'The Book of Boba Fett' Episode 6: "From The Desert Comes A Stranger" Recap and Review
In another Boba-lite episode, the series ramps up with a major live-action debut and the return of some familiar faces
WARNING: Contains Spoilers
A this point, The Book of Boba Fett feels less as a standalone series and more of a companion series to The Mandalorian. Now that new flavor Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) has told his story and the imminent threat of the Pyke Syndicate leaves his current story at a standstill, the series seems to be reverting back to the strengths of its predecessor. By far the most interesting Emotional arc of The Mandalorian was the father and son dynamic of Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu. One element that always pleased fans of The Mandalorian were the Live-Action debuts of characters from the the greater universe of Star Wars media. Both of these elements anchor the episode firmly as the series’ best yet.
We begin by visiting an old ally of Din Djarin’s on Tatooine. Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant) interrupts a Spice deal between thugs of the Pyke Syndicate. He warns them and offers them a chance to leave peacefully. They counter-offer with blasters and Cobb leaves only one of the four of them alive as a warning to stay out of Mos Pelgo. Continuing the story of the Mandalorian Din Djarin after he set out to visit young Grogu as he trains with Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Din tracks R2-D2’s beacon to a lush forested planet. Upon arrival R2-D2 takes Din to a site where an army droids are busy constructing a new Jedi Temple. Din is left to wait on a quickly built makeshift bench as R2 shuts down. Elsewhere on the planet, Luke and Grogu attempt to meditate in spite of distracting frogs. They decide to take a walk and Luke tells Grogu about Master Yoda, and Luke offers to help Grogu re-discover his past. Grogu sees himself during Order 66 as a group of Jedi fend off an army of Clone troopers. Grogu wakes up at the edge of a lake where Luke re-iterates his intention to teach Grogu in the ways of the force. Having fallen asleep, Din is awoken by Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) whom R2-D2 told of Din’s arrival. Din wants to see Grogu but Ahsoka is hesitant to take him. She warns him of the dangers that come with Din’s parental relationship with Grogu and gives him the choice; see Grogu and make his training more difficult or allow Ahsoka to deliver his gift and leave. Din, thinking of Grogu, decides its best for him to leave so he does. Luke continues his lessons with Grogu and teaches him how to force jump. As they train Luke gives Grogu a glimpse of what a Jedi can do with a lightsaber and Grogu is mesmerized. To complete Grogu’s jump training, Luke uses a training remote to great success. Grogu bounces along the rocks with his new ability as Luke and Ahsoka watch. Luke also recognizes that Grogu’s heart may be too attached with the Mandalorian. As Din Djarin arrives on Tatooine he is whisked away to a war room meeting between Boba and his allies. They decide they are in need of soldiers and Din offers to help with that. He travels out to Mos Pelgo where he is rudely greeted by Cobb Vanth’s deputy. Cobb and Din have a chat and Din tries to convince Cobb and the town to join Boba’s cause. Cobb calls for a meeting of the townspeople but out in the Desert he spots a stranger walking into town. Cobb clears the town and meets the stranger in the middle of the road. The stranger warns Cobb to stay out of Boba’s fight with the Syndicate and reveals himself to be infamous hired gun Cad Bane (Corey Burton). They two disagree and have a standoff, resulting in Cobb being wounded and his deputy dead. Next, the Syndicate strike the Cantina of Garsa Fwip (Jennifer Beals), setting off a bomb with them all inside. Back with Luke and Grogu, Luke presents the gift from the Mandalorian, a chainmail vest made of Beskar. Next to it he places the Lightsaber of Master Yoda and gives Grogu a choice: take the chainmail and return to Din or take the Lightsaber and continue learning the ways of the force.
Cad Bane, the most ruthless Bounty Hunter in all of the Clone Wars era is now in brilliant Live-Action. His look is perfectly accurate and he is voiced by original voice actor Corey Burton and to top it all off, his introduction is perfect, he decimates the returning Timothy Olyphant’s Cobb Vanth in a duel then waltzes back into the desert from which he came. So to be clear, that brings the Bounty Hunter total to four; Black Krrsantan, Cad Bane, Din Djarin and Boba Fett. Cad bane has contentious history with most if not all of them including Fennec Shand whom he squared off against in the Bad Batch. His inclusion breaths new interest in in the upcoming finale that could rescue this series from mediocrity. As cool of an introduction as that was for Cad Bane, the real backbone of this episode is seeing the peak of facial CGI Luke Skywalker train Grogu. This is the Luke Skywalker that many fans were deprived of in the most recent Trilogy. He feels less like a human and more like a mythical being, every movement and word was careful, caring and enigmatic. Much like Grogu, the audience is left in awe by the aura of a true Jedi Master. the scenes are beautiful and conjure memories Master Yoda from movies past. Another surprise was the return of Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano. Dawson’s take on the character feels natural and every appearance by her only builds more anticipation for her upcoming stand-alone series. Our cliff hanger might as well be a commercial for The Mandalorian Season 3 as Luke’s ultimatum to Grogu will no doubt come into play.
It’s no coincidence that the last two episodes were both the best of the series and directed by Bryce Dallas Howard and Dave Filoni respectively. The two are responsible for the best episodes of The Mandalorian and seem to be moving up in the hierarchy of Star Wars creators. Their continued involvement not only bode well for the future of Star Wars media after the mixed reception of the last Trilogy, but for the future of this series as well. Even though Boba hasn’t said a word in two episodes, his series is pulling out winning efforts and building much needed momentum going into it’s finale. If the final episode continues this trend there may be enough interest to garner a Season 2 which could be an opportunity to fix a lot of the issues plaguing this series.