Chapter 8: Redemption

The Mandalorian comes face-to-face with an unexpected enemy.

The two scout troopers who have killed Kuiil and captured the Child travel to a rendezvous point near the Nevarro settlement. The first scout trooper contacts his commander via comlink and say they have brought the "Asset" and are awaiting further orders. The Child is kept in a knapsack and tries to peep out but the scout trooper slams him down. A voice on the comlink tells them to double check because Moff Gideon has already landed and taken out a squad of troopers.

The second scout trooper asks if Gideon killed his own men. The first scout trooper doesn't seem to care and smacks the Child down again. The second trooper is curious about their asset but the first trooper is only concerned with following orders. The second trooper asks if he can see it but the first trooper reminds him that Moff Gideon killed several of his own troopers to make a point.

The troopers bide their time by shooting (unsuccessfully) a nearby transmitter for target practice. The second trooper asks if they should offer the "thing" some water as a pretext for looking at it. The first trooper says he is not taking it out of the bag till they deliver the asset. He asks the commander for an update only to learn that Moff Gideon has killed an officer for interrupting him and that it could take a while.

The second trooper convinces the first trooper to let him look at the Child. The second trooper thinks the Child is a pet but he bites his finger. The second trooper smacks the knapsack containing the Child while the first trooper says serves him right.

Just then, IG-11 appears, identifying himself as the Child's nurse droid and requests that they hand him over. The second scout trooper recognizes IG-11 as a hunter droid but the first trooper underestimates IG-11, dismissing him as a nurse droid. He tries to drive the droid away by firing his blaster pistol.

However, IG-11 twists the first trooper's arm and throws him to the ground. He grabs the second trooper by his helmet and then slams him against the steering vanes of the speeder bike. After retrieving the Child, he mounts a bike and apologizes to the Child for the violence he had to witness.

Back at the Nevarro cantina, the "Mandalorian", Cara Dune, and Greef Karga are trapped by Moff Gideon and his stormtroopers. The Mandalorian convinces his companions that they should flee to the sewers where his clan has a covert. While he searches for an access point, Cara and Greef watch Gideon's stormtroopers assemble an E-web heavy repeating blaster. The Mandalorian and Cara find the sewer vent underneath a seat.

Cara tries to use her blaster to break the sewer vent. Hearing blaster fire, Moff Gideon warns the group that his troops have assembled a newer model E-web heavy repeating blaster. Gideon knows that Cara is an Alderaanian survivor who became a rebel shock trooper. He also knows the Mandalorian's name is Din Djarin, who lived through the Siege of Mandalore and the Night of a Thousand Tears where many Mandalorian recruits were mown down by the E-web blasters. Gideon also appeals to Magistrate Greef Karga, urging him and his companions to lay down their arms and surrender. Gideon threatens to raze their structure in short order.

When Greef asks what he is proposing, Gideon offers reasonable negotiations. When Greef asks what assurances he is offering, Gideon warns that they cannot trust him since they have proven untrustworthy. Gideon says the only assurance that they have is that he will only act in his self-interest, which this time involves their own cooperation and benefit. He gives them until nightfall to consider his offer.

Greef doesn't trust Moff Gideon to keep his promises. He proposes making a last stand in the cantina but Cara says they don't stand a chance against the E-web heavy repeating blaster. Cara wants to shoot her way out. Din Djarin recognizes their adversary as Moff Gideon. Cara is surprised that Moff Gideon is still alive since he was supposedly executed for war crimes. Din says that Moff Gideon knows his name, which hasn't been spoken since he was a child.

When Greef asks if he grew up on Mandalore, Din says that he was not born on Mandalore. When Greef asks isn't he a Mandalorian, Cara explains that Mandalorians are not a race with Din clarifying that it is a creed. Djarin has a flashback of his parents hiding him in a bunker during a Separatist attack on their city. His parents were killed by battle droids but he was saved from a B2-series super battle droid by an Mandalorian warrior, who ferried him to safety in a jetpack. He watched the Mandalorian Death Watch warriors gunning down battle droids.

Din explains that he was a foundling who was raised and adopted as a Mandalorian. When he came of age, he was sworn to their creed. The only record of his name were in the registers of Mandalore. Din explains that Moff Gideon was an Imperial Security Bureau officer during the Great Purge of Mandalore. Din and his companions ascertain that Moff Gideon has not killed them yet because he is still waiting for the Child.

