Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord – BALD JASON'S GAY GOTH BOY BLOG

May 5, 2026

“it’s so hot outside this room”

I did watch the season finale episode of Star Wars: Maul last night, S01E09 (“Chapter 9: Strange Allies”) and S01E10 (“Chapter 10: The Dark Lord”) which was mostly excellent. I found myself slightly less engaged than I feel I should have been, but in part I think that has to do with the way I’ve watched the series. This was meant to be binged and the release model didn’t do anything to support that. The only complaint I have is that Dryden Vos is noticeably not voiced by Paul Bettany, who played him in “Solo: A Star Wars Story”. Speaking of the latter film, this series is really putting the pieces together, from how Maul and Crimson Dawn were displayed in The Clone Wars vs. that film and I love that! It’s really cool. And I look forward to what future seasons will reveal about that journey and how else they might incorporate continuity there.

Speaking of Star Wars, Aaron mentioned that he got us tickets to see The Mandalorian and Grogu. Originally he got them for opening night but something came up and we’re now seeing it on Friday or Saturday; he told me because he wanted to know if this was okay with me and I assured him that was fine. I’m not concerned about spoilers with that story. The only movies where that’s a big deal for me are the Marvel movies. I really haven’t rewatched any of the post-ROTJ, Mando era TV so the movie will likely feel even more like a standalone movie for me. I expect I’ll re-watch it all someday, possibly after Season 2 of Ahsoka is available.

I went to bed around 4am. I slept 6 hours. I woke up, had a smoothie and joined Aaron in the office where I started working on my Star Wars viewing order on my website. Aaron had to leave for a doctor’s appointment and he’ll then work from his office downtown before choir practice, which means I’m on my own until he comes home. My aide is here until 6. The season finale for Daredevil: Born Again begins streaming at 9pm. I will likely try to get some more things done online and then get ready for a walk. It’s nearly 80 degrees today. It was only 60 when I went for my walk on Sunday.

April 29, 2026

“It feels familiar, is it love?”

I uploaded several more of my LGBTQ+ movie reviews and worked on others. I also worked on another viewing order, but the internet went out and I lost all the work. 🙁

I watched the most recent episodes of Daredevil: Born Again (S02E07 “The Hateful Darkness”) and Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord (S01E08 “Chapter 8: The Creeping Fear”), both of which were excellent! Both episodes were the best looking of their series to date. Maul looked nearly photorealistic and the animation was breathtaking. Meanwhile, the lighting in the latest Daredevil story felt like a film. Both episodes features character revelations, shocking plot twists supported by multiple previous stories and shocking moments, including some really brave storytelling choices. I’m impressed. Both seasons will come to an end next week.

I was planning on continuing on to watch the next Lord of the Rings episode as I’ve not watched that series in weeks, but by the time the internet returned I was already getting tired. I might go to bed very soon. We’ll see.

April 28, 2026

“There’s more to life than death.”

I didn’t go to bed after the last entry. I was tired but I was very hungry; I resisted eating or sleeping for some reason. I worked on my website a bit more. I uploaded 12 more collages in the photos section. I should have been putting all the photos I’ve used for these collages in a folder somewhere so I would know what I’ve used so far because I’m going to forget. I mean, I’m already having trouble. But I don’t have anyone to blame but myself.

Eventually I realized that I would need to have something to eat and I would need to sleep. I reheated a slice of pizza while I got ready for bed, and I did watch an episode of Star Wars: Mau – Shadow Lord (S01E07 “Chapter 7: Call to Oblivion”). I was sort of doing all of this at once, but quickly realized this episode of the series was much more intense than previous entries, with characters dying left and right and massive fights between Star Wars icons. It was great! But just like previous installments, the ending was frustrating. This season tells a single story, and the episode endings are less like cliffhangers, than someone randomly shutting the TV off. I hate it. I would recommend binging it but I can’t wait. I do look forward to rewatching this series someday when I can view it the way I feel it should be, and as I’ve said before, this will likely continue a full re-watch of the entire The Clone Wars / The Bad Batch & the Star Wars Tales series, which has just continued to grow into something very special.

