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Has a fan film finally made the Empire scary again? CJ and Luke think so! Watch their in-depth review of Star Wars: Maul Shadow Lord episodes 5 and 6. From the stellar animation to the introduction of a new Inquisitor, they cover all the highs of the latest installments.
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0:00
well hello there everyone and welcome to another star wars mall shadow lord review this time for
0:11
episode 5 and episode 6 i am cj and i am joined by my partner in crime the chewbacca to my hand
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that's right i chose to be hand but you look slightly more hairier than me i've got a guy
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and the name has wookie in it as well so hi luke how are you doing how are you feeling after episode
0:29
five and six yeah man uh exhilarating ending is how i'd say it's exciting times and more and
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i'm gonna jump straight into it i'm just gonna say the consistency of this series is pretty good
0:43
the quality is pretty good um episode five i feel was a bit of a lull like you had a really exciting
0:50
episode three and four and i feel episode five was just a little bit foot off the pedal which is
0:56
fine at times i feel like they were doing that to build the story again and then we got episode six
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but what did you feel about these two episodes to begin with yeah i think you're right about
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episode five mate calm before the storm putting that little bit of dynamics in place you know
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you can't go full tilt non-stop um but yeah but why don't we go full tilt and non-stop we need
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action action mate if you go full tilt non-stop you'll never appreciate how hard it's going you
1:27
know um i love i love when they take those moments to bring it down a little bit just to sort of go
1:32
full throttle again oh i'm i'm saying i think character development is really important and i
1:38
do feel like episode five is possibly the weakest of all of the episodes so far i feel episode one
1:44
and two i did say originally was quite slow but that was building the story which makes sense
1:49
but I feel like maybe they shouldn't have amped it up in episode three and four for action to then
1:55
just like sideswipe us a bit. I guess when the Empire come in you know we've just had the luxury
2:01
of sort of four episodes introducing the scenario introducing the area the characters etc but as the
2:07
Empire come in they then sort of have to reintroduce them and how they're going to interact in that
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scenario and what tact they're going to take so again because you're logistic reasons why it might
2:17
have sort of just come down a little bit just to go again but saying that though credit episode five
2:21
i feel like maul for the first time in a long time and it might be because this is more aimed
2:28
at an adult audience has actually made the empire terrifying oh yeah now i don't know about you but
2:35
like in the movies and andor it's like the empire is bad the empire is bad and even in andor i didn't
2:41
really get the menace of the empire as much like they were bad guys like massacred people but didn't
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have like that menace that scare tactic whereas in this i really felt like the empire is something
2:54
you really need to fear you don't want to run into them and i've really got that in more compared to
3:01
if i shows i don't know if you felt that way but i've really felt like this is terrifying i felt it
3:05
in endor personally but i think what you're sort of alluding to is because from the off in this
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story they're saying you know let's not get the empire here let's not bring them here and you've
3:15
got that sort of tension of oh don't don't don't and then they arrive and then it's the anxiety
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about how that's going to play out you know it's sort of um they're taking more they're taking more
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ups and downs than just sort of like hey we must not let the empire here like in andor and then
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they're there and then it is sort of hard and fast with like essentially the the empire taking over
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everywhere but yeah no i can it's the it's the dynamics like we're talking about here that really
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play with that and make you feel it more and i feel was it episode five where i've got my note
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here because i just want to check i'm not going to say it in episode i said i said to you before we started filming the way i watch these i end up grouping five and six one and two three and four
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into one episode so i'm having to really sort of focus and make sure i remember which is which
3:56
yeah so on my note here that this is how um literical i am um inquisit out of a reel
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holy poop that is literally my note holy poop that was an amazing reveal
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you'd think it's going to be a full action but just stepping out the shadows
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hand on the shoulder brilliant reveal it's almost like a horror film
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that's what I mean about the menace the empire has the menace there
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not just because they're in Kuzar but just there's menace, there's fear there
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how fast they've taken over the city looking for people It was a really good introduction
4:36
Really help it in a way that things like Andor don't make Is that because it's animated
4:40
The use of light and shadow and colour Really aids with that, right
4:47
Oh indeed, 100% And I thought the Stormtroopers looked amazing in this art style
4:52
