Maul: Shadow Lord Praises 3 & 4

One week, two more episodes! I absolutely can not say enough good things about this show, but I'm gonna try! ALSO, in the spirit of 2 new episodes, we have TWO emails to read!! Enjoy everyone!

Send us an email! tvjpod@gmail.com

Transcript

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I have a message from the Village Jedi. Max Rebo, hit it. Happy Friday, everybody. This is the Village Jedi Podcast. If you're new here, welcome. If you're not, welcome back. Hello, my name is Marina, and I am the local Village Jedi here to talk all things Star Wars and build a community of like-minded fans like yourself. So I'm so happy to have you here. A couple updates. My Disney Star Wars package did get here. It came to my house. Um, I cut out and saved the packing slip. I'm not going to show it on camera because it has my address because a Star Wars Lucasfilm package came to my house, which is so wild to say out loud. That's why I cut it out so that I can save it because I'm a little rat, a little pack rat. But basically it says Lucasfilm, Walt Disney Studios from Burbank, California, and then it has my address. So I opened the package. If you guys want, you can go over on my Instagram and my TikTok, see what was in there. But one of the things on here I will show on camera if you're watching on YouTube is a little letter, a little note from the desk of Swagman, which I read Swagman. Well, I didn't read it. Um, a fan of the show who follows me DM'd me and told me who it was. And it's basically the Star Wars PR girllies that, you know, like to send gifts to the fans. So they sent me a little note and it says, Enjoy these gifts from our galaxy to yours. May the force be with you, your friend Swagman. So they sent me a couple keychains, some patches for my backpack, um, this cute little Grogu Furby that I haven't unboxed. He's just sitting here um ready for when I put the new set together. As far as updates on the new set, I'm hoping to get to work on it maybe this weekend, but this type of this kind of year, this this time of year, excuse me, is a little chaotic. Obviously, spring has sprung. We're rolling up on summer, and I want to have a garden this year. So we're just getting things underway. Um, another update, like I said last week, if you were here, thank you so much for returning. I must be entertaining. I decided how much fun it would be for me to dress up every week. I'm having so much fun dressing up. So if you're watching on YouTube, I did my makeup a little differently this time. I'm gonna post it on my socials as well. But I have kind of like a Padme inspired, the Phantom Menace-esque vibe with my makeup, and I really like it. I'm just having fun kind of experimenting, and that's one of the things I love so much about podcasts and their community, is the host grows with the audience. So if you've been here since day one, you've probably seen how the show has already progressed in the last couple months. And if you decide to continue to stay with the village, my lovely villagers, we will continue to see how the show will continue to grow. The set's gonna change, different ideas will come and go. So it's just been a lot of fun so far, a lot of fun experimenting as a fan. And I appreciate you guys being on this journey with me as fans of the show. Welcome to the Village Jedi. Um, to get involved in the discussion, we always do this. You can follow me on Instagram or TikTok at the VillageJedi. I'm wondering if I should discontinue my Substack just because I'm not sticking with it. I used to post show note outlines on there, but it's just it's feeling like something that I have to do now instead of something that I want to do. Um, so I don't know if I'm gonna keep doing Substack, but TikTok and Instagram for sure. And then another fun way is to send me an email at tvjpod at gmail.com, which we have two emails to read this week. I'm so excited. Um, and we'll do that at the end. So uh why don't we go ahead and take a brief ad break and then we'll get things underway. Hello there. If you're looking to build your collection, the Village Jedi is now collaborating with Sabre Masters to offer you$20 off your first combat ready laser sword. You heard that correctly, Combat Ready. The team at Sabre Masters makes it their personal mission to create lightsabers built to last using lightweight polycarbonate blades with customizable settings and simple navigation. Sabermasters has really crafted the ultimate experience. Sabermasters is always offering a great deal for force users everywhere, but with my code TVJ20, you can save an extra$20 at checkout. Simply type in the code at the checkout screen, TVJ20, and you're done. Link will be in the show notes. I feel so cool in this makeup, you guys. I ugh it's a vibe. It is a vibe. Thank you, Padme. Thank you, Natalie Portman. Thank you, George Lucas. Okay. With all that out of the way, we have a lot to yap about. We have a lot to yap about. Two new episodes of Maul. That's why y'all are here, Maul Shadow Lord. We are well underway in our revenge era, in our Zabrak era, in our He carries a dual-ended laser sword and loves to drink tea era. Maul Shadow Lord, chapters three and four. Same thing I did last week. I watched it in its full glory, just sat there and took it in. My first full watch through. My second watch through, however, had the remote handy, had my laptop handy, taking notes like a crazy person. Pause, take notes, pause, take notes. So this is gonna be a little bit more like a breakdown, but also just things I caught, I loved, and I can't wait to share with you because we love this show. We love this show. I saw last week that it has reached a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. So if you don't like this show, congratulations, you're a professional liar. You're gaslighting yourself. Sorry. Um, but no, genuinely, if you don't like this show, please send me an email or DM me on my socials because I would like to know why. As someone who enjoys the majority of Star Wars media, I have yet to find something constructive to criticize this show about. It is just so strong. Coming out of the gate, it is just, it's amazing. The buzzword last week was incredible. If you guys were here, I said incredible over and over and over again because it's incredible. So, Maul Shadow Lord. All I'm gonna say, which is a lie because this episode's about to be really long, all I'm gonna say is there should be mall edits to Justin Timberlake songs. To the Justin Timberlake songs. I, if you like to make edits, um, DM me or follow me on one of my socials so I can follow you. I'm