Star Wars Maul: Shadow Lord – Pride and Vengeance review E4
Pride and Vengeance is one of the more action-packed installments so far of Maul: Shadow Lord as the former Sith Lord has to take the offensive and defensive both in this episode.
Vario realizes he’s got a losing hand on his own and tries to stack some chips in his favor when he visits Krim on Oba Diah. He warns Krim and the Pykes that Maul is coming for them. The warning arrives too late as Maul emerges from the ship and immediately goes on the attack. Krim isn’t without his own resources though and is able to stun Maul. Only it’s not Maul. This one’s a decoy!
Cue up the actual Maul, who proceeds to wipe out most of the Pyke guard before going after Krim. One thing about Maul is he always comes off so coldly matter-of-factly. He wipes out a squad of armed guards without breaking a sweat and tells Krim “You tried to kill me. You failed. This is what awaits all those who have betrayed me.”
Pride and Vengeance also reinforced that while Maul is no hero, he also isn’t an idiot. Cross Maul if you want, but you better make sure you take him out otherwise you’ve got no one to blame but yourself. Maul clearly has a long memory and isn’t above adding more names to the ever-increasing long list of people he’s got to settle scores with before going after his own personal final boss, The Emperor.
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The captain of the Pyke guard is also not stupid and happily goes along with the new pecking order. He’s in charge for the sake of appearances on Oba Diah, but he answers to Maul. Not surprisingly, the captain is just fine with that arrangement. Sure beats seeing the wrong end of Maul’s lightsaber. Pride and Vengeance again has some smartly lit backdrops to make Maul’s visually better than ever lightsaber slashes look even more dangerous and menacing. Even if there’s no phantom in sight.
After fleeing Maul last episode, Devon reunited with Master Daki. They’re on the same page that they’re the only ones who can stop Maul. They’re certainly not going to get any help from the Pykes. A show with the main character being a villain is only as good as the heroes. Thankfully, Pride and Vengeance shows that Daki and Devon aren’t blindly going after Maul without a plan. Time for Daki to make use of his fledgling partnership with Lawson by giving him word about Maul’s location.
What’s the point of aligning with a police officer if you can’t mobilize the force to help deal with a Sith Lord? Two-Boots is definitely not in favor of a raid and wants to call in the Empire again. Lawson and his chief, Klyce, know there is no upside to involving the Empire, so he deactivates Two-Boots.
Pride and Vengeance has some intriguing developments with the escalating tension with Lawson and his robot partner, Lawson’s rush to bring Maul to justice and Devon and Daki knowing exactly how dangerous Maul can be and rushing to take him down before he can grab any more power. There’s some fun dynamics at play with the series allowing Shadow Lord to feel like a completely different Star Wars series experience.
Unfortunately for Lawson, Maul was already waiting for him. Rather than immediately rushing into a battle, Maul tries to diffuse the situation by offering an alliance of sorts. If Lawson and his officers leave Maul and his followers alone, Maul will keep Janix safe when the Empire arrives. Admittedly this isn’t an awful deal, but Lawson knows this deal with the devil is too good to be true because there’s no way to trust him.
As Lawson and Maul’s forces battle, Daki leads Devon to Maul so they can take him down. The visual clash of the lightsabers in Pride and Vengeance is stunning as the saber blurs are mesmerizing. This duel is essentially a standoff after Maul takes some shrapnel to his robotic leg.
There’s no time for Daki and Devon to press their advantage as Klyce arrives with reinforcements. Lawson apologizes to Two-Boots for shutting him down and TB accepts his apology with the hope that Lawson can likewise extend the same grace as a Star Destroyer arrives. Two-Boots was reactivated and called in The Man. This absolutely can’t end well for anyone.
Pride and Vengeance was a fast-paced episode that delivered a pretty solid lightsaber duel, some underworld chaos and the unwelcome arrival of The Empire into this mix.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Photo Credit: Disney
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