Interesting episode, #4.
Mostly flashback, but a nice gap-filling one. Boba rescues Fennec, gets his ship back, searches for his armor back at the Sarlacc pit, takes care of the biker gang, etc. The final few moments return to the present, where Boba hires the big Wookiee, attempts to unite the Mos Espa families to unite against the Pikes(?) and Fennec raises the possibility of using their wealth to hire additional muscle for the looming war.
When she said this, I thought I heard the Mandalorian theme.
Speaking of Fennec,
how is Ming-Na Wen 58?! Holy smokes...
A few random things:
- "Firespray gunship" is how Boba referred to his ship; I knew they'd never utter the actual name of that thing. Perhaps they will, but in all the opportunities available to use it in this episode, it was called everything else. I just don't think that word gets said again, not in 2022 on a Disney show.
- That return to the Sarlacc pit was a nice visual/callback moment
- We got to see Boba's finding/rescue of Fennec from a slightly different perspective/angle, and how she acquired her new droid/bionic guts (hint: those Vespa kids from last week weren't the first time Boba encountered them)
- We finally see Han Solo's warning to Threepio during that "chess" game on the Falcon pay off; Wookiees do indeed do that
- Jennifer Beals...day-um
- In present day, Boba is now physically healed from his Sarlacc injuries; perhaps this signals the end of the bacta tank scenes/flashbacks? Who knows
- Lots of neat shots/scenes of Jabba's palace, including a kitchen area with a couple of entertaining scenes/characters; also the 3D footage from Fennec's drone filled in some nice gaps and helped show the scope/sprawl of the joint
- I never considered a Bantha "cute" or endearing before
- Another nice appearance of those seismic charges from Boba's ship (see?
), this time used at ground level and making sure something is finally dead for good
- Great footage of the ship, including positions/angles we'd never really seen before
I liked this episode. Moved along, filled in some gaps/answered some questions, etc. The bacta tank flashbacks were more recent, timing out with the events of that Mandalorian episode Fennec appeared in with that other bounty hunter who betrayed her. You see how he discovered her body. Some gorgeous nighttime Tatooine campfire shots throughout in 2-3 places. Some action and nothing as cringe-y/out-of-place as last week's 14mph 1950's Vespa chase. That gang of teens was barely in this one
This is now four out of seven episodes, and they're clearly building to a showdown with that Spice-running syndicate. Boba, with or without the help of the other families, is going to rid Tatooine of them.
I can't help but think we're in for some cameos, due to what's looming and Fennec's comment about using their money to hire some more muscle. I don't think it'll be the Mandalorian because he's still focused on Grogu at this period, but think back to that scene that introduced us to Boba Fett in 1980, on the bridge of the Star Destroyer and who else was there listening to Vader.
I think we're about to see Bossk, IG-88, Dengar and some others we only briefly glimpsed in
The Empire Strikes Back. That's my guess. What other "muscle for hire", said in such a way at the closing seconds of the episode, would make such a tease worthwhile? Bounty hunters and merc for hire, doing any sort of job for the money?
And I don't know how/why/when they'll do it (possibly in the closing moments of the final episode), but I just have this unshakable feeling we're in for a Han Solo cameo. In the same way de-aged Hamill showed up in the final Mandalorian to wrap up Grogu's arc, now that we know these shows are willing to open that can, I don't put anything past them. Boba, being all changed and mellow/thoughtful in his post-bounty hunter life makes me think he'd want to "clear the air" or show his forgiveness for Han having been the reason he went in the pit. Also, Lucasfilm hired that guy who made those far better deep fakes of Hamill. Maybe that's what he's been working on this past year, giving us an accurate, believable five-years-post-ROTJ Han Solo/Harrison Ford?
I'm still predicting this. We'll see.
