Borderlands: Dead ECHOs Episode 9 Recap — "Trust your partner, and keep your shoes on."

Published: 9/14/2026 · Updated: 9/14/2026 · Episode 9 / as of 2026-09

The homecoming episode. Almost all of it takes place at the Jakobs family estate on Eden-6, where the pair arrived at the end of Episode 8. The first half is Watts being overwhelmed by the manor. The second half solves two of the series’ biggest open questions at once: how Proctor learned who Junie is, and where the supposedly destroyed moon Elpis went.

The official cast list is back to normal — Episode 8’s CAST block was a copy of Episode 7’s, but Episode 9 ships with a fresh list that matches the episode (Tannis, Sir Hammerlock, Wainwright Jakobs, Descartes, Philipe, Montgomery Jakobs and more). Spellings below follow that list; anything not on it is flagged as unconfirmed.

A-plot: meet the uncles

• Two people greet them at the gate. The “Winnie Al” heard in Episode 8’s captions turns out to be “Winnie,” Wainwright Jakobs’ nickname, and his husband, Sir Alistair Hammerlock. Junie calls Hammerlock “Uncle H.”
• Junie’s full first name comes out too: her uncles call her “Juniper.” Watts: “How many aliases do you have? Juniper, Juny, JJ, June Bug Jakobs.”
• It finally lands for Watts: “I knew that you shared a last name. I did not know you were a Jakobs Jakobs. Like a for-real mega-rich, in-the-line-of-succession” Jakobs.
• Introductions go about as well as you’d expect: “I’m over here with a cheap-ass one-syllable name and then here comes Uncle Money Stacks and Lord Cabbages and Crumpets.”
• When Watts brings up the counterfeit Jakobs guns from Episode 7, Hammerlock is appalled: “Charlatans. A Jakobs SMG?”
• Watts also realizes, out loud, that he is “technically unemployed, homeless, and a wanted fugitive.” Wainwright: “Any friend of June Bug’s is family as far as I’m concerned.”

B-plot: shoes on (the title, half of it)

• In the entry hall, Watts: “Is this a shoes-on or shoes-off situation? I don’t know foyer rules.” Junie: “Be cool and keep your shoes on.” — the second half of the title is this exact line. Seconds later his shoes are off.
• The butler, Philipe (cast-list spelling; the captions waver between Phillip, Phipe and Philippe), brings drinks, including a bourbon neat for Watts — “good for the nerves.” Watts: “Thanks. Don’t need it. Not nervous. Cheers.”
• Room assignments go sideways. Wainwright: “I assume the two of you will be sharing.” He doesn’t know “all the new lingo,” and took “partner” to mean boyfriend. Junie: “No. Are you high? Did a jabber eat your brain?” Wainwright: “Alistair and I did start out working together, so I just — oh, never you mind.”
• Watts gets the safari suite — Hammerlock’s former office, which he decorated himself “during our honeymoon nesting phase.” It is wall-to-wall mounted animal heads, some with horns. Watts tries to improve it by putting hats from the closet on them. “It made it so much worse.”

C-plot: the ECHO diary — the night before the Distillers

• Junie’s room has been kept exactly as she left it ten years ago. Under a floorboard is her childhood ECHO diary, last used “the night before Montgomery sent me to the Distillers.”
• The entry: forced into a frilly dress for a cotillion, she cut off the lace and replaced it with safety pins, patches and spiked studs, slid down the banister of the grand staircase in front of her whole family and her grandfather’s friends, and gave them the double bird.
• Then the recording catches her grandfather, Montgomery Jakobs, storming in: “You are a Jakobs. That name comes with responsibilities. It demands respect.” “I am done with you. Descartes will be here to take you in the morning.” “There’s no need to pack. You won’t need any of this.”
• A young Wainwright intervenes: “Monty — the Distillers? You will not give her to Descartes. She is a child!” “You are an unmitigated monster.” “June, don’t worry. I swear I will do everything I can to stop this.”
• The first of the two lines Episode 8’s teaser attributed to “an unidentified family member” is Montgomery himself, on this diary recording.

