Star Wars Maul: Shadow Lord – The Dark Lord review S1 E10
The Dark Lord proved to be a wild season finale for Maul: Shadow Lord thanks to an intense duel that fans never anticipated seeing.
Turns out Disney had an excellent reason for withholding the final two episodes of Shadow Lord from press to prevent the shocking arrival of Darth Vader. Naturally about 30 seconds after Vader showed up it was blasted all over social media proving far more effective at spoiling it, but what can you do?
Vader didn’t have a quick cameo role in Dark Lord as he was a dominant, overpowering mega final boss Maul and his crew had to overcome to escape Janix. By the end of the episode, very few members of the party were left.
After emerging from the woods, Darth Vader is ready to finish the task his Inquisitors could not — stopping Maul and the Jedi Daki and Devon. This was a major encounter as Maul never faced off with Jedi Commander Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars. While Anakin was one of the heroes of the war — and ultimately the deciding factor in the conclusion of the conflict — his master, Obi-Wan, and his padawan, Ahsoka, were the ones who faced off with Sidious’ former apprentice.
Dark Lord provided Star Wars fans with arguably the last great dream match dual, which did not turn out too well for Maul. After watching him battle two Inquisitors at once after taking down an AT-ST, it was shocking watching Maul get dealt with “all too easily.” Vader was a bludgeoning, unstoppable force against Daki, Devon and Maul who largely just had to battle him from a defensive position to stay alive.
With Dryden Vos en route, the Jedi maneuver Vader so Lawson, Rylee, Two-Boots and Vario can head to the ship. Daki quickly realizes they’re not fighting a mere Inquisitor, but the Dark Lord of the Sith. One who is far more relentless and aggressive than Marrok and the Eleventh Brother. Maul and Daki offer differing advice to Devon in how to deal with Vader. Maul suggests being aggressive and using her rage to keep Vader off balance while Daki favors guile and cunning while keeping her emotions in check.
This debate doesn’t go but so long as Vader crashes the strategy session and goes back on the attack.
The lone gripe with The Dark Lord was Vader not speaking at all. In all of his duels in the Original Trilogy, he constantly trash talked Obi-Wan and Luke Skywalker as the bully who knew he had the advantage. To some extent that’s probably due to the challenge of recording new dialogue for Vader and then running it through the magic AI filter to properly calibrate James Earl Jones’ voice since he allowed the use of it even after his death.
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Daki sends Devon to help ensure the Lawsons get to the ship, which seems like a decision that will haunt him for the quickly waning moments of his life. Lawson and company are almost at the ship when they realize it’s not Vos’ ride — it’s an Imperial Lambda-class shuttle — and there are plenty of Stormtroopers there to greet them.
The odds are looking worse for our heroes as the Inquisitors cut Devon off from getting to the Lawsons, who could definitely use a Jedi’s help right about now. Two-Boots proposes using the Stormtrooper’s cannon to shoot down the shuttle prompting Vario to state, “Your droid’s plan is as bad as yours.” Even with all of the chaos in The Dark Lord, Vario manages to get some good lines in without coming off like goofy comic relief.
While Devon battles the Inquisitors, Daki encourages Maul that together they can beat Vader. Well, that’s a lie. Vader is just an overwhelming presence and it feels like the end result is inevitable. After a terrific 3 vs 3 dual, Daki shoves Marrok off a cliff. That’s a nice way to keep him around and out of the picture through Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi to ultimately get killed in Ahsoka.
When he gets the opening, Maul gives Daki a little Force nudge to keep battling Vader while he goes to ensure Devon is safe from the Eleventh Brother. Daki gives the Dark Lord a good fight even managing to clip his shoulder armor, but Vader is too much and kills Daki. Devon watches the life fade from her master and unleashes her rage driving the Eleventh Brother down to the lower levels of a temple.
Devon doesn’t find the Eleventh Brother at the bottom and has to fight for her life to survive Vader’s renewed attack. Dark Lord did an amazing job of making Vader look like this nightmare threat that can’t be stopped. It’s interesting seeing how different the characters are portrayed in the live-action series compared to the animation as Marrok was a menace in Shadow Lord yet was fairly easily disposed of in Ahsoka while Obi-Wan was eventually able to stop Vader himself in Obi-Wan Kenobi. Granted, there were more personal stakes involved there, but Shadow Lord Vader doesn’t look like any one Jedi could defeat him. Even Obi-Wan.
Maul helps Devon get away from Vader but encourages her not to continue trying to fight him. “You’re not strong enough to kill them yet but with my training you will be.” Yeah, you will be.
Daki wasn’t the only father figure/father to sacrifice himself. Lawson grabbed the cannon to give Rylee, Two-Boots and Vario safe passage to get to Vos and his ship. Like Daki, Lawson was such a great addition to the Star Wars mythos. It was a shame to lose him even though his inclusion in the series right from the start seemed to be as a character who would ultimately not see the end credits of the season finale.
On Vos’ ship, Maul agrees to help Vos assume control of Crimson Dawn, which lays out a clear purpose for him next season. As well as further corrupting Devon, who says she’s ready to become his apprentice.
Dark Lord was a fantastic season finale with spectacular action, emotional story beats and a satisfying payoff to the Janix arc. Bring on Season 2!
Rating: 10 out of 10
Photo Credit: Disney
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