One vision can have many interpretations.
Maul and Savage take over Death Watch, the Black Sun, the Pyke Syndicate, and the Hutts in order to rule the criminal underworld of the galaxy.
Tropes:
- Artificial Limbs: Death Watch gives Savage a prosthetic arm to replace the one Obi-Wan cut off in "Revival". They also replace Maul's damaged prosthetic legs with a more humanoid set.
- Badass Boast: Maul gets quite a good one as he and Pre Vizsla solidify their alliance:Maul: Our combined strength will be rewarded. Mandalore will be yours, and Kenobi, this Sith pretender Dooku, and all of our enemies... will fall.
- Bullying a Dragon: Bo-Katan insults Maul by claiming the Sith to be weak, pointing out the sorry state he and Savage were in when Death Watch found them, which earns her a Force-Choke from Maul. Bo-Katan's smirk after Maul leaves implies that she was deliberately goading him into showing strength to prove that the brothers are worthy allies.
- Captain Obvious: Oruba the Hutt's desperate attempt to get Maul to spare his life by selling out Jabba doesn't exactly impress Maul.Maul: So the only thing you can tell me is that I will find Jabba... at Jabba's palace?
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: By the end of the episode, both Maul and Vizsla are plotting to double-cross the other.
- Continuity Nod: While criticizing Maul, Bo-Katan alludes to Death Watch's ill-fated alliance with Count Dooku.
- Contrived Coincidence: Maul and Savage's escape pod is found (and their lives saved) by Death Watch, a group that just so happens to have an axe to grind with Maul's Arch-Enemy, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Vizsla lampshades the good fortune, and Maul claims it to be the will of the Force (whether he actually believes it— Sith are known to prefer exerting their will over the Force, rather than the other way around— or is just playing to Vizsla's expectations of Force-users is ambiguous).
- Curb Stomp Cushion: The bounty hunters are no match for the Sith and Death Watch, but they acquit themselves admirably before being forced to retreat, with Embo managing to land some solid hits on Savage and Sugi managing to survive a close-quarters fight with Maul.
- Creator Cameo: Dave Filoni, the series' supervising director, voices one of the Black Sun Council members who gets beheaded by Savage Opress for refusing to co-operate with Darth Maul.
- Decapitation Strike: Involving literal decapitation, no less — Maul has Savage kill all of the Black Sun leaders via decapitating them with his thrown lightsaber when they refuse to join Maul.
- Dispense with the Pleasantries: In a universe where everyone from Luke Skywalker to even Palpatine refer to Jabba as "Mighty Jabba" or "Your Excellency", Maul and Savage pretty much break protocol and make sure to let Jabba know that if he doesn't join, he dies. And they succeed.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Maul is initially aggressive towards Vizsla, but backs off when Bo-Katan points a gun at the unconscious Savage.
- Fist of Rage: Pre Vizsla gives one when Maul informs him of his intention to allow him to rule Mandalore while he runs a galactic crime syndicate from the planet before pretending to agree and offer suggestions.
- Force-Choke: Maul gives several of these, the first one to Bo-Katan to make a point to Pre Vizsla.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Camera angles spare the audience the sight of Savage's lightsaber beheading the Black Sun's council, though the uncut version of the episode does show their headless corpses.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: During the raid on the Hutt Council's headquarters, Maul and Savage Force-throw some of their opponents into other people.
- Join or Die: The choice Maul, Savage, and Vizsla make to the Black Sun and the Hutt clans. The Black Sun's ruling council tells them where to shove it and are... deposed, while the Hutts make a fight of it, but fall into line after Maul and company make short work of their opposition.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: After the deaths of the Black Sun council, Ziton Moj, who is left in charge, immediately announces that Black Sun will join Maul. So does Jabba, realising that he's no match for them after having his door guards killed. Likewise, the Hutts' bounty hunters eventually realize how out-matched they are and take off.
- Mook Chivalry: Shows up a couple of times during Maul and Savage's fight against the bounty hunters. For example, after Sugi makes the opening move by throwing a knife at Maul, none of the other bounty hunters join in until Savage returns the knife a good 10-15 seconds afterwards. Later, when Maul is busy fending off the Hutts' guard dog, Sugi just stands there watching him for a good minute or so instead of taking advantage of his distracted state.
