Eminence (episode)

"One vision can have many interpretations."

- Moral

"Eminence" is the fourteenth episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series' fifth season. It aired on January 19, 2013.

Official description
"Savage and Maul form an alliance with the Death Watch to target a common enemy: Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Plot summary
The escape pod of the ALC-9 drifts through unknown space when another ship docks with it. Inside, the door to the pod is cut open and Death Watch soldiers with Pre Vizsla and Bo-Katan Kryze enter. Vizsla finds Maul's lightsaber on the ground and Katan asks if they should eliminate them. Vizsla tells her not to as he wants to know their story. Both brothers were loaded into the Gauntlet and taken to the Death Watch camp on Zanbar. There, Vizsla ordered for his men to help the brothers in any way they could, giving Maul new robotic legs and Savage a robotic arm. Vizsla came into the room as Maul was regaining consciousness and began questioning him, learning that Obi-Wan Kenobi was responsible for destroying the brothers' ship and leaving them stranded in space.

After Maul has fully healed, he is brought to the command tent where Vizsla is waiting for him. Maul notices the symbol on Vizsla's helmet and Vizsla reveals he is Pre Vizsla of Clan Vizsla and that he is a member of Death Watch. Maul listens as Vizsla rants on about how the New Mandalore and Duchess Satine are responsible for the Death Watch being pariahs to their planet. Maul questions why the Death Watch waits if Mandalore is weak and Vizsla reveals that Kryze has powerful friends, including Kenobi, who Vizsla also blames for the Death Watch exile. Vizsla begins to believe fate brought the two together and Maul agrees that it was the Will of the Force. Maul says he can help Death Watch reclaim Mandalore and kill Kenobi. Katan speaks out that she does not trust the Sith and Maul begins to Force-choke her. Maul promises that all of their enemies will fall if Death Watch allies itself with the Nightbrothers before he lets Katan go. Vizsla tells Maul to go back to his brother while the Death Watch votes.

Savage regains consciousness and destroys the droids that were working on him. Maul reenters the room and tells Savage they are in the care of Death Watch and that they will learn too late of their real plan. Vizsla and Katan come in and inform the two that Death Watch has agreed to form an alliance.

Vizsla takes Maul through the camp, observing the Death Watch soldiers. Maul says they are strong but will need an army. Maul decides that the army will begin by obtaining the loyalties of the Black Sun.

The Death Watch and brothers arrive on Mustafar to be met by Ziton Moj. He brings Maul, Savage, and Vizsla into the council chambers. Maul invites the Black Sun to join them but Xomit Grunseit refuses and tells his men to kill the brothers and Death Watch members and to take their weapons and ships. As Moj and the guards move in, Vizsla points his blaster at them while Maul makes it clear they have only one more chance. Grunseit still refuses so Savage hurls his lightsaber at the council and beheads all of them. With the choice now up to Moj, he agrees to join.

As the supplies are loaded onto the Death Watch ships, Vizsla finds Maul and attempts to give him a plan on how to take Mandalore. Maul states the army is not finished and that if Vizsla wants to hold the planet, he should listen to Maul. Vizsla reluctantly agrees.

Back on Zanbar, the new army spots several ships belonging to the Pyke Syndicate landing. Lom Pyke and his men exit their ships and tell Maul they know of the army he is building and does not want to oppose it. He joins and Vizsla declares that they are going to Nal Hutta.

The Shadow Collective lands at the Hutt Palace on Nal Hutta to speak with the Hutt Grand Council. In the council chamber, Maul, Savage, and Vizsla ask for the Hutt families to join them, promising to spare their lives in exchange for the Hutt territories and everything in them. The Hutt council just laughs and Jabba orders for his bounty hunters. Sugi hurls a knife at Maul but it is stopped mid-throw by Opress. The knife is thrown back and the bounty hunters open fire. Maul and Opress cut through several guards while Vizsla sets fire to the council table with his flamethrower so they can have a head start. The bounty hunters chase after them.

Maul, Opress, and Vizsla arrive on the landing platform where a firefight starts. With assistance from Katan and her Nite Owls, they are able to kill several of the guards and get the bounty hunters to retreat inside. This time, Maul and his followers chase them back in.