I know it's kind of similar to some of previous work But they have really adapted it and changed it
5:00
To give them all its own unique sort of style and I've actually been really enjoying
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the art style. I thought the Stormtroopers especially looked really cool when they were coming out of the ship
5:09
at the start. I thought that was really, really cool looking. But
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also interesting the Inquisitor using Force Echoes. A very rare Force skill
5:23
that we don't see. We only really see it with good guys, don't we? I think Ahsoka
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and Cal Kestis. I don't think I've ever seen any of the
5:31
Darkseid use it before. Yeah, so it's quite interesting that this Inquisitor is using the Force Echoes to track them down
5:39
I thought that was really cool. I thought it was a really interesting way of introducing them
5:45
I do like that Daki is realising that Devon is starting to edge towards Maul
5:52
I thought he's very astute, he's very aware. Really good quote there, wasn't there? I can't remember it exactly, but he says something along the lines of
6:00
you know, that's your voice, but those are Maul's words or something like that. That is exactly pretty much what you said
6:07
Riley's stepping up as well, the son, obviously getting the confidence from Lawson
6:13
And the mom sucks. That's what I'll put down there. The mom sucks
6:18
Everything's fine. There was a quote as well, mate. I think it might be my favourite quote of the entire show
6:23
that I've seen so far in this episode, where I think it's Rook Kast says to Maul
6:30
she tried to kill you and he goes yes she'll make a fine apprentice it's like yeah i'm willing to
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take this and i did actually make a note the fact that maul is willing to take the risk to get devon
6:42
i think that was actually i think that might be in episode six where they had the conversation of wanting to go for that but let talk about episode six I feel episode five was a bit of a slow burner bit of a character development one nothing major
6:56
Vero, live in the fight another day. Morse like, yeah, I'm done with you. See you later
7:02
Lieutenant Blake, sassing the finger snap. Yeah, that was good. Clicking the fingers
7:10
I did like that. Just someone in the Empire like, dude, do what I say
7:14
Love that. Episode six, I thought, had a great opening. Maul training. Now his legs are working again fully
7:22
I just thought it was very interesting the way he was training and prepping himself. It was interesting to see him get a little bit of a repair job going on there as well
7:30
I didn't know if that was supposed to insinuate something or if it's supposed to be sort of like
7:40
Like a metaphor for something, I wasn't really sure because we've never seen him before
7:44
apart from when he's been cut in half, have problems really mechanically with those legs
7:48
I think it was probably just plot device saying, like in a few episodes, time for someone running about
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because obviously they need to have these legs ready to fight the Inquisitor. This is just kind of a
7:57
yep, that was a plot device. We'll fix that plot device. Move on. Got you
8:01
It's kind of the way I was looking at it. I thought it was quite funny that we had the father bonding time
8:06
and the kids bonding time. I thought that was kind of nice saying, well, I'm doing this to protect my son
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Well, I'm doing this to protect Devin, who is de facto his daughter that that's what they're basically saying because of everything
8:18
that's happened it's a father daughter dynamic i know you're not meant to have that dynamic as a
8:22
jedi but technically the jedi don't exist anymore so those rules kind of go out the window a little
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bit and i feel like ducky is even though he's old school and very much following the jedi order i
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think he's kind of realizing you can't be that way anymore you have to look after each other he
8:40
needs that but also you say he's old school mate and he looked very through the previous episodes
8:47
he's very sort of like slow and ambling and decrepit but when he pulls that saber out he
8:52
had a few moves didn't he oh yeah it was kind of like the yoda thing when you see yoda fight like
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he comes across with his walking stick but then as soon as he gets his lightsaber out what walking
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stick yeah but i have the injury i feel like maybe playing a part in it as well he's very badly injured
9:08
but then still fighting. Could it be something internal? Obviously, we don't know yet
9:15
Talking about Inquisitors, more of the Inquisitor. How great was that? Both visually, action
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There's something about the movement as well, mate. We'll jump into the house
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The house was the first one, sorry. When they go to the house, yeah. What a daft move, though, really, to be fair
9:35
turning up at their house. I know they wanted to hide and stuff, but it was never going to work was it
9:40
the moment that I saw them at the door I knew they were doomed I think that's not really
9:44
their fault I think it's Lawson believing the Empire were just going to let him walk away
9:49
because I think obviously we saw the Inquisitor forced sensing what had happened
9:56
had they sensed what Lawson had did and informed them they're going to go to them
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I'd assume that he picked up echoes of that and of the conversation and stuff yeah um but yeah that was that was really impressive
10:12
sort of in that tight space to have such dynamism in that fight in the little flat really cool
10:17
and it was a bit because it's so not not the word compact that's it because it's so compact
10:24
it really changed their like fighting style as well and adapt and again i feel like if you compare
10:29
Devon now to Devon episode one in terms of confidence, attitude. Like she was scared to take on Maul
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She stepped up to Maul and Inquisit has arrived and she's just going into it
