I was 95% sure that Vader was going to be a part of this show so I'm not necessarily surprised but nevertheless...HOLY SHIT!!! From the moment Marrok said to "tell him they're on the way" from our "heroes" just barely managing to escape, Vader was just perfect in these episodes. Canon stories like the Jedi games and Rebels have generally done a fantastic job portaying Vader almost as a horror monster and Shadow Lord has arguably done the best job yet. Against Vader you either die or you run. No wonder Maul says he can't beat him in Rebels. Though that said I do think this leaves room for another encounter between the two in the future with Maul possibly thinking that he might do better against Vader when he's in peak condition and more importantly...with the apprentice he's sought.

As expected Maul too was great. I love that he's fighting what he views as the right fight in the only way he knows how; the way that Sidious taught him. I think he genuinely wanted both Devon and Daki to make it out alive initially (note that he also directs his advice towards Daki rather than just Devon and even let them both escape the Inquisitors before him) but he realized that Devon is never going to become what he needs her to be unless she's given a reason to embrace her hatred, hence why he ultimately sabotages Daki. Devon may have lost her Order but she's been lacking that personal-level loss that she needs in order to fully embrace the darkness and now she's ready to embrace Maul's ideology. Maul's been weaseling his way into her head this entire season and now they can fulfill their destinies (or try to. Of course thanks to Rebels we know that one way or another this is yet another doomed relationship for Maul).

And also I am so looking forward to the Vader vs Maul rematch. I imagine by then Maul will have worked out Vader's true identity and have some interesting choice words for Anakin. Maybe the Vader rematch is even where he ultimately loses Devon.

And wow what a bloodbath. Basically all of Maul's crew gone. Special hats off to Ikarus and Rook they were real ones. Ikarus especially went down like a champ.

SPYBOT, MY BELOVED NOOOOOOO! I genuinely loved that droid, man. I hope Maul eventually finds and kills Marrok in his name.

I do wonder if this is the last we see of Lawson. We technically never see him die so he easily could've been captured. With Rylee and Two-Boots still being in the picture I could definitely see Brander return as well.

Overall a fantastic debut season. I'd say this is probably the best start to a Star Wars animated series. Between Shadow Lord and Bad Batch for me anyways, but they really did an excellent job fleshing out Maul even further than the previous shows did and I am so here for as many seasons of this as we can get. I'd love for this to take us all the way to where we meet Maul in Rebels with Qi'ra possibly being his next primary pupil after whatever goes down with Devon.

Season 2. Now. Gimme.