My thoughts are going to be all over the place, so bear with me. But Maul Shadow Lord.
Yeah, Vader shouldn't have been in the season 1 finale. It was much too soon for Maul and him to meet. He should have been a season 2 tease. I get that they were trying to ramp up the tension, but it does come across a bit weak. First off Maul isn't at his best. Vader and Maul deserve a proper duel. Not only that, Maul is smart. He knew exactly the moment Order 66 went down. It wouldn't take him that long to figure out what exactly he was up against as soon as Vader showed up. More than that, I want to hear what Maul might have to say to Vader. Will it matter? No, because Vader's def not in a listening mood at this point, angry as he is, but it'd be interesting after Maul's emotional moment in ep 8.
I think one of Maul's biggest failings (and more that he was failed in his life) is that he just cannot bring himself to trust anything about the light side of the force. He thinks they are weak, that they are always destined to fail (ironic). Even though he acknowledges the good of the Jedi now that he has been cast to the wayside and seen the Empire's rise. He is too steeped in his abusive Sith training. He is too easily swayed by his own fear. I do like that moment of hesitance we get from him before Maul decides to betray Daki. Like this is a Maul that acknowledges that the Jedi are necessary to bring about the end of the Empire. But Maul is also a creature without tools of compassion of any kind, so when push comes to shove, he falls back on the same fear that has crippled him his entire life (and he was terrified of Vader's power), leading him to choose Devon over Daki in a crucial moment. Not that I think even them together could fend off Anakin at this point. Maybe if Maul hadn't been injured to such a degree. Maybe. But this is Vader fresh off huffing the anger. He's a death machine in motion. He doesn't need finesse when he has that much raw power on his side.
Someone pointed out that it is funny how as soon as Devon taps into her rage, she is immediately disarmed. It will be interesting to see how her fighting style develops under Maul's tutelage. More important, it does highlight the difference between her and Maul. For all the Ls this man takes on the daily, it is a fact that he is one of the deadliest beings in the galaxy, and I think that's in part because of the way he weaves his anger into his technique (also the abusive succeed or get punished training method he was subjected to throughout his youth). But he wields his anger like a finely tuned weapon. He can get explosive and furious with it or keep it at a seething simmer. His skill bleeds through. Yes, yes, his anger doesn't help him in either of his fights against Kenobi but aside from that. Look deeper. Also I'm tired of Maul, deadly Sith assassin that he is, not being able to score a win. Like even injured he was able to fend off two Inquisitors alone. I know they can't be killed for continuity reasons. He should have at least been able to wound them. Like you're telling me Devon and Daki were able to land hits on 11 and Vader respectively but the best Maul could do was land some kicks and bring a roof down on them?? Come on.
It's really outside of fighting when he lets his anger consume him that things get messy. Like if he had taken Daki's advice in the city and used a stealthier approach instead of trying to send a message to Devon about how powerful the dark side is compared to the passive Jedi, it could have taken longer for the Inquisitors to catch their trail. Maybe more of Maul's allies would have lived. There is a Jedi style that allows for more emotion, yes? It's just that Maul is too used to letting it consume him. Again, he lacks the tools for compassion and falls back into his same old patterns but can you imagine a Maul that heeds Daki's advice and manages to find some kind of inner peace? Far fetched I know. An AU idea maybe. Anyway.
I know people are upset there wasn't a cut away literally every time one of his allies was taken out. I think we only need patience for that. In s2 I bet there will be a moment where he lets it all wash over him. It's not easy to grieve when you're being hunted by a 7"2 machine of pure destruction. And you can bet he's going to use those losses to fuel his vengeance obsession.
