The Book Of Boba Fett Comes To A Dizzying Conclusion
This will contain major spoilers for the final episode of "The Book of Boba Fett."
"The Book of Boba Fett" came to an end today with its seventh episode, "In the Name of Honor," directed by Robert Rodriguez. The last six episodes of the show have put all of the pieces on the table to bring us a conclusion that ties up virtually all the loose ends introduced on this show.
This episode of the show starts with Boba Fett and his new crew in the ruins of Garsa Fwip's Sanctuary as they decide where to make their last stand against the Pykes. Boba suggests Jabba's Palace, but the Mods make him realize that the people of Mos Espa need him to make a stand in the city.
Divvying up his forces across town, Boba Fett parlays with Cad Bane who tries to goad him into action, but it doesn't work. Fett stands his ground and gets besieged by the Pyke Syndicate. The rest of his allies are also attacked, as the other gotras of Mos Espa violate their vow of neutrality and turn against Boba Fett.
Soon enough, an X-Wing arrives in Mos Eisley at Peli Motto's Docking Bay. She thinks the authorities have arrived to put the squeeze on her, but is surprised to find Grogu, escorted by R2-D2 in Luke Skywalker's X-Wing. After last week's "Lone Wolf and Cub"-style choice from Luke Skywalker, Grogu chose the Lone Wolf and the beskar shirt, and was immediately brought back to the Mandalorian.
The episode basically assembles all of the allies Boba Fett has developed over the last six episodes together to fight against the Pyke Syndicate. First, they fend off the Pykes themselves, then a pair of Scorpenek droids, then Cad Bane, then the leaders themselves.
After winning the day, Boba Fett realizes this life might not be for him and hints strongly that he'll hand the town over to someone better suited to the role.
The Direction and Film References
Robert Rodriguez returns to direct another episode of "The Book of Boba Fett" and with much better results than his previous outings. This episode really plays to his strengths in the best ways and is a "Star Wars" action extravaganza. But it's infused with characters and comedy and really blends all the best things we love about this era of "Star Wars," and the things we've learned about it since, with his own sensibilities.
As for film references, taking aside Rodriguez's own action style and film references, the episode still follows the patterns of Westerns. It brings in the elements of "High Noon" (1952) and the Spaghetti Westerns, but also amplifies the conflicts found in the samurai films that inspired "Star Wars."
The episode starts in a very "Seven Samurai" (1954) sort of way. Boba Fett has assembled his samurai — Fennec Shand, the Mandalorian, Black Krrsantan, the Gamorreans, and the Mods — as well as the villagers from Freetown, all in order to fight off the superior numbers of the bandits. But it also has a very "Yojimbo" (1961) like vibe, where the criminal concerns are being played against each other and against the family at the center of the movie.
One of the most delightful references to another film might have been the rancor's "King Kong" (1933) moment. After Boba Fett rides the rancor into battle and Cad Bane scares him away, he flees into Mos Espa. At one point, he climbs the highest spot and carries on, just like Kong at the end of his film.
My favorite classic film vibe of this episode comes to the scene where Fennec Shand takes out the Mayor and the head of the Pyke Syndicate in a style that feels very much like the opening of Luc Besson's "Leon: The Professional" (1994), where Fennec truly shows off her abilities as a master assassin.
Cad Bane and Boba Fett
This episode's most shocking moment came with the death of Cad Bane, but I wonder how shocking it is to fans who have not kept up with the long history these two characters have had.
Cad Bane served as something of a father figure to Boba in his earliest days after losing his father. Boba looked up to Bane and worked to get revenge against the Jedi, but Bane looked at Boba as more of a means to an end. Sure, Cad Bane trained him some and showed him the ropes, but also betrayed him plenty.
Eventually, Boba Fett had enough. In unmade episodes of "The Clone Wars," Bane and Fett had a stand-off and, in those cut scenes, Bane is the one who gave Boba Fett the dent in his helmet. The two of them shot each other at the same time and matched their skills because they were mirrors of each other. Here, Bane outmatches Boba Fett, but Boba has learned new skills that Bane is unable to counter and Boba Fett wins the day, relying on the training he received from the Tusken Raiders, rather than the methods he learned from his former mentor.
