Right away we are met with the reintroduction of Pirate King Gorian Shard and his group of pirates, who attack Nevarro in revenge for what Mando did to some of their pals, in episode 1 of this season. Here, the composer brings back a melody that we have heard just once so far, in that episode when we see Gorian Shard on screen, and strongly establishes that pompous and menacing idea as a theme for the pirate lord and his group, and will use it to great effect during the whole episode. In fact, this opening sequence is scored almost exclusively with variations on the idea, with some great tragic choral variations as the pirates destroy the city. And even the title card features a variation on this theme, with just some brief reference to the Mando stinger.

If you want to know how it sounds, listen to it at 2:40 of "We Got Pirates", from the first Volume of this season.

Greef Karga asks for help to the New Republic, and the cry for help is recieved by Captain Teva (who we've previously seen a couple of times through the show) and he travels to Coruscant. I also want to mention first a couple of little easter eggs that I noticed when he's at the New Republic cantina. The obvious one is the appearance of a familiar Lasat known as Zeb Orellios, one of the main characters of the Rebels show! It's cool to see him in live-action, and I hope we get to see more of him in the Ahsoka show, as it will seemingly focus more on the characters from that show. And right before that, there's a triple cameo, because we can see showrunners Deborah Chow and Rick Famuyiwa, as well as Dave Filoni himself enjoying a drink on the cantina.

Just a fun little nod that I wanted to highlight, but let's continue. Captain Teva arrives at the capital, and we hear once more the gorgeous theme that represented the city in episode 3, and later a subtle reference to the Gorian Shard theme, as he asks for help to the Colonel. 

This leads to a lengthy sequence where the mandalorians get ready to fight, travel to Nevarro and confront the pirates on land and on sky. This extended set-piece features variations on many of the different themes for the series. We hear parts of the Mando theme, like the recorder riff, the western motif or the Mandalorian Culture A theme. We also hear variations on Bo Katan material, like her theme, her sound motif or her new "redepmtion" theme. All this serves as a counterpoint to Gorian Shard's material, and the composer clashes this ideas and gives them the upper hand to reflect what's happening on the screen, and it's such a great set-piece with some fantastic scoring on Shirley's side, and I hope the piece is included in the Volume 2

The action is exciting and vibrant, and he uses both traditional orchestra and more modern sounding beats to support the tension, giving it a classic Star Wars vibe, while still retaining some of his more modern sensibilities. It's particularly noteworthy how Gorian Shard's theme uses choir and brass to even comical effect, which gives it an imposing but lighthearted nature, which gives it a sort of classic adventure vibe, and he greatly explores the idea through this set-piece, before the Pirate King's demise.

Once the victory is over, the mandalorians remain on Nevarro, and the Armorer calls Bo Katan to talk with her about an important topic. She realizes that the sight of the Mythosaur marks the beginning of an important era, and that they need to reunite all the mandalorians spread across the galaxy to work together again as one great group, and she implies that perhaps Bo Katan is the middle ground between their cult and the other grups of mandalorians who don't walk the Way of the Mandalore as strictly as they do. The composer references the Mandalorian Culture A theme on low brass before moving into Bo Katan's "redemption" theme, an idea that as the episodes go on is been revealed to be a theme to represent the rise of the mandalorian culture, led by Bo Katan's leadership.

During this final sequence, the composer briefly references the Mythosaur theme, and greatly develops the "Redemption" theme, as Bo Katan takes her helmet off as per the Armorer's request and she announces their covert their intention to unite the tribes together and retake Mandalore, before one final blast of her main theme, to close the episode.

But there's still one more scene to go, and that is Captain Teva's unnerving discovery. He finds a New Republic prisoner transport crashed in the middle of the space and upon further investigation, he realizes it's the transport that carried Moff Gideon to trial, which means he was never judged, and he is loose somewhere, with a trace of beskar steel possibly signaling to the suspect of this crime. I don't think any mandalorian did it, but it's just a decoy to fool the New Republic, but one things i for sure, and that's Moff Gideon's return in the upcoming episodes, so I hope Shirley gets to bring new variations on the character's musical material, which surely was one of the highlights of previous seasons!