This week’s The Book of Boba Fett, which is Season 1, Episode 5, could very well be mistaken for another popular streaming series, but that’s the joy of living in a time where multiple Star Wars projects are being created in tandem to offer a crossover narrative unlike anything that has ever been done in Mr. Lucas’ galaxy.
Head on down below to check out the full episode breakdown including Easter eggs, Star Wars references, cameos, and key moments to analyze for future plot points.
Eggs, References, Cameos
Hey now fans of The Book of Boba, aka, The Mandalorian Season 2.5 confirmed thanks to S1E5, aka, Return of the Mandalorian.
There is a ton to discuss so let’s get right to the eggs, references, cameos and key moments.
Starting with eggs and references, how about the instant debut of Mando, completed with his spear, his bring you in hot or cold catchphrase, and the dark saber. How’s that for some Mando series references in a Boba Fett show!
Did anyone else get instant Halo ring world vibes from whatever station Din was on? There were even some Citdel from Mass Effect vibes to this location, which some are calling Glavis.
The alien Mando did the job for is an ishi tib, which have been featured in both live-action and animated star wars.
As Din is looking for his kind, you can see hidden symbols, and the last one is a mythosaur, a treasured icon of the mandalorian people.
It would not be hard for fans to mistake this for The Mandalorian Season 3 thanks to the return of the armorer and paz vizsla, who haven’t been seen since Mando S1. They also give us a Tarre Visla drop, who is the first Mando Jedi and the creator of the Darksaber.
Of course if we’re around Din’s former covert we’re going to hear their catchphrase, this is the way, which was definitely dropped many times to remind us that Din is indeed in a religious cult and even though he broke norms while protecting grogu, he still very much believes in the way.
We also got a Moff Gideon drop and updates on his situation, plus the Armorer gives us more Mando lore by discussing the legend of the mythosaur rising up to herald a new age of Mandalore. I’m pretty sure this is some heavy foreshadowing for Din’s future adventures, but more on that later.
This scene also gave us a Bo Katan drop, plus more of her history and how she didn’t win the sword by creed and that her great House las sight of the way. The Armorer also gives us a Moon of Concordia drop, and a Great Purge mention, so this exchange was loaded with references to The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and of course The Mandalorian.
A ridiculous amount of TIE Bombers were also featured in the episode while also showing fans what the Night of Tears was by giving us our first look at live action Mandalore.
How about seeing K2’s and Imperial probe droids doing their best T-800 impressions from The Terminator’s robot apocalypse scenes?
Of course if Din is around we should expect some Grogu, and we didn’t see him again yet, but we got his name drop and learned Mando wants to make him some gear.
I do believe this is the first time in live action that we got to see a Mando’s wrist shield fired up, and a vibro blade actually vibrating in live action.
I hate to even mention it again, but we did get another nod to Star Tours’ RX-24 at the docking bay as Mando unloads his arsenal, which also gave us the good old weapons are apart of my religion line from Season 1 of Mando.
If you look closely, this dude is steady wearing a Range trooper’s trench coat, the dude’s from the train heist in solo.
I’ve highlighted other familiar Star Wars aliens, so why not give this little Rodian some love. Maclunky!
Upon our return to Peli’s hanger we see that she now has a BD droid, which is the same model as BD-1 from Jedi Fallen Order. We also get to see part of a Womp rat, the ones Luke used to target in his T-16, and of course Peli herself and her band of iconic Star Wars droids in tread well, the pit droids, and R5.
How about that broken down N-1 Starfighter straight out of The Phantom Menace?
While trying to sell the N-1 to Din, Peli mentions that it will be faster than a fathier, which are those horse like creatures seen in TLJ on Canto Bight.
I’m pretty sure this pole the Jawas jacked is the same style as the one Leia, han, and Luke used to try and brace the walls of the trash compactor in A New Hope.
Alright, so Din’s test drive of the N-1 was full of eggs and references. The sounds oozing out of it were reminiscent of TPM and its space battle and its pod racers.
Speaking of pod racing, Din more or less runs part of the Boonta Eve Pod Race track on his test flight. This included beggar’s canyon, and passing by the ramp Anakin was forced to use in the Boonta even race. Hell, we even see Din doing a bunch of spins in it like Anakin did when he hijacked one during the Battle of Naboo.
The New Republic pilots also make this list, and not just because one was Captain Teva from the Mandlorian. The new pilot, Lt. Reed, is actually played by Max Lloyd Jones, who is the dude that doubled for Mark Hamill in The Mandalorian.
And to round this impressive list of eggs, references, and cameos out, how about Din dropping the Wizard line to express his joy in flying his new N-1 Starfighter. Kitster would be proud.
Key Moments and Plot Speculations
And now for the key moments.
I have a feeling that this week’s fan bitching will center on how this episode was essentially Mando Season 2.5, but I personally loved the detour to get caught up with the man that proved Star Wars could thrive as a live action tv series. The world building was amazing, and appreciated, so be happy friends.
I did like learning immediately that he did go back to hunting, which is something I kind of questioned recently on the SWTS, so him eventually being hired by Fennec made sense as he was still down for doing jobs for hire. Luckily he got a bit of saber training though, because dude damn near took his leg off while going for his first shown bounty since finding grogu.
