Grogu faces a choice, the Mandalorian makes some friends, and Boba Fett…is there in “From the Desert Comes A Stranger”, chapter six of The Book of Boba Fett, written by Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau and directed by Dave Filoni.
Austin Gorton: Welcome back Adam, to the penultimate episode of what is turning out to be a pretty fun Star Wars show and a pretty crappy Boba Fett show! How are you feeling about this one?
Adam Reck: Lots to get into with this one! But before we dive straight into the Uncanny Valley, I want to be transparent and say I really enjoyed this episode. It was emotionally and technologically manipulative, and completely ignored its title character for the second episode in a row and . . . I don’t care. I’m just along for the ride and I’m enjoying it.
Deepfake Luke
Adam: There’s no use avoiding it. Let’s get right into it. This episode saw the return of Luke Skywalker. And not just for a quick cameo, we get a full on training sequence with him and Grogu that lasted half the episode. Now, to have Mark Hamill, age 70, appear here as his younger self, actor Graham Hamilton takes on the body, and technology takes on the face. Looks a lot better than last season, but still a little rough around the edges. What was your reaction to this sustained appearance?
Austin: I agree, the CG effects are better – though at times, it almost looked like they’d just gotten a different actor to play Luke (which, more on that below). What threw me off here was the voice, specifically, the way the dialogue sounded stilted, like it was coming from somewhere else (not the onscreen Luke). Which, of course, it was, but the effects people are usually much better at disguising that fact. But I consistently felt a disconnect between what I was seeing on screen and what was being said, like there was a lag between the two (I checked – because I am technically streaming this – and there wasn’t).
Adam: I do think it’s worth noting that I fundamentally object to the digital techniques being used here. While Mark Hamill is obviously onboard now as voice actor, I worry a great deal about how this technology is going to be used moving forward as actors age and characters don’t. It spells bad news when recasting is no longer considered an option, and utilizing this kind of effect becomes standard. From a storytelling perspective, I also hate it because it means returning to the old instead of investing in the new. HOWEVER – That all said, I return to my initial statement: For all I hate about it, it does work. I was emotionally manipulated and enjoyed these scenes.
Austin: I am similarly conflicted. I don’t like what it means for actors in terms of their negotiating powers, especially deceased actors (like Peter Cushing in Rogue One). I also object to it less when it’s used sparingly (as in, again, Rogue One, or the end of Mandalorian Season 2) versus here, where the CG-manipulated Luke was one of the stars of the episode. In terms of using the Original Trilogy “big three”, I also share your concerns about rehashing the past versus doing something new, but I also acknowledge these shows are set in an era in which those characters are still around, theoretically doing things, and ignoring them could be just as detrimental. I like those characters, after all, and I do thrill at seeing them pop up again like this.
But I’m at a point where I think everyone would be better served if they just recast Luke, Han and Leia if they’re going to use them more often. Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford are all, rightly, national treasures, but they’re not irreplaceable, especially if the narrative is operating in a time in which they didn’t already appear as the characters. The CGI stuff can work as a wink or a nod, but it struggles when asked to present a vibrant character fully engaged with the story.
Adam: I agree wholeheartedly. A good way to avoid using the live action actors is to use droids and puppets as ongoing continuity links. And wouldn’t you know it? This episode has both R2-D2 and . . . merchandise drumroll please . . . Baby Yoda himself – Grogu!
Austin: I know I’m supposed to be jazzed by the return of Grogu (and I do love that little scamp), but it warmed my Artoo-loving heart to see R2-D2 again (and for him to basically ghost Mando while he was standing right there). The whole setting of Luke’s future temple (which is, presumably, the same location as the training flashbacks we saw throughout the Sequel Trilogy) had an ethereal, eerie setting to it I really enjoyed: Mando just having to sit and quietly wait, the churn of the robo-ants methodically building the physical structures, Luke and Grogu training as the wind quietly whispers through the bamboos. What it lacked in visual uniqueness it made up for in a sense of place. In fellow BoBF reviewer Mark Turestsky’s words, “it’s ever-so-slightly off, like it’s telling you this is not your place, you shouldn’t be here.”
The various sequences involving Grogu culminate in Luke giving Grogu a choice: take the Frodo-esque chainmail armor given to him by the Mandalorian and be reunited with his friend, or take up Yoda’s lightsaber and commit himself to his Jedi training. Were you as frustrated as I was by Luke parroting the Prequel Era Jedi’s anti-attachment BS, and do you think we’re heading towards a Grogu-filled Mandalorian Season 3 or a Grogu-filled Jedi Academy series?
Adam: I almost got the sense that this was a reaction to the negative feedback from The Last Jedi. Star Wars “fans” who could not wrap their minds around the idea that Luke had changed into a grumpy hermit sure got what they wanted here! But it seems disingenuous after Luke and Darth worked together as father and son to defeat the Emperor and then Luke trains Leia in the ways of the Jedi. He’s like, “Hey little dude – screw Family,” when he’s also embracing his? Maybe Vin Diesel needs to stop by to drop some knowledge.
