The Book of Boba Fett Episode 3, Review

CONTAINS SPOILERS

Boba Fett has always been a loner.  

Well, since his father died, at least.  Before then, he was surrounded by thousands (or millions) of copies of himself, all growing and ageing faster than him (and we see this briefly in this episode's flashback scenes).  But since the Clone Wars, he's become largely self-sufficient and independent (up until the point where he recovered from the Sarlacc pit and became dependent on the Tuskens).  Boba with his armour, weapons and gadgets was a solo (Solo?) bounty hunter who could look after himself.

This episodes flashback scenes look at Boba after he had become a fully-accepted member of the Tusken tribe.  He met with the Pykes (who run the train we saw last time) to collect the protection money - only to discover the Nikto riders had already claimed the protection money for the Tuskens' region.  The Nikto riders are the same gang of thugs we saw in the Mandalorian series recently, who go around terrorising the resident tribes on Tattoine, and who mark their territory with a graffitied pair of horns on a suitable wall or tent... and they have been to 'visit' the Tuskens while Boba was meeting with the Pykes - they've slaughtered the Tuskens and destroyed the camp.

Boba the independent bounty hunter has changed, and in the present, Boba is clearly in need of support - something like a small army of gangsters, mobsters or mercenaries.  Every sequence filmed in Jabba's palace emphasises how alone he is - he has Fennec Shand, his trusted lieutenant, and he has his droids, but that's it.  No friends, no band playing music...  he doesn't even have a Rancor in the cellar.

He has a steady stream of visitors, and the latest is Lortha Peel, a water-monger from the Worker's District of Mos Espa.   He tells him to his face, "No-one respects you," and explains that he's had water stolen by a gang of youths with 'modified body parts.'  No, these aren't the Borg, sorry.  Boba goes out to investigate - in the middle of the night, as you would - and finds the group warming themselves by a fire.  He tells them to pay Lortha for the water they stole - at a reasonable price, and not the over-inflated price he was selling it for.  They explain they have no work because there is no work, and Boba gives them all jobs working for him.  A small gang of youths who ride brightly coloured speeder bikes and have mods in their bodies.  People are calling them various things, but it seems obvious to me that they're meant to resemble 1960s mods.

Mods

Also Mods.

And the brightly coloured Vespas they're riding?  I'm sorry, but the only answer here is toys.  These bikes have been designed to sell as toys to go with the action figures.  There's been widespread criticism of these primary-coloured vehicles on a dusty, poor, sandy, harsh planet, and I agree that it's totally out of place on Tattoine.  There are plenty of other planets where these would fit in (Coruscant would be a start), but not here.  And all I could think of was this unfortunate bunch of short-lived Daleks, who were nicknamed, among other things, the Crayola Crew.

Dr Who meets the Power Ranger Daleks.

Not long after they were introduced, the producers of Doctor Who were back-pedalling rapidly to bring the Daleks back to the more measured tones and sleeker bodies they were famous for.

I digress:  Boba hires his band of mercenaries and they return to his palace, speeder bikes and all - which works out well for him, as he's attacked while he's sleeping.  Remember last time, when the Hutt Twins warned him to sleep lightly?  Well, he's quietly having flashbacks of Kamino (the watery planet where he lived with his father and the clones) when the Wookie gladiator Black Krrsantan comes barging in with a very rude awakening.

The Mods (I can't find an official name for them) come running to Boba's defence - he's caught defenceless with no armour or weapons - and show an array of puny weapons that are really not making much impact on the giant Wookie.  The blaster they used was so weak that they could have just shouted, "Pew! Pew!" instead.  In the end, Fennec triggers the trapdoor and the Wookie is unceremoniously dumped into the Rancor pit (with no Rancor).

The Twins come to Boba's palace (is it Jabba's?  Whichever) to bring Boba tribute.  Boba offers them the wayward Wookie, on the understanding that they release their claim to Jabba's estate.  They're leaving the planet anyway; and the Wookie is turned loose.  And the tribute they bring to Boba?  His very own Rancor!  See, he's starting to make the place look like home.

Boba has had enough of the mayor's political maneouvres and goes into town - full armour, and escorted by the mods.  The mayor's assistant (who is rapidly becoming one of my favourite characters) stalls Boba and Fennec at the front desk, disappears into the back office and locks the door behind him, before making a run for it.  There's a cliche-ridden overly-long chase between the assistant and the mods (they narrowly dodge a protocol droid; they topple an astromech; they smash through a large canvas portrait of Jabba) before the assistant smashes broadside into a cart of fruit.  There's nothing new here and it seems overly long.  Boba jetpacks in and asks the assistant where the mayor is:  he's gone to meet with the Pykes.

The Pykes were the people on the 'train' last time, taking sniper shots at the Tuskens - wearing their golden masks.  Boba dispatches the mods, and one of them (they probably have individual names but I've missed them) sees a dozen or more disembarking at the space port.  This is clearly the start of an invasion and a power grab.

How will it end?  As Boba says in a comical scene, "Keep an eye on them."

A solid episode; more happening than last time, but the Mods are like Star Wars Marmite - you either love them or you hate them.