Disney+ recently released the very first season for a new Star Wars TV Show titled Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord. If hearing this makes you want to punch a Disney executive you aren’t alone. The streamer has developed a pretty bad reputation for the quality of their TV Shows, especially those based in the Star Wars Universe.
Despite my own expectations I found myself impressed by the first season (the only one released thus far). Maul – Shadow Lord masterfully avoids many of the issues that were glaringly present with many of the prior shows. It feels like the people making it were truly passionate and cared about what they were making which puts this show heads and shoulders above the rest.
It succeeds in part due to its dedication to its genre. It’s perhaps the first gritty/noir Star Wars tv show, with the artstyle and many of the plot developments reflecting this. The story itself follows a cop trying to catch a dangerous fugitive. This premise is combined with an art style, gritty in nature. Often times frames use rough textures and even pixelated areas to make the background add to this sort of rough and dirty theme that is classic to the genre of noir-mystery.
Adding to the noir aspects the show manages to create moral ambiguity that feels natural. (Spoilers) The story contains two Jedis, a master and apprentice, who survived the killing of the Jedi in order 66 and the formation of the new galactic empire. Maul, (voiced by Sam Witwer) targets the apprentice Devon,(voiced by Gideon Adlon) and pushes her towards the dark side. What’s so interesting about this is that Maul makes some fairly logical arguments that the viewer may understand, namely that this would be the only way to defeat the empire. Devon decides, initially, to only work with him because she sees it as the only way to defeat the empire.
More moral ambiguity is added when a police chief, Lawson,(voiced by Wagner Moura) decides to defy protocol to avoid bringing the Empire to his planet and goes as far as to temporarily shut down one of his friends, a droid, to avoid him calling the Empire. He then is forced to work with the fugitive jedi and, eventually, Maul to survive. This really adds a deeper moral question about working with “the enemy of your enemy”.
I think the most striking thing that Maul – Shadow Lord does correctly is the way that they handle lightsabers. The lightsaber fights are cinematic and fast with characters moving quickly and energetically .All the characters run around constantly and even throw lightsabers at enemies to deal with them. They also made changes to how lightsabers were animated, adding large tails to the lightsabers which make them seem more fiery and hot, as well as dangerous. These factors add plenty to the fights which feel like a great departure from issues found with the lightsaber fights that were shown in the sequels produced by Disney. Often during the sequel trilogy, lightsabers were treated as heavy and the fights were far slower than in the previous movies. Additionally in Maul – Shadow Lord, when someone gets stabbed, you know what happens? They die! The person stabbed with a flaming-hot laser sword actually dies! This is a breath of fresh air after the continued depiction of lightsabers as glorified baseball bats in some other media (Ashoka). Together these make lightsaber fights far more suspenseful. The fights are fast and draw in the viewer and the viewer is concerned about their favorite characters knowing that they might die. Lightsabers are no longer played for shock value. They are a serious threat and treated as such.
All together the show does incredibly well at sticking with its genre. The idea of a noir-mystery is supported not only by the plot but also the art style and this is consistent throughout this first season. It creates moral ambiguity masterfully with serious questions about the morality of working with your enemy’s enemy. Most importantly, it marks a serious departure from the previous use of lightsabers for shock effect in Star Wars to actual lethal weapons.
I am excited to see where the series goes next and would heavily recommend it to anyone looking for a good watch. The show is currently streaming on Disney+.
