The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Savage Opress has finally found his brother, Darth Maul, crippled and insane as a result of his duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Now, Savage brings Maul to their home planet Dathomir, where Mother Talzin, the Nightsister shaman-witch, might help him recover. Savage and Maul then pursue Obi-Wan Kenobi in search of revenge, and the Jedi Master finds himself forced to unite with a surprising ally to defend against the deadly siblings.
Tropes:
- Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: After Maul's restoration, there's a scene where Savage fills him in on the current state of affairs, with Maul lamenting that the grand plan he was once a vital part of has proceeded without him, and Savage encouraging his brother to begin again.
- All There in the Manual: Obi-Wan and Ventress escape the transport by using the specially built cockpit/escape-ship, apparently leaving Savage and Maul drifting in space. However, the episode guide reveals that the room in which the brothers discuss their next steps at the end of this episode is a secondary cockpit for the transport.
- Artificial Limbs: Mother Talzin uses parts of wrecked Super Battle Droids to forge a new set of legs for Maul.
- Atop a Mountain of Corpses: Maul is standing on one when he first appears to Obi-Wan on Raydonia.
- Best Served Cold: By the end of this episode, Maul realizes that after waiting for his revenge for so long, he really can afford to wait a little longer.
- Body Horror: Maul's transformation by Mother Talzin looks very excruciating. Notably, she heats and forges the metal for Maul's new legs after attaching the metal to his body.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Obi-Wan is disarmed and overpowered by Maul and Savage in about ten seconds. The only reason Maul doesn't kill him on the spot is because he wants to make him "suffer as I have suffered", and make his death as drawn-out and excruciating as possible.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Obi-Wan pretends he doesn't know Maul, to make sure it's the real deal and not another Nightbrother using his name, but Maul rebuts this by calling him out on forgetting Qui-Gon's death so easily.
- Call-Forward: When Maul and Savage arrive on Raydonia, we see a shot of Maul igniting his lightsaber while standing in front of a group of unsuspecting children in the same way Anakin will do in Revenge of the Sith.
- Central Theme: Revenge, of course. Maul's obsession with revenge on Obi-Wan is one of the only things he managed to hold on to through his years of insanity, and once he's healed, the plot of the episode is driven by his attempts at taking revenge for his suffering. It's downplayed, but it's implied that Savage wants revenge against Ventress for his previous mistreatment (his tone as he tells Maul who she is definitely implies some bad blood) and Maul taunts Obi-Wan by implying that he, too, wants revenge, in this case for Maul's killing of Qui-Gon.
- Cliffhanger: This episode ends with Obi-Wan and Ventress barely escaping in the cockpit/escape ship. Savage wants to go after them, fearing that the Jedi will know too much if they inform them, but Maul dismisses his concerns, counting on the Jedi to come after the two of them.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Savage effortlessly defeats Obi-Wan in their brief duel. Of course, it helps that Obi-Wan is distracted by Maul's presence and he doesn't expect Savage to be there either. Then, Maul easily smacks Obi-Wan around some more when they are fighting one-on-one, though this is after Maul and Savage rough Obi-Wan up and Maul is taunting Obi-Wan about Qui-Gon's death, which enrages Obi-Wan and made him sloppy with his mind clouded by anger.
- Defiant Captive: Despite being completely at Maul's mercy and facing a painful death, Obi-Wan doesn't stop taunting Maul, making cracks about his legs and jokingly lamenting that in cutting Maul in half, he should have aimed a bit higher.
- Enemy Mine: Obi-Wan and Ventress team up against Maul and Savage. Bonus points since Maul has taken Obi-Wan's lightsaber from him, so Ventress lends Obi-Wan one of hers.Ventress: I want that back.
Obi-Wan: That's fine. Red's not my color. - Establishing Character Moment: Maul's trap for Obi-Wan on Raydonia fully establishes his new characterization; As opposed to being a blunt instrument just like he was back in The Phantom Menace, Maul is now his own agent, and demonstrates the brutality (slaughtering a village full of innocent people) and cunning (using the village as bait and having Savage be ready to ambush Obi-Wan) that defines his appearances from this point on.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: No time travel is involved, but Maul's isolation and descent into madness mean that he's a bit behind on current affairs and has to be filled in by Savage. Although he laments having lost the destiny he aspired to as Sidious' apprentice, Maul isn't particularly thrown by the passage of time and isn't the least bit surprised by the galaxy being at war (Maul's actor, Sam Witwer, noted in the episode's commentary that Maul was aware of the broad strokes of Sidious' grand plan, so being informed of the Clone Wars simply serves as confirmation that the plan proceeded without him).
