Shadow Warrior

"Who a person truly is cannot be seen with the eye."

- Moral

"Shadow Warrior" is the fourth episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series' fourth season. It aired on September 30, 2011.

Official description
"When the leader of the Gungans, Boss Lyonie, is injured it's discovered there is an uncanny resemblance between the Boss and Jar Jar Binks. Binks must sway his people from rising against the Naboo and stopping a Separatist invasion led by General Grievous."

Synopsis
After Anakin and Padmé's arrival in Theed, they travel to the Gungan territory near Lake Paonga and seek out their old friend Jar Jar, who confirms the troubling rumors that Boss Lyonie intends to march on Theed and takes them to Otoh Gunga, where Lyonie is indeed attempting to rally his troop leaders for the impending conflict, accompanied by his new minister Rish Loo. When Anakin and Padmé attempt to talk to Lyonie and he refuses to abandon his plans, the two notice that he appears to be not himself. The cause is a mind control necklace which Anakin telekinetically snatches from Lyonie’s neck, making him recover, and Lyonie confirms that the necklace was given to him by Rish Loo.

Loo is in fact secretly in league with Count Dooku, who has promised him the freedom of his people in exchange for aiding the Separatists in invading Naboo. Lyonie confronts Loo about his treachery, but Rish Loo uses his mystical powers to try and control him once more; when Anakin and Padmé come to Lyonie’s aid, he unleashes a squad of commando droids on them, stabs Lyonie and escapes the underwater city. With Lyonie lying unconscious, it appears the attack on the Naboo cannot be called off anymore ... not until Jar Jar inadvertently dons Lyonie’s crown of office, making Anakin and Padmé note a striking resemblance to the Boss. Anakin therefore hatches a plan to make the Gungan army stand off the attack by having Jar Jar pretend to be Lyonie.

On the surface, Risha Loo tries to salvage his plans by telling the assembled Gungan warriors that Lyonie is dead. The disguised Jar Jar appears just in time, and although nervous, he makes a good impersonation of Lyonie and denounces Loo as a traitor. Loo manages to escape, however, but as Anakin pursues him, a Separatist troop carrier arrives and the battle droid crew address Jar Jar, since they believe that everything is still according to Dooku’s plan. Forced to maintain his role, Jar Jar and General Tarpals board the ship to help in coordinating the attack, only to find out that the leader of the droid army is none other than General Grievous himself!

Flustered and terrified, Jar Jar desperately stalls for time and sends Tarpals out to inform Padmé about this development. Padmé advises him to try and capture Grievous by shutting down his droid escort before Grievous can note this desperate deception. Grievous eventually becomes highly irritated by the apparent Lyonie’s sudden hesitation in conducting the assault and figures out that he is an imposter. Jar Jar escapes to the outside just in time to escape Grievous’ rage, and for Grievous to notice that his army has been disabled. The Gungans surround Grievous, who fights back, fatally stabbing Tarpals in the process. With the last of his strength, however, Tarpals shocks Grievous into submission, enabling his capture, before expiring. Upon learning of Grievous’ capture, Darth Sidious commands Dooku, hidden in an ancient Naboo structure, to lure Anakin into a trap to take him hostage for a prisoner exchange.

In the meantime, Anakin chases after Loo, but is slowed by two probe droids who shoot his Kaadu mount. Upon Dooku’s command, however, Loo lures Anakin to the structure, where he meets Dooku. After killing Loo as the naive fool he was and after revealing the Sith’s hand in the first invasion of Naboo more than ten years ago, Dooku and his droid bodyguards confront Anakin in a fierce lightsaber duel, at which end Anakin is disarmed and shocked into unconsciousness.

Dooku contacts Padmé, tortures Anakin in front of her and gives her one hour to make her decision. Torn between her feelings for Anakin and her commitment to the welfare of the Republic, Padmé finally agrees to make the switch. Despite the somberness of the deal, Jar Jar is lauded by Boss Lyonie and Queen Neeyutnee for his successful efforts in re-establishing peace between the Gungans and the Naboo.

Cast

 * Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker and Gungan Soldier #2
 * Catherine Taber as Padmé Amidala and Tactical Droid
 * Ahmed Best as Jar Jar Binks and Boss Lyonie
 * Corey Burton as Count Dooku, Rish Loo and Gungan Soldier #1
 * Matthew Wood as General Grievous
 * Fred Tatasciore as Tarpals
 * Jameelah McMillan as Queen Neeyutnee
 * Ian Abercrombie as Darth Sidious
 * Tom Kane as the narrator

Continuity
At one point, "Shadow Warrior" was considered to be the Season Four premiere episode, but it was later shifted in favor of the "Battle of Mon Cala" story arc to have a more action-packed premiere.