History Recap / StarWarsTheCloneWarsS7E10ThePhantomApprentice

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Ahsoka points out that Maul's plan to kill Anakin would have failed miserably given his lackluster performance against her.

* IWantThemAlive: Though Obi-Wan suggested capturing Maul over killing him in the previous episode out of pragmatism, as Maul has an uncanny knack for surviving, he stresses in this episode that Maul's capture is all the more important now that Anakin has killed Dooku and deprived the Jedi of any link to Sidious.

** While he also does not physically appear in the episode, the late Dooku might also be considered a "Phantom Apprentice," since Obi-Wan and Ahsoka express disappointment that Dooku was lost as a source of intelligence on the identity of the "Phantom Menace" (Sidious), and Maul reflects on [[NotSoDifferent their similarities]] as former apprentices of Darth Sidious that turned out to be [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness expendable tools]] intended to be discarded and forgotten.

** Maul also remarks upon this as Dooku's fate, musing that he and the late Count were NotSoDifferent in that they were pawns that Sidious used to advance his own goals and were then cast aside when he had no further use for them.

** The Sith have been taught to fear death and do whatever it takes to stay alive. Maul, having been raised as a Sith since childhood and going to extreme lengths to survive his bisection, begs Ahsoka to let him die because he believes what Sidious has in store for the galaxy is AFateWorseThanDeath for everyone.

* CallBack: The pose Maul makes when he ignites his lightsaber (as seen on the page image) is almost identical to the start of his duel against Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Ahsoka points out that Maul's plan to kill Anakin would have failed miserably if he can't even manage to overpower her.

* NotSoDifferent: Maul implicitly makes one to Jesse, saying that he (Maul) was used as a tool only to be cast aside and forgotten, much like the clones will be once the war is over. He also makes the same comparison between himself, Dooku, and Ahsoka.

* RealityEnsues: Saxon and the Mandalorians allied with Maul launch a massive on-foot infantry attack against the 332nd, who are dug-in and backed up by tanks and air support. While they make enough headway to give the clones pause and inflict substantial casualties, they are ultimately crushed by the combined arms fire the Republic brings to bear against them.

** Additionally, Almec ends up being one for Maul. After being shot by Gar Saxon, Almec is able to utter Skywalker's name to Ahsoka. This ends up being what prevents Ahsoka from siding with Maul in the episode's climax since Maul honestly tells her what Anakin will become and she refuses to believe it.

* VillainousBreakdown: Maul has a short-lived, but ''amazing'' one the moment he realizes he's beaten, raging, and screaming at Ahsoka and the clones that they will all die, as seen in the end page quote.

* KilledOffscreen: In the context of ''The Clone Wars'', Count Dooku has been killed by Anakin Skywalker, though his fate is shown onscreen in ''Revenge of the Sith''.

* SuicidalOverconfidence: Maul is rather very assured that, together, he and Ahsoka can topple Sidious. This is despite the fact that, even with his brother under his full tutelage the first time and Talzin the second, he was unable to best Sidious in their fights prior to meeting Ahsoka. Ahsoka lampshades that given she, a Padawan, is giving him a decent fight in their duel, he wouldn't even beat Anakin.

* HollywoodTactics: This series does this a lot, but this episode provides a particularly stunning example of soldiers armed with laser rifles storming en masse across an open field against other soldiers also armed with laser rifles also running en masse across the same open field (in the opposite direction) in a manner befitting the bloodiest losses of the goddamn Civil War (the last time armies met in that fashion).

* KilledOffscreen: In the context of ''The Clone Wars'' at least, Count Dooku, though his fate is shown onscreen in ''Revenge of the Sith''.

* HisNameIs: Almec is about to reveal the name of the Jedi that Maul ''really'' wanted to lure to Mandalore when Gar Saxon shoots him. He still manages to whisper it out as he dies.

* {{Retcon}}: In the ''[[Literature/StarWarsAhsoka Ahsoka]]'' novel, Ahsoka and Maul trash-talking each other about how the former isn't a real Jedi and the latter is only a "[[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe half]] a Sith"and Maul gets trapped by ray-shields. In this episode, Ahsoka and Maul never trash-talk each other and Maul is instead captured when he is knocked off of a beam by Ahsoka and stunned by Rex. There is also the fact that Ahsoka in this episode fights Maul with blue lightsabers instead of green.

* {{Retcon}}: To ''[[Literature/StarWarsAhsoka Ahsoka]]''. Ahsoka and Maul trash-talking each other about how the former isn't a real Jedi and the latter is only a "[[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe half]] a Sith" as well as Maul getting trapped by ray-shields are not presented in this episode.

In the tunnels of Mandalore, Ahsoka is surrounded by Maul and his loyalists, where Maul was expecting Obi-Wan and Anakin to come over instead. He tells her that the Jedi and the Republic will no longer be in control of the galaxy, and in their place will be Darth Sidious. Rex and the other clones eventually come to Ahsoka's rescue thanks to a distress signal she activated, but Maul quickly gets away afterwards.

