For too long, the Inquisitors were nothing more than cannon fodder for force-sensitive heroes to easily dispatch. We’ve had terrible design choices in the Obi-Wan series, easily killed ones in the Ahsoka series, and overall, no one really sees them as a threat. This is, in part; by design. An in-universe explanation is that while Darth Sidious and Darth Vader wanted force-sensitive lackeys to hunt down Jedi, they obviously didn’t want them to be too strong or too ambiguous, so that they wouldn’t ever consider overthrowing their masters.
However, the Darth Maul show has finally shown the Inquisitors in a menacing light and frankly, they’re cool now. Shadow Lord brings in Marrok and “The Crow” – two Inquisitors who were quickly killed in previous projects. While the 11th Brother (The Crow) had a cool design, he was easily killed by Ahsoka in Tales of the Jedi. And despite fans thinking Marrok might have been Ezra in disguise in the Ahsoka show, he was given just as much of a lackluster ending.
However, these two are intimidating in the Shadow Lord show. Episodes 7 and 8 show that the Inquisitors aren’t a group of force sensitives who couldn’t make it as actual Sith – they’re menacing, haunting, and can hold their own against someone as powerful and well-trained as Maul. Seeing these two get the screen time they deserve has been redeeming and it’s nice to actually view the Inquisitors as a threat.
While we could go on about how cool Marrok and the 11th Brother are, so much more happens in these two episodes. It’s interesting seeing a rift between the Mandalorians in this episode. While Maul conquered Mandalore, we do see that there are some Mandalorians that are more loyal to credits than the former Sith, and we wonder if this sort of “betrayal” will have any sort of ramifications in the last two episodes.
Episode 8 featured Maul coming face-to-face with his trauma of being taken from his family and raised by Darth Sidious and all that his former master had taken from him, including his brother Savage. This portion of the episode was reminiscent of the short story ‘Ghosts of Maul’ in the short story collection Stores of Jedi and Sith. Whether this was intentional or not, it was still a cool nod to written content. And Sam Witwer did such a phenomenal job in portraying Maul’s anguish in these scenes, as he always does.
The scenes with Brander Lawson and his son are the weaker scenes of the show, but I am losing slight interest in Devon’s story. Will she fully commit to being Maul’s apprentice or not? We see her obviously becoming frustrated and angry with Maul – stoking anger within a Jedi is a common Sith way of getting someone to switch sides. But, are they going to go all the way with her? In a previous review, we mentioned how Devon is clearly taking inspiration from a Legends character named Darth Talon – who definitely is not PG-13 enough to be put into a Disney animated series. However, is this just a nod or will Devon fall to the dark side?
There’s only two more episodes to Maul – Shadow Lord and there’s no telling how it’s going to end. Thankfully, we’re getting a second season, because Maul’s story is not yet finished and while we know he won’t be able to kill Darth Sidious (you know because…canon events?), we still hope he at least gets a chance at it.
A girl with too many fandoms to count.
