again, just these little details that the animators put
into making these characters real is of course Maul would do
that.
He's not gonna stand behind them, he's not gonna stand next
to them, he's gonna leave them in the dust.
I'm gonna see what's up.
I'm ready to take them out.
And Maul or Docky and Devin are not like that.
They're like, no, let's see what we're up against first, let's
take a beat.
We've got to protect the civilians.
Just very, very good.
Um, and so the Inquisitors they come running in, the fight
ensues, and we're pretty much here for the rest of the
episode.
It's a very close quarters, intense fight, fast-paced.
Um, at this point, I was pretty optimistic, but re-watching it,
these two, and really the last three episodes sort of play out
as like a Rogue One storyline where Maul is just slowly
becoming the last one standing.
And you're not thinking that going into it.
You're like, oh, Dryden's gonna come rescue him, it's gonna be
fine.
But re-watching, you're like, oh, this is uh this is a suicide
mission.
Like that none of them are making it out of here.
Even Maul, he's like, can barely walk at the end of it.
And crazy.
SPEAKER_04: And Rook, to her defense, saw this coming.
SPEAKER_00: Right.
SPEAKER_04: She knew that it they were out of time.
She knew that the the the noose was tightening around them, and
she tried to get Maul to leave much sooner.
You're gonna keep our multiple times, we're gonna keep our
money, we're gonna get out of here.
And Maul, in his stubbornness and in his plan, he had to see
it through.
And that's one of the reasons I do think that he is typically
successful is because of his determination.
But here, no, it absolutely backfired.
But I will say that this lightsaber battle um could be
top three of the greatest lightsaber combat scenes that
I've ever witnessed.
The choreography was just absolutely beautiful, yeah.
And I think the only reason that Revenge of the Sith, man, some
people are gonna just absolutely just take this so personally,
but I think Revenge of the Sith will stay on top because it was
real.
SPEAKER_02: Right.
SPEAKER_04: I mean, that was that was Hayden Christensen and
Ewan McGregor, and they actually did that.
SPEAKER_02: Right.
SPEAKER_04: They actually had that lightsaber duel in front of
a camera.
Real people did that, which is just beyond, which is just
beyond incredible.
But in terms of I mean, I'm gonna be watching this one right
over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I I wrote down too that it possibly this
episode possibly gives us one of the coolest shots I've ever seen
in Star Wars, which is it's a 2v3 fight.
If you pause it just right, there's eight blades, two blue,
six red, and both Inquisitors have Dockie, Maul, and Devin in
the middle.
They're on either side, and they bring their blades down, and
each of the three are pushing up, so it makes like this
rectangle shape for half a second, and I've been seeing it
online a lot.
People want this poster because it's just such a sick shot, and
it tells you so much story in one frame, and so I think that
that is just so tough, like you were saying, it's a fight that
you're gonna watch over and over again, but that moment is just
it's so crisp.
So during this fight, Merrick he says, Well, you will see your
demise, and Maul goes, You are but another pawn of Darth
Sidious.
Surely you know he has dispatched you to die just as he
did me.
And so this gives us insight into how Maul views his fight in
the Phantom Menace against Kenobi and Qui-Gon.
That he's like, dude, he doesn't care about you.
He's sending you into this fight knowing you're gonna lose, just
like me.
He knew I was gonna lose that fight.
And I just think that is such good insight to have as a Maul
fan that originally when you watch the Phantom Menace, you're
like, oh, bummer.
But then when you see him again, he loathes that fight.
He wishes it never happened, he hates Sidious because he knows
Sidious knew he was gonna lose.
It just adds so much dimension to that whole duel in that
movie.
So I really liked that line.
Um, and then shortly after, because he's mad, Merrick ends
up killing Spybot, and it sends Maul into this surge of rage
because that was his bestie.
It was his chihuahua.
It's just very, very sad.
A lot of people are sad.
Did you like Spybot?
I feel like I could have taken or leave in him.
SPEAKER_04: Maybe that's mean, but Spybot was like a mangy dog.
He was just, he was just uh he was awful to look at.
He just sounded terrible.
But um, yeah, I don't know.
I can see why, and I I've seen the meme.
That's the nice thing about having about recording so much,
you know, a couple of days afterward, we like we get to
ingest our own reactions and we get to see people's content.
And um, he's like the dog that dad didn't want and swore swore
that he wouldn't take in, you know, not in my house.
And then like 20 minutes later, he's like, Okay, fine.
He could sitting on the recliner with him.
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
He's riding front seat in the pickup.
Yeah, no.
SPEAKER_00: Um that is so true.
SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
It was just like you could tell it was probably the only thing
that Maul actually like might have had affection for.
Yeah.
So I it was just kind of like like, dang, he really, as my mom
would say, They're clean in house.
You can't have anything nice.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
They're clean in-house, not even Spybot was safe.
Um, yeah, so Docie asks Devin.
I wrote this down, I thought it was interesting.
Docie urges Devin to go across next, and she resists, and it
isn't until she locks eyes with Maul, he nods, and then she
boards the skiff and makes her way across using the force.
So it's another small indicator of where her loyalties lie.