I momentarily considered watching the next episode of the Maul series but knew this was a bad idea. I went to bed. As I was getting ready for bed I had a coughing fit, which sometimes happens when acid irritates my throat. But I didn’t mind as it gave me an excuse to take a swig of cough syrup. For a long time, I would take a sip every night. I don’t do that anymore and I try to avoid taking pain killer, despite having a lot of migraines. But I didn’t want to go to bed and wake Aaron with my coughing. The cough syrup helped and because I’ve not had any in a long time it knocked me out, which was lovely. I slept for 8 hours, waking up feeling rested and comfortable.

My skin has been really flaky lately. I don’t use a lot of products on my skin, aside from sunblock, because anything meant to help my skin actually seems to do the reverse. I breakout in rashes or acne. It’s terrible. I used to hate my skin. But I think that whatever weird chemistry that happens there has helped my skin stay hydrated. It’s not perfect. My pores are clogged for sure, but I also don’t have a lot of issues otherwise. Now, this has changed a bit as I’ve aged. I’ve had some minor skin problems which I know how to take care of. As for the new issue, I hadn’t honestly given it a lot of thought, but I remembered that I had this old charcoal face mask that I had tried years ago and it has helped a bit. So I shaved and showered, applied the mask for 30 minutes and then scrubbed that off. And again, for now it seems like it has helped. The mask is black and on my pale skin it almost looks like I’m wearing Black Face – as if having a shaved head didn’t make me look racist as it is! I do like how the mask looks on my skin though. My impression is that if it were purple it would remind me of the 1960’s Batgirl costume. lol

I was going to go for a walk but it looks like it’s going to rain. I tried calling my grandmother last night and this afternoon but she didn’t answer. I hope she’s okay. I’ll try again in a bit. I should probably have something to eat as it’s now been nearly 12 hours since I had that slice of pizza.

April 22, 2026

“Where are you? How are you? I wait for an answer…”

I slept more than 7 hours, which was wonderful. I dreamt about a home, where I’m from, secrets and hidden places on our property which don’t actually exist in reality, but which have some basis in fact and which are recurring elements in my dreams, which I cherish. I woke up around a quarter to 5. I had two missed calls, from Aaron & from Mark Adams. Both called shortly after I went to sleep. I suspect Aaron was just reaching out to let me know he’s okay and how his L.A. adventure is going while Mark was likely calling to talk about the new episode of Daredevil: Born Again, which probably ended around the time that he called – but I don’t know for sure, obviously.

When I got up to use the bathroom I saw that I had indeed caught the mouse in my traps. Often even finding a mouse in a trap I find it repulsive and it is a cause of some stress, but this time I felt a sense of victory. I swept the trapped mouse into the trash and I was done. I left the other traps just in case we have more than one pest, but I don’t think we do. I washed my hands, made a smoothie and decided I’d catch up on some of my TV shows.

I got caught up on Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, watching the last 2.5 episodes, which brings us to episode 6. I’ve had mixed reactions to this series. It’s up to snuff with other animated Star Wars stuff like Tales, The Clone Wars, The Bad Batch & Rebels, but this has been the least compelling to date, which sounds like I hate it, but I don’t. I think what drags it down is the structure. We’re getting 10 episodes in Season 1, 2 episodes a week, but the story feels like a single movie randomly chopped into 10 pieces, so the endings all feel forced and obnoxious IMO. Everytime I feel like I’m finally getting into the series, it ends. I’d just wait and binge it but I don’t want to get that far behind on anything if I can help it. I will say that episode 6 (S01E06 “Night of the Hunted”) felt like the best episode so far and has many things I enjoyed, which made the first 5 all feel like setup, which is fine, but I wish I’d enjoyed the setup a bit more. Perhaps I’ll grow to love the series once this season is finished? We’ll see. The season will be over in just 13 days. A second season has been ordered but it’s unclear when that will arrive or what the story might be. I kind of hope there is a time jump between seasons and that we get a different Maul story that builds on this one while forging another way forward in a different location with different characters, but I really have no idea how this season ends, how that will affect my opinion, or what they have planned going forward. There has been so much new content since I last watched the majority of The Clone Wars (all 3 seasons of Tales, 2 final seasons of The Clone Wars, The Bad Batch and now this + Forces of Destiny) that I would really love to do a re-watch of this entire era, but I’m watching so much right now and I’m behind on even more, so it just doesn’t seem likely. Hopefully someday.

I’ll try to get to the other shows later, but I felt like taking a break.