A premature review of Maul: Shadow Lord

My younger son is in his Star-Wars era, so when I saw the promo for Maul: Shadow Lord on our Chromecast I knew he would ask to watch it. In an attempt to be a good parent, I previewed it for a few minutes last night. What I watched was a visually interesting but confusing story for an indiscernible audience.

This review will not contain spoilers because I didn't watch enough to spoil anything.

The first episode starts with a heist in a bustling futuristic city. We are introduced to the main characters with quick displays of their competence. They successfully steal a droid and a ship and flee from the police. They land on a rooftop and start loading their haul on to a new ship. The police surprise them with a mix of human and droid reinforcements, but the thieves don't appear concerned and look to the ship. Maul makes his dramatic entrance by leaving the ship and quickly dispatching the police forces with his iconic lightsaber.

The opening scene follows villains doing villainous things like stealing and killing police officers. But they aren't presented as antagonists. The scene depicts them as capable, powerful, and cool. I don't think it would be clear to a young audience that we're watching the bad guys.

The next act jumps to two beggars on the street: an older male and younger female. They are hungry, but the older and wise tells the younger that they never steal. The lesson doesn't land, and the younger attempts to steal some food from a stall and is immediately apprehended by a police droid similar to the ones from the rooftop. The elder tries to tell the droid that she made a mistake that won't happen again, but it follows protocol and arrests her. We later see her in custody where she is refusing to comply with orders to provide identification.

Here we see a younger person rejecting the wise council of an elder and immediately facing the consequences. This should work in theory, but there are a few components that undermine the moment. The police droid follows the law by the book, which is portrayed as uncompassionate while also contrasting with the incompetence of droids in the previous act. Faced with an impartial officer, the younger beggar does not appear scared or remorseful but annoyed. So rather than seeing the immediate consequence of a foolish action, we're left with the image of an overly zealous authority that is an inconvenience to the girl.

Interspersed with these acts we have exposition from the police as they investigate the heist and look for clues. We jump to the criminal boss who's droid and ship were stolen in the first act and his plan to confront a rival boss. We hear from Darth Maul, but I spent the entire scene trying to figure out when this story takes place in the Star-Wars timeline. All of these scenes are paced like a crime drama for adults.

The best part of the show is the visuals, which continues in the style of the CGI Clone Wars, Bad Batch, and Rebels. The characters are animated well, the shots are well composed, and everything looks good. But the softness of the character design contrasted with the dramatic lighting and gritty scenes. These were kid-friendly characters in adult-focused scenarios. So while the visuals were interesting, I was left with the question: who is this for?

We have a series that is designed for and marketed to children, but the subject matter and pacing is clearly for adults. The morals are immediately murky and require nuance that kids won't yet grasp, and yet there is a character that spits catchphrases that only kids would find amusing. Disney has tried to split the difference between a kid's show and an adult's show and ended with something that doesn't appeal to either.

The show was fine, but it isn't good. There are better options out there for kids, for adults, and for both.

Sean McPherson works as a software engineer at Khan Academy, and enjoys playing games and watching soccer. He lives with family in Pittsburgh, PA.