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Her confidence is really building, which is I'm finding interesting. And is it some arrogance coming into play
10:52
Very possibly. The most arrogant other than her actions was in that
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I think it's just after or during the quote I said earlier, when she says something like um uh like hiding seemed a waste of our powers you know and again
11:05
there's that little bit of sort of entitlement creeping in that little bit sort of well i could
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be doing so much more you know but that's a young person thing isn't it remember she is very very
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young but it's more in the back of her mind he's just always there kind of whispering but that's
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why it's so hard mate because he is manipulating he is whispering but he's right he's right that
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they have to unite to bring down the greater evil even if it means compromising on their values
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between the two of them so it's part of why i really love this show at the moment like the
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nuance of that like there's no good or bad between devon and maul it's just what we've got to do
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to get it done and again the comparisons of andor that quote in andor about um taking on the weapons
11:55
of my enemy uh to essentially to win this is what they have to do here and it goes completely against
12:03
the jedi code but it's it's the right thing to do it is a good and someone and i'm i'm can't
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remember who they are but i am going to give them a shout out because we're fighting for the word and they said anti-hero which um yes it is the perfect word so whoever that was apologies i can't
12:17
Thank you for that. But yes, it is a good anti-hero story
12:22
You kind of want Maul to win, but you know that's not right
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And I feel like I'm cheering on Maul more than I'm cheering on the Jedi
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Yeah, and you want him to win, but you also want him to learn some lessons
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You know, you want him to maybe win in the right way, if you know what I mean
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Something happens that changes him, maybe. And obviously we know we've got a season two now
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That is confirmed. So now we know that the way this season ends is going to leave some wiggle room
12:51
It's not going to be open and shut story. There is going to be more to it, which I'm both happy and sad about
12:58
because I like to have a definitive ending to the story, but them leaving bits open to a second season and now we've passed halfway
13:08
I'm actually really happy about that. There's a long way to, or a lot of play with, mate
13:13
when you consider his appearance in the end of the Clone Wars
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all the way up to when we see him right at the end of Solo. I mean, that's what, 15 years, 10 years, something like that
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So there's a hell of a lot of story potentially there. And we obviously know his fate with Obi-Wan at the end
13:31
So we know it one of those plot armors that I hate so much Whitworth said a really interesting thing about that He was saying look you know where he ends up and you know what his characterization is there when he sort of pretending to be old
13:45
and trying to maneuver Ezra into a certain position. And you know him from before in the Clone Wars
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and he was talking about how all the work in Shadow Lord
13:54
is getting from that one place to the other sort of like slowly, carefully, deliberately with purpose, you know
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and i just love the fact that we we feel like we know him but we don't know him and i feel like this
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show is showing a different side the more than we've seen previous we're getting more time more
14:12
in depth and i love this version of more yeah yeah he's um like i said anti-hero is the is the
14:19
perfect way we're rooting for him uh but it doesn't mean he's necessarily good we want what he wants
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but it doesn't mean that necessarily the way he'll rule afterwards if he was to win spoiler he doesn't
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obviously we know the empire maintain um but he'd probably still do evil things if he was to win
14:36
you know this is really interesting but the question is are you wanting devon to turn to
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maul's side or do you want to stay with dackey that is the point now where we're at where it's
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kind of like story-wise i want to see what devon does with maul i want to see collaboration between
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all of the parties there you know including uh lawson i want to see moral uh i want to see like
15:01
people putting aside their morality their ethics to defy defeat the the greater evil that's what
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i like to see because again i think it's so interesting and the the the conflict within
15:15
that team is what makes the story you know so as many different complications that we can have as
15:21
possible would just make for a more interesting story to me so ducky alongside maul that would be
15:26
interesting it'd be fun and also i love the fact like devon was ready to fight maul like holding
15:32
the saber and maul's just like nope just turns it off there's no fight here yeah it's so funny
15:38
there's never been a fight here like ducky if you think was the one that kind of went for maul
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but devon even when she was standing up against him maul wasn't even putting up much of a fight
15:49
He wasn't ever in danger. He was actually being defensive. Like when they're stood in that walkway
