Oooh, things are getting excited on Clone Wars. After gathering together a huge criminal army last week, Darth Maul and Pre Vizsla are ready to take over Mandalore. But they're not going in for a stright-up attack. No, they're going to play this smart. Maul will send out his criminals to attack different parts of Mandalore's capital which Duchess Satine's guards will be unable to deal with. These attacks will create an unease amongst the Mandalorian people, shaking faith in Satine's pacifist government. Then Vizsla and Death Watch will step in and "defeat" the criminals, getting support from the people. This will allow for Death Watch to take the reigns of government with little fuss. Good plan. But of course because this is a villain team-up, both Maul and Vizsla are going to try and screw the other over. They're both just using the other to take over Mandalore. And we get to sit back and wait to see who's going to betray the other one first.
More after the break,
So they move forward with the plan and everything goes off without a hitch. Duchess Satine tries to calm her people down but when Death Watch comes in and starts performing random acts of heroism against Maul's criminals, she loses all control. Vizsla shows up at her door and she peacefully abdicates. She's not happy about it, but doesn't want any bloodshed to come from this. Satine is thrown in prison and ends up next Almec, her former Prime Minister. Almec got into some illegal shit a season or so back and Satine tossed his ass in prison. He comments on their similar positions and Satine kind of just sulks. Vizsla is only keeping her alive to draw Obi-Wan out.
We'll continue in a sec, but I just want to comment on the stupidity of the Mandalorians. First, their guards are giant wusses. Maul's criminals show up and they put up a pathetic fight. Satine, I know you're a pacifist, but having some guys around who can fight will help you keep your neutrality. And it's not like this is an invading army, these are standard criminal thugs. Shouldn't you already have some people designated to handle this? Also, People of Mandalore, why do you so easily trust Death Watch? I know they are saving your lives, but did you just forget about all the terrorist attacks they committed in the not too recent past? You know, the reason your duchess banished them in the first place?
Sorry, just had to get that out. Anyway, Vizsla and Death Watch are now in control of Mandalore. Maul arrives at the palace, ready to put his plan of using Mandalore as a base to gather further power into action, when Vizsla betrays him and tosses him in prison. See, Vizsla just wanted control of Mandalore back and now he's got it. Maul and Savage stew in prison, figuring it's not too late to put in their own puppet leader if they can take out Vizsla soon. So they bust out, kill their Death Watch guards with Sith powers and go scouting for a puppet. That's when they come across Satine and Almec. Almec points out that if Maul challenges Vizsla to single combat and wins, Death Watch must swear their loyalty to him. This gets him the job as puppet leader.
So Maul busts into the palace with a Death Watch member in a force choke and challenges Vizsla. Vizsla accepts and a pretty great fight breaks out. I thought this would be one-sided, after all Maul's a damn monster when it comes to fights, but the two are actually rather evenly matched. Vizsla using his guns, his black-light sword and all the gadgets of his Boba Fett armor against Maul's acrobatics and Force powers. Vizsla even manages to knock Maul's lightsaber away. But only one can win and Maul gives Vizsla a hell of beating, just tossing his body around like a ragdoll, before eventually decapitating him with his own black-light sword. Most of Death Watch kneel to him there, but Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) won't have it. She and a few of the other Death Watch have to make an escape. Almec goes before the people, blaming Satine for Xizsla's death, and announces he's the new Prime Minister. And our episode ends with Maul sitting on the throne of Mandalore like a total badass.
Overall, a great continuation of the story. Everybody's still on top game, Witwer is still incredible as Maul and this storyline just gets me more excited. Special mention to the animation team on the Maul-Vizsla fight, one of the best fights all season. Just more goodness from last week.
But there's been one thing on my mind ever since Maul came back and it's going to be a bigger deal if his plan works. What exactly is Palpatine going to do about Maul? By all accounts, Palps was always using Maul as pawn. Just one piece in a really long game. But now Maul is unexpectedly back on the board. Doesn't this affect Palpatine's long con toward the Empire? And what's Maul thinking about his former master, because I'm guessing he's probably pissed. Palps did just abandon him. And did Maul know Sidious, his master, was Palpatine? Am I just getting my hopes up for a Maul-Sidious fight? Because this was back when Palpatine could still kick ass without Force lightning.
All in all, just more awesome. Can't wait for more. Give Sam Witwer some kind of award for this performance.
See you next week.
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