Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord - Episodes 1 & 2

While I will be one of the first to agree that Star Wars is in a bit of a creative rut, focusing too much time on a very specific and somewhat small time period despite having an entire galaxy and timeline of opportunities at its disposal, this is as much a truth as is the fact that, somewhat contradictory, there is still huge amounts of potential to tap in this otherwise more concise part of the Star Wars mythos. Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord certainly seems to be another fine example of this second truth.

The picture is painted on a canvas used plenty of times before. The time period is between Episodes 3 & 4, a moment where the Empire is continuing to grasp the galaxy, displacing and disrupting the political and socio-economic climate. Any Star Wars fan is familiar with this period and premise, and the same can be said about our 'hero' in this latest story too. Maul is back, dropping the Darth and becoming more of a crime boss, as we experienced the character in The Clone Wars and other animated post-Phantom Menace projects. Like how Maul had to piece himself back together after fighting Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi all those years ago, here we see the former Sith Lord rebuilding his criminal network after it all came tumbling down at the end of The Clone Wars, a feat that he is taking on while also working on the next stages of his plans to take revenge against Darth Sidious (The Emperor). And that's basically the premise of what Maul - Shadow Lord seems focussed upon; revenge and rebirth.

In a way it's an admirable narrative structuring because it doesn't fall into the trap of the rather overused Star Wars template we see elsewhere. Again, there's no real hero to this story (unless you count some of the supporting characters) and the plot isn't about good versus evil. This is more Boardwalk Empire or Mob Land than it is traditional Star Wars and that is perhaps it's greatest strength.

It's also clearly a more maturely themed animated Star Wars series. Youngsters will still be fine watching, of course, but there's more here for older and more experienced fans to appreciate and actually enjoy, unlike what frequently was cooked up in The Bad Batch, for example, where it felt like some plot threads were designed to teach a child some kind of lesson instead of simply being entertaining action sci-fi.

Also, by having Maul as a protagonist, we get a good balance of having lightsaber and Force-wielding action without this stretching into the category of the show either being all about the Jedi and the Sith, or not about them at all. It's a middle-ground, and while that may change as more episodes arrive, as it stands, there's an entertaining and refreshing balance.

Star Wars has always served up great artistic direction and set pieces and there's no skipping a beat here. There's also a huge amount of aura and charisma in what is being presented in this show, an artistic and directed vision that has you understanding key attributes of the core characters without needing to know much about them. Don't get me wrong, there's still a ton of the ever-present Star Wars 'pitfalls', or 'traditions' as some may say, including having a quirky (quite sadistic in this case) droid companion, a character that serves as pure comic relief and a Bathos output, and an animation style that is starting to feel a bit too predictable and overused. So it's not at all perfect, but there is a lot that Maul - Shadow Lord has got right so far already.

So a strong opening for certain. Here's hoping that the show can keep up this level of quality as the rest of the episodes make their arrival, ultimately delivering a memorable and exciting finale in time for Star Wars Day.