trying to follow everyone that my FYP is showing me, but I would like to see the edits because this show is just there's there's just so many moments. And Maul is probably my new Star Wars crush. I posted about this. My current ones are Anakin from Revenge of the Sith, obviously. What girly doesn't say that? Um, Ben Solo, duh. And um also shortly, you know, competing for second place is Kylo Wren from The Last Jedi, but specifically in that scene when he begs Ray to take his hand so that they can rule the galaxy together. This show brings out the fangirl in me that I thought died when my frontal lob developed. But she's here in full glory. I love Maul. I have a little crush on him. Just the vibes. He's got the vibes, this show. And the voice acting. Incredible. Incredible, there's that word. Um, I just wanted to put that as a manifestation. Where are the Maul edits to the Justin Timberlake songs? Okay, well, chapter three, Whispers of the Unknown. The ominous intro music, y'all watch on YouTube, got my notes slash essay. The ominous intro music, it makes my skin crawl. The composers know exactly what kind of show they wanted to make, what kind of vibe they wanted to curate with the music alone, and they delivered. It demands your attention. There is not a single second when the music is playing on screen that I am not sat and ready to give them my full attention. I am ready to dive into what the show is gonna be. And that was just with the recap. They're like previously on Maul Shadow Lord. Like, did the music, I'm locked in. Where are we? As if I didn't just rewatch this yesterday in preparation for today. Stoked. Love the music. So we left Devin. She had escaped, she looks toward the Mandalorian, specifically Rick Cast, who gestures her toward the direction of Maul. She sees him sitting there and he's pouring tea. He wants to yap with her, and she ain't having it. She's like, I drink coffee, I ain't a tea girl. But regardless, he's inviting her to kind of sit down and relax. I just want to talk. I just wanna, I just want to chat. Like, let's just figure this out. What's your name? You know my name. You obviously know who I am, you have a preconceived notion of me. So let's just, let's just figure this out. Cause I low-key need a new apprentice, and you're about the right height and the right size. So let's do this. Everything in this scene is so calculated and intentional. I am hanging on every single word that this man is saying. He's confident, he's calm, he's not trying to threaten her, he's not trying to make her feel like she needs to make a run for it. Like he wants her to just take a beat, and I want you to really think about your situation and the things that I've already told you. Because you're smart. He's he's telling he's helping her see this. Like, you're smart. You've made it this far, you survived Order 66, you're a capable Jedi, but you could be more. And so I want to put you in the frame of mind, I want to put you at ease so that we can have a civilized conversation over tea. So he says, I can tell that you are settled on who you believe I am. Would you like me to be that person? Because I am capable. Which that line alone just opens the floodgates. Like she knows who he is. How does she know? How does she know who he is? Duh, she came from the Jedi Council. She came from the Jedi Order. She probably wasn't on the council, I must spoke. But she knows who he is because Kenobi obviously shared, oh, uh, Kwai Gonjin and I, we fought a Sith, and it had been a thousand years since we fought a Sith. They all know who Darth Maul is at this point. It was probably the scary stories that the younglings went to bed with. They know who Darth Maul is. Likely they also knew that he was running a crime syndicate on Mandalore, like the whole thing we've already been over this. The Jedi love to gossip. They are yip-yappity yappers. So obviously she knows who he is. And that's why Maul is like, I can be that guy. I can be the guy from the scary bedtime stories that you younglings used to tell each other. Or if you want to be an adult and think for yourself, we can talk about it. Cause she obviously thinks he's a monster. He says, I invite you to look more closely. We do what we must to survive. Perhaps in the days since the Jedi fell, you can relate. And it really reminds me of how she stole food. Like he makes a good point. I'm doing what I have to do to keep going through this galaxy. The Empire is ruling. Order 66 happened. I'm not supposed to be here. You're not supposed to be here. So we need to do what we gotta do. No shame. No shame in the game. Like, can we please just acknowledge that you and me are just trying to survive? So she he kind of goes into this speech that echoes the same line of reasoning he used to manipulate Ahsoka into joining him against Sidious at the Siege of Mandalore scene. They're in the throne room. It had the same vibes. Like he's not trying to manipulate her as much as just help her see the reality of the world now. It's not good versus evil. It's a little cloudier than that. It is survival. It is revenge. Like, aren't you mad? Aren't you betrayed? Like, come on, level with me, be so for real right now. And she is not having it. It made me think about also how like he ended up searching uh the clone named Jesse, searching his mind to kind of learn all about the Jedi Council and how it betrayed Ahsoka. So he's also preying on her feelings of rejection and questioning about the true values that the Jedi had as an organization. Like that's all she has to rely upon is the structure and the belief system that the Jedi were founded on. And Maul also identifies with a fallen Jedi. Like he was telling Ahsoka, you were cast aside, you were betrayed by your master, you were not valued by the people you had been raised to believe viewed you as irreplaceable. So I can't help but wonder what kind of conversation would have transpired had Dooku met sort of this version of Maul, or even Qui-Gon, who notoriously questioned the order and their line of reasoning. Because the whole reason that Dooku left, as we saw in Tales of the Jedi, was he was starting to have kind of these questionable thoughts about how the council operated. And then when Qui-Gon died and how that was handled, he just was like, This, this ain't right, like this ain't for me. And so that's kind of what Palpatine and Sidious were able to cultivate, manipulate, and eventually take advantage of. So I I would love to see some sort of interaction between this version of Maul, who is feeling very betrayed, what that would look like with the version of Dooku, who