I agree that this should have been at least two episodes. I have a bunch of spoilerly thoughts that I won’t get into now.
Well that’s interesting. The concept art they show seems to imply some additional misadventures that probably weren’t necessary, though I bet there’s some really interesting stuff that got axed. Does Rebels ever put deleted scenes/extended episodes on their home video releases?
As for the episode itself, I really enjoyed it. On the whole I thought it was very well done. Tonally and visually it was just about perfect. I really don’t have much to complain about.
I personally LOVED the duel. Reminded me of classic cinematic gunslinger/samurai duels. I thought that was really ballsy and pretty awesome that they did that, much preferred it to some drawn out TCW-esque lightsaber duel. I will say though I do think the confrontation between the two was too short. After everything that’s happened between the two, with all their history together and all the time that’s been spent leading up to this, I do wish they had exchanged more than a couple lines. Maul’s final line is fascinating though and definitely something to chew on.
My biggest disappointment here is how this completely botches the Ezra/Maul dynamic. It already seemed like the show was dropping Ezra’s call to the dark side, and I know some people really want him to turn, I don’t care one way or the other, but it is a compelling storyline for him that just seemed to fizzle out. I thought this would be the place to finally tie it up in some fashion but nope. That’s really why I wish this had been at least a two parter. I guess it’s possible that that thread will linger but it seems like such a waste that nothing came of it here with Maul after everything between the two before.
Also, in regards to the whole ^Form III thing, I hate that stuff. I noticed the move from TPM too and thought that was kinda cool, but in general just can’t stand the silly lightsaber form shit. I thought Obi-Wan was handled very well here but the ROTS stance he makes just looks maddeningly dumb.