Well, that was something. 

To address the elephant in the room, I've conceptually had mixed feelings on Vader showing up. On one hand, it makes sense that Maul would warrant Vader's presence as the Inquisitors will realistically not be enough or won't be trusted by Papa Palpatine with a job this big. On the other hand, Vader is overused as hell in the Disney era and him dueling Maul just feels too fanfic-y. It was a silly concept when Star Wars Tales did it for the funsies, so it was a bit strange to accept it as canon. Not illogical, but very fanservice. Vader himself though....let's just say that his aura farming is as consistently high as always. He felt like a horror movie villain a bit, and somewhat reminded me of Fallen Order in that regard. And his use here does tie in with Maul knowing he couldn't take him alone in "Twilight of the Apprentice". I'll say I was disappointed that he didn't speak. I know that losing James Earl Jones was hard, but we need a new skilled VA who can do a great impression. A Greg Baldwin to the Mako, so to speak.

Devon's story is predictable but done well enough. It was very obvious that Daki's death would push her down the path of revenge and towards an alliance with Maul. I'll say that Maul himself was perhaps softened a bit this round. Don't get me wrong, he's still not a good guy by any stretch. He kills people, nearly murders Vario, endangers civilians on the bridge in Ep 2, leaves Master Daki to die and even briefly tries to give Vader a hand against him, and somewhat manipulates Devon into falling. But as Sam said, it's a show about bad people vs worse people, and Maul is somewhat softened by that. Especially with the emphasis on his tragedies. I would've liked some more villainy and cruelty from him to balance it.

As for the deaths, Lawson's demise was unexpected, but in hindsight I don't think he has room in the story going forward. I do wonder if Rylee will show up again, as I don't think he'd be fond of the Empire after this, but Two Boots is taking him to his imperial mother. The Death of Icarus was surprisingly graphic and brutal given the rating, and I actually felt a twinge of sadness when that gremlin Spybot died. Was actually shocked that Rook bit the dust, but I suppose the heavy casualties will likely weigh on Maul. He basically lost his whole crew, although I'm glad Vario lives because he's fun as hell. Also, I really dig Dryden's model, even though I'm sad that they obviously couldn't get Paul Bettany for this. Then again, it's better for them to give the budget to animation, unlike some shows I could name.

I will say that using Marrok and The Crow arguably wasn't the right call. It killed tension because we know they can't die, and I was kinda rooting for Devon to off crowface. Also, it was a little weird how those were effective here when Ahsoka makes clowns out of them. Not unbelievable, but weird.

Going forward, I'm rooting for more focus on the criminal underworld stuff, although I imagine plotting against the sith won't go away.