felt betrayed by the Jedi Order. And in the same room, you have Qui-Gon Jin, who is also wondering, are the Jedi in the right? Because I low-key think they're in the wrong. Maybe we could throw a pong kral in there. Like just, I want to see a room of these kind of characters where what they have in common is they are questioning the belief system that they grew up with and was ingrained in them. Very, very interesting dynamic. And this is all just happening within like the first two minutes of this episode. So he also says this intriguing line: we don't realize the fragility of these institutions until they are ripped away. He shares kind of his own transgressions in hopes of gaining some sort of common ground with her. Look, my mother was murdered, my brother was murdered, I was abandoned by my master. Like, I've been there, girl. I know when you feel at your lowest, you somehow get even lower. Like, trust me, I've I've been there. But it doesn't work, falls on deaf ears, she ends up force grabbing his saber, and then Moll is like, all right, we're switching to the hard way. He uses the force to turn off the lights, and the first lesson begins. He wants to start to train her without her even realizing it. Here, I want you to learn how to harness your fear and anger to feed your strength. It's dark, you feel kind of like claustrophobic, and now we're gonna start. Now, now it's about to, it's about to go down. This is the way of the Sith. This is how he learned. You you are, what do they say, out of the frying pan and into the oven or something like that? Trial by fire, whatever. You guys know the vibe. That is the way of the Sith. That's the way that he was trained, and so that's kind of his approach to how he's gonna train her. At least that's how it read to me as a viewer. So then we cut to Captain Lawson, who forgot his son's ball game and thus kind of hands over the investigations to his droid two boots so that he can try and go show up as a supportive father. Like it's kind of just this scene of like, oh, I totally forgot that was today, and two boots is like, no sweat, bro. I got you. Hand over the clipboard, go get a bag of peanuts and enjoy the game. Okay, we cut back to Mollin Devin. He says, I see your potential. I know you can be more. I know that you are not using your full range. That's what he's trying to say to her. And the scene, obviously, I watched it for the first time on the TV, but then I was watching it with headphones later, these headphones specifically. Hello. Um, and the scene just hits so much harder when you're wearing headphones because the way that they edited this, his voice goes from one ear to the other. So while you're watching it, you are very much identifying with her as this sense of like it feels like he's he's he's somewhere in the room, but I don't know where. Like, like your depth perception is like gone. So I really like that effect. Very well done, 10 out of 10, from me. Um, and then we get kind of this eerie manipulation of his voice, where at least in my opinion, it felt very similar to the force diad dialogue that we see in the sequel movies between Kylo Ren and Ray. And he sort of concentrates the force, the way that he's able to manipulate his voice. Like it just it was so cool to realize like he is in her head right now, like he is trying so hard to manipulate her thoughts while also having her feel like she's coming to these conclusions on her own. So smart, so so I I'm glitching, I'm glitching. Like it just was so good. So then we see that everything that Maul is saying about her is true. Like, if it is, it reminded me a lot of Iskat Icarus, who's from the book Rise of the Red Blade. If you haven't watched it, it's an Inquisitor origin story. It kind of picks up when she's a youngling and then a Padawan, and then Order 66 happens. She's a general of the Republic, and then she recruits and becomes an Inquisitor, all while having questions about the past and the Jedi Order and her origins. Like it's a very, very well done story. Rise of the Red Blade, it's one of my personal favorites. Um, so it just kind of reminded me these this internal dialogue she's having, and that he's drawing out from her thoughts very similar to her character, and we know how that ended up for her. She became an inquisitor, she was a Sith sympathizer, like that's kind of what Maul's trying to do with her. He's preying on her doubts. So then we cut, it's time for the the next pike attack. Like, that's kind of where the scene jumps to. Rook walks up to Vario and she's like, I it's going down. Here's the plan. So then we cut again to Lawson and he's trying really hard to support Riley. But I wrote down that it's hard when he is in the middle of this investigation, and family cannot come first in a rebellion. Like, even in rebels where there's this found family trope, sometimes the job has to come first. And we saw that in a lot of different arcs throughout the story, is that's kind of why they would get in the situations they got into, is because one guy would stay behind or a squad, the squad would get divided because the mission had to come first. Like the rebellion's whole MO is we're doing this for our family, not because of our family. Like we need to just lock in and get the job done. So that's kind of the vibes I get from Lawson. I would also like to point out, I've been seeing kind of some discourse online um without letting it influence too much of my own thoughts, but kind of the complaints that the time spent with Lawson and his family drama, like it's not, it's kind of filler. Y'all, I thought it was pretty obvious that we're spending time with Lawson's son and his family dynamics because the bad guys are gonna use that as leverage. Like I'm calling it right here Village Jedi, Friday, April 17th. Um, that's what they do. The bad guys always gun for the family if the hero is weak. And the bad guys in this instance might be the empire. We see at the end of the episode, at the end of episode four, that we're about to see an imperial occupation in real time next week. Don't you all think the bad guys would go for his family, especially because he's already proven he's not a fan of the empire, he doesn't support the way they do things, otherwise, he would have been first in line. Oh, guy has a laser sword, call the empire. Like, no, he's like, I don't want to do that. I wanna dis like I want to disqualify protocol, I don't want to do it. I that's my theory that whoever shows up the empire, they're gonna use his his kid as leverage. That's at least my theory. Um, I also wrote down that I wouldn't call Lawson a rebel, like