Strength of character can defeat strength in numbers.
Fueled by vengeance and rage, the newly reunited brothers Darth Maul and Savage Opress spread terror and violence across the galaxy. As the Sith brothers forcibly recruit Hondo Ohnaka and his pirates, Obi-Wan Kenobi and fellow Council member Adi Gallia chase them down, leading to a deadly confrontation on Florrum.
Tropes:
- Anachronic Order: This episode was intentionally pushed up to be the season five premiere by the producers, which is why most of the episodes aired after this one feature Adi Gallia still alive on the Council and Hondo's base being completely intact. However, the DVD/Blu-Ray release puts it in the proper chronological order.
- An Arm and a Leg:
- Obi-Wan cuts off Savage's left arm and breaks his knee with repeated kicks to it.
- One of Maul's prosthetic legs is shot off by Hondo as he and Savage flee from the battle.
- Arson, Murder, and Admiration: Hondo's reaction when he learns that some of his men have betrayed him.Hondo: Traitors! Scum! I'm so proud! ...and so betrayed.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Maul firmly establishes the pecking order between himself and Savage by flooring his brother in a brief dust-up, and tries to keep the pirates in line through shows of force. Deconstructed in the latter case; shows of force can frighten someone into following orders, but as soon as the tide turns against Maul, the pirates side with Hondo because he treats them better than anyone expects Maul to.
- Bad Boss: One of the pirates Maul hires away from Hondo expresses doubt about betraying his captain. How does Maul respond? He guts that pirate in front of Hondo to make a point. Averted with his treatment of Savage, as Maul shows genuine concern for his brother, abandoning their duel with Obi-Wan after Savage loses an arm.
- Badass Boast: Cornered and outnumbered two to one, Obi-Wan refuses to back down to Maul and Savage.Maul: Surrender. We are two, and you are no match for us both.
Obi-Wan: [ignites both his and Adi Gallia's lightsabers] You are mistaken. - Big Brother Instinct: After Obi-Wan cuts off Savage's arm, Maul violently Force-pushes Obi-Wan away, grabs Savage, and makes a run for it.
- Big "NO!": Obi-Wan shouts one when he sees Savage kill Adi Gallia.
- Chekhov's Gun: While dueling Savage, Adi Gallia kicks his left knee. After her death, Obi-Wan kicks that same knee several more times during his fight with Savage and Maul, eventually dislocating it.
- Cliffhanger Copout: The previous episode ended with Maul ominously awaiting the inevitable hunt that the Jedi would bring against them. This episode opens with the brothers having done little but murder and pillage since then, and Maul worries about their lack of a proper plan or powerbase in the face of Jedi pursuit.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: The blasters of the pirates who stay loyal to Hondo fire blue bolts, while those who are persuaded to join Maul and Savage shoot red. When Hondo persuades those pirates back to his side, their blasters start firing blue. This is the only time in the series that something like this has happened within an episode, although there have been several occasions where the blaster bolt color of bounty hunter characters changed between episodes depending on whether they are currently with or against the protagonists.
- Combat Pragmatist:
- In the opening reel, Maul stabs a Twi'lek Jedi in the back while she's distracted saving her friend from Savage.
- Savage takes advantage of the six-inch spikes growing out of his head to get the better of Adi Gallia.
- In the midst of a swordfight, Obi-Wan dislocates Savage's knee to create an opening to lop off his arm.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: Obi-Wan is capable of defeating the two brothers on his own, even when under normal circumstances each of them would pose a deadly threat on his own.
- Continuity Nod: Obi-Wan refers back to bisecting Maul to express his doubt that the brothers died when their ship crashed.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: For Adi Gallia — being impaled on the horns of a Horned Humanoid and then stabbed by his lightsaber certainly qualifies.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- The InterGalactic Banking Clan's guard droids are little more than a minor inconvenience for Maul and Savage.
- While it's doubtful either of them was seriously trying to injure the other, Maul quickly gets the better of Savage when the two come to blows early in the episode.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: The difference between Maul and Savage's pasts is shown when Maul first tries to establish himself as the duo's leader; Savage, unused to the Sith's power-hungry ways, argues that there is no need for dominance between the brothers, while Maul forcibly asserts himself as master to his brother's apprentice, a dynamic that Maul grew up under.
- Diabolical Mastermind: Maul describes himself and Savage as "crime lords" and tries to start building up a powerbase with Hondo's pirates. This ends up blowing up in their faces, but at the end of this episode, Obi-Wan fears that the criminal underworld is exactly the kind of place where someone like Maul can flourish.
- Dropped a Bridge on Her: Adi Gallia's fate in this episode in a nutshell.
- Dual Wielding: Obi-Wan takes up Adi Gallia's lightsaber in his left hand when facing the brothers on his own.
- Enemy Mine: For the second time while facing the two Sith brothers, Obi-Wan teams up with someone who was a previous enemy of his. This time, it's Hondo and his gang of pirates.
