Summary
Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord continues to work exceptionally well in “Sinister Schemes”, largely for the same reasons as in the premiere, though there’s an underlying sense that it’s really just getting started.
Working from the rubric established by the premiere – opening action scene, a bit of development, and a closing set-piece – Episode 2 of Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord isn’t hanging around. “Chapter 2: Sinister Schemes” is well aware of its 22-minute runtime, so it’s a little tighter than its excellent predecessor, but it works on all the same levels. Maul’s schemes juxtapose nicely with Lawson’s investigation, which takes him deeper in Janix’s scuzzy underworld, while the animation and art direction continue to do all kinds of impressive heavy lifting. There’s even a more direct homage to the Rogue One hallway scene. It all just looks – and, in a more ambiguous way, feels – really good.
Picking up in medias res after the first outing’s cliffhanger, Maul and the Shadow Collective escape from the Janix police station with Vario and Devon, who’s now something halfway between a prisoner and a new hire. As with the premiere’s bank heist, this is mostly an excuse for a big, enjoyable action sequence, but it’s pocked with new details thanks to the expanded context. Maul and Eeko-Dio Daki get a minor confrontation, delayed until later after Maul collapses a walkway as a distraction, knowing the Jedi will let him escape to save the civilians, and Lawson and Two-Boots are more actively involved in the chase.
In the quieter space between action beats, we get a bit more focus on our respective point-of-view characters. Maul is planning to use Vario’s knowledge to stage an ambush on a Pyke Syndicate spice shipment, which will allow him to get close enough to the Syndicate’s leader, Marg Krim, to kill him. Vario is a bit worried about any potential comeback, but it isn’t like he has a great deal of choice, so he agrees to provide the information about the shipments.
But Maul’s also working on Devon, whom he perceives to be his new apprentice, even if she doesn’t know it yet. She’s clearly a Jedi of some capability – as we’ll see later – but she’s also naturally opposed to Maul’s worldview. Maul essentially sets her the minor challenge of escaping from her cell, telling her she’s free to leave whenever she wishes, but that requires figuring out an escape solution for herself. She’s obviously playing into Maul’s hands, but this will likely be a long-term storyline to unfold over the remaining episodes.
Meanwhile in Maul – Shadow Lord Episode 2, Lawson continues to dig into Maul and the Shadow Collective through an underground contact named Rheena Sul, who gives him a brief primer on how the united Collective broke down following Palpatine’s rise to power, with Maul disappearing after the Clone Wars and his former allies going their separate ways. We know, thanks to Maul’s perspective, that he’s hunting for everyone who betrayed him during that period, including Palpatine, but Lawson is still putting the pieces together.
We also get a snippet of Lawson’s home life. He’s raising his son, Rylee, alone, but that situation seems to be complicated. Rylee’s mother is still alive and wants Rylee to visit her, but Lawson is reluctant to allow him to do so until he has enough free time to accompany him, which is causing tension between the two. There’s clearly more to come here, exploring the issues between Lawson and Rylee’s mother, not to mention the thematic subtext of Lawson being so overworked that he can’t find the time to devote to his son.
“Sinister Schemes” concludes with Maul hacking his way through the Pyke Syndicate in a needlessly great-looking sequence that gets him one step closer to his ultimate goal, and Devon figuring out how to break free from her cell, bringing her one step closer to Maul’s sway. There’s some lip-service paid to the popular Star Wars idea of the franchise’s binary morality not really applying during the Empire’s pomp, and given we already saw Devon smarting about not being able to cross any lines even to survive while on Janix, it’s likely she’s going to find something compelling in Maul’s efforts to show her the galaxy “as it really is”.
