In “The Book of Boba Fett” recap, Fett faces off with more enemies trying to take his throne before finally discovering who is attempting to usurp his territory…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
The present finally outweighed the past in the latest episode of “The Book of Boba Fett” as the series took a big step forward while revealing more enemies coming to take over the criminal empire on Tatooine.
After last week revealed how Fett essentially became part of the Tusken tribe by helping them take down a supply train that rode through their territory and just opened fire on them for no apparent reason, the latest episode showed the aftermath of that particular raid and the consequences the former bounty hunter may have brought down upon his desert saviors.
The flashbacks only involved one scene this week while the majority of the episode showcased Fett attempted to maintain his hold over Jabba the Hutt’s former empire and discovering that being a crime lord takes a lot more than just killing a second rate replacement like Bib Fortuna and then sitting on a throne.
With that said, let’s get to our full recap for the latest episode of “The Book of Boba Fett”…
Chapter 3: The Streets of Mos Espa
The episode opens with Boba Fett receiving a briefing from his droid, who explains how the power vacuum left in the wake of Jabba the Hutt’s death created more problems than it solved and that’s why he’s struggling to gain control over the area.
After Bib Fortuna took over as the new daimyo following Jabba’s demise, he split Mos Espa into three territories controlled by three different factions, all while lining the pockets of Mayor Mok Shaiz so he could maintain his title. Unfortunately, Bib Fortuna didn’t have nearly the fearsome reputation as Jabba so he could only do so much in his role and upon his death, the different territories have largely fallen into disarray while attempting to find out what kind of leader Boba Fett might be.
The assassination attempt on his life was just further proof that Fett hasn’t even started to control his base of operations in Mos Espa. Of course, Fennec Shand knows that the Mayor couldn’t have ordered that hit because he really maintains no power in the city despite his honorary position.
Before they can decide what to do next, Fett receives a visit from one of his patrons — a water-monger named Lortha Peel, who arrives to let the former bounty hunter know that nobody in Mos Espa respects him yet.
To that point, Lortha Peel requests Fett’s help to deal with some bandits who have been stealing his water supply while revealing that the thieves are teenagers on speeders. To make matters worse, Lortha tells Fett that these riders have outfitted themselves with droid parts to become even more dangerous and it’s threatening his operation where he acts as a salesman of sorts for all of the vapor farmers in the area.
That takes Fett to the Worker’s District where he quickly runs into the gang who has been stealing water from Lortha Peel. The only problem is they explain that Lortha Peel charges them a month’s worth of wages for a week’s amount of water — and they couldn’t even pay that because there are no jobs despite living in the so called Worker’s District.
Fett is impressed by the gang’s brazen attitude so rather than cut them down for stealing, he offers them all a job to come work for him.
That doesn’t sit too well with Lortha Peel, who objects based on these kids stealing his water but that argument quickly turns against him after revealing to Fett that the money owned to him is 1300 credits. Fett realizes that this water-monger has been overcharging so he offers him 500 credits for his troubles and tells Lortha Peel to lower his prices — or he can move to Mos Eisley to run his business instead.
The water-monger doesn’t have much of an option but to accept this bargain while the teen bikers all mount up and follow Fett back to his palace.
It appears every single time Fett stands up for more than 10 consecutive seconds, he has to take a trip back to the bacta tank for recovery and that’s where we find him yet again.
Fett is dreaming of his former home on Kamino where he grew up as a boy and watching his father Jango Fett fly away on Slave-1 — this scene has been repeating several times and it surely means something that will play a part later in the series, it’s just unclear what that will be.
From there, Fett flashes back to his time with the Tuskens after he was welcomed into the tribe following the assault on the train run by the Pyke Syndicate as they delivered spice from Kessel.
Fett mounts up on a Bantha and begins his journey to meet with the Pykes to arrange payment for safe passage through the Great Dune Sea under the protection of the Tuskens. The only problem is once Fett arrives, the Pykes refuse to pay him because they say protection funds had already been promised to the Nikto riders that were previously featured in last week’s episode.
Fett explains that he’s already dealt with them — after he dispatched the entire crew at Tosche station and then stole their speeders — but the Pykes require further proof in order to stop payment to the Nikto riders and instead pay the Tusken tribe. Fett promises to return so he can secure proper payment for the Tuskens but on his way back home, he sees large plumes of smoke rising from the distance.
As Fett arrives at the campsite, he’s horrified to see that the Tuskens have all been slaughtered — and a marking has been left on one of the tents to show who launched the attack. The symbol is the Huttese letter K — and it’s the same symbol the group who attacked the moisture farmers in the debut episode left behind.
Fett is devastated by the carnage and he ultimately burns the Tusken bodies after learning their funeral rituals in a previous episode. Now it seems like there had to be at least a few survivors because not all of the Tuskens appeared among the bodies — particularly the female Tusken, who had been training Fett since his arrival.
Either way, Fett’s new friends have been killed and it’s not likely that crime will go unpunished, especially with what he learns later in this episode.
