Easter Eggs You May Have Missed In The Book Of Boba Fett Episode 4
It's another week so you know what that means! That's right, a new episode of "The Book of Boba Fett" is out, so it's time to dig into the references, Easter eggs, hints and even a smidge of speculation. This episode, titled "The Gathering Storm" or just plain old "Chapter 4" if you're going by the Disney+ listing, has a ton of things to discuss, so let's get started, shall we?
Now, there's going to be some stuff we've seen before that I won't bring up, like that Captain R-3X droid from Disney Parks' "Star Tours" is in Jennifer Beals' bar, Sanctuary, dealing cards; and while I've been a "Star Wars" fan since before I can remember (literally, I was born in 1981 and "Star Wars" has always been a part of my life) I don't hold a Galactic degree on this universe so there's bound to be some stuff that I missed.
With all that out of the way, this episode seems to be about Boba Fett becoming whole. He hires Black Krrsantan, who previously tried to kill him, as his muscle, we see flashbacks of how he recovered his iconic ship and he strikes a deal with the local crime families as he prepares to wage war with the Pyke Syndicate for the right to rule on Jabba's throne.
That's a lot of ground to cover and on the way we stumble across a few interesting tidbits from "Star Wars" lore.
A Musical Nod and The Modifier
In the flashbacks we see Mr. Fett rescue Ming-Na Wen's Fennec Shand, a crossover with the events of "The Mandalorian," and to trigger this composer Ludwig Goransson gives us a little of Mando's theme.
Remember when we first saw the mysterious boots in "The Mandalorian" and the internet caught fire with speculation that it was Boba Fett? Well, they were right, but it's happening a little differently this time, for some reason. In "The Mandalorian" we heard Fett's "spurs," but I didn't hear them this time around, even when they nearly recreated the shot of his feet approaching the critically injured Fennec Shand. Maybe it's a retcon because it was his armor that makes that sound and he doesn't have that back yet? Or maybe they forgot? I dunno.
Fett takes Shand to a character called "The Modifier," played by musician Thundercat (AKA Stephen Bruner). This is the dude who is turning Mos Espa's teens into cyberpunk kids, melding flesh and droid parts. He saves Fennec's life by giving her a little droid tummy and as he's doing so you might have noticed one of the droid parts he uses is a familiar hand, specifically one belonging to the B2 Battle Droid as seen in the prequels.
Also, one of the teens hanging out at The Modifier's shop is actually Ming-Na Wen's son, Cooper Dominic Zee.
Disney+
Liberating the Firespray Gunship
The episode also features Boba regaining his classic ship, which is languishing in Jabba's Palace. Boba Fett's ship ain't an Easter egg (c'mon now), but the fact that he does reference it as his "Firespray Gunship" is a definitive step away from the previous Lucasfilm branding of "Slave 1." We've known a rebranding of this ship was coming for a while and I don't particularly care much about it one way or the other, especially since nobody in the movies ever called it Slave 1 and I've always kind of viewed the ancillary "Star Wars" materials as fun asides, not locked in stone canon, but man do a lot of people have strong opinions about this.
I believe the change is less Disney whitewashing a potentially problematic ship name and more how they're shaping the character of Boba Fett. The bounty hunter we met in "The Empire Strikes Back" would for sure have a ship called Slave 1. He disintegrates people at whim, seemingly, only cares about his bounties and getting paid, etc. This new Boba Fett, more informed by the prequels and "The Clone Wars" arcs, is a nice guy that also happens to be an ex-bounty hunter and wannabe gangster. This Boba Fett wouldn't have a ship called Slave 1.
So, Baba and Fennec are planning a heist and they use a little miniature probe droid to sneak around and scan Jabba's Palace for threats. This might be a stretch, but it feels like this is an extension of the DRK-1 Dark Eye Probe Droid Darth Maul uses in "The Phantom Menace." Definitely feels like the same tech, just more compact and stealthy.