** Near the end of their duel, Maul has Ahsoka cornered between his JoinOrDie offer and a high drop, particularly after he had just tried to convince her that Anakin will succumb to the Dark Side. This scene is evocative of Vader doing the same to Luke at the end of their own duel in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', although Ahsoka is in a better state than Luke was and is able to worm her way out of it.

* CannotSpitItOut: While he certainly doesn't want to save the Republic or the Jedi, Maul more than anything else desperately wants Sidious to lose. However, his penchant for spite and schemes prevents him from from just ''telling'' everyone the truth, and by the time he starts trying to, his smugness and self-interest prevents Ahsoka from believing him to the degree she should.

** When the loyalist Mandalorians have the 332nd on the back foot, Bo-Katan and the Nite-Owls arrive to turn the tide.
* TheChessmaster: Maul is finally realizing the true scope of Sidious's grand plan to conquer the galaxy, and that he was far from the only UnwittingPawn to be used and discarded by the Sith lord.

* LowerDeckEpisode: To the end the first-third of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', taking place sometime in-between the Battle of Coruscant and the Battle of Utapau. Obi-Wan's appearance in the episode indicates it occurs sometime after Anakin is given a seat on the Jedi Council, but before Obi-Wan leaves his ''Venator'' to hunt for Grievous on Utapau itself.

* {{Retcon}}: To ''[[Literature/StarWarsAhsoka Ahsoka]]''. Ahsoka and Maul trash-talking each other about how the former isn't a real Jedi and the latter is only a "[[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe half]] a Sith", as well as Maul getting trapped by ray-shields, are not presented in this episode.

* RousingSpeech: Maul makes one to his Mandalorians.

** Maul leaves Saxon and the other loyalists to die once his ship has arrived, as he only needed them to provide a distraction for his escape and they would be a poor fit in his criminal empire even if he cared to help them.

** Likewise, the Jedi Council is still playing politics, and deliberately excludes Ahsoka, which leads to her not telling them crucial data about Anakin.

* WhamLine: Obi-Wan telling Ahsoka about the death of Count Dooku is treated as such. For the audience it's an InternalReveal.

* WhamLine: Obi-Wan telling Ahsoka about the death of Count Dooku is treated as such.

** The DoubleMeaningTitle regarding the identity of the titular apprentice also happened with ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Rebels]]'' episode "Twilight of the Apprentice", which also included Ahsoka, Maul, and Anakin as the candidates.

** When Maul ignites his lightsaber in the throne room, Palpatine's scream from when the Jedi confront him in his office can be heard. [[https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/g7bc09/i_cut_together_maul_and_ahsokas_fight_side_by/ The episode and film can be synced together at this point]] to a disturbing effect, most notably in that Maul raves about how everyone is going to die as Anakin is christened Darth Vader and Ahsoka looks up at the sky as Anakin accepts his fall into the dark side, as if sensing something was going wrong. However, the next episode establishes that these scenes do not take place at the same time, so it would appear Maul and Ahsoka's confrontation was something of an echo of things to come.

** Anakin, [[TheGhost who is not seen during this episode]], but instead [[PresentAbsence his presence is strongly felt]], in addition to him soon becoming Palpatine's apprentice.

* LowerDeckEpisode: To the end the first-third of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', taking place sometime in-between the Battle of Coruscant and the Battle of Utapau. Obi-Wan's appearance in the episode indicates it occurs sometime after Anakin is given a seat on the Jedi Council, but before Obi-Wan leaves his Venator to hunt for Grievous on Utapau itself.

* VillainousBreakdown: Maul has a short-lived, but ''amazing'' one the moment he realizes he's beaten, raging and screaming at Ahsoka and the clones that they will all die, as seen in the end page quote.

* VillainousBreakdown: Maul has a short-lived, but ''epic'' one the moment he realizes he's beaten, raging and screaming at Ahsoka and the clones that they will all die, as seen in the end page quote.

** While he also does not physically appear in the episode, the late Dooku might also be considered a "Phantom Apprentice," since Obi-Wan and Ahsoka express disappointment that Dooku was lost as a source of intelligence on the identity of the "Phantom Menace" (Sidious), and Maul reflects on [[NotSoDifferent their similarities]] as former apprentices of Darth Sidious that turned out to be [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness expendable tools]] intended to be cast aside and forgotten.

** While he also does not physically appear in the episode, the late Dooku might also be considered a "Phantom Apprentice," since Obi-Wan and Ahsoka are disappointed that Dooku was lost as a source of intelligence on the identity of the "Phantom Menace" (Sidious), and Maul reflects on [[NotSoDifferent their similarities]] as former apprentices of Darth Sidious that turned out to be [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness expendable tools]] intended to be cast aside and forgotten.