It’s common knowledge that the Star Wars fandom is an extremely divisive one. However, if there’s one aspect of the nearly 50-year-old franchise that most are on the same page about is that the animated series succeed at doing what several of the live-action series don’t always nail: impeccable storytelling, effortless world building, and the bravery to go deep on spiritual and morality-related subject matter.

From the beloved flagship that is The Clone Wars, to the will-filled adventures of The Bad Batch, there’s so much that the animated productions get right about Star Wars, that make the hiccups that do happen appear as just that — well, for the most part anyway.

Maul — Shadow Lord is a strong yet perplexing entry to the list. Set in the era of the Galactic Empire, the badass Dark Side Force user once apprentice to Darth Sidious, plots to rebuild his crime syndicate on an Empire-less planet, with hopes of having a new apprentice by his side.

The quality of the animation for the productions to come out of Lucasfilm Animation in the past six years improves with each project, with Shadow Lord being the best yet. It’s stylized in a way that’s fitting of the energy of the title character, as well as the story that’s being told.

While many of the Star Wars animated series maintain a strong balance between satisfying both younger and older audiences, Shadow Lord seems specifically geared towards the latter. It seems to cater mostly to Millennial and Generation Z audiences — the ones who grew up watching The Clone Wars. The way the dialogue is written, the depths to which Maul is portrayed, and even the frightfully real fascist state of the Empire feels unrestrained compared to previous productions. If there was ever an animated series tonally reminiscent of Andor, Shadow Lord is it.

As intricately intriguing of a character Maul is, the decision to make him the lead of his own series feels a little odd. He has been around for a long time; long enough to where it’s known how he dies (and that was shown nine years ago in Rebels). While one may argue Maul being the lead is pointless because it’s been known for a while now how his story ends, I’ve always been an advocate for how even if you know where a character will wind up, how they get there can still generate intrigue. In other words, journey over destination.

What makes Maul an odd choice for the lead is the lack of growth as a character. Yes, he changes in time. That’s been seen ever since he was brought back into the universe in The Clone Wars. But it’s never to better himself as a character, let alone his worldview, but rather, to cater to his intentions. It’s what makes this series feel stagnant when the lead is incapable of growth, no matter how layered of a character he is.

His lack of growth goes hand in hand with his motivations; particularly with pursuing a new character in the universe, Jedi Padawan Devon Izara, as his apprentice. This part of the plot feels a little bit lazy in writing, as I personally don’t see what’s so unique about her, other than the fact that she survived Order 66 — a statement that can be applied to many people in this universe at this point. Mind you, I don’t know how long after the fall of the Republic this series is set, but my guess is that it wasn’t that far in the past, making the idea of a young survivor is intriguing to Maul.

But in the grand scheme of the franchise as a whole, this pursuit for an apprentice or partnership is one that audiences have already been tried several times. However, at least with the previous attempts that audiences have seen, he had an understandable reasoning for going about doing so. When he attempted to partner with Ahsoka in the final episodes of The Clone Wars, it was because he saw a reflection of himself in her; a Force user devoted to those that trained her, only to be abandoned, and — in her case — leave due to how she was treated by them. In Season 3 of Rebels when he was pursuing Ezra, it was because he was a Force user born after Order 66, and not only wanted the Empire gone, but posed potential to do so by any means necessary, even if it means tapping into the Dark Side of the Force.

But with Devon, there’s not a lot to her. Sure, she wrestles with a morality complex on whether or not to hold true to her ideals in an ever-changing universe, but it’s not written well enough to where I find Maul’s pursuit of her understandable by any stretch of what’s portrayed.

Shadow Lord is ten episodes long, and it was only recently that it was revealed the show will be returning for a second season. Given the limited number of episodes with no guarantee initially of a continuation, the pacing of, at least, the first eight episodes I’ve seen is kind of weird. The first four feel slower than what is necessary, and it’s not until the fifth episode where things start to pick up. While going however many episodes of a slow build-up may have worked for Andor, I’m not sure if it translates as well into this series, no matter how similar they are tonally. I just think that the episodes that I did see of this initial season could have been better paced, to really make an impact with the story being told.

Overall, while Shadow Lord is a strong entry to the growing list of Star Wars animated series, its execution is not strong enough to where I see the green light for a second season earned.

Maul — Shadow Lord debuts today on Disney+, with new episodes out every Monday.