‘Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord’ Season 1 Episodes 7 And 8 Review
Image Source: Wookiepedia
Last week on Maul - Shadow Lord! The Lawson family and the Jedi find out they have more in common than they realize. Two-Boots learns there’s no real victory when you deal with the Empire. Maul and Devon discover they make an incredible tag team. Marrok is kind of a scary dude, who knew? And Spybot is no fan of probe droids.
Let’s not beat around the bush here. "Chapter 7: Call to Oblivion" (directed by Nathaniel Villanueva and written by Julie Cooperman) and "Chapter 8: The Creeping Fear" (directed by Saul Ruiz and written by Jennifer Corbett) are yet another great block of episodes. If you were disappointed by last week’s small amount of Maul, this week gave us plenty of Maul. And they gave us Maul as his best. Not many will say Maul was a particularly fleshed-out character in his pre-animation days. His roles inThe Clone Wars and Rebels have helped him become a three-dimensional and tragic villain. On the surface, Maul is a scary-looking dude who kills people with his cool lightsaber. As opposed to our Star Wars heroes, who are defined by their desire to do good, Maul is defined by his failures, his losses, and his tendency to be abandoned by those closest to him. Maul may be a Sith who can take the lives of Jedi, Mandalorians, clones, and criminals without giving it a second thought. But deep down, Maul is also an easily terrified man who wants to be more powerful and more respected but constantly finds himself in the gutter.
Sam Witwer’s incredible vocal performance further helps this sympathetic aspect of Maul’s character. His voice is so tied to the character that you forget he’s not the first person to voice him (shout out to Maul’s original voice actor, Peter Serafinowicz). Witwer’s performance makes Maul feel all the more human, with every line delivery aiming to make sure you feel his pain. His performance in "The Creeping Fear" (an amazing throwback to a rumored title for Revenge of the Sith and The Force Awakens) is a testament to his great voice acting. Every scream, every monologue, every grunt, every sound that comes out of Maul’s mouth can tell its own story. That’s why we still love Maul.
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Image Source: Wookiepedia
The non-Maul segments in "Call to Oblivion" aren’t as exciting as they were last week, primarily due to the narrative not giving Devon, Lawson, Master Daki, Two-Boots, and Rylee much to do. However, The Creeping Fear gives them a ton of spotlight, even giving Two-Boots some seasons that are reminiscent of K-2SO in Rogue One. One particular season in which Devon picks up the boys on a ship she “borrowed” provides the series with a nice sense of levity. The musical score, courtesy of the Kiner Family, harks back to the electronic score Kevin Kiner provided for CSI: Miami, the series that encouraged George Lucas and Dave Filoni to hire him in the first place. The three-way lightsaber duel between Maul, Marrok, and the Eleventh Brother is also insanely thrilling, even if it is disappointing to not hear Clancy Brown’s voice due to the Eleventh Brother’s lack of dialogue.
Maul - Shadow Lord continues to impress on every meaningful level. Whether it’s the drama, the action, or the crime element, there is no denying that the show’s narrative momentum, gorgeous animation, and memorable characters keep us coming back for more. This week’s batch of episodes gave us a healthy dose of everything that makes this show tick, and I loved every second of it. As we approach the final two episodes of the season, we’re left with a lot of lingering questions and a hunger for more. Will the next two exploits of one of the franchise’s most enduring villains satisfy us until season two? A good question for another time. Said “another time,” being next week.
“Call to Oblivion” Rating: 9/10
“The Creeping Fear” Rating: 9/10
The seventh and eighth episodes of Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord are now streaming on Disney+! The final two episodes of season one air on Disney+ on May 4th.
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