On Maul - Shadow Lord
I think my favorite parts of Maul - Shadow Lord are honestly those personal moments where Maul just... talks to people.
Mostly because it's been a consistent thing with the character for the last few years that he has a shocking capacity for wisdom that he's simply never internalizing, and thus he always comes so close to actualizing and breaking through to something stronger but misses the mark. Even when he himself is introducing real lessons, he often fails to understand those lessons himself.
Maul's conversation with Lawson, in particular, was one of my favorites that isn't being as noticed as the other great conversations he has in the last few episodes (those being the ones with Devon and Daki). The bit that hit me, really, was the bit where Lawson refuses his offer and Maul seems to truly understand why he made the choice, even if it's a disappointment and against his own wishes, and yet in the end it nevertheless comes down to "be controlled by me, or be dead" and nothing else - this also resonates with his conversation with Devon as well, and later it's an issue with him and Ezra Bridger. It's really compelling that Maul's respect for others and understanding towards their decisions even if they don't align with it - at least at this stage of his life - seems genuine, but yet he's still unable to truly engage with that respect whilst still in the shadow of his desire for domination.
So often he comes off as coming from a genuine place when he talks about how awful the Empire is and how similar and unfair his and the Jedi's fates have become and how working together rather than fighting each other is the only way they'll survive and succeed, it's just he can't bring himself not to use that truth as a means of manipulation rather than as grounding to build something real. He almost empathizes, but ultimately chooses manipulation. Which in his every appearance, is precisely what sabotages everything he tries to do.
Which is really leading to the big irony of this show: Maul is surrounded by people in this series that he could so easily be genuine allies with, if he just wasn't being the person he's so fixated on being. He's the thing keeping success out of his own grasp, but he never understands that. Just like with Savage. Just like - later - with Ezra.
This show really emphasizes how learning Maul's ideology and taking in his lessons, but without retaining his vindictiveness and self-destructive obsession with revenge, would result in a character like how Qi'ra grew to be (as seen in the Star Wars comics, particularly Crimson Reign): a character who retains that self-destructive inclination towards manipulation and domination (which, like, Maul, ultimately sabotages all her efforts), but who genuinely does believe and work towards a positive world that betters both herself and others whereas Maul says he wants that be always discards it in favor of his selfish desires.