Fett’s dreamlike state is interrupted when he’s ripped out of his bacta tank by Black Krrsantan — the Wookie bounty hunter and former gladiator, who was working on behalf of the Twins. As previously explained, Black Krrsantan is a character featured in the “Star Wars” comics but he’s a fierce and ferocious warrior, who actually went toe-to-toe with Obi-Wan Kenobi once upon a time until the Jedi sliced him open with his lightsaber and that accounts for the large scar you can see on the top of his head in this episode.
Black Krrsantan lives up to his reputation as he thoroughly beats down Boba Fett, who is largely defenseless while being tossed around in his underwear after being pulled from the bacta tank.
Thankfully for Fett, his new employees show up to battle Black Krrsantan with the biker kids putting up a fight against the deadly Wookie. The Gamorrean guards also arrive to help with the fight but Black Krrsantan is too much even for them as he eventually chomps down on one and just tosses the other out of his way.
The biker kids eventually push Black Krrsantan back into the throne room where Fennec Shand finally ends the fight by opening the trap door, which drops the Wookie down into the dungeon where he is trapped.
Fett is still stunned by wounds he absorbed but he tells Fennec to place the Gamorrean in his bacta tank so he can properly recover.
Later as Fett and Fennec look over a feast provided for them, the new daimyo on Tatooine is trying to figure out the best way to respond to this attack, which was so obviously ordered by Jabba’s cousins. Fennec knows that the entire sector is waiting to see what he does next but before Fett can contemplate his move, the droid tells him that the Twins have arrived with a gift for him.
After putting on his armor, Fett and Fennec raise the gates to meet the Twins outside.
Jabba’s cousins admit to sending Black Krrsantan to kill him but apologize for that particular error by providing Fett with a gift — a new Rancor to fill his dungeon.
According to the Twins, they’ve discovered that Mayor Mok Shaiz already promised this territory to a different crime syndicate so they are returning to Nal Hutta because there’s no need for war over what they call a worthless rock like Tatooine. As for Black Krrsantan, the Hutts tell Fett that he should sell the beast back to the gladiators and they offer the Wookie to him as tribute as they relinquish their claim to Jabba’s former territory.
They also offer Fett a word of advice that he should consider leaving as well before the new syndicate arrives to take over.
After the Twins leave, Fett orders that Black Krrsantan be released and he offers some advice from one ex-bounty hunter to another — don’t work for scrugholes like the Hutts. Black Krrsantan is understandably confused but he ultimately runs away.
Nevermind the fact that Fett probably should have just hired the Wookie to work for him but that’s besides the point.
As for the Rancor — Fett has the giant beast placed into the dungeon where he speaks to the trainer played by the great Danny Trejo. The trainer explains that Rancors are actually very gentle creatures unless they are threatened and they tend to imprint on the first human who makes contact with them.
So Fett decides to pet the Rancor and bond with it before removing its blinders so the creature can set eyes upon him. The creature immediately responds to Fett and his nuzzling, which makes the former bounty hunter rather happy. He then tells the trainer that he wants to learn how to ride the Rancor — a skill reserved for very few — but that will have to wait for later.
For now, Fett needs to go see the Mayor to find out what kind of backroom deals he’s been making on behalf of Mos Espa while ignoring the rule from the new daimyo.
After arriving at the Mayor’s office, his majordomo tells Fett that the schedule is packed and there’s no way he can been seen at this time. A threat on his life has the majordomo changing his mind as he offers to rearrange the schedule before retiring to the private chambers to speak to the Mayor.
It doesn’t take long for Fett to realize that the majordomo locked the door behind him and he’s making an escape in his speeder because the Mayor wasn’t even in the office.
Fett orders his new biker squad to go after him, which results in a remarkably slow chase through the streets of Mos Espa before the majordomo finally crashes into a food stand. Out of options, the majordomo finally tells Fett that the Mayor offered this territory to the Pyke Syndicate and they are the ones taking over control now that Jabba and Bib Fortuna are both dead.
One of Fett’s riders then spies on a transport ship arriving at the dock and he spots dozens of Pykes unloading from the vessel. It seems the majordomo was telling the truth — Mayor Mok Shaiz has sold out this territory to the Pyke Syndicate and they are arriving in greater numbers to start a war in order to usurp control over Jabba’s former criminal empire.
Fett promises Fennec Shand that they will be ready for the coming fight and it would seem like he’s also seeking vengeance after what he has to assume the Pykes did to his Tusken friends. Once again, the Pykes are definitely a criminal syndicate in the “Star Wars” universe but it still feels like this isn’t the real power player behind these moves on Tattooine.
As previously hinted in past recaps, Crimson Dawn — the crime syndicate once run by former Sith apprentice Darth Maul — might just be the organization who’s actually calling the shots. These “Star Wars” series love a good cameo and it would be really fun to see Qi’ra — the character who first appeared in “Solo: A Star Wars Story” – return with Emilia Clarke resuming her role for at least a brief appearance.
We’ll have to wait and see if that actually happens but for now “The Book of Boba Fett” will return next Wednesday with a brand new episode.
