Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Book of Boba Fett, “The Gathering Storm”, Review!

Re:cap - the last chapter of The Book of Boba Fett, Boba’s gang, Fennec later calls them the Mods, has scout, Skad with the cyborg eye.  He reports to Boba Fett via hologram call.   He has seen about a dozen Pykes leave a starliner in the hangar bay.  Fennec says the Pykes are going to war.  In the bacta tank, Boba flashes back with green tint to riding his bantha, and he sees the cave entrance of Jabba’s Palace.  He uses his rifle’s sight to watch the Nikto guards as the entrance is sealed up, a garage?  Boba returns to his bantha whom he calls “old girl”, to feed her, banthas are herbivores so they are reported to eat purple tubers.  This shifts to the triple moons of Tatooine, Chenini, Ghomrassen, and Guermessa, identified in Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know (2015), nice shot.  The director of photography is Dean Cundey who also worked on the second episode.  

At the campfire, Boba is eating some meat, a scurrier, his bantha licks her tongue, and he tosses her a piece, nice touch.  Some bright flash chargers in the distance light up the night sky, a battle?, disturbs his meal.  Boba approaches with his bantha to the battle and takes out his rifle to see a fallen form, Fennec!  This from The Mandalorian, “The Gunslinger” (2019) where the rookie bounty hunter, Calican shot her in the stomach.  He picks her up. The earlier battle was between Fennec and The Mandalorian.  A nice origin of what happened to Fennec Shand.  The bantha takes Boba and the unconscious Fennec to a settlement of cyborgs, a mod-parlor?, very cyberpunk.  He takes her inside the cyborg workshop. 



Boba wants a cyborg “modification” to save Fennec’s life and hands the cyborg tech, Modifier (Stephen "Thundercat" Bruner) with yellow dreads a bag of coins.  The actor of course has one of the best nicknames.  As Boba watches, the tech begins cutting into Fennec’s stomach, giving her a cyborg tummy complete with fluids to keep her alive. Fennec revives on a desert floor with a fire going.  Boba is there with josbantha and hands her a black melon to drink as the Tatooine suns are about to rise.  Photography wise, with the Volume, these are beautiful shots showing a different vista of Tatooine.  Fennec wants to know what happened and sees her new tummy.  Boba knows of her reputation as master assassin.  She does not recognize him, without armor?, so he says his name.  


He says he was dead on the sands like her, but rescued by the Sand People.  Boba tells Fennec that he wants her help to get his gunship from Jabba’s palace.  She tells him Bib Fortuna took over, but Boba thinks he will refuse his request without his armor.  Fennec says her debt to him would be paid.  Day, Boba and Fennec ride the bantha, friendship!  At night, they reach the garage, Fennec uses the scope on her MK sniper rifle to find the Slave-I.  She takes a small, ball-like probe that swerves through the closing gate,   and moves through the palace to detect the number of guards.  Boba sets free the bantha to the Dune Sea. At the camp fire, he tells Fennec that next he find his armor and take Jabba’s throne.  Her probe returns and Fennec has it holographically display all of the occupants of the palace.  Fennec wants to enter the palace in stealth mode, they move as Gamorrean guards, the bodyguards?, pass and enter a sewer grate.  



A sous chef droid looks like EV-9D9, who questioned C-3PO in Return of the Jedi, and a chef droid cuts up veggies with its multiple arms, a similar droid was in Attack of the Clones (2002).  The sous chef droid is sent to check out the sound of grate that was moved.  Boba strikes him with his gaffi stick.  The chef droid turns on him with his knives which reminds me of General Grievous with his arms.  Fennec severs his head.  A tiny LEP droid with rabbit-like antennae walks in.  Boba chases after it, the droid is spry, so it is a kindof funny scene.  Fennec corners it, Boba lifts it up, and the droid deactivates itself!  They move to the garage and see Slave-I which is a little rusty!  Two Gamorrean guards rush in, I’m assuming they are Gabby and Gammy, but are taken down by Boba and Fennec.  An alarm is sounded and Nikto guards run in with blasters.  


Fennec blasts them one by one as Boba heads to his ship.  There’s a four-legged power droid which Fennec blows up to toss away some Niktos.  Boba has the Firespray-31 lift off, Fennec rolls away, and then he uses the thrust to knock away the guards.  A Gamorrean attacks Fennec on the ramp and then a Nikto.  Boba can’t get the ship out of the hangar and Fennec has him close the ramp.  She is able to shoot the counter weight for the gate and it opens!   Boba says he will drop off Fennec, but she says she will go along with him.  The Kintan Strider Nikto speeder bike gang is riding in the sand dunes.  The Slave-I appears and Boba mows down the bikers with his ship cannons and a concussion missle for the last speeder. Then, he moves to the Sarlaac Pit to find his armor, apparently he doesn’t remember the Jawas stripping it away.  


He turns the cockpit vertical to scan the gullet of the Sarlaac.  Boba sends a light to find his armor, but only finds the Little Shop of Horrors mouth that lashes out at the ship. Boba tries to fire his cannons, but the Sarlaac has already held the Slave-I with its tentacles!  Fennec is trying to reach for a button, she unlatches herself from the restraints and has to lay on the cockpit window with Sarlaac below!  She climbs up to activate the button and sends out a sonic charge!  It slips into the pit and swallowed by the secondary mouth.  The detonation sends a shock wave around the pit.  Fennec Shand, Sarlaac Slayer!  Later, Boba climbs into the pit to find his armor, of course it is not there, and Fennec pours a canteen of water over his robes dripping with Sarlaac acid.  She says he needs a bacta tank. 


At the night campfire, Boba outlines his plans for a house to rule justly and without waste of life.  He wants Fennec to join him, but she says she’s an “independent contractor.”  Boba is back in the bacta tank and when he emerges the droid tells him that he is fully healed.  Black Krrsantan is back and we also get an appearance by Garsa Fwip, basically good characters, no Mayor’s majordomo or Milton from Office Space.  The episode ends with a meeting between all of the families, very gangster movie.  This episode is directed by Kevin Tancharoen, who directed episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., he is able to tell a cohesive story that moves the narrative along rather than bogging it down.  Robert Rodriguez and also Seph Green, who directed a 2018 episode of Luke Cage, are liabilities to this series; introducing weak characters and elements that are non-Star Wars.  The Book of Boba Fett has finally found its pacing and tone with Tancharoen with the fourth episode, it has Boba Fett taking action and events are not drawn out, fun nods to Star Wars, and everything a bounty hunter could want in a Star Wars series!   


Four Thrones of Boba Fett out of Five!  


#TheBookOfBobaFett, #TheGatheringStorm, #KevinTancharoen, #StephenThundercatBruner


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