Ricky Church reviews Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord episode 9 ‘Strange Allies’ and episode 10 ‘The Dark Lord’…
So, here’s a question for the older Star Wars fans: do you remember leaving the theatres after watching The Phantom Menace for the first time and you and your friends talked about how cool Darth Maul was and argued over who would win in a fight, Darth Maul or Darth Vader? Who would have thought 27 years later that question would be answered in a jaw-droppingly epic way in the first season finale of Maul – Shadow Lord that is one of the finest stories the franchise has produced.
The first season of Maul – Shadow Lord has been the most serialized Star Wars animation Lucasfilm has made with every episode building off the other far more than Rebels or The Bad Batch did. It has made this series so much fun to watch as the majority of it has been very character driven amid the action. Between Maul’s philosophical discussions with Devon and the trip down his traumatic past in the previous episode, ‘Strange Allies’ and ‘The Dark Lord’ delivered pay off after pay off to everything the season had been planting. The reluctant alliance between Maul’s and Devon’s groups was interesting, letting characters who had never interacted before play off their dynamics while still leaning into its character development.
That development saw the Lawsons further repair their strained relationship in some nice father-son moments, reminding audiences more of what’s at stake for those without the Force to help them, while Devon was caught in the middle of Daki and Maul’s desires for her. They each acted as the angel and devil on her shoulders as Maul was still intent on turning Devon, yet he and Daki shared almost a frenemy approach to their partnership with Maul defending Daki to Rook and even trusting Daki’s instincts as the Inquisitors approached. The three of them actually presented as a fairly strong unit together, utilizing each other’s skills and respective styles to push Marrok and Crow back. It was also a nice touch for Maul to adopt the Starkiller lightsaber pose as an Easter egg for Sam Witwer’s first Star Wars role.
Then ‘The Dark Lord’ began and boy, it did not disappoint. Many a fan has wondered whether Maul’s skills would be a match of Darth Vader and the finale left no doubt that as skilled as Maul is, Vader is unquestionably stronger in both the Force and lightsaber skills. The animators did a fantastic job adapting Vader’s style in the often 3 v 1 fight, using his bulk and strength to deliver powerful blows while calling on the Force to gain an advantage. Perhaps the best element of Vader’s appearance was how he spoke not a single word, relying on his physicality to convey just how much Maul, Daki and Devon were out of their league. In this way Vader was less a Sith Lord and more Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers, coldly stalking his prey and being fearful without uttering the threats or insults as most Sith do. The fear Maul expressed as he slowly began to realize just who they were fighting (given his correct prediction to Ahsoka in The Clone Wars finale) simply highlighted the danger they were in as even he was afraid.
The animation throughout the two episodes was nothing short of stellar. Animation is hard enough with just two combatants, but doing six at once – three of them with double-sided lightsabers too – seems like an impossible feat yet their movements, choreography and cinematography more than delivered on the prospect of Maul vs Vader. Even with knowing Maul would make it out alive, the tension laid in how he was reacting to the battle as well as Daki and Devon’s potential fates. Poor Daki has had a target on his back all season if not for his age and health then for the fact he had something Maul wanted. Despite their moments of being frenemies and teamwork against Vader, it was not surprising Maul betrayed Daki to both escape and utilize the best moment to turn Devon to the dark side, but it actually seemed he was briefly remorseful to do so. The detail on the facial features and the animated body language has gone a long way to really convey a characters’ feelings. Combined with the vocal work of Witwer and the cast, this is some of the strongest animation in Star Wars media yet.
Of course though, when Vader comes into the mix you have to expect some losses and ‘The Dark Lord’ pretty much reduced the series’ cast down by more than half. Daki, Icarus, Rook, not even Spybot was safe from Vader and the Inquisitors. It really made you feel some of those losses, particularly Spybot’s tragic destruction, and further sold the scope of danger everyone was in even without Vader.
We might have even lost Wagner Moura’s Captain Lawson, last seen sacrificing himself to allow time for his son and the others to escape. However, it is worth it to operate under the ‘no body, no death’ rule as Lawson’s potential death wasn’t actually shown, giving fans a chance to see him and Riley reunited again – plus there is the fact he is the only witness to Maul’s betrayal of Daki, leaving the question of how Devon would react should she ever find out her new master indirectly killed her old one.
The finale of Maul – Shadow Lord was exciting, tense and beautifully animated. Witwer and Gideon Adlon delivered terrific performances, especially Adlon in the final stage of the fight, but Darth Vader stole the show for good reason without a single line of dialogue. The pay offs to the character driven story were meaningful and earned, opening up new facts of Maul’s character to explore alongside Devon’s dark side potential. No matter what age of Star Wars fan you are, Maul – Shadow Lord is one piece of media you cannot miss.
Rating: 10/10
Ricky Church