That her master was like, Okay, go.
And she looks at Maul, and Maul is like, Yes, you you can go, go
ahead.
And she's like, Oh, okay, I just want to make sure that was okay
with you.
Like, it's just so wild.
Like, we keep seeing these moments where you're like, He's
got her, she she's gone.
Like, Docky has no control over her whatsoever.
He might think he does, she might think he does, but the
truth is in what do they say?
The pudding doesn't lie, the proof.
SPEAKER_04: Oh, you're close.
SPEAKER_01: The proof is in the pudding.
SPEAKER_04: There you go.
SPEAKER_00: The pudding doesn't lie is crazy.
SPEAKER_04: Well, what's interesting to me is is how was
Maul so effective?
SPEAKER_00: Right.
SPEAKER_04: He was close with Ahsoka at the end of Clone Wars.
I mean a couple of if he'd have said a couple of things
differently, he would have had her he would have had her
instead of Devin.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
No, it's true.
SPEAKER_04: So it's just, I'm just it's one thing I just don't
quite understand.
He knew what not to do from Sidious, because he knew how
much that messed him up.
But how is he able to?
I guess it's it's almost not even quite manipulation, it's
con it's convincing.
SPEAKER_01: Right.
So I I actually touched on that on a past episode, and maybe we
had this discussion.
He recognized that she was on the fence.
She wouldn't have been a valuable asset if she wasn't on
the fence.
And so I think because she was on that fence, all he had to do
was tip her a little bit.
She was already thinking, This doesn't seem right, I have more
potential than this.
Why are the Jedi just basically the scum of the earth now?
Like, this is not fair, and all he had to do was be like, Yeah,
you're right, it's not fair.
Don't you think you would you deserve a little bit better?
Like making her think that this is what she wants by preying on
what she isn't even sure that she wants.
If that that's at least my interpretation.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but he implanted those thoughts in her
mind.
SPEAKER_01: It's true.
The way he worded things.
SPEAKER_04: So it's just it's super interesting that it's very
slow, it's very methodical.
We see it, it took ten episodes for him to to convince her.
Um, and so it's just interesting to me that he seemed to know
exactly each step to take without any real practice.
SPEAKER_02: Right.
SPEAKER_04: Um, so it's just interesting.
I don't know if you can just chalk that up to him just being
super smart or just having insight into the failings of the
Jedi and and recognizing that as a weakness and preying on it.
SPEAKER_01: And she's young.
Like, I think we need we forget that.
She's maybe 16.
SPEAKER_04: Right.
Knowing that knowing that Padawans want respect and
attention.
And yeah, I'm sure there's some of that too.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so people sh he's old, not old, old.
He's in his 30s, but like, how many 30-year-olds did you
respect when you were 16?
You know, more than you know, like if you had a bond with an
adult as a teenager, you respected them.
You wanted them to like you, you cared about what they thought,
you wanted to know, you wanted to kind of be like them.
And so I think he just preyed on that too.
Like, hey, you're a kid, and if I get you to kind of like me and
kind of agree with me and kind of think I'm cool, you'll do
what I want you to do.
So, yeah, pretty interesting.
So then we see Icarus, and his death is actually insane.
Like, he goes out in this just absolutely horrific fashion.
There's blaster bolts, he jumps into the acid lake.
Like I needed a second after that, but but you can't, it just
shoves you into the next thing, like everything is happening so
fast, and you're seeing this horrible thing, and then this
horrible thing, and then this thing, and you're like, Oh my
goodness.
So when I saw that, I was I was disturbed, like I I could not
believe what I just saw.
So that was wild.
SPEAKER_04: I think there were a couple of things that well,
there's probably more, but just a couple of things that I
gleaned from that.
Um, the realism of that battle that so many times we see in
Star Wars, with the exception of um like Rogue One, um, and and
maybe a few other times, um battles are so lopsided towards
this the side that you're rooting for.
SPEAKER_02: Right.
SPEAKER_04: You're rooting for the the clones, if you're
rooting for the Jedi, if you're rooting for the rebels, man,
they just they just win.
It's true.
It's not even close.
Well, the stormtroopers, they can't hit the in uh in real
combat, there is mutual loss, yeah, especially if you're
evenly matched.
Right.
And so I thought that his death and the death of the other
Mandalorians that were still around was realistic.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_04: I mean, he's he's not a Jedi, yeah, and he can
only hold your own for so long.
So I took that away.
It just added that kind of layer of like, oh yeah, this is this
is real.
True.
And the internal fortitude of Dothmirian Zabrax.
Why is Maul the toughest, meanest, baddest guy?
Because Zabrax are tough.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's true.
SPEAKER_04: And so we see one that's not even force sensitive
take how many shots to the chest when he's not, I mean, he's
gotta melt before he's done.
SPEAKER_02: It's true.
SPEAKER_04: I mean, that's tough.
That's tough.
So get his legs chopped off and fall down a shaft and still live
because he's tough.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think that is such a good point,
especially when you think about how he was able to um bond so
well and form such a mutual trust with Mandalorian culture,
is because like Zabrax, they believe in an honor system.