Djarin contacts Kuiil on his comlink only to be greeted by IG-11, who has the Child. IG-11 tells the Mandalorian that Kuiil has been terminated but clarifies that he is fulfilling his base structure to nurse and protect.

IG-11 rides his speeder bike into the Nevarro settlement, gunning down the stormtrooper and scout trooper sentries stationed at the gate. He then rides through the streets of the settlement, gunning down stormtroopers with his twin blasters including two who were haggling with a local Jawa. IG-11 fights his way through Gideon's troops outside the cantina.

Cara comes to his aid by gunning down more stormtroopers with her repeating blaster. Din Djarin and Greef Karga join the fight, taking down several death troopers. Despite taking a hit to his leg, IG-11 manages to protect the Child and bring it to safety. Din also guns down several stormtroopers using the E-web heavy repeater blaster cannon.

A death trooper manages to blow open the cantina's door with a detonator. Death troopers storm the cantina but Cara guns them down. Moff Gideon corners the Mandalorian and shoots a box of ammunition, which explodes and wounds Din Djarin. Cara manages to evacuate the wounded Mandalorian while Greef, IG-11 and the Child retreat inside the cantina.

Moff Gideon orders his forces to "burn them out." Inside the cantina, Cara tends to the wounded Mandalorian, who has suffered concussion injuries. Greef convinces IG-11 to help by unsealing the grate. Din tells Cara to leave him and rebuffs her attempts to remove his helmet. He tells her to protect the Child and to show his tribe his mythosaur necklace and explain that the Child is under his protection. Cara thinks they can make it.

Just then, a red-striped incinerator trooper, who is equipped with a flamethrower, approaches the cantina. After setting the furniture ablaze, he enters the cantina. The Mandalorian wants to hold off the Imperials so the others can escape; Cara refuses to leave him.

The incinerator trooper enters the cantina but the Child uses the Force to deflect the flames back at the trooper, driving him out. The Child falls asleep from the exertion just as IG-11 kicks the grate open. Cara, the Child, and Karga retreat inside the grate. Cara makes IG-11 promise to bring Din.

The Mandalorian asks IG-11 to kill him but the reprogrammed droid points out that he is now a nurse droid rather than a killer. He convinces a reluctant Din to let him remove his helmet on the grounds that he is not a living being, a loophole in the Mandalorian creed. IG-11 removes Din's helmet and applies a bacta spray to treat his brain injuries.

IG-11 and the Mandalorian soon rejoin Cara, Karga, and the Child in the underground tunnels. Greef proposes taking the lava river to the surface but Din Djarin warns that the Empire will be waiting for them and that they need Mandalorian escorts.

Due to the bacta infusion, Djarin is able to lead them to the covert, where he finds the helmets and armor of numerous fallen Mandalorians. The Mandalorian kneels down beside his fallen comrades. When Din asks Greef if the Bounty Hunters' Guild had a role in this massacre, Karga says that his mercenaries melted away.

The Armorer vouches for Greef and tells them that the Imperials arrived following Djarin's escape with the Child and slaughtered those that remained. The Mandalorian armorer thinks that some have escaped offworld. Djarin asks her to come with them but she refused to abandon this place until she has salvaged what remains.

In the smelter, the armorer melts some metal to forge armor. When she asks about the Asset who has caused them so much trouble, Djarin shows her the Child, explaining that he also saved him from the mudhorn. The Armorer remarks that it looks helpless. Djarin explains that it looks helpless but is not injured, explaining that its species can move objects with its mind.

The armorer is familiar with Mandalorian legends about battles between Mandalore the Great and the Jedi, which she regards as an ancient order of sorcerers. When Djarin asks if the Child is an enemy, she replies that its kind were enemies but that this individual is not. She says that it is a foundling and that by creed it is his to raise. Djarin incredulously asks if the Armorer is really telling him to search the galaxy for a force of enemy sorcerers, and the Armorer replies simply: "This is the way."

