Lair of Grievous

"Most powerful is he who controls his own power."

- Moral

"Lair of Grievous" is the tenth episode in Season One of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series, directed by Atsushi Takeuchi. It features the debut of Nautolan Jedi Master Kit Fisto in The Clone Wars series.

Official description
General Grievous must prove himself worthy of the Separatists when Count Dooku leads Jedi Master Kit Fisto and his former Padawan, the Mon Calamari Jedi Nahdar Vebb to Grievous' villainous enclave.

Plot summary
Once alerted of Nute Gunray's escape, Jedi Master Kit Fisto and his former apprentice Nahdar Vebb follow the tracking beacon of his stolen ship to Vassek, but soon find that he is not on his ship. They find a secret door and Kit Fisto looks and finds a way to open it. They attempt to sneak up on Nute Gunray, but all they find is a gloating hologram. It turns out to be a trap for them and a test for Grievous, who has received a holo message from Count Dooku telling him that the ongoing stalemate in the war has become unacceptable and that Lord Sidious wants more dramatic results — more dead Jedi.

Upon his arrival to his lair, Grievous is confronted by Fisto and Vebb, along with their squad of clones. A lightsaber duel breaks out, and Grievous ends up having his legs chopped off just above the knees. However, Grievous escapes to his control room where he undergoes repairs from his medic droid. Grievous then orders his MagnaGuards to blow up the clones' transport to cut off escape. They attempt to destroy Fisto's starfighter and his droid, R6-H5, also, but Arsix manages to pilot the fighter away from danger.

Meanwhile Fisto, Vebb and the remainder of their clone squad follow Grievous, finding many booby traps along the way. A trapdoor opens beneath them, and one of the clones is killed in the carbonite vat below. Fisto and Vebb Force Jump above the pit, and Clone Commander CC-3714, nicknamed "Fil," uses a cable to cling to the side of the pit and climb up. After this debacle they meet Grievous' pet roggwart, Gor. After a short battle, Gor is eventually killed by Fisto. Unfortunately, Fil is killed, which enrages Nahdar. While Grievous is watching this all play out, he is contacted by Count Dooku. This time the message confirms to Grievous that this is a test for him since his defeats by the jedi has shaken his faith in the general. He decides to play along, and he and his guards go hunting.

When the two parties meet, Vebb skillfully defeats all five of Grievous' guards. During the fight, Fisto is locked into the control room, unable to help Vebb. He finds EV-A4-D and cuts him in half. Vebb proceeds to attack Grievous, but is shortly shot and killed. Fisto calls for R6-H5 to meet him at the south landing platform. After a brief but intense battle with Grievous, Fisto starts to gain the upper hand, but some of Grievous's battle droids arrive, and Fisto, seeing how the odds were changing, escapes and returns to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, where he tells Yoda and Mace Windu about the confrontation. He tells them that, "Nadhar's heart was in the right place, but he tried to match Grievous' power with his own." Yoda says that "in this war, a danger there is of losing who we are". Meanwhile, Dooku contacts Grievous, who tells Dooku how he has beaten the Jedi. Dooku knew that victory over the young Jedi and the clones was expected, but to best a Jedi master is truly a accomplishment. Grievous tells Dooku that Fisto got away. Dooku, disappointed, states to Grievous that there is room for improvement on his part, seeing that he was unable to kill Master Fisto. This angers Grievous.

Cast

 * David Acord as EV-A4-D
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Clone troopers
 * Corey Burton as Count Dooku
 * Terrence Carson as Mace Windu
 * Olivia d'Abo as Luminara Unduli
 * Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano
 * Tom Kane as Yoda, Narrator
 * Tom Kenny as Nahdar Vebb, Nute Gunray
 * Phil LaMarr as Kit Fisto
 * Matthew Wood as General Grievous, Battle droids

Behind the scenes
"Have you ever killed a Jedi?''" "No, never." ''"Me neither."

- A deleted battle droid joke from the episode

The Episode Guide reveals a couple of lines not shown in the actual episode. In addition to aforementioned joke, another usage of the famous line "I have a bad feeling about this", this time by the Jedi Nahdar Vebb, was cut probably because of the strong time limit on TV episode format. These deleted scenes were restored for the "Director's Cut" version of the episode that appeared on the Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Complete Season One DVD.

The captured lightsaber Kit Fisto examines in Grievous' castle belonged to Jedi Master Neebo.

Awards
This episode won a Golden Reel Award for best sound editing in television animation.