a full-fledged rebel, but he is anti-empire, and so it just kind of had me thinking like, do you have to be a rebel if you're anti-empire? Not necessarily. A rebel in Star Wars is someone who puts their life on the line for the sake of the cause. Lawson isn't quite there yet, but I could see him getting there, and how crazy would that be? So, anyways, now we cut to the lizard Jedi. He shows up to Riley's game, he's also there for a bag of popcorn. Um, but he approaches Lawson for help and kind of warns him of Maul's power, like, bro, you don't even know what you're up against. And he kind of proposes that they work together, but obviously Lawson is suspicious. And he reveals that he knows his name, he calls him Uncle Dockie. Um, since Dackie refers to Devin as his niece, and the scene sort of ends with two boots calling Law. Not shortly after the game has started. Um, the basically the pike attack went down, it went horribly wrong, and the investigation is starting to get complicated. I need you to come in. And Lawson's like, Alright, gotta put the job before the kid. Am I right? Anyways, back to Devin Amal. We hear on the subtitles, it calls this eerie whispering. Like they are about to, it's it's about to go down. Like we're like we're picking right back up where we left. Like she's she's got the lifesaver, she's in a dark room. She's like, I'm I'm not afraid of you, girly. Be so real. You are shaken in your twilight boots right now. You're scared. And I'm scared too. I'm scared too. So there's like this eerie whispering going on. That's exactly what it is. But Maul mentions the Inquisitors, he's very aware of their existence. He says, Okay, if you're so big and strong, have you thought about what you're gonna do when you encounter a Jedi hunter? She's silenced. She's like, I I can I can carry my own, bruh. Girl. Anyways, it just kind of made me wonder like, has he fought one before? I don't know. He knows they exist, but he hasn't necessarily confronted one yet. We don't know, we haven't seen that. Um he he also, you know, it made me think about was he offered to join the inquisitors? I don't think so. I think that could also be something that he takes personally and holds against Sidious. It's like, are you kidding me? You chose Darth Vader to train the Inquisitors. I'm Ray Park. You don't think I can train people? Well, I'm gonna train my own apprentice, and she's she's a Jedi too, and she's gonna be super strong, and she's gonna be better than any y'all's inquisitors. Like, I could totally see him. He's just like, Okay, okay, well, first you push me down, and then you kicked me. Like Am I crazy? Maybe a little bit. Okay, so Devin ends up leaving, she force jumps, she starts climbing out of the dark and jumping toward the light. Very poetic. It rhymes. Love that. Cut to Rook cast, she sort of pitches this planet to Vario about pulling one out from out from under the pikes. Um, and then we cut to Obadiah, which is the pike planet, and it's like very ominous, fog, green gases, like, you know, the works. And I only remember the name because Anakin says it to Ahsoka in season seven when he's like, What were you doing on Obadiah? And she gets all sassy. She's like, That's a long story and not really relevant right now. Dad, like, she's all mad. Okay, anyways, cut to two boots. He goes above Lawson to this patrol chief and suggests that the Imperials should be alerted to help with the Maul problem. This is getting out of control. What are we gonna do? Because he's the one that was there when the pikes got attacked, so he saw Mall's uh squad. They're pretty strong, they're powerful, we're in over our head. We gotta, we gotta call the suits. Like, we gotta, we gotta call somebody. And I know exactly who we're gonna call. And the chief's mad about it. She's like, you need to get a handle on your droid. I assigned him to desk duty because he's not cooperating. So whatever. I kind of agree with him because even though I feel Lawson's apprehension about an imperial invasion, especially if Maul is listed as a high target, I also feel like he's he's right. Like later we see in the episode, it does not go good when the squad decides, you know, these these uh Jan X police officers are like, we'll take him, we'll bring him in. No. No, sorry, you can't, you can't, you're outgunned, you can't. So I I I get it. Like it's it's just kind of a a a bummer situation. It is what it is. Um, I don't know. Okay, what else did I have? Okay, yeah, I wrote here that at this point Lawson does really think, like he's convinced himself that they can capture him because he doesn't fully understand his opponent, and he doesn't fully understand that the lizard Jedi was basically like, let me help you, cuz like I'm a Jedi. So he doesn't know that there's people from all angles telling him this is a bad idea. You need to call the Imperials, and he's still like, nah, nah, I got this, I can do it, I can do anything. Bruh, be so for real, take a humble pill, please. Um, he just he just doesn't get it. So then we cut back to Devin and Maul. Devin's running toward the light, and this was one of the coolest scenes from both these episodes is she is overshadowed by Maul's silhouette. Like you see his head and the spikes, you know, the way that the Zabrax are, they have like the spikes out of their head. You see that slowly rising, so you know that he he's also up on the bridge. Loved how that looked. Very cinematic, very poster worthy, very good. And he basically like ignites his saber and she ignites the one that she stole from him, so they're both red. And Maul says, It's not that you're afraid, it's that you're weak. Which, oh, you want to talk about insulting a girly, you call her weak. He kind of ate her up with that one. So he he's kind of starting to rage bait her a little bit. He's preying on her feelings of inadequacy, and his insights kind of make me wonder if if it is true. Like, does Devin feel as if being a Jedi does make her superior, that she should be elevated, she should be better than everyone else. Obviously, this question is answered in the next episode, as we'll get into that that is in fact how she feels. But um, she believes in her own strength, and that is what kind of edges on this line of arrogance that caused the Jedi's downfall in the beginning, or in the end, and the beginning, I suppose. It was doomed to fail from the start. So she begins to fight sort of stronger once that anger is at her fingertips, and that's what Maul has been wanting since the start. He wanted her to get angry because he knew as soon as she tapped into it, she would start to