Don’t be fooled by the opening in Boba Fett’s quarters. The camera pulls into Fett’s bacta pod again, but something’s different this time. The distinct sense looms as we head into a flashback yet again, that we’re going in for a final fix. In The Book of Boba Fett, Chapter 4, “The Gathering Storm,” the flashbacks will finally catch up with the present. We may never be subjected to viewing Boba Fett’s Michael Jackson-styled bedroom ever again. Of course, that idea may be premature.
As redundant, foot-dragging story-telling goes, there may be a past tidbit that needs telling in another episode, but we’re getting somewhere now. The story brings viewers up to speed just in time for a midseason showdown next week.
Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) travels the sands of Tatooine accompanied only by his trusty bantha. His destination is Jabba’s Palace. He stakes the place out to collect his other ride, Slave 1. Only now, Disney has decided, completely disregarding computer jargon, that the ship’s name is inappropriate. Imagine a pitch for a season 2, where we’d learn through *shudder* flashbacks that Slave 1 is only the first of several Firespray-31-class patrol and attack crafts that Jango Fett modified to be handled by a small army of non-accelerated clones. Instant Mando war with a Fett for every tapioca ball in your Boba tea. Never mind that. Slave 1 is going by Firespray until further notice.
Bib Fortuna doesn’t validate parking, and Fett counts too many guards to confront him anyway. The garage remains closed until Boba Fett can employ some help in popping the boot off of his whip. Let’s skip the part when Boba’s bantha tongues the air in an attempt to tell our protagonist it’s hungry. There is a flash of plot in the distance. It harkens to the episode of The Mandalorian, where Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) is shot and left for dead. So, in a way, Grogu is in this series, too!
Fett approaches (sans heel spurs) an unconscious Fennec and loads her onto his bantha. They go to the outskirts of Mos Eisley to find the Mos Vespas Mod Gang. The kids from Generation Zerek know a thing or two about rebuilding folks from droid parts. We’ve come a long way since the antiquated days of The Empire Strikes Back, when they hid the new bionics that replaced Luke Skywalker’s hand with hideous human skin. The guy in charge of the Mod Parlor only needs a few credit incentives to give Fennec a new midsection. Now she’s alive and has that six-million-dollar six-pack she always wanted. And she gets it to the synthesized soundtrack of an ’80s low-budget sci-fi.
Fennec accepts her new body pretty readily. She and Boba come to an agreement, and they form an alliance. She will help Fett get his Firespray back, and her debt will be paid. Without applying sunscreen, they head out, and by the following suns set they stake out Jabba’s Palace again. This time, they are equipped with a few of Fennec’s toys, including a golfball-sized probe drone that would be less conspicuous without the beaming indicator lights (like the ones on the router in your bedroom that keep you up at night). The probe makes a complete 3D map of the palace, including a headcount of guards. And since he forgot to take a picture of the sign for the lot the Firespray was parked in, the probe pinpoints that location, too. Once they’re sure they can get inside, Boba sets his bantha free to find other banthas, and make baby banthas.
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Fennec and Boba sneak in through a hidden passage and attack the kitchen droids. One gives his best impression of General Grievous, but he’s bested quickly. After the third droid gets Chopped in the dessert round, they head to the hangar. Temuera Morrison has a gleam in his eye that’s been absent in the first few episodes. His Boba Fett eyes land on his ship, and we learn true love. This picture of Boba Fett looking upon his beloved ship will be the basis for many memes. Morrison nailed this moment. It’s not that easy, though.
First, they must take out a few Gamorreans, Niktos, and Weequays. It’s a clumsy fight, and Fett’s piloting skills are a bit rusty (he throws his own ship under the bus, calling it the rusty one). Ultimately, they escape the hangar, and the coolest renamed ship in the galaxy is airborne once again— a sight that gives you the same chills it gave you when it showed up in The Mandalorian for the first time.
The pilot and copilot exchange banter, which implies that Fennec is interested in sticking around. Then she just comes out and says it. Who doesn’t want to hang out with Boba Fett? Mission one: Pick off some Nikto bikers in a slaughter from the sky. I wonder if any of those guys had kids or wives. Meh, it’s just unprovoked violence. That’s nothing compared to the crime of naming a ship Slave 1. No wonder Boba is on a rampage.
Next stop in “The Gathering Storm:” The Great Pit of Carkoon. The Sarlacc is right where Boba left it, just next to the exploded sail barge and crashed skiffs. What Fett doesn’t know is that his armor is long gone. For some reason, even though Jawas relieved him of his suit when he was in a delirium, he thinks he left it in the Sarlacc’s belly. It’s a good excuse to let Seymour, I mean Fennec, drop a concussion mine into Audrey’s mouth though. While we’re out killing folks, we should rid this dust bowl of the Carkoon Menace. Exploded. Tentacles everywhere.
Without having reacquired his beskar armor, Boba Fett finalizes his recruitment of Fennec Shand. Their verbalized deal is pretty fair, as Fett admits he needs a tribe to succeed. We breeze through the assassination of Bib Fortuna, and we are visually reminded through Fett’s waking in his draining bacta pod that we are now up to date. “Congratulations, Mr. Fett,” a pit droid tells him. “You are completely healed,” as Fett asks for his armor, gently reminding us that we already know how he got it back in season two of The Mandalorian.
With another sighting of the workaholic, Max Rebo, we find ourselves in Garsa Fwip’s establishment. Krrsantan the Wookiee is drinking alone, stewing about a table of Trandoshans. Fett walks in, watching amusedly, knowing he’s about to recruit his frenemy into Team Fett. But not before we are at last treated to a Wookiee tearing someone’s arm off without having to go to the DVD extras to see it. Krrsantan reestablishes himself as the terrifying badass he’s supposed to be. We should keep in mind that he’s also a loose cannon. It’s likely to come up in later episodes.
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We’ve reached the crime table that’s been teasing us since the trailer dropped. Little is resolved there, except the local families promise not to take sides when Boba Fett and his new tribe declare war on the Pyke Syndicate. We know what this means. At least one, if not all of these families, will turncoat the heck out of this soft, new Boba Fett. And Fett will bring it the way he brought it to the Kintan Striders and the Sarlacc when no one was looking. To be fair, Fennec pressed the button that killed the Sarlacc, foreshadowing the necessity of her involvement. Fennec continues to advise Boba that his peaceful approach will not work. Soon, she will be right in a bigger way than she was when the Great Pit of Carkoon was closed down for good.
“The Gathering Storm” has finally shown that the pawns have all been set. It’s time for the real fight to begin. With Fennec’s queenlike ability to move in any direction and Krrsantan being powerful enough to be two knights, Fett makes his gambit. Flanked by Gamorrean rooks and his Mod Gang bishops, Fett’s adversaries have no chance. It’s your move, Pyke Syndicate.
You have enough episodes to castle your king and bring us the inevitable surprise or two. I’ll postulate it again. Crimson Dawn has a queen you might want to play. Will Emilia Clarke pop in as an older Qi’ra? War of the Bounty Hunters (Marvel) doesn’t have to be over.
“The Gathering Storm” is now streaming.