And so if you're gonna go out, you go out with honor, like you
go out swinging, and that's exactly what happened.
That's exactly what we saw.
SPEAKER_04: So Yeah, brotherhood.
SPEAKER_01: Brotherhood is huge in on Dothamir, and in
Mandalorian culture, so it's pretty interesting.
That was a good point.
So Maul ends up urging Dockey cross next, and then Maul
unclips his blade and holds two sabers in each hand as he
engages in the last fight before he's able to cross himself
against the Inquisitors.
Um, and at this point, as viewers, we're like, okay, you
know, that was it.
That was the big fight.
Now we head into some sort of resolution, we're setting up for
season two.
But then Merrick says, inform him they are headed his way.
SPEAKER_00: We were speechless, bro.
We were like, yo, bro, like it's about to get crazy, it's about
to get crazy.
SPEAKER_01: So Dockie is able to sense that there's two
inquisitors coming through the tunnel, but there was no
indication that any of these force users were able to sense
what they were headed toward until they got there.
And so Dockey ends up sensing it shortly before we hear screams
of the Mandalorian soldier that scouted ahead with Rook.
Rook comes back, she warns the gang, she's like, something,
someone is out there, and then she's ripped into the fog, she
screams out of agony, and then there's just silence, and the
whole gang is just like and then we hear the breathing, we see
the haunting silhouette of the dark lord himself emerge from
the fog, he ignites his red blade, and the episode ends.
Like, can you imagine having to wait until next week?
I can't even imagine.
I The fact we were able to just hit play after that, I was like,
oh, thank you, Dave.
Thank you, Dave.
That is insane.
That whole scene was just what a way to make an entrance.
And if you guys have seen anything about Vanessa Marshall.
That girl's crazy too.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's pretty sick and twisted.
Yeah.
That's that's one thing that we continue to see is the when when
we see Vader, he's the big bad.
He's the big bad.
And the EU made him the big bad, and he has stayed that way.
His character was not watered down.
Um and as we get into the as we get into the the last episode,
um, there's really some interesting details that I think
uh keep him in that you don't ever want to come into contact
with Darth Vader category.
SPEAKER_01: Well, and I saw something, I'm sure you saw this
too, but a fan was basically like, What why is Darth Vader so
OP?
And Dave responded, it's because it's George's character.
Like, if you claim to be a real Star Wars fan, you're not gonna
come up with someone stronger than Darth Vader.
Like, please.
He was dis there are six movies centered around why he is the
way he is.
He's the main character of all six films.
So he's him.
He's him.
So we get into chapter 10, the Dark Lord, and originally there
was no title.
There is now, but for a while on Disney Plus, it just said
chapter 10, and there was no title.
So it's called The Dark Lord.
I was absolutely floored, we both were.
We posted a little reaction video on Instagram, just clips
of us being absolutely floored.
And I I wrote down like what a time to be a Star Wars fan,
genuinely.
Like Dave Falone is such a mastermind because none of this
feels forced.
Like having Vader close out the season does not feel like tacky
fan service, it makes sense.
We know that Maul doesn't die, we know that Merrick and the
Crow don't die.
So, how was this supposed to go down?
And this makes sense.
It doesn't feel like a a cheap shot.
It's like, oh, duh.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and the progression too.
So we see we see Merrick first.
He's going to come and he's going to try and handle the
situation.
SPEAKER_01: And he's terrifying.
SPEAKER_04: He's terrifying.
He's outgunned.
Here comes the crow.
SPEAKER_01: Also terrifying.
SPEAKER_04: Also terrifying.
Because also very strong.
They both can't quite make it happen.
Okay.
Time.
Time for the big bad.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_04: And and it makes sense that they wouldn't just
keep sending Inquisitors because Vader has a vendetta, or I
should say Anakin has a vendetta against Maul.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was gonna ask.
I was gonna ask you about that.
SPEAKER_04: Palpatine does too.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_04: So you you're getting you're kind of, you
know, stepping on some sensitive toes.
Right.
So it makes sense that they're that he's there to make sure
that Maul does not live beyond that day.
SPEAKER_01: No, it's true.
So we just jump right back into the action.
We still haven't really caught our breath, and the gang has
just lost theirs.
Like they are absolutely speechless.
They stare into the eyes of Vader for the first time.
Sidious's checkmate, like you're done.
And someone online said that if there was any Anakin left, do
you think he thought of Ahsoka when he saw Maul?
Because that was their last interaction.
Was he leaving to save the Chancellor and she was leaving
to capture Maul.
So I thought I would pitch that to you.
What do you think?
SPEAKER_04: I don't care.
I don't care what was on his mind.
And I think that the lack of dialogue.
I was gonna wait till like later.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
We'll we'll talk about that too.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04: But I think that the lack of dialogue turns him from
it takes away any Anakin that you thought was still in there.
It turns him into a killing machine.
Yeah.
No man machine.
Yeah.
He is there to destroy these force users.
He doesn't care who they are, he is going to take them out.
Yeah, no, and so and there's no emotion.
We see in the beginning of the lights of their combat,
one-handed, arm down, classic Vader, just I'm just here to
walk you down.
That's it.
And so I don't think there was any thoughts.