D-plot: “I’m glad a psychotic siren stream queen murdered your grandpa”

• Why Junie’s room is so far from everyone else’s: “He, my mother, and the rest of the Jakobs clan resided in the east family wing. After my mom died, he moved me to the west wing, the guest wing, to make sure I knew my standing within the family.” — so Junie’s mother, first mentioned in Episode 8, has died. The west wing was just Junie and her uncle Wainwright.
• Watts: “Juny, I don’t say this often, but I’m glad a psychotic siren stream queen murdered your grandpa.” — the second teaser line from Episode 8 is Watts, not a family member.
• Junie: “Getting assassinated was the only nice thing he ever did for me.”

E-plot: Hammerlock’s answering machine and Claptrap’s listening party

• To cheer her up, Watts confesses he found a two-way ECHO call recorder on the desk in the safari suite and pressed the big red flashing button. Junie: “You are only allowed to snoop on my evil family members. I have got two good relatives, too.”
• It’s five unheard messages from Claptrap, chasing Hammerlock’s RSVP to the listening party for his album “One Hand Clapping” — which, “for legal reasons,” is later retitled “Clap Trapstick Voyage” (both spellings unconfirmed). “Just bring Wainwright. I love that mustache.”
• The last message is Claptrap insisting the party is “dope as hell” while another voice points out that no one is there and he ordered so much dip.
• Watts: “It’s not sad, Juny. It’s funny because of how he sucks. Remember, we clown on sad robots. That’s our thing.” Junie: “Thank you for trying to cheer me up.”
• Corn on the Cob announces he wants to be a rapper. Junie: “You can be whatever you want. No one decides that but you.”

F-plot: dinner, and what happened to the Shrimp Blimp

• Philipe suggests “suitable meal attire” for the gentleman. Watts: “What’s wrong with my clothes? They’re, you know, clean.” His shirt could only be ordered with a coupon from the secret 7-inch Digby put out under the alias Toots McGoots and the Salt Flat Scallywags while suing his record company (Toots McGoots appears in the official episode description; the rest of the band name is unconfirmed).
• Dinner conversation turns to the Shrimp Blimp fiasco. The blimp was piloted remotely, crashed into the bayou far from the crowd, and hurt no one — so the “did our scam kill people?” panic in Episode 7 was unfounded. The shrimp that spilled into its experimental fuel then multiplied explosively, and are now “an affordable, abundant and nutritious food source for the whole of Eden-6.” Watts: “We’re responsible for an entire planet’s crustacean revitalization. We’re eco-heroes.”
• The uncles guess that what Junie has been trying to raise is the wedding: “We wanted you there so badly, Juniper. But we understand that the circumstances have to be just right for us to see you.” Hammerlock and Wainwright’s wedding is the one from the BL3 DLC Guns, Love, and Tentacles.

G-plot: “Have the Distillers been reactivated?”

• Junie finally gets it out: “Have the Distillers been reactivated? And are they working for Dahl, for Vivian Proctor?”
• Wainwright: “You know I put an end to that entire detestable program when I took over as CEO. The Distillers are over for good.”
• “What about the Master Distiller, Descartes? Could he have restarted the program for Dahl?” “Descartes has been incarcerated in St. Ame Purdue Correctional since his conviction.” (Facility name unconfirmed.)
• Junie walks them through everything since Episode 1 and plays them the Dahl massacre ECHO.
• The uncles’ warning: “Vivian Proctor is not someone you want to go up against.” “She is as ruthless as she is consumed by her thirst for power.” Junie: “I’m not alone.” Watts: “Yeah, she’s got me. Now, granted, I’m usually far away in a pretty comfy chair, with lots of snacks.”
• Hammerlock offers to pay “that rapscallion Descartes” a visit. Watts: isn’t that a supermax, no visitors? “They will certainly make an exception for the CEO of Jakobs.” Junie: “What about the CFO of Dahl?” Wainwright: “Based on my experience, she can be quite persuasive.”
• Watts has Corn on the Cob link his terminal back to Rodney and searches the ECHOnet: “Prisoner 35712, Descartes, has only ever had one visitor. And it was recorded.”