- Entertainingly Wrong: A few characters initially assume that Maul and Savage are renegade Jedi; the Sith are not widely known, and even those who do know about them are aware that there are only supposed to be two Sith Lords in the entire galaxy. The only reason there are more than two Sith currently is because of Maul's completely unexpected survival.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: After Savage is maimed, Maul abandons the fight with Obi-Wan and tries to escape the battle. As the tide turns even further against them, Maul and Savage lean on each other as they limp away.
- Evil Versus Evil:
- Savage's reluctance to accept that his brother wants to force him into the role of servant results in a brief confrontation between them.
- Later the fight between the members of Hondo's gang who join the brothers and those who remain loyal to him.
- Finger-Tenting: Palpatine does this in the final shot of the episode, having forbidden Obi-Wan from continuing to pursue Maul and Savage.
- Four Is Death: In a meta-example, this is the fourth episode in The Clone Wars that Adi Gallia has an active role in. Also, in "Witches of the Mist", there are four Council members waiting for the remains of Savage Opress' first victims to be brought back to the Temple. Gallia is the first to speak of the brutality of their murder, and the only one among them who isn't alive by the time of Revenge of the Sith.
- Foreshadowing: And doubles as a Call-Back, Savage insists he and Maul can share their power and don't need dominance between them. Savage was forced into this life, as he'll remind Maul at his death.
- Futureshadowing: Hondo's base is now in ruins. Watching the fifth season in the order it was initially aired, not until "A Necessary Bond" will you learn how that happened.
- Genre Blindness: Hondo happily assumes that Maul and Savage were vaporized when his men fail to find their bodies.
- Horn Attack: Savage incapacitates Adi Gallia by headbutting her with his horns, before finishing her off with his lightsaber.
- Idiot Ball: After his previous encounter with Maul and Savage, you'd think Obi-Wan would bring in more Jedi to deal with the extremely powerful Sith and pirates. Instead, he only brings one Jedi Master, who is killed by the end of the episode.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
- In the opening real, Maul kills a Twi'lek Jedi by stabbing her through the back.
- Maul fatally skewers a reluctant defector to make a point to Hondo.
- Savage first gores Adi Gallia with his horns, then finishes her off with his lightsaber.
- Insult BackfireMaul: Filth! You will pay for your insolence!
Hondo: Insolence?! [laughs] We are pirates! We don't even know what that means! - Kick the Dog: Maul guts one of Hondo's pirates just to make a point.
- Killed Off for Real: Adi Gallia is killed by Savage.
- Know When to Fold 'Em:
- The defecting pirates surrender and return to Hondo's fold when the tide turns against them.
- After Savage is maimed by Obi-Wan, Maul decides to grab his brother and flee. This decision is only reinforced when they discover that the pirates have turned on them.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After Adi Gallia is killed by Savage, Obi-Wan uses her lightsaber to cut off his left arm.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Being a Bad Boss is a terrible way to secure genuine loyalty. Maul tries to control Hondo's pirates through violence and fear, but as soon as the tide turns against them, the pirates defect back to Hondo, who they trust not to kill them for no reason.
- Money Is Not Power: Maul is dismissive of the funds he and Savage obtain early in the episode, considering money useless without a plan of action.Savage: Look, brother! A fortune!
Maul: True fortune will be the demise of Kenobi. Credit chips are useless without a plan to survive. - Mythology Gag: The Snivvian seen talking to Obi-Wan Kenobi and Adi Gallia is dressed in a blue jumpsuit and silver boots, a nod to the coveted Blue Snaggletooth made by Kenner.
- Never Found the Body: The pirates find no sign of Maul and Savage in the wreckage of their ship. Hondo assumes that they were vaporized, but Obi-Wan, being well-acquainted with Maul's utter refusal to stay dead, doesn't believe it.
- Oh, Crap!: Hondo only really shows fear of Maul and Savage when he hears that they killed Adi Gallia and managed to repel Obi-Wan.Hondo: Where's the other Jedi?
Obi-Wan: She's... She's dead.
Hondo: She's d—? They're too powerful for even you? I am semi-speechless! - Pet the Dog: While stern, Maul doesn't go any further than necessary to subdue Savage, entreats his new apprentice to trust him, and abandons a duel with his hated Arch-Enemy to get a wounded Savage to safety, proving Maul to be a far cry from the cruelty and abuse of his own Sith Master.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: When Savage ignites his lightsaber to challenge Maul, Maul simply remarks "I see it is time for a lesson" before quickly subduing his brother.
- Rule of Two: Maul, seeking to establish himself as a rival Dark Lord of the Sith to his former master, officially takes Savage as his Sith apprentice, specifically citing the Rule of Two as he does.Maul: Always two, there are, my brother. A master and an apprentice. And you are the apprentice.
- Running Gag: Various characters keep assuming that Maul and Savage are Jedi, despite all appearances.
- Standard Hollywood Strafing Procedure: The traitorous pirates begin their attack on Hondo's base by sending fighters to strafe it, complete with parallel lasers firing into the ground, cutting down Hondo's Mooks. Hondo himself stands his ground between the two lines of fire and is not hit.
- Traitor Shot: Palpatine, glaring at the camera while sitting at his desk and steepling his fingers.