He was there.
Hey man, I'm just here to do what I gotta do.
And you know, that's unfortunate for you, but you shouldn't have
been a Jedi.
SPEAKER_01: Right.
Yeah, so I I wrote that.
Like Vader, he just starts making easy work.
He slashes one of Maul's legs, which ends up limiting him for
the rest of this fight.
He force pushes all of them.
They're easily outmatched, and Vader hasn't uttered a single
word because he doesn't need to.
He just lets his actions speak.
He's walking, like he's in no hurry.
He's got him right where he wants them, and they're just
scrambling.
So we actually picked up on this that and and I looked it up.
It's very similar to the Yavin 4 battlefront map.
It's called the Great Temple, and it's sort of this ancient
city ruins, mossy, like very vibey, and it's in the daytime.
So any vibes that we had at night that we've had this whole
show, we need to see this in full daylight, which is such an
interesting artistic choice considering it would have been
somehow even more scarier at night.
Like it's pretty terrifying now.
But if it would have been at night, I think it would have
been very similar to that um sort of street scene that we get
in Kenobi where he's just walking down the street and
everyone's like closing their shutters and like hiding,
locking their doors, and it's nighttime invaders just like
slowly walking through the street.
That was and he was just walking.
So I can't imagine seeing this kind of work being done at
night.
Like crazy.
SPEAKER_04: And I love that it happened during the day.
We see so much lightsaber combat happen in a dim lit building or
in the dark or at night, and it does.
It adds this certain um kind of just that extra flash and that
extra contrast with the lightsabers, and we we see um
just with so many times we just see that uh it's even especially
in the OT, you know, all the all the lightsaber duels were um
maybe except for uh when Ben gets killed, but most of the
lightsabers that we see are in the dark.
SPEAKER_05: Right.
SPEAKER_04: But here it's in the daytime.
And I just I just love that, yeah, not every lightsaber duel
had to happen at night.
Um and it still doesn't take away the I guess how terrifying
Vader was.
And to see him in broad daylight, the dark Lord of the
Sith, it's like okay.
Yikes.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's pretty sketchy.
So I wrote down it's it's Vader in this 3v1 fight, and he's able
to just attack him one-handed.
He uses the force with one hand and he uses his lightsaber with
the other.
And the what the strength of his attacks is what makes him
powerful.
Yeah, he's got the tactical maneuvers, he understands, but
whatever Maul is able to do, whatever Docky or Devin is able
to do, Vader can do it too, but he's stronger, and so that's
what makes him such an effective um adversary, is he can do
exactly what you can do, just ten times stronger.
SPEAKER_04: So which means that he's never on the defensive,
right?
And as a as a Sith Lord, he is I mean, that's that's the whole
mall is constantly feeding on that scenario that he's the
attacker, and so he's able to channel the dark side, but when
it comes to being on the defensive, that's a Jedi thing,
yeah.
And so Vader is never forced into that defensive position for
more than like two seconds the whole time.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I wrote down that he's like a black hole of
anger, and one of the books I read describes Anakin's inner
self as a sleeping dragon, and so when he's a Sith Lord, that
dragon never sleeps.
Like your only strategy against him is to be able to run away
because, like a black hole, if you get close, that center of
gravity is what sucks you in.
Like your only chance of survival is to be able to get
far enough away, and so that's what they're trying to do.
They're trying to run.
And so Vader, he crumbles these city ruins above them.
We cut to the credits, and all we see is red letters, the dark
lord.
And that's exactly what he is.
He feels very like final boss in a video game, but you know you
aren't winning.
Like I saw this one girl, and she was playing, um, I think she
was playing Jedi Fallen Order, and there's this part where you
fight Vader and your health bar disappears, and she's like, Oh
no! Like, what's about to happen?
And pretty much the whole premise is like you're not
winning.
Like, you don't have a health bar because you're not walking
away.
So that's that's very what the vibes are here.
So they're just scrambling, they're trying to run away, and
Maul's like limping, Dockey's got his cane, Devin's like
scream, like they're just trying to get away.
So we cut back to the good guy gang, the laws ins, and Vario
ends up getting a signal from Dryden that they're on the way.
So we're we're trying to get to the point here.
And and so Docie, he says, This enemy is something different.
I fear what my instincts are telling me.
And Maul starts panically whispering to himself.
He's like, I can't be, no, no, no.
And so Devin asks them both how to defeat it, and Maul suggests
you need to let go of all your restraint, feed your anger, go
out all frontal attack.
Like, we need this guy dead.
We can't win unless we all three feed into what this guy's
running off of because he knows your attacks.
So Dockie warns against this.
He says, No, we have to follow the Jedi way, we need to use
patience and cunning, to which Maul counters our enemy knows
how Jedi fight, and we must adapt and outsmart him.
Well, on the flip side, yes, Vader knows how Jedi fight, but
he also trains Sith.
So it's like unfortunately for them, there isn't really a way
to win.
Like, okay, we can think like Jedi, but guess what?
He's a retired Jedi.
If we think like Sith, he trains Sith and he's a Sith lord, so
like you're hosed.
Like, you are hosed.