- Foreshadowing: Maul comments to Savage that they will "start" with revenge, hinting at the larger goals he starts working towards in later episodes.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: The various posters
in the ship include pinups and a Space Wars poster.- The Ortolan pinup poster reads "To my #1 fan, <3 Miss Ortoly".
- The magazine cover is from a magazine line called "Sop", and the headlines read "How To Survive Bounty Hunters", "Exclusive: Jabba's Hottest Slave Girls", "Measure Your M.C.", and a "Have You Seen?" wanted poster of concept art Chewbacca. The model is also wearing Leia's slave bikini.
- The pinup with the girl and the millipede creature reads "This is a pinup of a Quarzite girl giving a piece of flesh meat to a baby Quarzite millipede. The millipede is a voracious carnivore that is trained from its birth to devour Belugan flesh, the Quarzite ninja clans' eternal enemy. With the recent attack on Princess Pluma, the millipede population has grown in greater number. Your (sic) welcome Clos."
- The sticker with the Twi'lek holding a cloak reads "Calrissian Fresh: So Fresh, So Clean".
- The Rodian hypnosis poster reads "Believe".
- The pilot poster reads "Racing".
- The Space Wars poster reads:A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...Space Wars
- The alcoholic drink ad is for a beverage called Maw: Premium.
- Genre Blindness: Obi-Wan insists on going alone to Raydonia, where Maul waits for him, because he fears if he goes there with a Jedi strike team, Maul will slaughter all the villagers. Maul and Savage of course slaughter them before he arrives anyway.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Only the lead-up and aftermath of Maul and Savage's rampage on Raydonia is seen. Maul's message to the Jedi Council, which has him behead a group of hostages, also noticeably cuts away from the actual violence, only showing Maul swinging his blade and the bodies falling to the ground (some of them still twitching).
- He's Back!: Maul finally regains his sanity, and is dead set on getting revenge on Obi-Wan.
- He Knows Too Much: When Ventress reveals herself, Maul remarks that she has seen too much and orders Savage to kill her.
- Honor Before Reason: Obi-Wan follows Maul's direction to go to Raydonia alone, feeling responsible for the carnage and hoping that it will prevent the deranged Sith Lord from killing anymore hostages. Sure enough, when he arrives, Maul has already killed everyone at the outpost, and it's only thanks to Ventress' arrival that Obi-Wan doesn't end up dead himself.
- I Coulda Been a Contender!: Maul laments that as Sidious' apprentice, he was meant for more than what his life has amounted to. Avenging the loss of that destiny is his first priority, and he implies about ambitions to rise to the glory he was once promised.Maul: I was apprenticed to the most powerful being in the galaxy once. I was destined to become... so much more. But I was robbed of that destiny by the Jedi, by Obi-Wan Kenobi...
- I Shall Taunt You:Maul: Your master, Qui-Gon Jinn; I gutted him, while you stood helpless and watched! How did that make you feel, Obi-Wan?
- It's Personal:
- Very much so between Maul and Obi-Wan; although Obi-Wan controls it with his Jedi discipline, he clearly holds a lot of anger towards Maul over Qui-Gon's death, and Maul despises Obi-Wan for maiming him and robbing Maul of his status as Sidious' apprentice.
- Downplayed compared to Maul and Obi-Wan (this episode is, in fact, the last time they meet in the series), but there's still a lot of bad blood between Ventress and Savage; she opts to try and collect the price on his head to put down the monster she herself created, and he clearly holds a grudge over the cruel treatment that led Savage to turn on Ventress in the first place.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Darth Maul takes a running leap over this in the episode. While in the past he had killed Qui-Gon, Qui-Gon is a Jedi, Maul is a Sith. Nothing personal there. What is personal, however, is murdering a bunch of innocent people, including children, just to lure Obi-Wan for the sole sake of revenge.