see, okay, maybe he's on to something, like maybe he does have something to offer me because he's right. Like being a Sith, low-key bad, like I could, I could get used to this. He just wants her to see how much stronger she can be with those emotions at the forefront, and it starts to work because she does get stronger, she's able to kind of like flip over him and force him back once she taps into that anger. Then we get to this part. We're nearing the end of the episode. We're we're we're moments away from the end of the episode. I turn on the subtitles because I didn't want to miss a single second. Um, after Devin Force pushes Maul, Maul looks up and we hear this sort of Sith whispering, and the subtitles say, Maul lights Maul's lightsaber speaks alien language. And she looks kind of surprised. Like she like looks taken aback, looks at his lightsaber, then looks at him, and then turns to run away. But as she's running, Maul Force grabs his own saber back out of her hands and says, I'm going to need that back, Devin. Implying that the Sith Force revealed her name to him and that she actually heard it too. Yo, yo! What is that book? I can't remember. I I think Adam Christopher wrote it. I can't remember, but I think it's called Shadow of the Sith, where like Luke and Lando are going to look for like Ray and her parents and Ochi of Bestoon. Like this whole vibe. If you've read the book, um, send me a message because I can't remember what it's called off the top of my head. I didn't finish it, but it did kind of have these vibes of the Sith relics and kind of what they're able to do. Um, so if that sounds like something you're interested in, go read that book because that's what that's what we just saw. So, anyways, overall thoughts of chapter three, Slade, eight, loved it. Set the tone for the rest of the show. Continual, fast-paced action, continual character development, and there was not a single second that I felt was wasted. Everything has a purpose. This show is different than Bad Batch. Obviously, it should have a PG 13 rating. I haven't looked, but it should. Bad Batch was very family-oriented. We're these were these soldiers, and we love this little girl, and we're gonna take good care of her, and everything's so great, and we're family, and we can overcome anything. Like, there's some deep stuff that happens, but there are episodes, there are scenes, there are lines of dialogue where you're kind of like, okay, you know, wrap it up. It's a kid's show, obviously. This show does not have that vibe. This show is animated and or not a single second has been wasted. I'm telling you guys, like, even the stuff about Lawson and his kid, it is there for a reason. They are showing you kind of what this dynamic is so that the bad guys can prey on it later. Guaranteed. Guaranteed. At least that's what I would do. And I'm an amateur writer. I write for fun, not for money, so I know I'm not great at it, but even I think that that makes sense. Okay, so that chapter, chapter three was called Whispers of the Unknown, which I can't help but wonder is that the Whispers of the Saber and the Blood Crystal. Chapter 4, Pride and Vengeance. The title implies Someone's Pride, Whose, maybe Maul, or I think it could also be the pride of the syndicates who betrayed him because we see some revenge exacted in this episode. Okay, the chap the the episode begins. Vario lands on Obadiah. He's going to confront the Pikes. And at first, obviously, as a viewer, you know this this feels kind of fishy because the plan here, Rookcast said that there was gonna be a plan. We don't really know what the plan is, we just know there's a plan. Um, we also see, you know, it's gonna involve Vario and his excellent, excellent skills outline. He's got this little stun gun, like what's gonna happen? He lands, the pikes end up searching the ship. Vario springs the trap, implying that Maul is on board and and he made me do it. Like, guys, don't go in there because he's gonna get you the big scary monster, please. We see this laser sword figure, he's hooded. I knew it was his brother, just based on the clunky fighting style, and then when he does get stunned, you can see the arm markings, very different than Maul's, distinct. Um, but Vario sells it. The pikes are dumb. I do like Crims Throne, who is the Pike leader. It's very Mandalore, very Bo Katan, very, you know, he's he's the king, part, part, you know, part the crowd. I'm here. I like it. And apparently Maul likes it too. Spoiler alert. Um, my next note was that Maul legally can't or a farm because he technically owns the farm. Like, you don't farm your own farm. So we watch this scene at least three times just because it was so well done. Like they realize that the hooded figure that was stunned isn't Maul, and like their hearts kind of drop into their butts, and they're like, wait, wait, and then the elevator slides open and it's him. Him, him, him. It's Maul. And the music starts, and it's just it's just ugly. It gets ugly real quick. Um, once that, you know, kind of chaos is over, there's this huge revenge massacre. Maul establishes his control yet again. He takes the throne, and we learn from Maul's monologue that the pikes didn't offer him safety while he was on the run after what I'm assuming is Order 66. He says the events on Mandalore, I was alone, um, which could imply after Sidious paid him and Savage a visit and it was a 2v1 fight, and they just totally lost, and Maul was kind of on the run. But I think he's saying like the events on Mandalore and I was alone, as in the siege of Mandalore. So we know that he went to Omedea and the Pikes betrayed him. So now the Pikes Syndicate is back under his control. The Pikes are back in the Shadow Collective, which is Maul's Syndicate. And they're not as they're not there as a cooperating individual party anymore. They're more there like as as his slaves. Um, similar to the way that the Crimson Dawn is, Dryden Voss, he is under Maul's control. He answers directly to him, and then later Kira takes that role. So, Devin, we cut to her, she's reuniting with her master, her uncle Docky. She's very quick to drink his tea. She didn't want to drink Maul's, which I feel is highly personal, and I would take that to the grave that you rejected drinking tea with Maul. Yikes. Um, he's like, How did you escape? And she goes, Um, it it wasn't easy. Girl, he let you leave. He let you leave. I know you think that fight was hard and you exerted yourself and you gave it your all, honey. He was he was letting you win. If he wanted you to die, he he could have done it. Like the fact that she was like, oh, it