H-plot: the visitation recording — Proctor and Descartes (the core of the episode)

• Proctor’s threat: give her everything she wants, or be transferred “to a Dahl biological research facility, a pet project of mine. They are quite skilled at taking people apart and putting them back together creatively.”
• Descartes laughs. “You can’t threaten me with pain. I was a Jakobs Master Distiller. I didn’t endure suffering. I perfected it.”
• Her real question: “I’ve seen your mission reports. No disobedience, no defections, and zero failed missions. How did you instill such loyalty?”
• He sees through her immediately. “You are trying to build your own Distillers. Soldiers who will do anything you ask without question. But it is not going well, is it?” Proctor: “They follow orders. It isn’t enough. What I need requires total compliance.” Descartes: “Love. They must love you like a child loves its mother. That is why you fail.”
• “Children. You take them young, shape them, teach them devotion before they know resistance.” Proctor: “Devotion isn’t enough. I need strength, and I don’t have years to wait for them to grow up. If I had one adult Distiller, I could reverse engineer the process. Accelerate it.”
• Descartes’ answer: “There is only one Distiller left. The only one who escaped unscathed, and the only one who can give us both what we want. For you, a killer like no other. For me, revenge on Wainwright Jakobs.” “Wainwright’s niece. Junie Jakobs.”
• Hammerlock: “Bloody hell. June, I had no idea.” Junie asks to be excused.

This answers the question Episode 6 left hanging — how Proctor knew Junie was a Distiller. Episode 6’s big board concluded that with no records kept, it had to be a leak from high inside Jakobs. The actual source was the imprisoned former Master Distiller, Descartes, and his motive was revenge on the Wainwright who shut him down.

I-plot: the barrel cellar — “let your partner take the wheel”

• Hammerlock suggests Junie might be “more receptive to consolation from her paramour” (Watts: “Why does everybody think—”), and Philipe offers “a wet nap for his hands and use of the hose for the rest.”
• Junie is in a cellar lined with hundreds of oak barrels.
• Junie: “It’s kids, Watts. She’s using kids just like the Distillers did. Just like my grandfather and Descartes did to me.” “That monster we heard on the Dahl massacre ECHO — she took him as a child and did that to him because of me.” Note that the idea that the Liquidators were made from children is Junie’s inference; the episode doesn’t show it directly.
• Watts: “Not because of you. Because of Descartes and your grandfather. None of this is on you.” “Slide over from the driver’s seat and let your partner take the wheel.” That’s the scene the first half of the title points to, though no line matches it word for word.
• Watts’ plan: to find out how Proctor turned kids into Liquidators, find her secret lab. Junie: “Her lab was on Elpis, Watts. It was destroyed when the moon was destroyed.” Watts: “Not technically. I saw it happen. Destroyed moons usually rain down debris. Elpis just sort of left the sky. Big flash of energy, then poof, gone.”

J-plot: calling Tannis — Elpis is at Kairos

• The person who’d know where a moon went is Patricia Tannis. Watts has her number because they “run in some of the same collectible circles,” and the uncles know her through the Crimson Raiders. Junie: “Gaige planned their wedding.” “I’m pretty sure a Vault Hunter performed the ceremony, too.” Watts starts shortlisting Zane, Axton and Amara as replacement best friends. Junie: “Be cool.”
• Tannis picks up with “How did you get this number?” Watts once sold her Typhon DeLeon collector’s plates, and “the plate depicting Typhon’s first landing on Nekrotafeyo was chipped. Zero stars.”
• Her price: “You sold me 11 plates. One assumes you kept plate 12, which completes the set” — the rarest of the Promethean mints in the “first Vault Hunter” series, Athenian porcelain inlaid with Eridium shards. Watts: “Of course I kept it. It’s the best one.”
• Her answer: “Elpis was recently found orbiting a lost planet, Kairos. No longer lost, thanks to Elpis crashing through its veil.” How did it get there? “Siren abilities. It is all in the newsletter.”
• She can’t give coordinates — Kairos lies beyond the outer rim, past charted space. What she can give them is her lab-to-lab subspace communication array: a two-way link between her lab on Pandora and her lab aboard Sanctuary 3, currently at Kairos. “Once the signal is established, you can follow it from point A to point B.” Watts: “So it’s basically an Elpis compass.”
• The condition: when she returns to Pandora, “I expect to find number 12 sitting with its 11 companions, pristine and unchipped.” Watts then mentions that Marisol uses that plate for spells, curses, possibly worse.
• So it’s back to Pandora. Watts: “I did not think we’d be back so soon after my planetwide ghosting of ex-girlfriends and enemies.”