There is no win.
SPEAKER_04: Well, and it shows you that uh oh, excuse me.
Grass season.
Um it shows you that Maul really he did not know.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_04: He did not know what they were up against.
Yeah, we saw through the we saw through the whole show.
He's he was preparing to fight the Inquisitors, he's preparing
to maybe do what he has to do with Master Docky, but there's a
point where he locks Blades with Vader, and he says, You're no
Inquisitor.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_04: What are you?
SPEAKER_01: What are you?
SPEAKER_04: And and Vader's just and so Maul is trying to come up
with a plan.
He's like a strategist.
He's never fought anybody like this.
I mean, he's fought Sidious, but that was clearly like clearly
Sidious is crazy.
SPEAKER_02: Right.
SPEAKER_04: But he's so now when they're kind of like, okay, we
need to regroup, he's trying to come up with a plan.
He doesn't know.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_04: He's guessing.
He's trying to do his best, and and he has to he has to
improvise.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
Yeah, it's true.
So they end up taking a a brief break, um, so Maul can rest his
leg, and he begs Devin to listen to him.
He reveals that his own master was Darth Sidious, who now made
himself the emperor.
He says, use your rage and unleash your potential.
Like if you're going to come in clutch, it's now, sister.
Like, you need to turn it on.
I know it's I know you have it, I've seen it, and now is the
time.
Um, but Dockie, he overhears this and he's like, Devin, you
need to go assist the Lawsons.
Like, I want you to go ahead and take care of them.
So he's trying to separate them.
He's like, his last shot right now is get her away from him.
And he ends up saying to Maul, if we defend one another, we'll
be stronger.
Which is ironic, rewatching it, because that's not what happens.
It's when they stop defending each other that they end up
losing.
Um, then we get this jump scare.
I actually screamed when Vader like force pushes the stone wall
and it's like inches from Maul's head.
I was so scared, like it caught me so off guard.
Oh my goodness.
Like just little moments like that.
So then this battle with Vader continues, and two more players
are added as Devin runs into the Inquisitors on the Stone Bridge
ruins.
Vader appears, he pushes Maul and Dockie, and so now it's 3v3
with the Sith pushing their opponents closer like a funnel.
So at this point, you're starting to sweat.
You're like, okay, who's who's who's gonna die?
Like the only person I know for sure that's not making it out is
Doki at this point.
Like, cause we see Merrick, we see the crow, we see Vader, we
see Maul.
We know Devin is, you know, he'll do anything to keep her
alive.
So it's just not looking good.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it wasn't looking good.
SPEAKER_01: It's not looking good.
But the fight is still entertaining.
That's what's crazy, is you know how it's gonna end, but you're
still on the edge of your seat.
You're still wondering, okay, how is this gonna go down?
Because Vader is just so cool.
You're like, oh, what's he gonna do next?
I know he's gonna absolutely dominate, but what's gonna
happen?
So, Devin, she's able to evade the two inquisitors after Dockie
throws her his saber.
So she's using both of them.
And I wrote that in future seasons, I could see her using
two red blades then, especially if she's gonna be trained by
Maul.
He sees the value in using two.
We see her using both in that moment to fight the Inquisitors.
I I could see, I keep doing that, I could see something like
that, and I think it would fit her character just fine.
At this point, though, everyone is exhausted.
It's been a long couple days, and I was thinking about it.
This whole season only takes place over the course of like
three or four days.
When you think about it, it is fast.
There is not a single filler episode, not a single filler
moment.
Everything has purpose.
So we're all exhausted.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, no Martinez sisters in the in this show.
SPEAKER_01: No kidding.
So we cut to the Lawsons, they're slowly making their way
to the pickup point.
Um, and let's see, we run into an Imperial unit instead.
They run for cover, everyone is pinned down, you're not really
sure how this is gonna end.
Vader still hasn't said a single word.
The choreography is so fast, it's just everything is
happening a mile a minute.
Like you don't even have time as a viewer to digest what you just
saw because it cuts to the next important thing.
SPEAKER_04: Well, I think I think that the the lightsaber
duel is well, it's not a duel, I guess, because there's more than
two of them, but um it's so good that even as you're talking
about like what's going on with the law sense, which is
action-packed, it almost feels like filler compared to what
we're watching.
Like, no, get me back, get me back.
It's like, yeah, okay, yeah, they're still there, yeah,
great.
They're they're they're shooting it out.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, pew, pew, pew, kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, can we just go back to like the best thing I've
ever seen?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, and that's terrible, but it just shows you
not not how like lame that was, but how incredible this this
lightsaber battle just uh is it crazy to say that I wanted Maul
to say Anakin Skywalker just once?
SPEAKER_04: I don't think he was ever sure.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_04: I don't think he was ever sure.
He I mean he never other than when he went to run him over
with the Dune Buggy, he never really meets Anakin.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_04: So I don't think I mean he's guessing, I think at
this point, but I don't know if he ever really comes to the full
realization in this season.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I wrote down I was gonna say it later, but he
doesn't even figure out Vader's name.
None of them do.
And so we know just from that there's gonna be at least one
more run-in or one more reference because we've got to
figure out how does Maul learn that information.
