Review: Chapter 4 of "The Book of Boba Fett"

The chapter begins with Boba Fett in his bacta tank continuing with his rehabilitation and then, like before, we dive into his memories. As shown in the previous chapter, the Tusken are killed by the Nikto who are considered a nuisance, as the Pykes refused to pay more than one party and feel taken advantage of, and the way to solve it, was to eliminate them from the map. Boba loses what had been his new family, those who took him in after he was left for dead in the sands of Tatooine; those who helped him open his eyes to realize that violence was not the path he wanted to follow.

The first scene shown is a forlorn Boba, who finds himself wandering on a Bantha through the endless desert of Tatooine, trying to find his way again. Until we see an image that looks somewhat familiar from one of the released trailers. Yes, we are referring to the majestic Jabba’s Palace, which is shown for the first time in his dreams. Here we realize that Boba is watching for something, as he seems to have the intention of entering. For the moment he does not do it, as the area is highly supervised by guards, both pirates and Gamorreans or even some Nikto.

Once it gets dark, Boba cooks some meat on a makeshift campfire to satisfy his hunger. I would like to highlight the detail of how he cares for the bantha. Despite being herbivorous animals, Boba realizes that the animal craves food. It may seem like an unimportant detail, but that insight and empathy directed at the bantha says a lot about who Boba is now and how much the period of time he has lived with the Tusken has marked him. They are, after all, samples that try to show us that Boba no longer seeks senseless violence, just to make money working for wealthy people, but justice for those who have done no harm to anyone. I am really trying to accept this new version of Boba that, although it is not perfect and may be criticizable in some aspects, it also has many positive things. And one of them is Boba’s development. I love his overall evolution throughout his time in Star Wars. The fact that he wants to get away from bounty hunting after suffering the death of his father, now the death of the Tusken…. I love it. But yeah, I miss the Boba Fett of the Expanded Universe too, don’t get me wrong.

Suddenly, flashes of light on the horizon illuminate the darkness of the night, and a familiar little melody follows – at which point I had to stop the chapter to catch my breath: Mando! I was aware that this was not really new news, since what had happened in that scene had already been confirmed, but I can’t help but feel a great emotion.

Boba then decides to head to the area to see what has happened. When he arrives he finds Fennec’s body lying there, in a critical state due to the damage he suffered from the shot Toro gave him in Chapter 5 of the first season of “The Mandalorian.” It is at this point that we get to see some old footage from precisely this chapter of “The Mandalorian,” when a then-unknown figure approaches Fennec without even letting his face be seen. I still remember the rumors back at the time, talking about the possibility of it being Moff Guideon. But no, now it all fits together perfectly. The Disney Gallery special for Season 2 showed how they planned from the very beginning for the character to be Boba, only using as a hint the music, Boba Fett’s “theme”. I suppose they were already planning to bring him back… and he’s back with his own series and his own story. These details coming together over time really fascinate me as a fan of Star Wars.

Boba picks her up and takes her to a mod-parlor that was near the area, where in a nutshell, they save Shand’s life. I don’t quite understand why they introduce these kinds of people with a modern, 80’s look into the series. I feel that it doesn’t fit very well with the general plot setting, and less so after having seen the tribal world of the Tuskens. But in any case I don’t dislike it too much either. It reminds me in part of the style captured in the seventh season of “The Clone Wars” in the 1313 area, where Trace’s workshop and Ahsoka ends up. It showed the more urban and mundane life that, although we sometimes forget, also exists in Star Wars.

Once Fennec wakes up and recovers a bit by drinking the milk of a black melon that Boba offers her, there is a very important detail: when she asks Boba who he is and Boba answers, Shand recognizes his name. It was about time someone identified the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy! People were surprised that in “The Mandalorian” this didn’t happen, but I justified it by saying that they didn’t want to focus the series too much on Boba, which after all has its logic. And what’s even better, Fennec didn’t realize it was him by seeing his face as Boba had always preferred to hide his face, since he identified himself as a character of great mystery. I have read many comments about this, and I agree that the explanation that fits best with this radical change in Boba’s style is because of the great talent that Temuera has. His face brings a lot to the scenes, conveying at all times a very genuine purity with his facial gestures. They probably want to take advantage of Temuera’s high qualities with the character of Boba Fett and, as after all Boba is experiencing a new stage in his life where his perspective and way of understanding reality has changed, as he is no longer a bounty hunter, the fact that he no longer conceals his face under the helmet constantly does not bother me at all, as it is a way to detach himself from his past as a feared man, of few words. So it has its coherence. Also, as I mentioned, we get to enjoy Morrison’s amazing skills, which even touched me at times.

Furthermore, Boba asks Fennec to help him retrieve his ship, which he calls “my Firespray gunship” instead of Slave I. Fennec agrees at first to repay his debt to Boba for saving her life. When they both go to the Palace to initiate the rescue, we can see how the Slave I is where the main hallway of the Palace, which can be seen as the giant door opens. I would swear that in Return of the Jedi it didn’t look so extremely large as to bring an entire ship inside, but well I could be wrong.

