Over the course of the past several years, Star Wars has gotten increasingly bogged down in its own minutia and intricacies. In short, very much high on its own supply. But honestly, what was to be expected of a flagship franchise that was mandated by the Walt Disney Corporation to have, at first, a new movie every single year, and then, seemingly a new Disney+ streaming series releasing every other month.
Star Wars was once this prestigious theatrical event; even when either of George Lucas’s initial trilogies were in active release mode, a new movie only released every three years. Now, Star Wars is never not happening, constantly on the verge of releasing something else, never even giving the most casual of audiences a moment’s reprieve or time to miss a galaxy far, far away.
I say all of this to say than an animated series starring the character of Darth Maul set immediately after The Clone Wars, sounded initially to me, like a surefire bet for utter nonsense and fluffery. In fact, when Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord was first announced, I thought it sounded like precisely the kind of filler series that Dave Filoni has become so fond of in recent years; a project that existed solely to tie up narrative loose ends for die-hard completists of the larger franchise.
After all, Maul’s overall trajectory as a character had already been laid out pretty explicitly; cut in half in Phantom Menace, brought back with mechanical legs in The Clone Wars, survived to become a gangster overlord in Solo, and then died in a final fight with Obi-Wan Kenobi in Rebels. That’s a lot of lore encompassing any proposed Maul series on all sides, forwards and backwards. So what were the chances of Maul – Shadow Lord being anything more than a ceremonious filler episode within the larger context of Star Wars, a series whose vast majority of media has now been high on its own supply for several years?
Slim-to-none, by my estimation. And yet…
Maul – Shadow Lord sticks the landing with its two-episode finale
Somehow, the team at Lucasfilm Animation pulled off the ultimate hat-trick with Maul – Shadow Lord, working within those very precise narrative confines to create something that feels motivated, soulful, and articulately artistic in every sense of the word. With its final two episodes, “Strange Allies” and “The Dark Lord” now released, I can confirm that this stellar series sticks the landing with its two strongest episodes-to-date, in way that retroactively recontextualizes and enhances the larger points of the season as a whole.
The first of these two episodes, “Strange Allies,” written Christopher Yost and directed by Stweard Lee, is a fantastic culmination of all of the various story threads that have been sewn throughout the season. The entire cast of characters, Maul very much included, are all now working together in opposition to the Empire.
I was a little bit nervous that the conclusion of last week’s episode, which saw Solo’s own Dryden Voss popping up to make Maul an offer he couldn’t refuse, might lead to these final episodes feeling less directly tied to the story at-hand and more worried about cultivating a cleaner franchise narrative. But the team behind Maul handles this with aplomb, allowing Voss’s offer to serve as MacGuffin and little more, giving the whole squad a realistic escape option to pursue. The show steadfastly refuses to allow this to pull focus from its central characters, the themes it is delving into, or the story that it has spent weeks carefully building up to this point, and it is so much better for it.
“Strange Allies” features some whiz-bang action as well; some of the very best and most intricately captured and choreographed lightsaber duels of the season, which is saying something. The animation here is stupendous once again, with everyone bringing their A-game and delivering a sequence that feels immersive, kinetic and frenetic, all without ever sacrificing clarity or impact.
Praise must also be heaped upon the team for making these lightsaber duels all feel so distinct and powerful in their own unique ways. The season as a whole featured more than half a dozen big-time lightsaber duels, which could have all easily devolved into just people swinging at one another by the end. But instead, each duel is crafted in ways that escalate tension, foreground character, and externalize internal emotions in really stunning ways.
Beyond the action-oriented animation, there are also some truly jaw-dropping artistic strokes peppered throughout. I have been a huge fan of Joel Aron’s cinematography throughout the season, and he continues to one-up himself all the way into these final two episodes, delivering frames that utilize staging, lighting, and color in such palpably motivated ways.
On top of this, the matte painting work throughout these final two episodes is astounding. There is so much texture added by these practical animated elements, that it enhances and broadens the palette of the series as a whole. It’s genuinely wonderful stuff.
Of course, “Strange Allies” ends with the introduction of a massive Star Wars presence, and its one that immediately had me concerned once again heading into that final episode, which is currently untitled. This new returning character is one who inherently comes with a ton of dramatic weight, and it’s a character who audiences have seen steal spotlight multiple times before.
But to my absolute delight, writers Matt Michnovetz and Brad Rau alongside director Nathaniel Villanueva persevere and utterly nail it, against all odds. The character is used as a tool in service of the larger story, and is framed in the bluntest and most horror-indebted way they ever have been, throughout the entire Star Wars franchise.
The result is a pretty drastic escalation of tension and stakes that works wonders to further platform the character arcs at-play in Maul as they reach their conclusion. It is incredibly compelling, ruthlessly effective stuff, and culminates with some of the most heart-in-throat action a Lucasfilm Animation series has ever delivered.
The performances are great here as well. Wagner Moura continues to steal the show as Lawson, and gets some truly fantastic dramatic beats throughout these final two episodes. Sam Witwer continues to do excellent work, honing on Maul as a character and somehow finding new and interesting ways to push up against the perceived boundaries of this character. But the real MVP of these final episodes is Gideon Adlon as Devon, who gets a huge, transformative arc here, and sells every single ounce of it with the exact kind of heft needed.
Also, as always, the Kiners’s score is astounding. They further elaborate on their own themes across the season here, as well as interpolate various other Star Wars works, and its incredibly nuanced, accentuating work.
Overall, Maul – Shadow Lord’s first season has proven to be so much more than just filler Star Wars material; it is quintessentially great Star Wars. The final shots of the last episode are honestly among my favorite of the entire series, for how deliberately crafted they feel, both in terms of narrative and animation. You can feel that this is the series of images that the entire season of television has been so deliberately building to, and it is immensely cathartic and satisfying.
GRADE: A
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