It could be from Dryden, Voz, that hey, yeah, Palpatine has
this weapon and his name is Vader, and he's a bad dude.
He's been causing havoc all over the galaxy.
It could be something like that, or it could be a run-in with
Sidious himself, you know.
So I'll be excited to see that.
Um, we end up making some headway with Docky sending
Merrick over the edge into the fog below, and now it's Devin
versus the Crow and Maul Docky versus Vader.
So it's kind of looking up at this point.
Like everyone's gonna be able to escape.
Dryden's on his way, he just calmed Vario, and we're we're
getting there.
But then we cut to the Lawson crew, and they're starting to
lose their headway.
Like it was looking good, and now it's looking terrible
because right after that scene, we cut back to the sword fight.
Dockey says to Maul, Okay, together we can do this, and
there's just no relief after that.
Maul's leg gets damaged even more.
Vader is just making fools out of these guys, he hasn't even
broken a sweat, and he's throwing them around like
ragdolls.
He like force-chokes Maul and throws him around.
And I wrote down that if anyone has a problem with this, they
don't understand Vader's character at all.
Because in the Sith World, the strongest is the one who is the
most hurt, and no one is more hurt than Anakin Skywalker.
He has truly lost everything, and the only thing in the
machine is hatred, is hurt, is pain.
So Maul, as powerful as he is, he has a sob story, everyone
does.
It'll never be as terrible or as sinful as the burdens Anakin has
to carry with him for the rest of his life.
SPEAKER_04: So Yeah, yeah.
Palpatine manufactured his apprentice.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so no one can ever say, like, oh, they nerfed
Maul.
Like, why didn't he win that fight?
Bro, no one wins against Vader.
Is this your first day on earth?
Please.
So we see an injured Maul, he's standing between Dockie versus
Vader and Devin versus Crow.
He utters the word no, he's afraid.
And so then he makes this calculated decision to force
push Docky into Vader's grasp, and he limps away toward Vit of
Devin, which effectively sends Dockie to his death.
And this was a calculated choice.
We had a debate about this, that it was not cowardly on his part
because Moll had to decide that it's either gonna be we both die
or just you.
Like either way, someone isn't making it out of this, and I'm
not gonna be one of the two that don't.
So pretty cut to the core moment when he did that.
I was I was shocked, frankly.
I don't know why I was, but I was.
SPEAKER_04: See, this is the one that I wasn't shocked by.
I knew I knew that Maul wanted him out of the picture, and it
was just a matter of how and when.
And by not having to kill him himself, he is able to become
Devin's kind of confidant to become her.
She I understand the the gentle master who I will help you, I
will train you, I will assist you in our vengeance.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_04: Because I didn't kill him, I didn't do these
horrible things to you.
They did.
SPEAKER_01: Well, didn't I tell you?
I feel like I did, that um Sam Whitwer in an interview with
Voice Amall, he said um that this.
Show is not good versus evil, it's bad versus worse, and we
see that with this that oh yeah, Maul's a bad guy.
Like I almost forgot like he had me there for a second, so it it
really is like he is a bad guy, he does what he has to do in a
bad way, he's aligning himself with crime syndicates, and
unfortunately, he had to make a tough call against an even worse
bad guy.
So just because he's been doing okay throughout the show doesn't
mean he's a good guy now, and we saw that right here.
SPEAKER_04: He's still serving his own self-interest and
self-agenda, so yeah, and I don't think he was ever really
trying to put on a persona of not being a bad guy, right?
Um like like he tells Devin in the in the towards the beginning
of the show, he says, You know what I am, you know who I am.
SPEAKER_01: I can act as that person if you wish.
SPEAKER_04: Exactly, exactly.
You know what kind of you know I'm a bad dude.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_04: And so um, yeah, him pushing Docky into Vader was
definitely um it was part of his plan, it was part of his agenda.
He just found the the means and the opportunity to go with what
he was already intending to do.
SPEAKER_01: Right.
So Vader ends up relentlessly power slamming, he can just go
all day, and we cut to Devin, she has this concerned voice
where she says, Master, and she runs to the ledge to look down,
and so we as an audience assume, oh, she senses he's in danger,
she's gonna go help him.
But when she looks, it's Vader just standing there with his
saber piercing Docky, like speechless, gut-wrenching, all
the feels.
This is not a kid's show.
Like, if we thought Icarus was the worst, this scene hands
down, like it gave me like like my stomach rolled, you know,
because she just she screams in rage, she starts going
absolutely crazy in her duel against the crow.
Maul limps around the corner and just offers his red blade.
And so she takes it and the two end up fighting the crow
together.
At that point, it's sealed, it has been sealed.
She's going with him, she's sticking with him, she's
connected to him, and Yeah, and Vader's not done.
No, and he's still and they're still ha they're still on the
run.
They're still on the run.
So Dryden, he prepares to land, and in order to secure Riley's
safety, Lawson sacrifices himself as a distraction.
I didn't see this coming personally.
I don't know if you did, but coming off of Dockie's death, my
system was too shocked to process this as well.
Like it is back to back within probably 30 seconds.
