TV review
“Maul — Shadow Lord” could’ve been an all-timer for “Star Wars.” Creator Dave Filoni’s latest animated series is tense, gorgeous, gritty and loaded with pulse-pounding action, and it puts Darth Maul — one of the franchise’s most enduring baddies — front and center. Sounds like a winner, right? Yes and no.
The 10-episode season, now streaming on Disney+ with new episodes dropping Mondays through May 4, aims to expand and explain what Maul got up to between “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith” and “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope” in the most explosive and entertaining way “Star Wars” canon permits. On paper, the concept has tremendous potential. In practice, though, it amounts to little more than a great-looking but thematically slight tangent that would rather scratch an itch than tell a story.
If holding grudges hallmarked strong moral fiber, then Darth Maul, voiced once more by Sam Witwer (“Star Wars: The Clone Wars”), would be a saint. Following the events of “Revenge of the Sith,” the former Sith remains hellbent on resuscitating his reputation as a crime lord and exacting his revenge against the Empire, but he needs help. His scheming takes him to the decidedly un-Imperial planet Janix, where he seeks young Jedi Padawan Devon Izara (a bored-sounding Gideon Adlon) for reasons he won’t fully disclose — at least not in the eight episodes screened for critics. Complicating Maul’s search is police detective Brander Lawson (a game but forgettable Wagner Moura), who vows to apprehend Maul and protect Devon without Imperial intervention. Good luck with that, buddy.
“Maul” feels as thin and superfluous as it does because “Star Wars” has already explored the eponymous former Sith in a meaningful way multiple times. We’ve seen his beginning and his end. When “The Clone Wars” brought Maul back from the dead, it saddled him with a dogged, uncompromising torment, one that would cement the character as one of the franchise’s most striking staples. “Rebels” refashions Maul into an aging hermit, ultimately denying him his revenge and saying goodbye to a villain whose evolution proved formative for Lucasfilm Animation and “Star Wars” as a whole. Because it’s answering a question few people are asking, “Maul” is redundant.
Filoni and Co. play the bones of their dead horse like a xylophone, recycling a song and dance that’s already been performed to perfection. Witwer’s rousing voice work injects just enough life into the proceedings to make them bearable, but he can’t save them alone, and he shouldn’t have to.
Also keeping the story’s draw on life support are the visuals, which rank among some of the best “Star Wars” has ever given us. Sure, Lucasfilm’s animation has reached a point where every shot in each of its shows is gallery-worthy, but “Maul” tops them all. Each moment feels painted and labored over, and the finishing touch — a subtle smear that adds texture and poignancy to every frame — raises the bar for the company’s future output.
The action, too, kicks serious butt. Maul has always made for a riveting underdog, and the series soars when it remembers that. In fact, the show’s best duel is one Maul loses, further confirming that his popularity stems not from him being the best or the most skilled, but the most broken.
It’s a shame that this is as far as Filoni takes it. Maul’s latest outing comes up short because it feels like a first draft of a better show. Key elements, namely its villains, its plot and its depth (or lack thereof), reek of neglect and underdevelopment, becoming the least compelling iterations of themselves and failing to make any sort of impression. The Inquisitors — the lightsaber-wielding enforcers Filoni and Co. rely upon far too often — are so dull, so template-y and unremarkable, that any fear or weight their presence carries evaporates. The good news is, “Maul — Shadow Lord” will get the room it needs to grow. Lucasfilm just renewed it for a second season, so hopefully Maul’s next adventure adds something, anything, to a character raring for another reinvention.
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