TV Recap / Review: The Shadow Collective Takes Two Prisoners in "Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord" - "Sinister Schemes"

Today marks the two-episode series premiere of Lucasfilm Animation's Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord on Disney+, and below are my recap and thoughts on the second installment, entitled "Sinister Schemes."

"Sinister Schemes" kicks of in medias res, picking up immediately after the cliffhanger ending of the previous episode, with members of the Shadow Collective escaping the Janix police station's detention levels via a vertical shaft with two new prisoners: Aleena crime boss Looti Vario (voiced by Chris Diamantopoulos) and Twi'lek Jedi Padawan Devon Izara (Gideon Adlon). This leads into another big, exciting chase sequence that takes up the first third of the episode and concludes with a showdown in the streets between Maul (Sam Witwer) and Jedi Master Eeko-Dio Daki (Dennis Haysbert). In order to finalize his escape, Maul uses the Force to pull down an elevated walkway, endangering pedestrians above them. Naturally Eeko-Dio Daki chooses to protect the innocent, using his own Force abilities to stabilize the walkway as police detective Brander Lawson (Wagner Moura) looks on, aghast, and Two-Boots uses a commandeered garbage scow to rescue the bystanders.

Maul and his Mandalorian / Nightbrother warriors get away and imprison Vario and Izara within pod-like cells in their hideout, with Looti pressured to deliver on his promise about providing information on the Pyke Syndicate and their spice dealings in exchange for his continued existence. Maul wishes to exact revenge on Pyke leader Marg Krim, but he also sees Devon as a weapon against Darth Sidious / Emperor Palpatine. Maul begins his efforts to manipulate Devon with temptations concerning powers that he says the Jedi Order never would have taught her about. She resists at first, of course, asking to be set free from her cell, to which Maul replies that she is free to leave whenever she wishes. In a casino out in the city, Lawson seeks information on the underworld from a contact named Rheena Sul (Pamela Adlon from Better Things and King of the Hill-- notably the mother of Gideon Adlon, who plays Devon Izara), from which we learn more about what happened to the Shadow Collective in the immediate aftermath of Order 66 and Palpatine's rise to power-- basically the individual syndicates disbanded and went their separate ways, abandoning Maul as their boss. We also meet Lawson's son Rylee (Charlie Bushnell from the Disney+ live-action series Percy Jackson and the Olympians) and get the idea that the pair may not have the best relationship since the thus-far-unexplained departure of their wife / mother.

This episode is a bit shorter than the first one, but the last two major things to take place are a successful Shadow Collective attack on a Pyke spice delivery using Vario's accurate information, and Devon figuring out how to escape from her pod using the Force after repeated urging from Maul to "see the galaxy for what it truly is." The former Sith Lord certainly seems intent on taking the Padawan under his wing as an apprentice, but how will he persuade her to abandon Master Eeko-Dio Daki, who's still out there somewhere on the same planet, covertly following around Lawson, for reasons that have also yet to be addressed? While there is some forward momentum here, it definitely feels like things are just getting started... which makes sense as this is only the second of ten total episodes in the season. Regardless, I really enjoyed the opening action scene and the characters' interpersonal relationships are intriguing enough to make me want to jump right into the next chapter. Look for more next week right here at Laughing Place!

The first two episodes of Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord are now available to stream exclusively on Disney+.