And so it doesn't take away Lawson's sacrifice, but it
definitely does make you like, whoa, what what do you mean?
Like, hold on, because you're still in shock with the graphic
death of another beloved father figure character that has just
been taken away.
SPEAKER_04: So well, I think that um obviously I I was
disappointed.
Yeah, I was disappointed to see his character die.
However, it is on par with Star Wars, especially the beginning
of the rebellion.
Right.
Meaningless loss of life.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_04: He felt this is what I have to do.
SPEAKER_01: It's the only way send two boots.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04: I mean, send no give two boots the gun, two boots
goes, he stays with his son.
No.
SPEAKER_01: Or wait half a second for Maul and Devin.
The sword slinging, you know.
SPEAKER_04: So this meaningless loss of life creates a fertile
environment for Riley to hate the Empire, to hate what it's
done to his family.
It's taken away his dad, it's taken away his mom.
The mom's gonna be a key player.
Whatever she does in the empire is going to come into play in
season two.
I'm calling it right now.
There's no reason that she would be in the empire, there's no
reason that she would be out of their life and even be
mentioned, let alone shown on screen, if that was not going to
be a factor.
So now he's aligned himself with a I don't know what you want to
call it, a crime syndicate slash rebel group, basically, with uh
with a hatred for what they've done to his dad.
True.
And and what they did to his whole life, you know, this
aspiring athlete.
So on one hand, yes, it was it was tragic, and I was I was
disappointed that it that it happened, but you can see that
they are absolutely it's like winding up the catapult, like
they're just getting ready for things.
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, yeah.
Absolutely, okay.
Yeah, I can see that.
So then we cut back to the duel.
Maul watches Devin tap into her anger even more.
The crow ends up running, um, and Vader comes around the
corner to take her on himself.
Maul wants to protect her now.
He screams no, and he brings the ruins of the city down on top of
Vader in an effort to save Devin.
She runs toward him and away from Vader, but in her anger,
she's just seething.
And as he gets closer, she turns to face him again, and Maul
grabs her.
He says, Devin, we must go.
And she says, No, I will kill him.
And the subtitles say that her voice distorts at the tail end
of that sentence because she's tapping into the dark side at
this point.
And Maul responds, You are not yet strong enough, but I will
train you and we will have our revenge.
And at that point, she okay, turns and and goes with him.
She trusts him.
So the two end up running toward Dryden's drop point, they board
the ship just in time, and Vader watches the ship fly away.
Um, yeah, they they really, really did a good job finishing
that out.
Um, they didn't even get his name, they didn't hear him
speak.
All they know is he is just this monster of the Sith, consumed
with darkness and power that they cannot rival even with
three of them.
So Riley obviously is absolutely devastated.
Devin is angry, Maul reassures Dryden that his end of the deal
will be upheld, and then dis disappears to the lower deck
where he sits down next to Devin, who's clutching Maul's
saber hilt, and all she says is, Alright, I'm ready.
And the season ends.
So, pretty phenomenal.
Round of applause.
I hope season two gets announced um soon.
I can't think of a good time where it would.
Um, May the 4th just happened.
I don't know why I was assuming they would announce season two
at that point, but we'll see.
Um, a couple afterthoughts.
I had some questions.
Are the duels in this show top?
Do they top Revenge of the Sith?
We kind of talked about that a little bit.
You're like doing my face, and I'll be honest.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, no kidding.
Um It's definitely I would probably say it's the best
animated lightsaber duel that we've seen.
SPEAKER_01: No, I agree.
Both both these episodes had such strong action moments that
I'll I will be re-watching.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
Um I don't like the Palpatine Yodo lightsaber duel.
SPEAKER_01: In Revenge of the Sith.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I don't like it.
Um I never really have.
It's always kind of been like my least favorite part of the
movie.
Uh but it's probably almost number two.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
It's it's pretty good.
SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
There's just there was nothing I didn't like about it.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
No, I'm the same way.
I think artistically it was wonderful.
Voice acting, phenomenal.
It's so fast.
SPEAKER_03: The choreography was excellent.
Yes.
Excellent.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
Um, so I had another question.
Do you think Devin will walk away from Maul when she finds
out the truth about Dockie's death?
Because we don't see her in Rebels, so we don't know what
happens to her.
SPEAKER_04: I don't think she'll ever find out.
Interesting.
Nobody saw it.
It's true.
Except Vader.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and he's never gonna talk to her.
SPEAKER_04: So I don't I don't see her ever um I don't see her
ever knowing.
Um and yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
Okay.
That's what I think.
Next question, I have two more.
What will happen to Riley and Two Boots?
Because Lawson tells Two Boots you gotta get Riley to his
mother.
So do you think Two Boots is gonna honor that?
Mr.
Follow the Rules, and try to get him in touch with his mom, and
he's just gonna have to like sort it out on his own.
What do what do I do?
How do I get out of here?
I don't want to be here.
SPEAKER_04: This is one of the this is one of the reasons I'm s
I am excited for season two.
Um, is Riley's character is very interesting to me that he is
kind of now in the core of the cast.
Whereas I think earlier he wasn't.