- Nerves of Steel:
- When Sugi throws a knife at Maul's face, he doesn't even blink, even when Savage stops it just short of hitting him.
- After the Sith and Death Watch lay waste to his guards, Jabba is more impressed than anything else, and throws his lot in with Maul's Shadow Collective partly out of admiration for their sheer gall. He did say that he admired fearlessness.
- No Honor Among Thieves: Despite their alliance, both Maul and Vizsla scheme behind their erstwhile partner's back.
- Off with His Head!: The Black Sun Council get decapitated en masse by Savage Opress when they refuse to help Maul.
- Oh, Crap!: Oruba understandably panics when Maul orders Savage to kill him.
- Pragmatic Villainy:
- Death Watch didn't save Maul and Savage out of altruism (upon finding the brothers, Bo-Katan actually suggested killing them), but rather because Vizsla recognised them as enemies of the Jedi, and thus, possible allies.
- The Pyke Syndicate doesn't bother to try and resist being absorbed into Maul's new Shadow Collective; they instead decide to seek him out and join of their own volition, seeing opportunities for profit.
- Maul doesn't try to kill Sugi and the other bounty hunters when they decide to run, recognizing that they have no real loyalties and aren't any real threat.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Oruba sells out Jabba to try and save his own skin. Since the provided information is effectively useless (he informed them that they could find Jabba on Tatooine at what is famously Jabba's palace), Maul has Savage kill him anyway.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The bounty hunters hired by the Hutts flee when Maul, Savage, and Death Watch prove too much for them. Maul lets them go on the grounds that, as bounty hunters, they have no allegiance.
- Stock Sound Effects: Savage lets out a panther roar during the fight with the bounty hunters.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Savage's massive size certainly makes him intimidating, but it also means he's likely to bump his head into low-hanging lights.
- Embo's hat/shield is durable enough to stand up to blasterfire and blows from the mighty Savage Opress, but it doesn't make him immune to physics or physical exhaustion; the shield holds up, but Embo himself is eventually overwhelmed by Savage's strength and has to make a run for it.
- Thrown from the Zeppelin: The episode plays with the trope, given that Darth Maul and Savage Oppress make an outright Join or Die offer to the representatives of three criminal factions. Two resist them and take casualties, at which point the surviving leaders fall in line, while the third recognizes their power and agrees outright.
- Villain Team-Up: Darth Maul and Savage Opress work alongside Death Watch for their plans on Mandalore, though each faction intends to betray the other once they've achieved their goals.
- Virtue Is Weakness: Savage describes Vizsla's sense of honor (such as it is) as a weakness, and Maul agrees, but considers it a quality that makes Death Watch more reliable allies than pirates or mercenaries.
- Visionary Villain: Maul makes several references to his "vision" throughout this episode, subtly criticizing Vizsla's lack of ambition. Somewhat subverted, since it's not his vision. His plan is a replica of Palpatine's, albeit on a smaller scale. Bring in a criminal army to cause chaos on Mandalore, then bring in the Death Watch to fight them. By controlling both sides of the conflict, Maul insures he'll win, just as Palpatine is doing on a galactic scale. he expands his vision at the end of the episode, intending to rule a galactic underworld while Vizsla rules Mandalore, then expand against the Republic and Separatists both, using Mandalore's influence on the neutral systems.
- Would Hit a Girl: Two examples in this episode, both involving Darth Maul physically harming a female character.
- Darth Maul chokes Bo-Katan (but doesn't kill her) to make a point about doubt leading to failure.
- Darth Maul nearly kills Sugi on Nal Hutta with both his lightsaber and hand-to-hand combat.
- You Are in Command Now: After Savage beheads the ruling council of the Black Sun, Ziton Moj assumes command of the organization and (wisely) throws in with Maul.Maul: It appears the decision to join us is now yours.
- Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: Vizsla presents Death Watch to Maul as the true Mandalorians, fighting to reclaim what is rightfully theirs. He conveniently omits the part about them being a gang of terrorists and murderers (not that it really makes a difference to Maul).