The Kitchen Fight
When they finally sneak their way into the palace there's a big setpiece in the kitchen where two droids are hard at work making a space stew (or something) for Bib Fortuna (presumably). The chef droid is a model that can be seen in "Attack of the Clones" and has a moment when his multiple arms spin around much like General Grievous in "Revenge of the Sith," so they probably had similar hardware.
The other droid is the bossy mean one that assigns C-3PO and R2 to their roles in the palace in "Return of the Jedi." His designation is EV-9D9, if you're curious.
Lucasfilm
There's also a little droid in this scene that shuts himself off rather than face Boba Fett and that's another previously established model, known as an LEP droid and seen mostly in "The Clone Wars."
One more droid to talk about in this sequence is that Fennec shoots a Plunk Droid (those are the ones that look like two GNK, or Gonk, droids glued together) while they liberate the Firespray from its hanger. You'll also notice the ship knocks over a Skiff like the one Luke walks the plank on during "Jedi."
Fett's Revenge
With the Firespray in hand, Fett gets his revenge, not just on the bikers he believes killed his Tusken Raider buddies, but also on that nasty old Sarlacc that almost had him for lunch. We've seen this in the show before, but in this episode we got a better look at the wreckage of Jabba's barge from "Return of the Jedi" as well as a bit of a double down on the little Audrey II Beak thing that George Lucas added to what had previously just been a big sandy butthole with teeth in the "Return of the Jedi" Special Edition.
Quick detour, since we're talking about Special Edition nods. At one point Fennec says something "sings like a Yuzzum," which is that terrible singing dog thing that was added into "Return of the Jedi." You know the one ... looks like a dog boy, and we get a disturbing close up of his swinging uvula as he sings "Jedi Rocks." Jesus.
Anyway, in order to get out of this mess, Fennec releases a seismic charge bomb that was once spectacularly used in "Attack of the Clones." It's without question one of the coolest sounds in "Star Wars" and that's saying something because this galaxy is filled with rad sound effects.
Bye-bye, Sarlacc. You're done, son.
Never Upset A Wookie
Boba Fett ends up hiring Black Krrsantan after witnessing the pissed off Wookiee get into a fight at Sanctuary. There's a couple things going on in this scene that caused "Star Wars" fans to perk up.
The obvious one is that Black Krrsantan rips the arm off of a poor bastard just there to drink and gamble, finally making good on the story Han Solo tells in "A New Hope" about how Wookiees are known to rip people's arms out of their sockets when they're upset.
The other Easter egg here is just why Black Krrsantan is so pissed off. It's not that he's always ill-tempered (which he seems to be), it's because there's a bit of animosity between Wookiees and Trandoshans. Trandoshans hunt Wookiees for sport, you see. You'll remember a Trandoshan delivered a Wookiee pelt to Boba Fett as tribute in the first episode of this show.
So, there's some "Star Wars" lore at play with Black Krrsantan getting more and more pissed off at seeing those Trandoshans having a jolly old time gambling their credits. Trandoshan, of course, is the reptilian species that Bossk, another popular bounty hunter character, is a part of.
Wrapping Things Up
Something else to point out: We all know of Tatooine's twin suns, but it's also been established since the very first film that the desert planet also has three moons. We get a nice shot of them all lined up together in this episode, which to my memory is the first time we've seen them this explicitly.
The episode ends with Boba and Fennec talking about needing to hire more muscle for their inevitable confrontation with the Pyke Syndicate which will determine who ends up ruling Jabba's old territory.
Once again we get a little Mandalorian flute motif here from Goransson, which has caused some speculation that Fett might put a call out to Din Djarin himself and that we'll get a Mando appearance soon.
Not sure if that's in the cards or if it was just a playful little nod to the other Disney+ show, but it was definitely there.
So, that's what I got for you on episode 4 of "The Book of Boba Fett." Look forward to more in the next episode, airing Wednesday on Disney+.