Yeah, definitely at the beginning, it was Lawson.
Lawson was front and center of of the show.
Yeah, and now it's Riley, and that is super interesting to me.
Um and and like I said, they are setting up his character to do
some to do some crazy things, potentially.
Um almost like they did with Cassian.
They set his character up early on in Andor.
Kind of how do you go from just this like minor to rebel general
or whatever he, you know, whatever he was.
SPEAKER_01: So you think he would join the rebellion?
You don't think he would stay in the crime scene?
SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
I think there's so many, you know, he he is a blank slate of
character potential.
Yeah, and I like that.
I like that we're not like because because Maul has a
destination, Vader has a destination.
These characters, the Crow, Merrick, we we know where they
are and where their story ends in the future.
I like that we're adding a character that doesn't seem
totally meaningless, but it's like, hey, there's other the
galaxies big, there's other characters, and we can tell
their cool stories without feeling cheesy.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_04: Um because I feel like some people get so heated
about that, like, oh, another nobody, another nobody.
Like, it's a galaxy.
There's a there's billions of nobodies.
Like, there's still a lot of cool stories.
So I am excited to see where his character goes.
I have no idea.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I like that too.
So my final question then is do you think we will see Kira in
next or later seasons?
She's Dryden Voss's right hand.
We she's the girl in the solo movie.
She kind of slowly starts to climb the ladder, and she's
actually the one that kills Dryden Voss, becomes the leader
of the Crimson Dawn, and directly answers to Maul.
He actually ends up training her in the Sith ways.
He uses her to help raid temples to get Sith artifacts.
Like she becomes a very key character in Maul's journey
toward rebels.
Um, so I am curious if we will see her in this show at all.
If there's a major time jump, we could see her interacting with
Devin on different like Sith Temple missions.
I think we could very well see her in the next few seasons.
I think this show will have at least three seasons.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I don't know.
Um like I said, I'm not a huge solo fan.
I've only I mean I've only watched it a couple of times.
So um, you know, I I just I don't I guess I don't really I
can't really make an informed um assumption.
But I would imagine that we're going to begin to see more um I
guess aspects of that movie.
We're gonna see more details of that movie start to tie into
this show because that's what we're leading into.
Um which is unfortunate because I really want to know how he
ended up on uh Malicore.
SPEAKER_01: I think we'll we'll see that.
I really do.
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and I hope so because that's that's the
question I that's the question of the hour.
Yeah, how do you go from like I don't know, pimp, like OG, like
crime boss, I guess mafia to like nameless.
Yeah, he goes from like the godfather, basically, to uh pimp
was derogatory, but it's crazy.
Yeah, he goes from like the godfather to this bum on
Malachor.
SPEAKER_01: He's in rags.
How did that happen?
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
That's the that's what I want to know.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
No, I think I think that's a good that's a good way to tie it
up.
So overall, how would you rate this show out of ten?
SPEAKER_04: Ten.
SPEAKER_01: Really?
I'd give it an eleven.
SPEAKER_04: I don't um I hadn't no notes.
What I loved about this show is episode one and two were good.
Right.
Three and four were better.
Yeah.
Five and six were great.
Seven and eight were awesome, and the finale was incredible.
Like the show just continued to get better and better and
better, and I love that.
I love that.
There's nothing worse than than working your way through Clone
Wars, and you get to an arc, you get to the droid arc, and you're
just like Yeah.
What what Skip.
This show I love that you never feel like like I'll I I I'll
just skip past this.
Like, this is an important thing.
SPEAKER_00: I can take a bathroom break.
SPEAKER_04: The tension builds the whole way, the character
development builds the whole way.
We see some plot twists, some jump scares.
It's just it's it's excellent.
It's the voice acting.
I can't sing high enough praises.
SPEAKER_01: The voice acting, Sam Whitware really outdid
himself.
Like we thought he did a good job in Clone Wars, we thought he
did a good job in Rebels, but giving him his own show really
allowed him to stretch his capabilities as an actor, and we
saw his range loud and clear.
SPEAKER_04: And the attention to detail, um, you know, like that
you catch in the subtitles, little little things here and
there, little incorporations of uh the duel of fates.
SPEAKER_01: Him reaching out to her in a force dream.
SPEAKER_04: Just it's just crazy.
The the the the nuggets are just sprinkled throughout the show.
It's it's awesome.
I love it.
I love it.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Well, with that all kind of tied up in a bow and ready for season
two.
Is there anything you would like to say to close out the episode?
Any any final remarks?
SPEAKER_04: Uh may the force be with you.
Yeah, that's uh that's all I got.
SPEAKER_01: Okie dokie.
Well, thank you so much for joining me again this week.
I had a fabulous time talking with you, and I hope that we can
have you on again sometime.
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
Thank you.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
Okay, well, guys, this is where the fun ends.
My only hope is you enjoyed, and I will yap at you again next
Friday.
This has been The Village Jedi.
Thank you so much for listening.
To support this show, please leave a rating or review
wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.
Go check out the YouTube channel or send me an email to be read
and discussed on air.
You can also tell a fellow nerd to build the community.
I mean this in the nerdiest way possible.
May the force be with you.