‘Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord’ Season 1 Episodes 9 And 10 Review
Image Source: Wookiepedia
Last week on Maul - Shadow Lord! Darth Sidious is a bad parental figure, who knew? Two-Boots may have a heart after all! Devon Izara and Jedi Master Daki are still trying their best! Rook Kast learns not all Mandalorians are created equal. And Spybot likes to pet, as all good boys do!
Well, dear readers, here we are at the end. After years of rumors and false starts, an animated series centered on Maul has finally arrived. And now, we’ve arrived at the finale. Well, for now. For the last few weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing episodes weekly, something I’ve never done before for a Star Wars series. It’s already great to witness shows week to week as a fan, but as a professional critic, it’s even sweeter. It’s genuinely wonderful to meet these characters and see what they’ve been up to in the seedy underground of Janix. Ever since the first two episodes dropped on Disney+ just a month ago, I’ve been saying that if the whole season keeps up the momentum of narrative intrigue, tension, and interesting characters, we could be looking at the best debut season of a Star Wars animated series yet. And thankfully, I was right.
This week’s episodes, Chapter 9: Strange Allies (written by Christopher Yost and directed by Steward Lee) and Chapter 10: The Dark Lord (written by Matt Michnovetz & Brad Rau and directed by Nathaniel Villanueva) are what Star Wars animation can be at its best: thrilling, emotional, heartbreaking, visually stunning, and nailbiting. If anyone thought Maul - Shadow Lordwas just gonna be Maul killing people and not doing much else, they will likely be eating a Sith Lord’s serving of crow. Maul - Shadow Lord never lost its balance, touch, or engagement. And we are all the luckier for it.
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The greatest achievement of Maul - Shadow Lord’s first season is its expert balance of crime elements and the spirituality that has defined Dave Filoni's created/co-created series. People’s beliefs, loyalties, and senses of self are questioned and challenged at every turn. Maul, Devon Izara, and Brander Lawson are all finding their places in a galaxy that has only barely begun to feel the boot of the Galactic Empire on their necks. And every episode gives our three leads room to grow and breathe amidst a very streamlined crime story. On the surface, the overarching plot seems very simple. Beneath the surface, it’s so much more. At its core, Maul is a story about the importance of belief and how not everything is what it seems. The stakes have never been higher, as evidenced by both episodes’ willingness to kill off some pretty important characters. Some make sense, some are unseen, and some are more frustrating than others.
Both episodes have a heaping serving of action, the highlight in Strange Allies being a five-way duel between Maul, Devon, Master Daki, Marrok, and the Eleventh Brother. Naturally, the high point of The Dark Lord is seeing Maul going up against the big man himself, Darth Vader. Maul and Anakin never had much chance to interact, with Anakin being a little boy in The Phantom Menace and frequently being off on his own missions during Maul-centric arcs in The Clone Wars.
So this series provides the perfect chance to see the two most iconic villains of the franchise finally go head-to-head. And the duel works not because it’s cool (it is, don’t worry), but it’s an excellent showcase for Maul and Devon as characters. The downside is that Vader has no lines of dialogue, which is likely due to the passing of James Earl Jones in 2024. As far as performances are concerned, Gideon Adlon steals both episodes as Devon Izara, who has quickly become one of the franchise’s best characters to date.
Maul - Shadow Lord is a triumph from start to finish. It’s an immensely entertaining animated series that proves that Andor isn’t the only Star Wars project to have gorgeous visuals and great storytelling in equal measure. Whether it’s the beautiful animation, the thrilling action, the thematically rich score by Kevin, Sean, and Deana Kiner, and the engaging vocal performances (particularly from Sam Witwer, Gideon Adlon, and Wagner Moura), Maul has everything that makes Star Wars what it is. A twisted and sinister fairy tale that isn’t afraid to walk into darker corners of the universe, while maintaining tried and true themes of belief, redemption, and destiny. While it’s unknown as to how many seasons of this show there will be, I, for one, will be looking forward to season 2, holding my breath with a massive amount of excitement, and I’m certain I won’t be the only one.
“Strange Allies” Rating: 9/10
“The Dark Lord” Rating: 10/10
All 10 episodes of Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord are now streaming on Disney+! Season 2 is currently in development!
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