In order to track the area and know the number of enemies they are facing, Fennec employs a tracker droid that goes incognito into the palace managing to recreate a digital map of the Palace with the amount of guards they had to face, which were not exactly few. I love her rifle, always full of surprises; it wasn’t enough with the throwing knife she has used on several occasions!

Before continuing with the plot development, I would like to make another brief aside on Boba’s last goodbye with the bantha. It suggests to me that it is a final farewell to the Tusken. After all they had these animals as transportation and/or livestock and, after the misfortune that occurred due to the murder of all of them, I feel that the bantha is a kind of symbolism that tries to tell us how the Tusken are still somehow there accompanying Boba until he gets his ship. And so it is, because she accompanies him all the way to the palace and, in any case, the Tusken do not abandon him completely, because Boba still carries their memory by wearing his black robes in his re-armored version. Loved the deeper meaning of his new armor look. It automatically made me love it so much more.

Once he sets the bantha free, Fennec and Boba have a little conversation where Boba tells her about his intentions to recover his armor and kill Bib Fortuna to take his throne. In fact, he also explains her how he was willing to retire as a bounty hunter to live with the Tusken, where he really felt like in a family that he surely misses, since he lost his father Jango at a very young age, and that has affected him, to such an extent, that I think it is an important factor why he wants to leave his profession – and with it violence – behind. I wonder if, in the event that the Tusken had not been wiped out and he was still with them in his tribe, he would have gone to get his armor and ship back. Later it is implied that Boba was with the Tusken for several years, and during all that time he didn’t seem to have any intention of looking for it. Perhaps it is only at the moment when he is forced to go his own way — finding himself alone again after losing the Tusken — that he realizes he needs at least his armor and his ship to be able to keep facing the future, becoming Boba Fett again.

Once they have the map of the palace, they both prepare to infiltrate it. Again, I love all the gadgets Fennec has, and that vibrating knife is no less. As a Grievous fan, I was amused by the little reference to the character when the kitchen droid starts spinning the knives in a very similar way to the technique Grievous employed in combat. Regarding the little confrontation between the other rabbit-like droid and Boba… I understand the intent is somewhat comical but they make Boba look a little weak and puny. Maybe I’m being too nit-picky about a detail that doesn’t matter much, but Boba has transcended in many fans and has been admired for being a bounty hunter who “you can run, but you’ll only die tired”, as his famous line goes from “A Practical Man” (2006). I think that, at least, his legendary figure should be taken care of and respected a little more and not mocked with comic scenes.

Once they both reach the area where the Slave I is located, the enemies start to arrive, and the situation becomes tense. While Boba returns with his beloved ship to try, successfully, boot it up, Fennec shows us how spectacular she can be once again. Shooting with her rifle, face-to-face confrontations… And what to say about the insight with which she is able to see the way to open the door to get the ship out of there, with that shot that either hit the chain the first time or the opportunity would have been lost… And how the hatch closes letting us see her victory face… She is priceless. However, watching all these baited me to rise from my chair because of my nerves, seeing how the ship was rubbing against all the walls. Not her, please, anything but her!

Fortunately, they’re safely flying with the Slave I, showing some worth shots of it. Then, Fennec decides to continue accompanying Boba. Both, by the gesture that she shows when she states this, and by the null opposition of Boba in this regard, it can be seen that from the very beginning they have felt very comfortable together and, therefore, have hit it off perfectly, as we have already seen in the main plot of the series.

The first thing Boba does is to take justice for the Tusken, razing the Nikto speeder bike gang for taking away what he could call his new family. I like the cool way he flushes them out, and how brief the scene is. There is no need to add more time or dialogue or action. In just a few images everything that is needed is conveyed. Next, Boba steers the ship to a place I wasn’t expecting to see: the Sarlacc. Loved seeing the wreckage of the ship from Return of the Jedi, not gonna lie.

It is here that Boba reveals that it was years ago when he was in the Sarlacc. We have evidence that in the Sarlacc, Boba had to stay about 10 days. In “The Mandalorian,” Vanth mentioned he got the armor two days after the fall of the Death Star, that is, when Vanth buys it from the Jawas Boba is already out of the Sarlacc, and Return if the Jedi should last two weeks approximately… So that means Boba must have lived with the Tusken for some years!

I’m curious that he wanted to look for his armor inside the pit, so that means he really doesn’t remember how he came out with it, and that the jawas were the ones who took it. That hit on his head was surely painful LOL. Besides he knows that if it was inside Sarlacc, he would find it, as Boba mentions and confirms that his entire armor is made in beskar, a very valuable detail for Mandalore lovers. Until then it was a bit ambiguous, as there was no evidence of the material that composed it, talking about it being made of durasteel… But I’m glad that this is now solved, and in a good way.