The meat of this episode and great insights into Mandalorian lore all came thanks to Din finding his flock again, at least 2 of the 3 mandos that survived Nevarro in The Armorer and Paz Visla.
I really appreciated getting that Darksaber lore and how Mandalore was ultimately cursed to fall to the Empire and laid to waste while its people were scattered to the four winds thanks to Bo Katan not obtaining it by creed in combat. She also explains more Darksaber lore by telling Din that one warrior will defeat 20 and the multitude will fall before it, which to me is some pretty clear foreshadowing for Din’s ultimate path in The Mandalorian moving forward. Does his defeat of Paz count as 1 of 20, only time will tell.
It’s a bummer that Din had to give up his spear, but I really appreciated the Armorer’s reason why. It made complete sense as to why Mandos would never use Beskar in their weapons and only in armor because a beskar weapon can be used to easily kill Mandos, even in their armor. Again, quality lore drops a plenty in this episode, Fett related or not.
It didn’t stop either, as we finally got more insights into The Great Purge, complete with a look at the Night of Tears, and a story on how the Armorer and other Mandos survived it by being on the Moon of Concordia, and believing in the way. You could really see how much She and those who followed her bought into the more severe take on the Mando creed, and why they blame the likes of Bo Katan for the fall of their homeworld due to them straying from said way. This is definitely going to setup some interesting future interactions with the believers and non-believers, and may even lead to a bit of a civil war in future seasons of The Mandalorian if the narrative shifts to reclaiming the planet.
Din’s longing for Grogu is key as it is clearly weighing on him heavily, but I found his line about Jedi and Mando creeds being completely opposite to be important, and could play a role in both Din and Grogu’s future. There’s a good chance he may try to impart that lesson to the Jedi when he runs into his little friend again, and make them realize that attachment, loyalty, and solidarity may not be such a bad thing after all.
The whole training scene also packed in some interesting insights into the Darksaber, and Din’s mental state. We also got to hear some native Mando being spoken, so that was cool. But like I said it was interesting to learn that the Darksaber can feel heavy if its wielder isn’t mentally present and connected, which Din was not thanks to his thoughts on Grogu, so dude really is missing the little guy to the point that its affecting his ability to fight with the saber.
Paz did give Din a bit of a look when he first revealed the saber, but I didn’t think it would lead to a duel this fast. It shouldn’t be surprising considering Paz is a Visla, and that clan has been known to be full of dicks, but I didn’t see him wanting to take out Din so quickly to reclaim it for its original creators, the Visla’s. Too bad he had to fight a pimp, and lost fairly handily. Din is clearly a bit special.
Sadly, Din’s honesty about taking off his helmet gets him exiled just as he found his way and the way back to his covert, but don’t sleep on the armorer’s line about the only path to redemption being in the living waters beneath the mines of Mandalore. I believe this is setup for Din’s adventures moving forward in Mando S3, and his inevitable return to Mandalore to reclaim his honor and more than likely bigger things than that for Mandalorians in general. I do think this is the official start of his quest, whether he knows it or not, to return Mandalore to its people, and possibly become their leader of destiny.
You know what, Peli Motto is a freaking awesome Star Wars character and I love that we got extended time with her in this episode. Her lines on dating Jawas were priceless, those furry little creeps, and the way she interacts with mando offer up one of Star Wars’ all-time great character pairings. Plus, she at least gave us some Book of Boba plot exposition in reinforcing the Pyke threat to tatooine, and how they have basically taken over the planet with their spice trade, so see, there was some Book of Boba plot in this Mando 2.5 episode after all!
Thinking about Mando in a N-1 did seem a bit odd before seeing the tricked out one he receives, but I think the match works perfectly for Din. Plus all the casual mentions of how the ship is going to be super fast and essentially off the books because its from the Galactic Republic era only further sell it as a great starfighter for a hunter, and one who may be getting mixed up in some galactic wide conflicts as he looks to visit his Jedi friend and to reclaim his honor by visiting the Mines of Mandalore.
Hey, at least Fennec showed up to confirm we were indeed watching the Book of Boba fett, but the key exchange here is learning that Din is willing to help Boba free of charge, so they’re definitely homeboys confirmed, but also for the fact that he says he has to go see Grogu before he can help, which could make the final two episode of Book very interesting. Will we see the reunion already next week? Will it wait for Mando S3, therefore delaying Mando’s assistance to Boba in S1 of his own show? Who knows how that will be handled, but now that Boba has Din on his side, his chances of success only go up.
Like I said earlier some fans will bitch about this episode being 99% Mando and 1% Book of Boba, but I fully appreciated the detour and all of the lore drops and world building it offered for the Mando-verse. Besides, Book is a spin-off and was always meant to supplement the Mando-verse, so I don’t feel offended in the least about Boba getting zero screen time. The episode did its job in expanding upon themes introduced in both mando and Book, and the setup it offers for future episodes of both is beyond exciting. All of these shows are supposed to ultimately crossover at one point, so why not get started now to really sell that they’re all interconnected and a part of a much grander Star Wars story to be told.
This is the way Lord Fett, but I do hope to return to your tale in full next week.
Make sure to tune into the next episode of the Star Wars Time Show in which myself and my co-host Nick will fully breakdown The Passenger and give our thoughts on it as a whole.
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