Eminence (episode)

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

An escape pod drifts through unknown space as another ship docks with it. Inside, the door to the pod is cut open and Death Watch soldiers including Pre Vizsla and Bo-Katan Kryze enter. They discover the unconscious Zabrak brothers Maul and Savage Opress. Vizsla finds Maul's lightsaber on the ground and Bo-Katan asks if they should eliminate them. Vizsla tells her not to as he wants to know their story. The brothers are loaded into a Kom'rk-class fighter/transport and taken to the Death Watch camp on Zanbar. There, Vizsla orders for his men to help the brothers in any way they could, giving Maul new robotic legs and Savage a cybernetic arm. Vizsla enters the room as Maul wakes up and begins 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 explains how the ways of New Mandalore and Duchess Satine are responsible for Death Watch being outcasts on their own planet. Maul questions why Death Watch waits if Mandalore is weak and Vizsla reveals that Kryze has powerful friends, including Kenobi, who Vizsla also blames for their exile. Vizsla believes that fortune brought him and the brothers together and Maul agrees that it was the will of the Force. Maul says he can help Death Watch reclaim Mandalore and kill Kenobi. Bo-Katan speaks out that she does not trust the Sith, saying they are no better than the Jedi, and Maul Force chokes her. Maul promises that all of their enemies will fall if Death Watch allies itself with the Nightbrothers before he lets Bo-Katan go. Vizsla tells Maul to go back to his brother while the Death Watch decide what to do.

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 Bo-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 to take Mandalore. 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 and Savage kills one of the soldiers by snapping his neck like a twig and tossing the body onto the council table. Maul offers them one last chance but Grunseit still refuses, so Savage hurls his lightsaber in a spinning arc along the council table, literally and figuratively beheading the entire leadership. 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 claim they do 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 Ruling Council. In the council chamber, Maul, Savage, and Vizsla are received by the Hutt families, Jabba and Gorga attending by hologram. The Hutts acknowledge them but are offended when Maul reveals that they have no credits to barter for their allegiance. When Oruba asks if they have anything at all to trade, Maul responds that he will spare their lives in exchange for Hutt Space and everything it possesses. The Hutts respond with bellowing laughter and Jabba calls 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 to give them a head start. Jabba furiously orders the bounty hunters after them.

Maul, Opress, and Vizsla arrive on the landing platform where a firefight starts. With assistance from Bo-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 fights Savage while Marrok attacks Maul, knocking the lightsaber from his hands and saving Sugi. Savage continuously punches at Embo who uses his hat to defend himself but is still knocked to the ground. Vizsla cuts down several guards with his Darksaber. Maul manages to throw Marrok off when several smoke grenades are thrown. Latts Razzi and Dengar yell for their companions to escape. Embo, Sugi, and Marrok follow them and Maul allows them to leave, as they have no allegiance.

Maul goes to the Hutt Council Hall to find all the council members gone except for Oruba. Maul cannot 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 Vizsla will be granted Mandalore while he himself will command a new underworld under Vizsla's protection. Vizsla feels that he has been betrayed and finds Bo-Katan in the courtyard. He tells her that once they have Mandalore, they will kill Maul and Savage alongside Duchess Satine before walking off.

"Eminence" 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 thirteenth episode of Season Five, but the reported order was revised following the magazine's publication.

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.

The decapitation scene was censored by Cartoon Network, but is intact in the episode's Director's Cut on the Blu-ray and DVD release.

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 shone flashlights on them was based on the opening scene of the 1986 James Cameron science-fiction/horror film Aliens, where a salvage crew finds Ripley.

The trivia gallery noted that, thanks to his humanoid cybernetic legs, Maul is shorter than Opress, 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 appeared in the episode "The Mandalore Plot" on the moon of Concordia, which Pre Vizsla had previously held territory over.

The Black Sun logo in the meeting room for the Black Sun chairmen, as well as on the leadership's outfits, was 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 based on 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 came equipped with a ventral deployment rack for the Mandalorians.