was horrible, like, please. Please, like, it just goes to show where she's already at mentally that she she does kind of have this elevated view of herself. Like, she really does think she held her own against him. She really thinks that. So he is gonna prey on sort of this arrogance that she has in her mind. Guaranteed. So she sort of goes on to inform her master that she wants to bring Maul in. And she feels like it's their responsibility as Jedi to bring him to justice in order to keep the Jan X people safe. And her master is like, that is not our job anymore. And she's basically like, well, then whose job is it? Maybe, maybe Captain Lawson could help us. So we learn now from that little spiel that her angle in going with Maul, in having that conversation with him, and then eventually trying to get away from him, was learning what she needed to learn so that she could get out, get her master, and then go back and bring him to justice. Like she wants to be this, she wants to be something. She wants them to just, you know, scream her name in the streets, clapping, oh, thank you so much. Girl, it just goes to show, like I mentioned in my last episode, there is kind of this level of immaturity to her character where you really read the room. Like Devin's character to me, it really does feel like she doesn't have a total grasp of what's going on. She's young, and Maul's gonna take advantage of that. So Uncle Docky sends Loss in a tip for Maul's hideout, and so he's able to assemble a strike team squad. He also deactivates two-boots because he's about to go alert the empire, which we already talked about, I think is right, because I wrote down the only thing scarier than a Sith on the run terrorizing people is a Sith loyal to the Empire, aka the Inquisitors, or whoever else they're gonna send. Darth Vader, maybe? Yikes. So we see in the trailer there's at least two inquisitors, but we don't know who else is coming. We don't know who else is on board that ship. Yeah, the Empire is scary, and Two Boots is right to be shaking in his boots, if you ask me. So everything is about to sort of come to a head here. Maul offers a decent deal, in my opinion. Lawson and his squad meet up with Maul. It's just a hologram version of him because yet again, smart. He's not just gonna roll up. Um, he's got like all his guys, the Mandalorians, he's got Vario there, sort of as a bait. Like, if you're gonna shoot anyone, shoot him. Honestly, Slay, he hates him. Which makes it that much funnier. Um, anyways, so Maul ends up offering this deal. Basically, if you let me, he's talking to Lawson, if you let me run my operation out of Jan X, which is already happening, as we saw in the first two episodes, that the local law enforcement understands what's going on crime-wise. They have a post on their local crime lords, they know what's going on. So, like, it's not like the idea of an underground criminal enterprise is new. So already right off the bat, okay, check, that's fine. At least with me, if I was Lawson, I'd be like, okay, what's the catch? Maul says, in exchange, I will keep you safe. And Lawson's like, keep me safe, dude. Do you see all the guns I have with me? What do you what do you mean? And Maul's like, let's keep the empire out of this. Like, I can tell you're a man of honor and intelligence. Like, we both know the empire is bad news. So if you just let me do what I'm gonna do, I will keep, you know, people from being bothered. Like, I won't let the crime syndicates bother anyone. I just need a home base. And this sort of whole exchange made me think about something that Maul is not a liar. He's he's evil, he's a murderer, he has a very gray moral conscience, if one at all. But he he's not a liar. And Lawson, unfortunately, doesn't know that. But as a viewer, you know that he's true to his word, that this offer actually seems like a good idea. And I would have taken the deal, at least for a little while, see, you know, if this does go bad, we just pick up where we left off here. Grab the squad, have the Empire on call, like at least that's what I would do. It seems like it's a very similar arrangement to what he had on Mandalore, which of course that worked. That worked, and that's something that we talked about in my trailer breakdown episode. That something that makes Maul such a strong character is the unfortunate truth that he is always doomed to fail. His efforts will always be in vain. He gets almost there and then it's ripped away. And then he has all this revenge to drive the next plot, and he gets almost there and then it's ripped away. And so obviously, he's gonna do what worked. This worked on Mandalore, so I'm gonna I'm gonna build it back up. Duh. It just seems like it would be a similar arrangement. And to my knowledge, there wasn't anything wrong with him running behind the scenes. Bo Katan seemed to be the only one that had a real problem with it because culturally a non-Mandalorian should not be ruling, but I don't really get those vibes from Janics. It doesn't seem like it's a monarchy with these like deep-rooted cultural, ethical, honorable rules and legislations. So Maul kind of clocks Lawson, like I mentioned, is this honorary, intelligent man. He dignifies him with a legitimate proposition. And we just saw what he's capable of. So if he wanted to end it here, it would have happened. Like we just saw him decimate and massacre the Pike Overlord. So he doesn't have any problems with Lawson or Genix. He's just being like, hey, you guys are coming guns of blazon to my hideout. Before I wipe you out, I just thought I would offer kind of a kind of a truce. And Lawson's like, he's lying. Don't trust him. Get him out of here. I want him out of my city. Like, dude, yet again, same with Devin. You don't know who you're working with. And on one hand, that's good because, you know, you would be more terrified if you did. But on the other hand, it's bad because you don't respect the danger that you're actually in. You are in a high level of danger and you're not willing, and you're not willing to take a step back and maybe think about that. So obviously the choice he makes results in chaos, and there's a real battle here going on, and the real reason that we're here is about to begin. Dockie, Devin versus Maul. We cut to them, they roll up on Maul. And Maul turns around and he's basically like, Oh, oh, you're you're here to kill me. And Devin's like, That's right. That's right. We're here to bring you to justice. Maul's like, okay, well, yet again, I can work with this, you know? And then we see Duel of Fates 2.0, in my opinion. Duel of Fates, the fate of