This is the first time Kairos is named in Dead ECHOs. The Elpis thread running since Episode 6 now leads directly to the planet where BL4 takes place.

K-plot: the final scene — Amadeus breaks, Proctor mobilizes

• Amadeus reports in from outside the Jakobs compound. Proctor: “Don’t let the backwater location fool you. The house will be heavily guarded. Use the guards to draw out the girl, but do not engage with anyone inside the residence. I cannot afford an all-out war with Jakobs if my plans are to proceed.”
• Amadeus has tapped an outgoing call from inside the compound: “Elpis has been found beyond the outer rim. If Atticus followed protocol, he would have—” Proctor: “Elpis. Interesting. But that is none of your concern. Locate the girl and take her alive.”
• He pushes back. “Atticus is alone, afraid. My brother, he needs me. There is a lab on Pandora and a device—” “The Jakobs girl will go there to retrieve the device. I must acquire it first.”
• Proctor: “Do not abandon your mission. Remain on Eden-6. Apprehend the Jakobs girl and bring her to me.” Amadeus: “No! I must find Atticus. I must save my brother!” — screaming.
• Proctor sighs and turns to her staff. “Ready the Armada.” “Destination, ma’am?” “We’re going to Pandora.”

The gap the show opened in Episode 4 — Proctor’s orders versus Amadeus’ fixation on his brother — finally becomes open refusal. And Proctor herself moves on Pandora, following the Elpis lead.

Next time (Episode 10)

• “Hey Watts, do we need to lock up Tannis’s lab?” / “Automated message from Dr. Patricia Tannis. Vacate the lab premises immediately.”
• “Juniper, it was the Liquidator. He was here. He sounded manic. Out of control.” (speaker unconfirmed)
• “Stop hiding.” “The one attribute I’m lacking these days is patience.” “Two days, Miss Jakobs. Two days.” (apparently Proctor)
• “We’re headed for a showdown, Biscuit. What do you think we should do?” “Simple, Ranger. We start calling in favors.” — Junie’s Episode 2 policy that favors always pay off, Aaron Baron’s one favor from Episode 8, the gun grannies from Episodes 1 and 7: every favor the pair has banked looks set to come due.

Trivia

• Watts’ recurring dream: “Dozens of sausages floating around, smacking me in the face, but I can’t eat them.” Hammerlock: “I’m sure that’s entirely about food and doesn’t harbor any deeper psychological meaning.” Corn on the Cob, apparently: most of his dreams are “about my lack of positive male role models growing up.”
• The “fancy meats plate” Watts picks up is the lid to the serving tray. Philipe: “The gentleman has been eating directly off the table for the better part of the evening.”
• Watts tells Tannis he was “dishonorably discharged from the sixth grade” — “we had just gotten to fractions when I was asked to leave.”
• On the way out, Watts wants to “revisit the issue of a takeaway shrimps bucket” but can’t ask Philipe himself. Junie: “He hates you.” Watts: “Yeah, big time.”
• Hammerlock compliments Watts’ “Digby Vermouth blouse” (captioned “Digby of a Mouth”) — Digby Vermouth being the musician whose records Watts has been guarding since Episode 1.
• The title “Trust your partner, and keep your shoes on.” is half a real line: “keep your shoes on” is Junie in the foyer. Nothing in the captions matches “trust your partner” verbatim; the closest is Watts’ “let your partner take the wheel” in the cellar.