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he never really attacked fully. It was all defensive play to push her on the offensive
16:02
I think that, you know, although we won't have seen all of this on screen, I appreciate some of it's in a comic
16:07
so not everyone will be aware of this, but like obviously the way that Maul was treated by Palpatine
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and the violence he experienced at his hand and the way he was just thrown away like rubbish
16:19
I feel like that all impacts upon who he is now, because before he gets to this point
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he has Savage Opress, his brother, as an apprentice, and he's kicking him, he's unkind to him
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he's horrible to him, very sort of Palpatine-esque, and it just ends in Palpatine murdering
16:37
So I feel like all these things from before have informed the direction he's in now
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who he is now, and while he's not being, like, kind in the way he's giving them cuddles
16:48
and asking them how they are, the kindness that he's showing is relative to like the starting point that we saw him at you know
16:54
yeah it's really interesting i am loving the story development um i love the fact that we
17:00
got soul back and i i was saying that i think lawson used to be a bounty hunter from how good
17:07
a shot he is and then we found out soul was a bounty hunter back in the day and they looked
17:11
after each other lawson used to be a bounty hunter it's very possible it's very possible
17:17
I wonder if his wife was someone that was tracking him. I was thinking this watching it, because, again
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it was the third time I've seen that episode where she's in the hologram
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And she's checking back. Have you noticed when she's talking to her son? She keeps looking behind her like someone's watching her
17:36
or someone's coming for her or whatever. And I was like, I wonder what her job actually is in the Empire
17:43
It's interesting. I'm sure we'll probably get more of it in future episodes because they won't leave us hanging on that
17:48
unless it's a season two story. But are they going to do the cliche
17:53
Like, obviously, I know you probably can't answer, but do you think they're going to do the cliche
17:57
where Riley might be force sensitive himself? And that's kind of passed from Lawson
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That's why Lawson's such a good shot. Are they going to go that cliche? I hope not
18:06
I say, how would you feel about that if they did go that route? I feel like it's making people force sensitive
18:11
for force sensitive sake. We don't need everyone in the show to be a force wielder sometimes it's just awesome for the fact that lonesome kicks ass yeah no i
18:23
haven't seen any hints of that yet but you know the force essentially is open to everyone you never
18:29
know um but yeah i i don't think that that will be a fred a final few notes from me um i've just
18:38
put is visually stunning i thought that fight on the train just looked amazing um i did like the
18:46
lawson ducky quip off where each of them had to make like a little funny quip like i'm gonna out
18:51
dad joke you then you can with me yeah um i do want to see more of soul um i think it's really
18:58
interesting to see how she will be as a bounty hunter and if she escapes the um the empire which
19:03
I'm sure she will. Devon got some points for the landing. I thought, well done, Devon
19:10
That was really, really good. Spybot, just being Spybot. He's great, mate
19:16
He's like more shiny Imperials or something. Shiny Impies. Impies, that's what he likes to call them
19:25
Just past halfway. Next week is where you are fully caught up with everybody else
19:33
so over halfway how are you feeling about it cj overall obviously we've been through the ups and
19:40
downs you do your ups and downs videos but if you were just if someone asked you now oh is it any
19:45
goods or what do you think of it what would you be your broad sort of assessment at this it has
19:48
surpassed my expectations i thought was going to be good enjoyable um but it has been better than i expected
19:57
I personally think, and a lot of people might disagree with this, I might
20:03
actually prefer this over Andor. Wow, yeah, well, this is the great thing about
20:07
Star Wars, mate, we've all got our little areas that we prefer things in. Yeah, no, it's perfectly valid
20:13
I know it's shorter and like 23 minute episode animations and stuff
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but I just feel like the dialogue and the story is just
20:23
being fully quality really well thought out It been dynamic it been good to watch and yes they got 23 minute episodes so it way more than half the time ando has and because it animated they
20:40
do have a bit more kind of wiggle room and the kind of action that they can do and everything
20:45
like that yeah well just looking at his individual shows i feel like i'm enjoying more and more than
20:51
hasn't joined and or and i loved and or definitely valid yeah you're saying about the different uh
20:56
like the limitations between live action and the animation stuff anymore i'm really interested and
21:00
i hope they do like a little behind the scenes thing even if it's on youtube or whatever that
21:04
battle we saw on the train i want to know which bits were motion captured and which bits were
21:11
animated and because there is and how they did it because there are certain bits where it looks like
21:16
i've sped up the footage a little bit because the movements is so sort of like stark and striking
21:20
almost like a big cat sort of thing. Yeah, I'm really interested in
21:26
because it's such a mishmash of different techniques that have brought this together
21:30
I really would like to see how and where they compiled the bits together
21:35
to make it what it is, you know. That would be really cool to see. Hopefully we'll get that
21:39
They might do like a making of at the end of the series because obviously they're keeping a lot of things secret
21:45
Even the press have not seen the final two episodes. And it's sad to say we are two weeks away
21:50
from the end of Maul Shadowlord. That is good to say. And I think it ends just before..