Devin, the fate of Maul's plan, the fate of will they, won't they, good versus evil. Like, this is it. Oh, I lost my hood. Let me let me put that back on. Whoopsie do. Okay, there we go. This is it. The duel of eights. Because if they if Dockie wins, he's still got Devin on the light side. But if Maul wins, he's taking Devin with him to the dark side. That was what I thought. So they kind of have this dialogue, as Maul is. He's a yapper. So he kind of pitches this interesting idea that those with Jedi abilities are above average members of society because of their power. And it's not because of any sort of code of honor they have. And this sort of gives insight into how he views himself and by extension, how the Sith view themselves. You know, basically, our powers are what make us stronger. We are the superior beings because of the force. We use the force. And the Jedi don't view it that way. They view it as a privilege to be one with the force. The force is a tool that we are so honored to be able to even have the ability to tap into. We respect the force. So it's very different than how the Jedi view themselves and their connection to the force. And Docky says that. He says, our powers are meant to be used only in the service of others. And Maul's like, Yeah, and look where that's gotten you. Slay! Eat him up, eat him up, eat him up. What are you supposed to say to that? You're gagged. You are gagged. You are basically like, well, that's not how we do things. And Maul's like, Yeah, I can tell. That's why you're all dead. That's why the Jedi Order lost. That's why a Sith Lord is running the place. You don't gotta tell me what the Jedi believe. It's y'all's fault. We're in this mess. I know what y'all believe. Oh, it just cracked me up. So as he's talking, we also see a little bit of Devin's micro expressions and how they indicate that she really is considering Maul's line of reasoning here. She's like, wait, he's low key right. Interesting. So they start to fight, and Maul does, he jumps in the air, he does this mid-air barrel roll, and we hear a Sith scream. Which, if you're not familiar, um, Sidious also uses this in Revenge of the Sith when Mace Windu and these other Jedi come to his quarters at the Senate building and they're like, We're here to bring you to justice. And Sidious is like, I and then he stands up in the air and he's like, It's treason, then. And then he ignites his saber and he's like, ah, and he spins in the air, Sith scream. So if you look up on Google, a Sith scream or a force scream, Google says it's an ancient offensive force power that amplifies a user's rage and negative emotions into a sonic and psychic wave, like a physical push. And it's used to disorient, stun, or damage your enemy, often by breaking through their mental and physical defenses. So it's meant to throw you off, and it works because in this 2v1 fight, Maul wins, not like wins, it's kind of a truce. Um the ground battle, we pan to it, it's getting really ugly, and Lawson breaks off to go after Maul. He's like, I'm going after Maul. Why? Why? Dude, you are literally bringing a gun to a laser sword fight with a man who uses the force. You already saw him collapse a bridge with a bunch of innocent bystanders. You're done. You're cooked, you're about to get cooked. He just has kind of this inflated self-view, and I don't know if it's because he's exhausted. Like, we've seen how much coffee he's been drinking, he's not sleeping, he's not eating, he's not taking care of himself, he's under all this stress. So is his mental faculties just really telling him, like, you should go after Maul? Bruh. Like, what is happening here? The line of reasoning is severely flawed. Anyways, this battle between the two force users and the the ex-Sith Lord is phenomenal. It is so fast. The choreography, the animation, flawless, incredible buzzword. And it gets to this point where Maul doesn't really hesitate to kill Dockie once he gets him in that vulnerable position. He holds off with Devin, though, like when they can tell, like, okay, it's time to go. He holds off from cutting her down and he allows her to escape, and he also leaves to rendezvous with his squad. And I think it's because, again, he wants her to think for herself. Why do you think I spared your life? Why do you think I let you run away? Like, he wants her to really start to get out of her own head, like, quit being predictable. I'm not gonna be predictable, and so maybe that'll help you start to not be so predictable. I'm not going by the book, so maybe you shouldn't either. That's kind of his MO with her. So then we see that backup arrives, and out of the out of the fog, out of the smoke of it, it's just Lawson who walks out of the building. He is the only survivor of this strike force, which is terrifying. Um then we kind of start to hear the the siren of the empire, and the episode ends by setting up for a huge payoff for next week, where we're gonna see an imperial occupation real time. Two Boots ended up calling him in. We see a gigantic star destroyer. Who's on it? We don't know. It very well could be one or two inquisitors. Two Boots reported Maul to the Empire, who's a high-level target for them as a government. So who's going to come after a force user? A rogue force user? Probably a loyal force user, an inquisitor. So we'll see. Next week, we're also might meet another imperial officer character. I re-watched the trailer um in preparation for this episode, and it looks like there's at least two inquisitors in our trailer. The Empire doesn't know about Dockie and Devin, so maybe they sent the two for Maul. That's what I think. Like Sidious and Vader were basically like, nah, he ain't he ain't normal. Like, we need to send at least two to go bring him in. Or go take him down. We're not bringing him in. Um, my theories, as of right now, I think that Docky could die next week. He was left very weak after their fight with Maul. Um, he's already old, so I don't know. I'm a little worried for him. And unfortunately, I think once he's gone, Devin is going to join Maul. She's already on the fence. We see her fighting with him in the trailers. It's inevitable at this point, as Thanos would say. And I just really can't wait to see what next week brings. So, my overall thoughts for both these episodes are impeccable, incredible, genius, all the words. I actually commented on someone's video today that I wish there was a different word than peak because I'm already getting bored of it. I use that word too much, too much. There's got to be a more peak word than peak to describe this show. It's it's peak peak. I