TV Recap / Review: An Inquisitor Pursues the Jedi in "Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord" Episode 6 - "Night of the Hunted"

Today saw the debut of the fifth and sixth episode of Lucasfilm Animation's new Disney+ series Star Wars: Maul Shadow Lord. Laughing Place was provided with early screeners of these installments, and below are my recap and review of episode 6, which is entitled "Night of the Hunted."

"Night of the Hunted" begins with Maul (voiced by Sam Witwer) standing on a platform in his new underground lair, practicing his still-quite-impressive lightsaber maneuvers. Then Rook Kast (Vanessa Marshall) enters and shows him footage of Marrok (A.J. LoCascio) investigating the Shadow Collective's former base on Janix. Next we cut to Brander Lawson's apartment, where he tells the Jedi to leave after discovering that his son Rylee (Charlie Bushnell) was harboring them from the Empire. Jedi Master Eeko-Dio Daki (Dennis Haysbert) tells his Padawan Devon Izara (Gideon Adlon) to take Rylee into the other room while he speaks to Brander and explains the Jedi's predicament and the Purge that followed Emperor Palpatine's Order 66. He asks Lawson for help escaping the city, but Brander turns Daki down, while in the other room Devon learns about Rylee's mother, who works for the Empire.

Lawson tells Daki about the Inquisitor who interrogated him at the police station, and just then Marrok shows up at the apartment's front door, using his lightsaber to cut right through the entrance. Then it's the Jedi vs. Marrok as Brander and Rylee escape through the window. The lightsaber duel results in the apartment catching fire, and as it burns Devon reaches the rooftop, pursued by stormtroopers. Daki also joins the fight on the roof, as Devon steals one of the Imperial dropships hovering above them, using a Force-fueled leap. Now it's Marrok vs. Daki on the rooftop as the others scramble into the ship, but ultimately all of our protagonists are able to escape the carnage. Then Devon pilots the ship while Lawson complains about her flying, though he ends up impressed by her abilities.

He reminds her that unfortunately the Empire can still track the ship, which of course they do, and suddenly there are more dropships firing on our heroes. Devon lands the ship and the party flees through the city streets, while at police headquarters, Two-Boots (Richard Ayoade) is still defending the Empire's presence until he learns that Lawson is wanted for treason and Imperial Lieutenant Blake (Alastair Murden) orders the droid to get rid of the boots that serve as his namesake. Sneaking through the city and past a stomping AT-ST, Lawson tells the others that he has "someone who might be able to help us, though she won't be happy about it." They arrive at Rheena Sul's (Pamela Adlon) casino, where she takes them into a back room and says, "I'll see what I can do" after Lawson tells her they are desperate.

At Maul's lair, the former Sith Lord leaves to protect his prospective apprentice Devon from Marrok, who he knows will continue to track her down. At the casino, we get some backstory about Sul, learning that she used to be a bounty hunter and that she and Lawson owe each other their lives. Then after stormtroopers show up, Daki tells Devon to take Rylee into the lift from Sul's office while he and Lawson fight off the invaders. This is the plot contrivance I struggled with the most in the episode, as I feel like it happened only to force the separation of the Jedi Master and his Padawan so that Maul could further get his claws into her. Anyway, the lift takes the two teenagers down into the casino's parking garage, where we see that Marrok is already stalking them.

By the time the two older men successfully repel the troopers from the office and make their way down the lift as well, Devon and Rylee are nowhere to be found, but Master Daki vows to Lawson that his Padawan will protect Brander's son. Elsewhere underground, the Spybot (David W. Collins) spots Devon and Rylee escaping through a tunnel, pursued by Marrok. After a brief fight on another platform, the Jedi jump on a moving tram, and the Inquisitor follows as the vehicle hurtles down its tracks. Devon fights Marrom on the tram and then Maul shows up just as the Inquisitor has Izara cornered, and demands to know where Maul is. Now it's Maul vs. Marrok, with Maul subsequently forming an uneasy alliance with the Jedi Padawan against their common enemy.

There's a cool moment as Maul and Marrok both extended their lightsabers into their double-bladed forms, and then the fight is abruptly ended as Devon separates the cars of the tram, leaving Marrok behind. Now traveling down the tracks with Rylee and Maul, she lifts her lightsaber to strike the latter, but decides not to follow through. "Now you have seen the face of your true enemy," says Maul, even though neither Devon nor the audience have actually seen Marrok's face. Then we cut to Marrok reporting to an unseen holographic figure that he refers to as "my lord." (Could it be Darth Vader or perhaps Emperor Palpatine himself?) He explains that Maul is indeed still alive as rumored, and that he's working with two Jedi. "How shall I proceed?" is Marrok's final line as the episode cuts to credits.

I thought this was another really exciting installment with some great action choreography and character beats, though I am still a little bothered by that forced separation-- it didn't quite make sense to me why they couldn't all just get into the lift at that moment in Sul's office. Otherwise I would say that this is a pretty strong chapter, and that things should be getting pretty interesting now that Maul and Devon are actively working together. The big question left by the cliffhanger is who exactly was Marrok reporting to, and what will their response be to the situation at hand? Hopefully we'll find out in next week's episodes.

The first six episodes of Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord are now streaming, exclusively via Disney+.