Why You Can Trust CNET The Book of Boba Fett episode 3 recap: Star Wars crime war spills onto Tatooine's streets
Boba has a nasty run-in with an intense adversary, makes a large new friend and possibly learns who his true enemies are.
Boba Fett and Fennec Shand take a meeting outside Jabba's palace.
The Book of Boba Fett continued its Tatooine adventure on Disney Plus Wednesday, as the third chapter of the seven-episode live-action Star Wars show hit the streaming service. It followed would-be crime lord Boba's tense encounter with the Twins, a pair of Hutts eager to take over the territory of their late cousin Jabba, around five years after Return of the Jedi.
The previous episode also flashed back to the time after Boba escaped the sarlacc, which saw him being awesome enough to get accepted into a tribe of Tusken Raiders in Tatooine's extremely sandy Dune Sea.
Let's join the tribe of SPOILERS and take a look at Chapter 3: The Streets of Mos Espa.
Syndicate looming
It sure seemed like the Twins were gonna be this show's main villains, but they flee Tatooine after learning that Mos Espa's sleazy mayor promised Jabba's territory to the Pyke Syndicate. The crime group appeared multiple times in The Clone Wars (where they joined Darth Maul's Shadow Collective criminal alliance) and ran the mines of Kessel in Solo -- they're the galaxy's major suppliers of the narcotic spice).
They've also shown up in this show's flashback sequences, which saw Boba sparing a group of them after epically stopping their train from transporting spice through the territory of his new Tusken Raider pals.
Our boy Boba tries to extract protection money out of the Pyke Syndicate's Tatooine leader in this episode's flashback, but they're already paying off the Kintan Striders (the Nikto speeder bike gang Boba beat up in the bar) and are unwilling to pony up to two groups. Which seems fair enough, so Boba promises to take care of the Striders.
The Pyke Syndicate is making its move on Tatooine.
However, he returns to his new Tusken friends and finds the entire camp (even his youngling buddy) slaughtered by the speeder goons. It's pretty darn mean of them, and we might see Boba taking vengeance in the next flashback (assuming there is one).
And that'll likely play into the Pyke Syndicate's hands -- the group probably wants smaller Tatooine groups like the Tuskens and speeder gangs killing each other so they can seize control of the planet. The Pykes got beef with Boba too, after he disrupted their spice operation.
Drash and her pals turn out to be excellent allies.
Wanna join my gang?
A chunk of the present-day storyline sees Boba gathering allies, like a gang of disaffected youths who modify their bodies with droid parts (and have a bit of a budget Cyberpunk look about them, with colorful speeders that remind me of Power Rangers). It turns out to be the right call, too, since they later save him from an attack and chase down the mayor's Twi'lek majordomo. The chase itself feels a bit slow though.
Later on, the Hutt twins bring Boba a rancor calf -- replacing the one slain by Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi -- as a way of saying sorry for trying to kill him. The rancor keeper (beloved movie tough guy Danny Trejo) helps Boba bond with the beast.
"I want to ride it," Boba says. "I've ridden beasts 10 times its size."
Boba befriends the rancor, which seems like a brave move.
This is likely a reference to the infamous 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special, in which Boba made his first appearance and rode a massive creature. This animated segment is available on Disney Plus as The Story of the Faithful Wookiee, and is definitely the best section of the special. It's not part of the main Star Wars canon, but the franchise regularly brings in non-canon elements for its new stories.
If Boba doesn't ride this rancor into battle in the season finale, I will be bitterly disappointed.
Wookiee attack
In the last episode, the Hutts warned Boba to "sleep lightly" and we see their threat was quite direct -- his bacta tank snooze is interrupted by terrifying Wookiee bounty hunter Black Krrsantan. The Wookiee, who's shown up often in Marvel's Star Wars comics since 2015, rips Boba out of the tank and flings the poor lad around in his underwear.
Wake up sleepyhead.
He's rescued by new ally Drash (Sophie Thatcher from Yellowjackets) and her fellow gang members, though Krrsantan pretty much takes everyone in the palace on before Fennec drops him into the empty rancor pit.
An extremely forgiving Boba offers to return Krrsantan to the Hutts, but they don't want him back. So Boba decides to free the Wookiee, reasoning it was "just business." Hopefully the big guy will be back as an ally later; it'd be super cool to see him teaming up with Boba and Fennec.
Mandalorian fans might spot a familiar mechanic in the background.
Observations and Easter eggs
- I briefly thought we were going to get a flashback sequence to young Boba on Kamino, but that would've required some expensive CGI trickery since actor Daniel Logan is too old to play him at such a young age. He was 15 in Attack of the Clones, and is 34 now.
- The flashback gives the origin story of Mos Eisley's stormtrooper helmets on spears, which featured prominently in The Mandalorian's season 1 marketing. Turns out some guy put them up, how exciting.
- In the shot with those helmets, mechanic Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) and her pit droids can be seen strolling in the background. She befriended Mando and Grogu in season 1 of the Mandalorian, and showed up again in season 2.
- The rancor keeper mentions the Witches of Dathomir riding the beasts. This group of Force users plays a major role in The Clone Wars.
- The painting that's destroyed in the chase is a piece of concept art for Jabba's throne room by legendary designer Ralph McQuarrie.
- There are two lovely establishing shots of Jabba's palace in this episode. One features a spider-like B'omarr monk and the other sees a chameleon-looking creature having a late-night snack.
Join me for more Easter eggs and observations next Wednesday, Jan. 19, when episode 4 of The Book of Boba Fett hits Disney Plus.