The Armorer tells Cara and her group to take a tunnel which leads them to the lava river, which leads to the surface. The Armorer tells them they must leave in order to protect the foundling until it comes of age, saying it is the way. She tells Djarin that he has earned his signet before applying a mudhorn signet on his right pauldron. She tells the Mandalorian that he is now a clan. Djarin vows to wear it with honor. Before Djarin and his group leader, she gives him a jetpack, telling him it would make him complete. She tells him to train with it.

As stormtroopers storm the enclave, IG-11 guns down the advance party. The Armorer stays behind and tasks IG-11 with taking care of the jetpack till Djarin is well enough to use it. She wishes them safety and waits for the stormtroopers inside the armory. When a stormtrooper demands to know where are the fugitives, she fights back with her tools, knocking them down. She shoves one into the smelter where he is incinerated. She also smashes a stormtrooper's helmet and knocks down several with her axe.

Meanwhile, Djarin and his companions reach the underground lava river where they find a boat crewed by a seemingly fried ferry droid. After some attempts, Cara manages to use her blaster to separate the lava boat from the fiery lava river. The ferry droid comes to life. Translating for the droid, IG-11 says that he is asking them where they want to go. Greef tells the droid to take them downriver towards the lava flats.

The droid rows their hover boat through the lava river. Several mammals scurry along the banks. As they approach the entrance, the Mandalorian spots a platoon of stormtroopers flanking the sides of the tunnel through his helmet scanner. Cara tells the droid to stop the boat. It ignores her, and she shoots off its head.

Unable to stop the boat, IG-11 proposes that he would eliminate the enemy while they escape. Djarin says they are outgunned but IG-11 proposes self-destructing as per his protocol. The Mandalorian proposes that the droid help them shoot their way out but IG-11 thinks that they don't have a chance of success.

IG-11 convinces Djarin to look after the Child so that he can default to his secondary command, which would allow the Mandalorian and the others to live and him to serve his purpose. Djarin says they need him but IG-11 points out that he has never been alive. The Mandalorian denies he is sad but allows IG-11 to walk through the lava river to face the stormtroopers and scout troopers.

Reaching the mouth of the lava river, IG-11 states that his manufacturer's protocol says that he cannot allow himself to be captured before blowing himself up. The resulting explosion neutralises the platoon, allowing Djarin and the others to reach the plains safely.

Moff Gideon circles them in his Outland TIE fighter and strafes them. Before he returns for a second round, Greef tries to get the Child to use his Force powers. With the Child unable to do so, the Mandalorian ignites his jetpack and pursues the TIE fighter. He uses his grappling cable to latch onto the TIE fighter.

Unable to force his way into the cockpit, he tries to plant a detonator but Moff Gideon shakes it off. He plants a second detonator on its left joint, causing the ship to spiral out of control and crash.

Djarin rejoins his comrades. Greef Karga is impressed with the Mandalorian's combat prowess and says that his bounty rates have just gone up. When the Mandalorian asks if there are more stormtroopers, Cara thinks they have cleaned up the town. She and Greef say they will stay around to make sure. Greef says that Nevarro is a nice planet with the "scum and villainy" washed away.

Greef wants to recruit Cara into his Guild but she has clerical concerns. Greef says that the Mandalorian will be welcome back to the Guild with open arms. He tells him to go and enjoy himself. When he is ready to return, he will have the pick of all quarries. Djarin declines his offer, saying that he has more pressing matters at hand as he lifts the Child. Cara touches the Child's left ear and tells the Mandalorian to take care of this little one. Greef teases that it may take care of him.

The Mandalorian returns with the Child to his ship Razor Crest. He buries his fallen friend Kuiil. In the cockpit, the Mandalorian allows the Child to keep his mythosaur necklace. The Razor Crest departs into space while Greef and Cara walk past.

Meanwhile, several Jawas attempt to salvage Moff Gideon's wrecked TIE Outlander fighter. However, they are startled by a laser cutting a hole through the wrecked ship. Moff Gideon cuts his way out of the fighter with the Darksaber, a symbol of Mandalorian power and authority.

Jon Favreau completed the shooting script draft of the episode on November 8, 2018. The episode was filmed from November 13 to November 29, 2018, immediately following "Chapter 1: The Mandalorian," "Chapter 3: The Sin" and "Chapter 7: The Reckoning," as they all had cast and sets in common. Members of the Star Wars costuming fan organization the 501st Legion participated as extras, since the producers did not have enough stormtrooper costumes.

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