In any case, Boba getting out of the pit filthy and empty-handed was worth it, since we were able to witness what for me was one of the best scenes of the episode. Little by little, the Slave I is approaching the Sarlacc until the imposing cockpit of the ship and the shadowy Sarlacc pit are facing each other, as if they were really staring at theirselves. I have perceived it as if it were a confrontation, something like a challenge: once again, Boba and the monster from Tatooine meet. When it seems that the interior of the Sarlacc will offer nothing more than the monotonous silence and darkness, suddenly the great shell-like mouth attacks the ship, grabbing it with its tentacles. Fennec, with difficulty due to the horizontal position in which the Slave I was, ends up releasing a seismic charge that silences the Sarlacc forever. Perhaps I would have liked it more if it had been Boba who sentenced the life of the Sarlacc. Who would have said that this would end up happening in 1983 when “Return of the Jedi” came out… I gathered that the new black kill stripe on his helmet could be referring to the Sarlacc, but since he did not actually kill her… Maybe it stemmed from another thing. It could be a symbol dedicated to the Tusken. Who knows!

Nevertheless, I like the fact that just after recovering his ship, Boba in two shakes of a lamb’s tail has settled two personal issues he had pending. You can tell that the Slave I is a part of him. I find it odd that she hasn’t been seen in the main plot yet… Hopefully something will be known soon.

As night falls, the dialogue between Shand and Fett returns, and Boba explains to Fennec that he is tired of serving people for money to enforce his whims, taking lives with him. I reiterate this: I really want to accept this new Boba as daimyo, and I’m liking him more and more. A new stage. A new perspective and way of understanding. Fine. But on the other hand, I feel that being Boba himself the one who criticizes violence, or in other words, his essence as a character — the reason why we have admired him so much for years — in one way or another, discredits his past aka the OG Boba. I know not to confuse our perspective as fans towards a fictional character that we have long appreciated for both his mysterious character and his combat skills that together made for a unique character in Star Wars, with what Boba is in the Star Wars universe itself, and that it makes perfect sense that he now feels tired of working for others, of continuing to spill blood for a living…. And that he now wants to change that. I know it’s different because, as I mentioned at the beginning, the character development follows a logical linear progress. But it is true that it is complicated to find a perfect balance in which no aspect is detracted. After all, they are showing us a Boba Fett who is not the one we knew before the show.

After this, it is shown how Boba finishes with Bib Fortuna, implying that he has already recovered his armor — as we already know all that process from “The Mandalorian.” After this, he wakes up and the medical droid lets Fett know that he is finally fully recovered. So it could be understood that the flashbacks (at least of this type) are over. I’m still hoping to see some footage of Jango, though I honestly don’t think it will happen… Maybe it could be more likely to see some scene about when Boba worked with Black Krrsantan in flashback format, either new or taken from Legends, taking advantage of his inclusion in the series. I would love to see on screen when Vader hired them to find Skywalker. That would be so cool… Also, getting to see Boba in his “Return of the Jedi” armor again would be a real fantasy, honestly.

And, speak of the devil, he is going to appear again at the Sanctuary, where we will have the opportunity to see the real beast that is Krrsantan. I wonder why he attacks the Trandoshans. It may be that seeing them there amusing themselves as idle and bragging reminds him of Boba Fett’s words of advice he gave him before releasing him, about not working for idiot people. It’s possible that he’s realized the mistake he’s made in offering his services on many occasions during his career as a bounty hunter to these types of people, and it pisses him off so much that he feels the urge to take them down, to the point of ripping one of their arms off by ignoring Garsa’s proposal to him about getting out of his debts if he’d leave him alone. Which, speaking of Trandoshans, I’d be surprised if Bossk didn’t show up in the series at this point. If they’ve bothered to invest money to get more of his species in as tertiary characters with such a good production result, I think it could be a sign that we’ll end up seeing him. So if you were looking forward to seeing Bossk on screen again, I wouldn’t give up hope just yet.

After this, Boba leaves the Sanctuary and stiffly approaches Krrsantan offering to work for him, and he agrees. I’m still in doubt as to whether there will be any mention that they already knew each other, as Boba hasn’t seemed to show any sign that he knows him, so maybe they don’t make it canon that they worked together in the past… We’ll see.

Consequently, Boba and Fennec make a meeting with the rest of the nobles of Tatooine of importance, where they are exposed the proposal that they ally together to stop the Pykes, as Boba was seeing how they were becoming more powerful and, as a consequence, they would end up dominating the entire planet if they were not stopped. They do not seem to want to help Boba, as they consider it a personal matter with the Pykes, and the situation might aggravate them. But they manage to mutually agree that if a war breaks out between them and Boba, they would not betray him. Evidently, if they are not going to help him, it is because others will.

This is where it gets interesting… Yes, yes, the music at the end. For as long as I’ve been writing, I’ve been looking forward to this very moment. I had goosebumps all over my skin at that scene. It seems almost certain that we will see Din Djarin again, this time in the Boba Fett series. As Boba has already mentioned, he needs some muscle to help him fight the Pykes. I’ve already listed some possible options, such as Bossk. Who knows if Dengar could join as well. In any case, Krrsantan has already joined the party. I’m looking forward to seeing how Boba creates his own team, the equivalent of IG-88, Zuckuss, 4-LOM, Dengar, Bossk and him, but years later… And I tell you, who knows if some of them will appear again!

I really believe that it is from now on when we have to get ready to see the best of the series, the most spectacular action we can imagine, and that we have been longing for since last year when this series was officially announced. Hold on to your seats, because this is getting interesting!

Rating