- Kick the Dog: Maul throws his killing of Qui-Gon in Obi-Wan's face just to provoke him.
- Large Ham: Maul is really Chewing the Scenery during his speech about his hatred towards Obi-Wan.
- Madness Mantra: Maul, demonstrating his insane fixation on Obi-Wan, repeatedly mutters "Kenobi" before being healed.
- Menacing Hand Shot: As a Continuity Nod to the shot of Anakin igniting his lightsaber prior to massacring the Jedi younglings in Revenge of the Sith, Maul gets the same kind of close-up on his hand as he ignites his lightsaber before he and Savage massacre the population of the Raydonia outpost.
- Mythology Gag: Maul's second set of legs are based on his appearance from the non-canon Old Wounds comic.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Savage and Maul beat up Obi-Wan really badly.
- No-Sell: At one point during the fight, Ventress gets on top of Savage's shoulders and starts punching him in the face. At most, it annoys him.
- Off with His Head!: Maul executes a group of hostages by beheading them with a swing of his lightsaber.
- Oh, Crap!: Obi-Wan is disturbed to realise that, beyond any hint of a doubt, Maul has returned, and realises how screwed he is when Savage turns up, making Obi-Wan outmuscled, outnumbered, and swiftly defeated.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Obi-Wan flips out when Maul rubs killing Qui-Gon in his face.
- The Power of Hate: How did Maul survive his bisection at Naboo? His hatred for Obi-Wan fueled him to stay alive.
- Restoration of Sanity: In addition to returning what's left of his body to health, Mother Talzin's magicks restore Maul to lucidity.
- Revenge: The episode's title, Central Theme, and Maul's driving force.
- Rule of Cool: A lightsaber battle between 3 former Sith and a Jedi, involving the Jedi teaming up with a Sith and everyone wielding red lightsabers? Awesome.
- Rule of Symbolism: Maul's lightsaber, like the man himself, is half of what it used to be, but once back in his hands, it's still as deadly as ever.
- Satanic Archetype: As if Maul wasn't this based on his appearance normally, he reintroduces himself to Obi-Wan on Raydonia backlit by a burning building and standing on a pile of corpses. His new legs also end in claws resembling cloven hooves.
- Sibling Team: Maul forms this with Savage.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Ventress and Obi-Wan have this type of interaction during their duel with Maul and Savage.
- Special Edition Title: The opening logo is red instead of yellow, for this episode and "Brothers".
- Staggered Zoom: When Maul runs out of the cave on Dathomir and screams to the sky, the camera jump-zooms out twice to emphasize his volume.
- Stumbling in the New Form: After having having his body and mind restored by Mother Talzin, Darth Maul stumbles on his new cybernetic legs for a couple steps, as he hasn't had them since losing to Obi-Wan over a decade prior.
- Tempting Fate: Obi-Wan says that he will defeat Maul again just like last time — right before Savage shows up to kick his ass. This is even lampshaded by Maul:Maul: [chuckling darkly] Don't be so certain.
- Title Drop:
- A conversation between Maul and Savage.Maul: I was apprenticed to the most powerful being in the galaxy once. I was destined to be... so much more. But I was robbed of that destiny by the Jedi. By Obi-Wan Kenobi...
Savage: Then you must have your revenge, my brother.
Maul: Yes. We will start with revenge. - Earlier in the aforementioned conversation, Savage name-drops the subtitle of the series.Maul: The Force feels... out of balance...
Savage: There is conflict. The Clone Wars.
- A conversation between Maul and Savage.
- To the Pain: Maul goes into some pretty horrifying detail about his planned revenge on Obi-Wan.Maul: I will make sure you stay awake long enough to feel every single cut. Your death will be beyond excruciating. You will suffer as I have suffered!
- Would Hurt a Child: The Call-Forward mentioned above heavily implies that the aforementioned children were the first victims of Maul and Savage's rampage.
- "You!" Exclamation: Unaware of the fraternal connection between them, Obi-Wan is shocked to see Savage with Maul on Raydonia.Obi-Wan: You?!