don't I don't know. All right, well, let's go ahead and transition into our letters, our emails that were sent in to the Village Jedi. I'm very excited to read these. Um, I got permission from both of these authors to go ahead and read them on the pod. We have one that's a little longer and one that's a little shorter, so let's go ahead and get into it. Hi, Marina, I'm Aubrey. I just discovered your podcast today. I'm working my way through the episode of getting to know you, who is the village Jedi, and really liking what I'm hearing so far. Anyway, I just wanted to say I'm looking forward to listening to more of your episodes. That's so sweet. I'm already loving following you. You talked about your real love for the animated clone wars, which I agree is amazing. I'm surprised you didn't talk much about Rebels. Although I'm an OT kind of girl, Rebels has become my favorite overall Star Wars. Ahsoka used to be my favorite character. I even had a custom-made bobblehead of her quite a few years ago. It's cool because it's one of a kind. Love that. Let me know if you want to see it. I can take a pick. I do want to see it. Please email it to me. I took uh I took it took like a couple months to have it made somewhere in Asia. I couldn't tell you where, but I think that company that you could order custom made bobbleheads is now gone. Bummer. So Padawan Ahsoka is still one of my top favorites, but I would say the number one spot is now taken by Hera with Sabine in a close second. Good choices. I love the girlies. We all know this. Were you watching Rebels when they were coming out? I was not. I wish I would have. But I don't know if I could have handled the week to week. She says, I was and absolutely love the Rebels recon shorts that were on the at that were on at the end of every episode to give you some real behind-the-scenes info of that particular episode. Oh, that's cool. I should look for those on YouTube. I was listening to a Sky Talkers pod recently, and they were reminiscing how awesome that format was. Doing like a five-minute analysis of the episode that you had just watched, and then a little teaser of the following week. They were showing you how they wish that was done with Bad Batch and other things. I will say if you haven't seen all the episodes of Rebel Recon, you can find them on YouTube. Perfect. They're really well done, and you do get some good background info you wouldn't necessarily have, and the chopper cam is amazing too. That sounds cool. During the episode where you were talking about yourself and kind of an introduction, you mentioned that you would love to have a real lightsaber. That is true. I have one and I got a few years ago and thought it was decent until this past fall. I was at the Rhode Island Comic-Con and the owner from Vader's Vault had a booth there. I didn't realize that he was the only high I didn't realize that he was the only high-end all-American made custom lightsaber that's pretty much known as the best. I had heard the name before, but didn't realize the quality of his stuff. They're made in Georgia. I think all of the lightsabers are pretty much made in Asia somewhere. Anyway, I fell in love with the one and I ordered it last November. Oh, I'm so happy for you. The thing is with them as it takes about 10 months to make one and they're not cheap. Believe it or not, I paid 1,000 bucks for this one. Ho, slay. He had his personal one there on display, and it was absolutely beautiful. For a thousand dollars, it better be, girl. I hope you love this thing. I hope you have it on display. I hope you use it in your wedding bouquet. Girly. The good thing about a lot of his different models is that the hilt is diff is definitely thin, which is much better for us to have smaller hands. Agreed. My old lightsaber is too fat, and I didn't realize it until I held the Vader's fault one and noticed how incredibly comfortable it was and so well balanced. I can't wait to get it. It won't be until probably September when it's ready. Anyways, just wanted to say looking forward to listening more to your pod. Keep up the good work, Aubrey. Wow. Well, thank you so much for writing in, Aubrey. And as far as your new lightsaber, I would love to see a photo of it. I know it's coming in September, which is a few months away. But if you remember, please email me a picture. I would love to see it. I want to post it on my socials so that you guys can see it, because that sounds amazing. And as far as Rebels go, I can understand why that would be your favorite show. That show is really, really well done. All the creative risks, the directions that Dave Filoni went with it, I also enjoy Rebels. I don't enjoy it as much as Clone Wars just because I have a more like um sentimental tie to Clone Wars, because that one I was watching real time more so. And then I fell off as a fan, so I didn't watch Rebels as it was coming out. But when I came back, when season seven was coming out, that's when when I was back with Clone Wars. But Rebels, don't get me wrong, I do I do love Rebels. I can see why it would be your favorite. Thank you so much for writing in, Aubrey. Okay, our next one is from um the Jazzy Jedi. Hey girly, this is the Jazzy Jedi on Insta. I'd love to talk with you sometime about my journey or just discuss some good lore. Also, if you ever want to try a Zoom podcast, we can actually just do a meeting, record the meeting with it formatting our cameras side by side, and then drop the MP4 meeting, MP4 recording in YouTube. Okay, well, thank you very much at the Jezzy Jedi. I like this idea. I haven't totally figured out how to have guests on my own show yet, but once I do, I will be sending you a message because, as I mentioned, the whole purpose of this show is so I can meet Star Wars fans, talk about Star Wars, discuss Star Wars. So having guests is on the list. I would love to get that figured out. Thank you guys so much for sending in those emails. If you would like to have your email read and discussed on a future episode, please feel free to send me a letter at tvjpod at gmail.com and I will read and discuss yours on air as well. Okay, friends. Well, this is where the fun ends. My only hope is you enjoyed, and I will yap at you again next Friday. This has been The Village Jedi. Thank you so much for listening. To support this show, please leave a rating or review wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. Go check out the YouTube channel or send me an email to be read and discussed on air. You can also tell a fellow nerd to build the community. I mean this in the nerdiest way possible. May the force be with you.