As more guards come to defend the palace, the brothers and Death Watch quickly cut though them. Sugi drops down from above and knocks Vizsla over before getting into a fight with Maul. Maul knocks her to the floor and begins swiping at her with his lightsaber, but she rolls out of the way with each strike. Embo gets into a fight with Savage while Marrok attacks Maul, knocking the lightsaber from his hands and saving Sugi. Savage continuously punches at Embo who uses his hat to block the punches but is still knocked to the ground. Vizsla pulls out his Darksaber and cuts down several guards. Maul manages to throw Marrok off when several smoke grenades are thrown. Latts Razzi and Dengar are at the end of the hall and yell for their companions to get out. Embo, Sugi, and Marrok follow them and Maul lets them go.

Maul goes to the Hutt Council Hall to find all the council members gone except for Oruba. Maul can not get any information out so he orders Savage to kill him and Oruba breaks, telling them to go to Tatooine. Maul is displeased that all he can give is the location of Jabba's Palace and Savage kills the frightened Hutt anyways.

The Shadow Collective travels to Tatooine and go to Jabba's Palace. They attack and kill most of Jabba's guards in the courtyard and proceed to the throne room where Jabba and Gorga Desilijic Aarrpo are. Jabba decides to join Maul's army.

Vizsla is happy that they now have enough forces to take Mandalore and Maul reveals that Mandalore will by Vizsla's but he will command a new underworld. Vizsla feels that he has been betrayed and finds Katan in the courtyard. He tells her that once they have Mandalore, they will kill Maul and Savage before walking off.

Cast

 * Sam Witwer as Darth Maul
 * Jon Favreau as Pre Vizsla
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Jabba the Hutt, Gorga the Hutt and Black Sun leader #1
 * Corey Burton as Oruba the Hutt, Death Watch guard and Ziton Moj
 * Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan
 * Clancy Brown as Savage Opress
 * Matt Lanter as Lom
 * Clare Grant as Latts Razzi
 * Dave Filoni as Black Sun leader #2
 * Anna Graves as Droid
 * Tom Kane as the narrator

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

Behind the scenes
A scene in the episode was censored by Cartoon Network. The scene included the decapitation of several Black Sun leaders by the Sith brothers. Pablo Hidalgo confirmed that the unedited sequence will return in the Blu-ray and DVD release of the season.

The US premiere of the episode was held in a screening sponsored by the USO on January 18, 2013 at MCAS Miramar in San Diego, CA and was attended by cast and crew members, including James Arnold Taylor, Ashley Eckstein, Dee Bradley Baker, Matt Lanter, Catherine Taber, Dave Filoni, and Cary Silver. . The screening, along with a screening of "The Gathering" was accompanied by a video greeting from George Lucas and a Q&A session with the cast.

According to the Star Wars: The Clone Wars official Facebook page and the official trivia gallery for the episode on Starwars.com, the scene where the Death Watch members found Maul and Savage Opress's escape pod and shine flashlights on them was based on a scene with Ripley from the 1986 James Cameron science fiction/horror-genre film Aliens, specifically the opening scene where she is found by a salvage crew.

The trivia gallery noted that, thanks to his being supplied with humanoid cybernetic legs, Maul's true height compared to Opress showed him to be shorter than the latter, a point made clear when Opress stands up and accidentally bumps his head on the operation lamp. In addition, the mechanical arms that operated on the Sith Brothers were revealed to have been repurposed from the mining equipment that were seen on the moon of Concordia in the episode "The Mandalore Plot", which Pre Vizsla had previously held territory over.

The Black Sun logo seen in the meeting room for the Black Sun chairmen, as well as the leadership's outfits, were taken directly from the Shadows of the Empire franchise. In addition, the design and architecture for their fortress on Mustafar was taken directly from the Virago, Prince Xizor's ship from the same franchise. The Black Sun soldiers' blasters were also based on similar weapons used by the robot guards in the film The Black Hole.

All the Huttese dialogue in the episode was translated from English, with the phrase "Stuka Crispo" translating to "Death Watch."

The trivia gallery also confirmed that the substance on the Pykes' hands and mouth were spice stains, due to their trade.

The Kom'rk-class fighter/transport ships that appeared in the episode were smaller versions of the ones seen in prior seasons, and also come equipped with a ventral deployment rack for the Mandalorians.