Shades of Reason

"Alliances can stall true intentions."

- Moral

"Shades of Reason" is the fifteenth episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series' fifth season. It aired on January 26, 2013.

Official description
"Backed by the criminal underworld, the Sith and Death Watch launch an attack on Mandalore."

Plot Summary
The Shadow Collective convenes on Zanbar to discuss Death Watch's planned takeover of Mandalore. Darth Maul instructs their criminal allies to assault the city of Sundari, creating civil unrest that would weaken the Duchess Satine Kryze's political standing, at which Death Watch would swoop in an "stop" them, winning the people's support. As the meeting adjourns, Maul warns Opress to be ready for an obvious betrayal from Pre Vizsla.

The Shadow Collective journeys to Mandalore and begins their attack. The criminal elements capture the docks, assault a bank and open fire in the streets. As the Duchess attempts to encourage her people to remain calm, Vizsla and his men arrive and "arrest" the criminals. Satine is then deposed and imprisoned next to former Prime Minister Almec.

As Vizsla consolidates his power and prepares the Mandalorian people for their return to their warrior roots, Maul suggests moving in on the Council of Neutral Systems and the 2000 systems they control, but the Death Watch leader has no interest in expansion. Thus, Death Watch turns on Maul and Opress, though Vizsla promises to deliver Obi-Wan Kenobi to them.

As the Zabrak brothers are imprisoned, Maul states that they need a puppet to rule Mandalore and figures that the prison may hold political prisoners malleable for their ends. They then break out and search the prison for a worthy candidate. Thanks to an indirect comment from Satine, Maul chooses Almec. He then returns to the throne room and challenges Vizsla to a death match for Death Watch's leadership, which Vizsla is honor-bound to accept. After a vigorous and equally match duel does Maul best Vizsla and claim his Darksaber. Stating that the strong will always rule, Vizsla offers no resistance as Maul decapitates him. Despite his victory, a number of Death Watch dissidents, led by Bo-Katan Kryze, refuse to swear fealty to an outsider and flee.

Almec is reinstated as prime minister. As he addresses the Mandalorian people, he tells them that Satine murdered Vizsla. He then reports to Maul his plans to set up his new administration, the Sith warning that he'd be responsible for their failures. Almec then asks Maul if he has any other plans. Maul only tells him to go and rule Mandalore.

Cast

 * Sam Witwer as Darth Maul
 * Jon Favreau as Pre Vizsla
 * Julian Holloway as Almec
 * Anna Graves as Duchess Satine Kryze and Droid
 * David Acord as Police Officer
 * Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan
 * Clancy Brown as Savage Opress
 * Corey Burton as Ziton Moj and Armatan
 * Tom Kane as narrator and Police Captain
 * Dave Filoni as Enforcer and Tour Guide Droid
 * Matt Lanter as Lom

Continuity
"Shades of Reason" was adapted in the young reader's book The Clone Wars: Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy. The episode was originally reported by Star Wars Insider 137 as the fourteenth episode of Season Five, but the reported order was revised following the magazine's publication.

Behind the scenes
According to a post for the official Star Wars: The Clone Wars Facebook page as well as the Trivia gallery for the episode on StarWars.com, a mural that appeared on the royal platform of the Sundari Royal Palace, depicting a battle between Mandalorians and ancient Jedi, had a similar artwork style to the cubist artwork Guernica by painter Pablo Picasso. In addition to official statements, the mural's composition (characters positioned on the left and right sides of the image) and theme (soldiers on the right aiming guns and a sword) are similar to that of another painting by Picasso, Massacre in Korea. StarWars.com confirmed that the Royal Palace mural was a different painting from the one in Governor Vizsla's residence in "The Mandalore Plot".

In the early stages of the episode, the makers had planned for a scene where after Vizsla was defeated, his severed head would roll down the stairs. This was cut later because it was deemed too graphic. Unlike a similar edit in "Eminence", this was cut very early in the episode's development, although it was eventually restored in the DVD/Blu ray release.

The trivia gallery for the episode confirmed that the place that Ziton Moj attacked in the episode was Peace Park from "The Mandalore Plot," which also retained the scars from the Death Watch bombing from the same episode.

The tour droid that got blasted in this episode bore the same body design as the droid that gave Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala a lift at Mos Espa in Attack of the Clones. The Mandalore Banking Center was likewise a redesign of the Mandalorian Hospital in Season 3.

The episode's Director's Cut was included in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Complete Season Five DVD.