TV Recap / Review: Police Raid the Shadow Collective Lair in "Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord" Episode 4 - "Pride and Vengeance"
Today saw the debut of the third and fourth episodes of Lucasfilm's animated series Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord. Laughing Place was provided with early access to screeners of these installments, and below are my recap and review of episode 4, which is entitled "Pride and Vengeance."
"Pride and Vengeance" begins with the underworld criminal Looti Vario (voiced by Chris Diamantopolous) arriving at the Pyke home planet of Oba Diah, as he tucks a blaster into his outfit. On the landing platform, Vario delivers the credits he promised to the Pykes in the previous chapter, and then whispers a quiet apology as an additional lifeform is detected on his ship. Suddenly a cloaked figure leaps down from the ramp and kills many of the Pyke guards around him. Seeing an opportunity, Looti pulls out his blaster, which is set to stun, and incapacitates the still-hooded assassin. Vario asks the guards to take him to the throne room of their leader Marg Krim (Stephen Stanton), who pulls back the hood of the captured assassin, believing it to be Maul, but revealing one of the other Dathomirian Nightbrothers. Then Maul uses the Force to open the chamber's sealed door, enters, and kills Marg Krim, among many others of the remaining Pykes.
In a monologue over Krim's corpse, Maul recaps the history between himself and the Pykes and then places the captain of the guard named Kalt (Steve Blum from Star Wars Rebels) in charge of the syndicate. "This is what awaits all those who have betrayed me," declares Maul, and after the opening titles we are back in Janix City, where Jedi Padawan Devon Izara (Gideon Adlon) runs through the streets after having escaped the Shadow Collective's lair. In the alley of a marketplace, she is reunited with Master Eeko-Dio Daki (Dennis Haysbert), and they retreat into their underground hideout. Daki tells Izara that they should leave the planet immediately, but Devon wants to bring Maul to justice now that they know where to find him. Instead of doing this themselves and risking exposure, they agree to call in Brander Lawson from the local police force.
At police headquarters Lawson receives an anonymous transmission providing the location of Maul's base, and Chief Klyce (Keiko Agena) approves the use of a strike team to bring him down, reminding him to "make sure you get him this time." Upon learning this new information, Two-Boots (Richard Ayoade) decides to finally alert the Galactic Empire, but Lawson shuts down his droid partner before he can make the call. At the Shadow Collective Lair, the two Jedi watch the police arrive, as Maul's Spybot observes from nearby as well. Entering into the base, Lawson and his men find only Vario, who presents a holographic message from Maul, who says the police are outmatched by his faithful Nightbrothers and Mandalorian warriors. Maul offers a deal of protection from Imperial involvement, in exchange for his ability to operate unimpeded on Janix.
Of course Lawson turns Maul down and demands that the former Sith Lord turn himself and all of his underlings in for a fair trial under Janix law, not the Empire's. Instead, Maul tells Brander to "die well" and then the mercenaries attack the police as the Jedi watch from above. They spring into action and confront Maul in his hiding spot, with Daki once more asking Maul to surrender peacefully. Maul urges Jedi to live their lives and use their powers to their fullest instead of hiding from the Empire, and this back-and-forth naturally devolves into a lightsaber duel. Meanwhile, a police probe droid gets a position on Maul, so Lawson sneaks out from the battle in pursuit. Master Daki manages to slice open one of Maul's mechanical legs during the fight.
The lightsaber duel ends with Maul about to kill the Jedi master, but Izara blocking his killing blow at the last moment. Maul lets the Jedi leave and departs himself while the Spybot spreads smoke around the base, obscuring everything and everyone from view just as Lawson finds the two Jedi. He tells them to depart the area before backup arrives, and soon Chief Klyce is on the scene, spotting Lawson emerging from the smoke. While he's escaping through the sewer with Rook Kast (Vanessa Marshall), Maul's damaged leg begins to act up, so he collapses the tunnel behind him to prevent any followers. But the Spybot calls in to report something else that's rather troubling for the collective. In an alley, Devon comforts Daki as he recovers from the fight, and at the hideout Two-Boots shows up after being reactivated and apologizes to Lawson for what's about to happen.
That's when we see the familiar silhouette of an Imperial Star Destroyer arriving over Janix City. Cut to credits, giving us a tantalizing cliffhanger ending until next week's double-header of Maul - Shadow Lord episodes. I thought there was a lot of good action in "Pride and Vengeance," especially during the confrontations on Oba Diah and in the Shadow Collective lair. You can tell that Maul is still trying to separate Devon from her master, though he's probably having more trouble with it than he anticipated. Of course now that the Empire has arrived on Janix, that turn of events is likely to introduce all sorts of new problems for everyone involved in this story-- the Jedi, the police, and everyone involved in the Shadow Collective as well. Check right back here at LaughingPlace.com for more recaps when we find out exactly what those new problems might be.
The first four episodes of Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord are now streaming, exclusively via Disney+.