Maul Shadow Lord Review: A Noir Star Wars Story That Reinvents Darth Maul

Setting the stage

The first two episodes of the season are, by necessity, the time the show needs to set the stage and all the actors in position to truly get into complications, conflicts, and catastrophes.

Luckily for us, this setup is very good.

Somehow… Maul returned

The fact that this show focuses on Darth Maul (or, rather, just Maul now), a fellow most people last saw bisected and falling down the shaft, might cause some confusion. His return was a big deal in The Clone Wars’ late seasons, and, unfortunately, Shadow Lord hasn’t explained any of that yet.

Fortunately, it’s not necessary, because this show is not “a Star Wars story”, at least not yet. Maul isn’t primarily a former Sith Lord here either, even though he uses the Force and a lightsaber a lot.

Instead, it’s a crime story about a fallen crime lord trying to get revenge, set in the SW universe.

While the show does have a specific place on the Star Wars timeline – some time after Revenge of the Sith and Order 66 – the events of first two episodes have very little to do with the classic Jedi vs Sith tale. They do have a lot to do with a struggle for power in the criminal underworld of planet Janix, though.

Web of shadows

Crime stories are a genre Star Wars hasn’t tapped into much on-screen, barring, perhaps, some scattered episodes of The Clone Wars. Even then it wasn’t quite the same cold-blooded, broody crime story Shadow Lord seems to offer, and this one is shaping up to have at least three threads weaving together into a noir crimescape.

Not bad for an animated series rated 12+.

There is Maul himself, enacting his revenge by dismantling other crime syndicates and, inevitably, dismantling their bosses themselves (with his lightsaber). He’s also guided to some extent by the Force towards an additional objective beyond “be evil, do crime”.

There’s police detective Brander Lawson, who’s having to make sense of the sudden increase in open criminal activity caused by Maul’s crew. He’s leaning close to some of the old-school noir detective tropes, including a cordial relationship with somebody in the underground and an uneasy personal life. He’s also doing all he can to prevent Empire’s involvement, since the planet is at this stage still largely free of direct imperial influence.

And there’s Devon Izara, a young Twi’lek Jedi on the run from the Empire alongside her Master, with whom she has some disagreements regarding the best course of action. This puts her on collision course not just with Lawson, but also, of course, Maul.

Were I to point as something that doesn’t quite land for me about the characters so far, is Devon’s Jedi Master, Daki.

Star Wars media have no shortage of ineffective Jedi Masters, and we’ve had Masters who appear useless (see: Tera Sinube in The Clone Wars) until the didactic twist, but Daki, despite having an interesting character design and a cool moment or two seems more useless than I expected.

To be clear: I mean it as a condemnation of his on-screen actions as a Jedi Master. I don’t think he’s useless to the plot at all, I already suspect the kind of conflict it will foster and I’m, as they say, “here for it”.

I’m also eager to eat my words when more episodes come out to flesh out the interactions between the two Jedi survivors. I’m just a tad worried that if this ineffectuality continues, it will make the choice between him and Maul much less dramatic when the story compels Devon to make it.

Mastery of the craft

Where I can’t say a single bad thing even if I try, is the way this show looks. Lucasfilm Animations’ long years of experience working with this CGI artstyle are paying off, because it’s gorgeous in design and execution alike.

Special attention must be given to the planet-city Janix itself. It has the right kind of atmosphere for a serious crime story, with tall, sharp, oppressive skyscrapers and a gloom banished by street lights.

Comparisons to places such as Gotham City aren’t out of place at all, but it’s the seedier, grounded side of Gotham, and there’s no hope of a caped crusader patrolling from the rooftops. It’s the kind of place that makes me convinced Lawson will get a trenchcoat, a nice hat, and a tendency to monologue lyrically no later than episode 6.

Character work is also great, everybody is distinct, and even aliens of the same species are recognizably different, such as the two Zabraks on Maul’s crew. There hasn’t been much elaborate action in the two episodes yet, but the flame-like animation of Maul’s lightsaber lends him an additional threatening aspect.

This art style works remarkably well with the serious tone, but it’s something longtime fans of Star Wars animations know already.

Musically, nothing has caught my ear particularly strongly yet, but I know SW shows have that in them to deliver some fantastic mood setters. What I can say for now, is that at least two very recognisable pieces of Star Wars musical identity made a return. I’m not sure the events merited the use of either, but I’m never going to say “no” to classic SW music, even used as a fanservice.

Great promise

Summing it all up, two episodes in, I’m quite engaged by the “Star Wars noir” angle, and it’s always a joy to hear Sam Witwer return as Maul’s voice for Lucasfilm animations. The Clone Wars and Rebels made the character so much more interesting that having a dedicated Darth Maul series following up on that character development is a real treat.

I have high hopes that Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord (really rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?) is only going to get better from here, and season 2’s already been confirmed, so we’re in it for the long run.

It’s not quite stellar (nor even strongly bellicose) yet, so I’m giving the premiere episodes an encouraging 8/10 for being a really solid setup for some really interesting dynamics.