21:59
It ends on... May 4th? May 4th. Maybe there's a big thing they're doing
22:06
because the two episodes from the press and the air in the final two episodes on May 4th
22:12
Could they be doing a Darth Vader? Well, it ends on a cliffhanger. Who's he talking to
22:16
Is he talking to Vader? Is he talking to Sidious? i don't think we'll be disappointed whatever it is not like i said i don't know i haven't seen
22:25
those last two either um but i've got high hopes mate uh the the next week is yeah one of my
22:34
favorite episodes is in next week uh but i but it's interesting because obviously we like different
22:38
things it's more of an introspective episode on maul so i'm i'm wondering how you'll feel about
22:43
it whether you'll think it's a little bit slow uh but for me but no i like i love character
22:49
development i'm a big fan of story and character development the only reason i was down on episode
22:53
five a bit was i don't feel we actually got that much character development it was more
22:58
placing the chess pieces where they needed for the next bit rather than we didn't have any big
23:04
character revelations in episode five or anything like that with maul especially there's lots of
23:10
things which maybe as the show's gone on you might you might remember you might not but with this
23:16
episode that I'm talking about where it's basically him focusing on him you'll be like
23:21
oh yeah, no I saw that some of these things that maybe you didn't necessarily think were big
23:26
or important, they'll make sense and you'll go, oh right, yeah, no Because we haven't had much more time when you think about it
23:32
it is called Maul Shadowload but when you think about it we don't actually get
23:38
Maul on screen that much I was saying this earlier to Danny, my partner
23:42
like, they've got to stop calling these shows after character names because like you've just said there one of the biggest things i ever see
23:50
in a complaint online is when they go oh well it's it's called ahsoka and ahsoka's barely in it it's
23:55
called maul and maul's barely in it you've got to get some creative names going i think but also
24:00
it's the hook that get you to watch it because let's be fair as soon as i said the maul shadow
24:05
lord everyone is invested i feel like yes we're not getting much more but when we are getting more
24:12
we are getting quality and it's one of those quantity over quality i am loving this version
24:18
of mole and maybe because it's dark and mysterious that's what's making more the best version that
24:24
he is and if we had more on too much maybe we wouldn't enjoy him as much as a character it's
24:31
it's a tough balance but i feel that was my fear coming into the show mate i think we said a couple
24:35
of weeks ago like i wasn't sure if you could take him from this sort of like pathos driven
24:40
villain who's really good in short bursts. I think someone said to me the other day that he's got like 10 minutes screen time total
24:49
in all of Rebels or whatever. And he's incredible in it. But I was like, how do you take a character like that and then put them into their own show
24:56
So, yeah, I guess adaptions had to be made. Yeah, but I'm enjoying it
25:00
I think this is an absolutely brilliant series. Now we've passed the halfway point. I am confident
25:05
I'm just hoping they can deliver. but obviously the higher-ups are obviously confident as well
25:10
because it's not a cheap show they make. Animation, motion capture, all of that, it's not easy to make
25:17
And they're doing it the most expensive way possible by smashing all these different techniques together
25:21
It's not like they're just outsourcing it all to Taiwan or wherever. But they're willing to give it a season two
25:27
which means that the second half of the season is going to be interesting
25:31
I can't believe it's only hit halfway, but there's only two weeks left. It's a weird way of numbers, but it's exciting
25:37
Any final thoughts? I know you've said we're going to get a bit more Maul backstory next week
25:43
Yeah, I guess people like yourself who are thinking, when are we going to get more Maul
25:49
You know, just look forward to next week. There's plenty of focus on Maul, introspective as to who he is
25:56
why he is and how he feels about some things that we know have happened in the past
26:01
And I'm looking forward to chatting to you next week because after next week
26:05
you're going to be as blind as I am. And I'm looking forward to chatting some theories
26:09
Yeah, and we will speculate a lot. Thank you so much, Luke, for chatting with me
26:15
And thank you all for watching these and commenting and telling us about your thoughts
26:19
on more as well. We appreciate you all. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button as well
26:24
I'm doing more ups and downs over the week on each episode, so please check those out
26:29
And of course, we have a new series joining us on Star Wars, which is called Star Rants
26:34
where myself and Sean from Trek Culture discuss your rants. What is annoying you in the Star Trek and Star Wars universe
26:43
So check that out as well. I haven't seen those yet, mate. I'm looking forward to checking one of those out
26:48
I saw that it went up on the page. When we're filming this, this is the Monday
26:53
It went out today, but this video comes out. It came out yesterday, guys, when you see this
26:58
Please check it out. It's good fun. I'm going to have to check it out after we've finished filming, I reckon. Yeah, definitely do that
27:04
Definitely do that. But thank you, Luke. Thank you, everyone, for watching. Please take care
27:08
Let us know what you thought of Shadowlord. And we'll be back next week
27:12
But until then, may the Force be with you