This is an auspicious end for Cad Bane, ending decades of him being the most notorious bounty hunter and gun for hire in the galaxy. And, although there is still plenty of storytelling that can be done with him in the intervening years, this end ties up one more loose threads from "The Clone Wars."
What to Look Out For
So many of the things to see in this episode in terms of references and Easter eggs have been given in-depth treatment in previous episodes, but there are a few cool things here to look out for.
The largest, at least in terms of scale, are the Scorponek droids. These droids were designed for "Attack of the Clones" (2002) and never really appeared anywhere outside of books. In the Legends canon, they had come from the Clone Wars and were loosely based on the Destroyer Droids of the Trade Federation. This is their first on-screen appearance and they are worthy foes, able to easily chew up a battlefield.
Boba Fett's riding of the rancor is another dual reference. This was something the Witches of Dathomir did and came from a book called "The Courtship of Princess Leia," written by David Wolverton (who passed away just a couple of weeks ago.) The other half of the reference comes from Boba Fett's first appearance in the "Star Wars Holiday Special," mounted upon a massive dinosaur creature. There's also a moment when the rancor hurls a member of the Pyke Syndicate into the bowels of Mos Espa set to the audio of a Wilhelm Scream.
With Dave Filoni involved in the show, it's no surprise to see references to "The Lord of the Rings", as Grogu's beskar shirt looks to be very much inspired by the Mithril shirt passed down from Bilbo to Frodo which saved him from death at the hands of that cave troll in "The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001).
The Verdict
Looking at "The Book of Boba Fett" as a whole makes me wonder what Boba Fett's journey has truly been. He has definitely changed from the beginning of the show to the end, but I'm left to wonder why? He spent so much time taking over Jabba the Hutt's territories and it seems like he's just going to hand them over to Cobb Vanth, but why? He says the life of a daimyo doesn't suit him. So we had seven episodes for Boba Fett to change into someone who could lead and then decide he doesn't want to? I suppose it's a valid story choice for a person to aim for goals and find they are not really built for the life they thought they wanted. At the end of the day, Boba is still searching for his father. He sought that in Cad Bane, but ultimately had to kill that part of himself in this episode.
There's a beautiful reversal between Luke and Boba Fett on this show I hadn't realized before either. Luke Skywalker is raised on the deserts of Tatooine and picks a place that is Tatooine's opposite to raise his Jedi academy: a lush jungle swamp. Boba Fett was raised on an ocean planet and picks pretty much the opposite to try to establish himself and ends up on the harsh desert of Tatooine. Perhaps Tatooine is a place that reforges people, finding them all in the belly of the beast and transforming.
Moving forward, Boba Fett definitely looks to forge his own way again. But where will he go? I think all indications point to "The Mandalorian" and its third season and not some higher plane of importance.
There were utterly delightful moments in this episode. If all this show gave us was Grogu cuddling up to take a nap with a rancor, then I'll be happy. But I'll be chewing on these episodes for a long time looking for the meaning of Boba Fett's change and journey. I'm excited to watch the show as a whole, from start to finish, and see what other themes and changes are illuminated.
For now, it feels like this show was one big, fun detour from the ongoing story of "The Mandalorian" and Boba Fett is still a bit of a side character. And since so much of it was in service of the larger, overall story, it works in that regard but leaves us wanting a little bit more for Boba personally.
I hope this show leads to more Boba Fett in the long run, seeing him explore more of his inner struggle and journey.
With "The Book of Boba Fett" ending on the note it does, it suggests we might be getting more stories about Cobb Vanth on Tatooine and I want to see those stories, too.
Maybe Boba Fett can come back and help. I mean, it was his book, after all.
"The Book of Boba Fett: Chapter 7 – In the Name of Honor" is now playing on Disney+.