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Who's trying to kill Boba? Chapter 2 of 'The Book of Boba Fett' brings answers, weirdness & cameos
Lord Fett’s odd journey of discovery continued in both the past and the present.
We should never think that Star Wars has achieved peak weirdness, because that's never gonna happen. The movies are weird, and the animated shows get really weird, but it is the live-action streaming experience on Disney+ that keeps pushing things into the gloriously bizarre. Chapter 2 of The Book of Boba Fett is a fine example.
We should have learned our lesson with The Mandalorian. There’s no story moment too odd, and no cameo too obscure for Dave Filoni, Jon Favreau, and now Robert Rodriguez. Everything is on the table at all times, and it is more joyous than a black melon in the desert. The story always moves along with the weirdness, which is more important than anything else. Who tried to kill Boba Fett in the premiere? We may have an answer... or just more questions. Not sure yet.
***WARNING: From this point forward, there will be spoilers for Chapter 2 of The Book of Boba Fett. If you have not watched yet, then jetpack on out of here.***
How many Hutts can fit on a litter? Nope, let's start again.
Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) marches the assassin that she left alive into the Palace, and 8D8 (Matt Berry) identifies him as an assassin of the “Night Wind.” Fennec believes them to be overpriced: “You’re paying for the name," she says.
They get him to talk by tricking him into the rancor pit that no longer has a rancor in it. Supposedly the Mayor was behind the hit, so Boba and Fennec barge past a clerk and the majordomo to visit him. Mayor Mok Shaiz is an Ithorian, and is voiced by series co-creator Robert Rodriguez. Ithorians are a rare sight in live-action (the first debuted in Star Wars: A New Hope, but they’ve mostly featured in animation and comics since), and this one points them towards Madam Garsa (Jennifer Beals). After telling her that she’s “sweating like a gumpta on Mustafar” Garsa tells Boba that “the twins have laid claim” to Jabba’s territory. We hear drums, so Boba and Fennec go outside to see what’s up.
They are greeted by a giant litter bearing two Hutts, one of which has a little hand fan. We don’t know which specific Hutts these are yet (the Hutt Council itself has been wiped out at this point), but they are claiming that everything that was Jabba’s is now theirs. Boba says they’ll have to kill him for it, and they say that “bloodshed is bad for business.” They also tell him to sleep lightly. This isn’t over.
It should be noted that the twins had some major muscle with them, and it came in the form of someone from Boba’s past. (More on that character in another article.)
Did these Hutt twins send the Night Wind? Did Garsa? How heavy is that litter? Is Rotta the Hutt ever going to show up? We may get more answers next week, because the rest of this episode flashes back to Boba’s time with the Tusken Raiders. He's learning their ways, and training with a wooden gaffi stick (gaderffii). He’s slowly being accepted by the tribe. When a hover train does a needless drive-by on the tribe’s camp, Boba decides to take it out.
He lays out a little bar full of Niktos, steals their speeders, teaches the Tuskens how to drive them, and then all of them take out the train. It’s a huge success, and the Tuskens allow Boba to level up. In one of the weirdest Star Wars moments yet, they give him a gift; a little lizard. Aww, a new pet! Not really. The lizard jumps right into Boba’s mouth, and the Tuskens say that it will guide him from inside of his head.
Okay? Guide him to where? To a creepy tree where he breaks off a branch mid-hallucination. We've all done that, right? He returns to the camp with the branch, and the lizard zips out of his nose and goes back in its case. Boba is clothed by the Tuskens in black robes, and he is guided into fashioning his branch into a real gaffi stick.
He joins in a ritual dance around the fire.
Speak Freely
-The couple that is being menaced by Niktos in the little bar/casino isn’t just any couple. They are Camie and Fixer, played here by Mandy Kowalski and Skyler Bible. (We're taking a deep dive to explain why that's important in another article.)
-The Pyke Syndicate owns the train that Boba and the Tuskens take down. Before they get sent packing, a couple of them remove their masks/helmets. This is another first for live-action, as they always kept them on in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
-The water gourds that the Tuskens dig for in the sand are referred to by Boba as “black melons." It’s milk inside of them, not water. Gross.
-We’re gonna mention it again: Boba Fett taught a group of Tusken Raiders how to drive.
-We have a bad feeling about this tribe, though. We’re starting to like them, so they’ll probably all end up dead.
-The same goes for the Mayor, the Mayor’s majordomo, and pretty much everyone who works for the Mayor. We won’t feel bad for them at all. The sooner that Boba and Fennec blow them all to hell the better.
-We really like Madam Garsa, though, and if there’s anyone acting behind the shadows as a Mos Espa puppeteer, we’d bet on her.
-Boba’s lizard-brain hallucination sequence includes a scene of his younger self (Daniel Logan) on Kamino, watching Slave I fly away.
-Favorite line of the episode goes to Boba himself: “You can bring as many gladiators as you wish but these are not the death pits of Duur and I am not a sleeping Trandoshan guard.” Got him!
The Book of Boba Fett streams new episodes on Disney+ every Wednesday.
