Star Wars Maul: Shadow Lord – Sinister Schemes review E2

Sinister Schemes kept the momentum from Maul: Shadow Lord’s debut without going at such a breakneck pace that this new era of Darth Maul’s story falters.

Maul and his motley crew are making a daring escape through a vertical access tunnel in the police station with Devon Izara and Vario in tow. Lawson and a number of cannon fodder police droids are in close pursuit. Naturally this doesn’t go well for the droids and Lawson can’t get but so close since he presumably has to survive until at least the season finale.

Devon’s master, Eeko-Dio Daki, only manages to slow Maul and company down, but they still get away. Like any Jedi who managed to survive Order 66, Daki isn’t trying to announce his presence too loudly. All that’s left for Lawson and Two Boots to do is clean up. Two-Boots wants to call in the Empire, but Lawson is again very much opposed to that idea. If the Empire comes through, they’re going to shut the whole planet down.

Is it that big a leap to wonder if the Empire has some sort of chip in certain model droids, specifically security/police ones, that in the face of trouble their default is to call in the Empire? As almost like an immediate means of quelching any…rebellions. The Empire can’t be everywhere, but if system or planet gets out of line their programmed droids can alert them to come sweep in and deal with any potential uprisings.

While he has no love for Palpatine, Sinister Schemes reinforces that Maul really just wants a padawan of his own. They can be family like Savage Opress or a Jedi who needed a little push like Ahsoka or down the road like Ezra Bridger. With these new stories of Maul being fleshed out it sure feels like he really should have some longform interaction with Barris Offee during the period of her great uncertainty.

At least for Sinister Schemes, Maul’s newest prospect is Devon. Rook Kast doesn’t seem as enamored even as Maul says he plans to fashion Devon into a weapon to take down all who betrayed me including Lord Sidious. Maul isn’t about to immediately go after Sidious, but this scheme seems particularly short-sighted. Is Devon just a good apprentice candidate because she’s the only Jedi that Maul has encountered lately?

Another question to consider is just how deeply indoctrinated is Maul into the ways of the Sith that he wouldn’t train his existing crew into Sith padawans? If nothing else, Rook sure seems like she’d been an ideal Sith apprentice like Sabine with Ahsoka. Maul doesn’t make much progress in converting Devon in Sinister Schemes, but he’s clearly in no rush.

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He has far less patience for Vario who he plans to use to lure the Pyke leader out so Maul can assassinate him. Vario gives a very intentional Steve Buscemi vibe with a motormouth that won’t stop talking. To be fair, Vario probably figures if he stops talking it might be enough silence that someone will think about killing him.

Nope, the only killing on Sinister Schemes is the Pykes as Maul gets his Rogue One hallway moment. The animation is brilliant with the flash of his lightsaber, but this is the most uncompetitive hallway scene of the Big Three, including Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian. So far no one is any contest for Maul, who slices, dices and otherwise eviscerates with no problem.

Sinister Schemes further leans into the crime noir tone with Lawson tracking down various leads into Maul and the Shadow Collective thanks to his contact Rheena Sul (Pamela Adlon). Rheena explains the various syndicates disbanded and questioned if Maul wasn’t going after his old associates. Lawson knows he’s being followed, but Daki opts to stay in the shadows for now. That’s probably a smart approach for a Jedi.

After more honey-dripped conversation with Maul, Devon decides she’s had enough of being his captive — breaking out of the “prison” she was placed in. But is this escape more of her stepping in a far greater trap that Maul has laid out?

Sinister Schemes showcases more of Maul’s scheming as a potential partnership to take him down starts to take shape, but hopefully not too late for Devon’s sake.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Photo Credit: Disney

After checking out Sinister Schemes, pick up the Star Wars Black Series Shadow Lord Darth Maul figure from Amazon.

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