The Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 8 Recap: 'The Rescue'

After gathering the information needed to track down the maniacal pseudo leader of the Galactic Empire in last week’s episode, Disney+’s The Mandalorian Season 2 has returned for its highly-anticipated season finale seeing the titular bounty hunter heading off to face Giancarlo Esposito’s Moff Gideon and rescue The Child.

Is There a Doctor on Board?

Jumping right into the action, Dr. Pershing is being transported by Imperials to Gideon, but their ship is being pursued by Boba Fett in the Slave I, and after a chase and some missed shots, Boba successfully hits their ship with an ion cannon, disabling the ship’s ability to fly and forces them to disengage their shields and transponders. As Mando and Cara Dune enter the cockpit, one of the pilots takes Pershing hostage and shoots the other pilot after he attempts to make a deal with the two to stay alive, while Pershing confirms to Mando that Grogu is still alive on Gideon’s cruiser. The remaining pilot refuses to let Pershing go, knowing his status as a clone manufacturer makes him a major target for the New Republic and taunts Dune’s past ties to Alderaan, stating he was on the Death Star when the planet was destroyed, infuriating her enough to shoot him in the face, leaving Pershing alive.

I’ve Heard That Voice Thousands of Times Before

With Pershing in tow, the group all head to a desert-like planet and meet up with Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) and Koska Reeves (Sasha Banks), asking for their help in recovering The Child from Moff Gideon, and though initially uninterested in helping, Bo-Katan takes notice that Boba is not a Mandalorian, despite his wearing of Beskar armor, but is actually a clone, angering Koska to engage in a brief fight with Boba that she gains the upper hand in before being told to stop by Bo-Katan. With Mando offering the coordinates to Gideon’s cruiser and subsequently the ability to reclaim Mandalore, Bo-Katan agrees to help in exchange for keeping Gideon’s ship and recover the Darksaber from him and implores Mando help in reclaiming the planet, to which he says he’ll think about reconsidering his initial decline.

They’re No Longer Suits

Pershing reveals to the group that the Dark Troopers aboard the ship aren’t suits, but are in fact droids held in cold storage in the cargo bay, but that because they draw too much power they’re kept powered down and it takes a few minutes to activate them, while also confirming The Child is being kept in the brig. The plan is for the group to neutralize the launch bay and make their way through the tandem decks as a decoy penetration maneuver to draw troopers to them and allow Mando to sneak in through the shadows and rescue The Child and meet back with everyone at the bridge. Hesitant to let them in, Gideon deploys TIE fighters to combat Slave I instead of immediately allowing the Bo-Katan-piloted Imperial ship onboard immediately, though she ignores their denials and makes a rough landing inside, the group successfully taking out the Stormtroopers in the landing bay. Gideon, hearing the shootout over the comms, activates the Dark Troopers while Mando slowly and quietly makes his way through the landing bay. Cara, Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), Bo-Katan and Koska make their way through the ship and come across groups of Stormtroopers, each duo taking them out with ease. Mando reaches the bay in which the Dark Troopers are being held just a moment too late, with one successfully getting out before he can lock the door and proving impervious to his blaster shots and flamethrower and continually beating him into the wall while the rest try to break their way through the window doors. Barely defeating the one with his Beskar spear, Mando successfully opens the air lock in the hold, sending the rest into space, all the while the female group successfully take the bridge and disarm the weapons system, though Gideon is not there.

Where’s Gideon?

As Mando reaches the bridge and takes out the Stormtroopers guarding The Child’s room, he enters to find Gideon holding the Darksaber to the handcuffed Grogu. Gideon confirms he knows Mando is traveling with Bo-Katan, the previous owner of the Darksaber, and that his wrist launcher is currently out of ammo and after a monologue noting that the wielder of the Darksaber is the rightful heir to the throne of Mandalore, Mando offers to let him keep it in exchange for The Child. Gideon agrees, saying he’s already gotten The Child’s blood, which was all he needed to try and bring Empirical order back to the galaxy, but as Mando goes to take The Child, Gideon attacks him with the Darksaber and the two engage in a battle with Mando’s Beskar spear.

It’s the Story That Matters

Successfully disarming Gideon of the Darksaber, Mando brings him and the Darksaber to Bo-Katan on the bridge, much to her dismay as she needed Gideon to surrender to her so that she could win the Darksaber in battle and become the leader of Mandalore. Despite Mando’s attempts to give it to her and yield to her, she refuses as it goes against the ways of Mandalore, though before they can progress with anything, alarms go off indicating the ship is being boarded by the remaining Dark Troopers. Though sealing the blast doors to the bridge, the Dark Troopers being punching their way through and as they’ve almost broken through and the group prepare to fight, an X-wing suddenly approaches the ship and though initially not identifying themselves, The Child seems to react to their arrival with interest. As the Dark Troopers gear up to pry open the doors, they are suddenly wiped out by a hooded figure with a lightsaber throughout the ship. Before the figure makes it to the bridge, Gideon grabs a nearby blaster and shoots Bo-Katan down and attempts to shoot Grogu, though Mando jumps in front of him just in time to use his armor as a shield and Cara successfully knocks Gideon out before he can commit suicide. The figure takes out the remaining Dark Troopers outside of the bridge while The Child watches from the security monitor, and as Mando opens the blast doors, the figure is revealed to be none other than Luke Skywalker!

Return of the Jedi

Luke calls out to Grogu, to which Mando says he doesn’t want to go with the famous Jedi, though Luke retorts he’s just waiting for permission from Mando to do so and offers to train The Child in the ways of the Force. Despite his sadness, Mando convinces Grogu to go with Luke and promises that he will see him once again, and even removes his helmet to show his face to the young Jedi before saying goodbye. The arrival of R2-D2 piques Gogu’s interest enough to part from Mando, and after a brief conversation between the two, Luke picks Grogu up, says “May the Force Be With You” to the rest of the group and departs as a tear-eyed Mando watches on.

We Got Post-Credits Y’all

Jabba the Hutt’s old palace, now run by Bib Fortuna, is suddenly invaded by Fennec and Boba, with Bib claiming to have though Boba dead and a happiness to see him, though Boba quickly shoots him dead and takes Jabba’s old throne for himself, with the title card “The Book of Boba Fett” teasing a new story set to arrive in December 2021!