The Force is strong with this one!!
The Book of Boba Fett certainly has had it’s detractors so far in it’s run. People said that it was slow, or that it’s heavy use of flashback story telling meant that it didn’t feel as if it progressed the ongoing Star Wars story forward from what we had last seen in The Mandalorian.
Well, it’s almost like someone saw these criticisms from the future and with Episode 5 and 6 they decided to just continue The Mandalorian. I liked episode 5 a lot, and we’ll properly dig into the magic that was episode 6 in a moment, but let’s get one thing crystal clear….Boba Fett was not in episode 5 at all, and is only in episode 6 for a few seconds!
There may be some story to why there was this big shift that comes out later, but whatever the reason, no one could have really predicted it.
Like episode 5, which was entirely based around Din Djarin, this episode was still very much following the exploits of The Mandalorian. Except when it wasn’t. And when it wasn’t it was primarily following the return of Luke Skywalker as he trains Grogu to become the Jedi he has the potential to become.
And yes there were some more surpirses along the way that will make every Star Wars super fan super excited, but let’s just talk about Luke here for a moment!
When Luke Skywalker turned up at the end of the season 2 finale of the Mandalorian it blew people’s minds. A last minute save from Luke was mostly showing him hooded and giving fans enough to realise who this might be. Then we saw his face and we were all like ‘Wow!’ they’d brought back Mark Hamil and de-aged him 35 years. It was a little rough around the edges, but it was such a shock and happy surprise no one minded.
Luke’s appearance in the show was giving the series a heavy hitter – the main character form the original movies was back for a fan pleasing cameo.
But then The Book of Boba Fett episode 6 happened and it blew minds even more. Not only was Luke back, and nobody knew and it hadn’t leaked out, but he was in it a lot. Like a hell of a lot. And not only was he in it, but the CGI to bring back a young Mark Hamil is 1000 times better than it was in the Mandalorian just one year ago. How was this possible?
Rumours stated that Luke’s appearance last year was so secret that not even the big wigs at Lucasfilm all knew it had been snuck in there. That maybe only one CGI artist had been on the task to bring Luke back. Well, after the great reception to that appearance it would appear that Disney have gone all in on making a young CGI Mark Hamil their priority.
After Mando season 2, an independent CGI shared a video that they alone had improve the graphics of the CGI single handily within a few days of the episode coming out, and not long after it was said that Disney had hired this guy to come and work with them. I don’t think this is confirmed, but looking at Luke’s appearance in this episode, whoever they have on the case deserves many awards.
This does bring up the idea of could they create George Lucas’s original vision for episodes 7, 8 and 9 with CGI versions of Mark Hamil, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford? Maybe that’s a discussion for another day, but seeing this get’s your mind going!
Impressive graphics aside, the story shows Luke helping Grogu work on honing his Jedi abilities and then face a huge decision. Din Djarin arrived with the Mandalorian armour he had forged for the little foundling in the last episode and was met first by R2D2 who leads him to Ahsoka Tano, who warns that Din’s arrival would interfere in Grogu’s training. Still, she does agree to offer the armour to Luke for Grogu to decide if he will take it.
As attachment is frowned upon in the way of a Jedi, Luke ends the episode with Grogu having the choice between this armour and the option to take Yoda’s lightsabre. I think most people expect he will take the armour, but that this will be some kind of test and he will be granted the lightsabre regardless.
But whilst all this with Luke, Grogu, Ahsoka and Mando was great, let’s talk about Boba Fett.
Now maybe I missed something, but I don’t think he spoke a word in the episode. We saw him for a few seconds and it was that Din Djarin needed to take the armour to Grogu. There is a war brewing on Tatooine between Boba and the Pyke Syndicate, and whilst these episodes have been insanely lacking the title character of the show, we are seeing all the pieces fall into place with “the muscle” for a big fight in next week’s finale.
But there was one thing which has got fans talking perhaps even more than the magic of Luke’s CGI face. And that is Cad Bane.
In the building of Boba’s army, Din Djarin visit’s an old acquaintance in Cobb Vanth, played again by Timothy Olyphant. With it looking like Cobb will be an ally, Mando leaves, but it’s not long before we get the live action debut of Cad Bane. Cad Bane was a significant character and popular bounty hunter with the fans who has appeared in the Clones Wars and other media, but this is the first time they have been in a live action Star Wars project.
Conclusion
This episode was great. As a fan of Star Wars it’s hard to find major fault with it. The fact that all the surprises and special appearances haven’t been leaked is a extraordinary. It brings great hope that even though this series started slow and there has been the lack Boba Fett issue, that next week’s finale will be something very special!
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