As much as the marketing department would like Grogu to pick up that lightsaber, the more interesting narrative choice would be for Grogu to choose “the way” and go back to Mando where he can get into trouble. Plus, if Grogu bails, Luke needs a new student, goes and gets Ben Solo who is born around this time period and there you go: Grogu is responsible for Kylo Ren, folks.
I Shot the Sheriff! (and I Also Shot the Deputy)
Adam: Justified’s Cobb Vanth is back and doing his best to keep the peace in the newly dubbed Freetown. First he kills a few Pyke syndicate goons, then meets with Mando about joining the fight, before facing down the best cameo of the episode – Cad Freakin’ Bane. I don’t know about you, but when his silhouette showed up in a wide shot I shouted – pretty loud – in my living room and scared the crap out of my cat.
Austin: Look, I don’t even particularly like Cad Bane. He’s a fine character, basically a new Boba Fett for the Clone Wars era, but I was never as enamored with him as many fans were. Yet when he showed up here, it was electric. Part of that is just me appreciating the chutzpah of Favreau, Filoni and company continuing to bring characters from other media into the live action world (Bane, Krrsantan, Ahsoka, Bo Katan, etc.), but part of it was how Bane’s intro was rendered: the ominous wind that raises Vanth’s hackles, the figure slowly materializing out of the desert heat, the bowed head, the commitment on the part of Filoni to what felt like minutes of motionless silence to let the tension mount. It was an electrifying sequence, regardless of the characters involved, just for the way it was staged, an almost pure distillation of Star Wars down to its Western roots. That it also introduced this fan-favorite character from the cartoons was just icing on the cake.
Adam: I think Cad was one of the purest creations from Clone Wars. To see him pop up in a live action show is wild. The straight up ode to The Good The Bad and The Ugly with the moron Deputy was a real joy. The only thing I don’t quite believe in the scene is that Cobb took a shot to the shoulder. Cad would more likely have killed them both, but that’s me being nitpicky. Now we know Cobb and the rebels of Freetown are showing up to take down the Pykes.
Austin: Never has obvious foreshadowing been more enjoyable than seeing that moron deputy get blasted like we all knew he would. If Timothy Olyphant tells you to do something, do it! I agree though, Vanth likely survived so he can use Bane’s attack as a “wake the sleeping dragon” moment to rally the town to Boba Fett’s aid. It’s a shame we don’t really know or care about anyone else in Freetown, because Vanth dying here would add a bit of stakes to the upcoming conflict, but I also recognize the necessity of having Vanth on hand to give that group of characters an avatar.
Whose Show is This?
Adam: One thing that really cracks me up is that there’s a section of the fanbase who has been incredibly pissed off about the way Boba Fett has been depicted in this show (which is in and of itself pretty silly given how little Boba appeared in the original trilogy), but now you have another section of viewers – maybe the same, maybe different – freaking out over where he is! Where’s my Boba Fett? This is a Boba Fett show!
Austin: I am, admittedly, somewhat in that camp, but less out of adoration for Fett and more out of the importance of structural integrity to a narrative. Call this show “The Wilds of Tatooine” or something, where it starts with Boba before pivoting to…whatever it’s doing now, and I have no objections. But call a show “The Book of Boba Fett”, and I expect Boba Fett to be a central figure in the narrative. But he really hasn’t been, for at least two full episodes now (he appeared briefly in this one, but Fennec did all the talking). And, there’s only one episode left! If we had a few more to re-center Boba in his own narrative, I’d be less concerned. But at this point, we’re still not even sure why Boba Fett is fighting so hard to protect this territory, and that feels like a narrative failing, regardless of who the protagonist is.
Adam: I remember the interviews where the cast was saying they didn’t know which show they were filming, and that makes more sense now. People are lamenting the connected MCU of it all, but did anyone really not expect these shows to have any connective tissue?
Austin: To be clear, I don’t mind the connective tissue – in fact, I welcome/appreciate it. I was less bothered and more wryly amused that Boba Fett was absent from the last episode. I get the idea of reintroducing Mando to the series, letting the audience see what he’s been up to, check in with the “parent” show, so to speak, before he throws in with Boba. But handing over so much of this episode to the arc of a character from another series, to the point where the penultimate episode of a Boba Fett show hinges on what the second lead of another show is going to do, even while this iteration of Boba Fett still feels under-developed seems…problematic. I’m just concerned that at this point, Boba Fett has been lost in his own show. To use your MCU analogy, it’s less “Sharon Carter showed up in Falcon and the Winter Soldier” and more like if Loki disappeared for two episodes right before his show’s finale so we could see what Scarlet Witch and Vision were up to since their series ended.
Adam: Now I’m imagining other characters hijacking Marvel shows and honestly that sounds like a blast. Here though, given the limited episode count? As entertaining as it might be, it is strange to have the star’s show be in one scene.
Austin: And, to be clear (again), I am still mostly enjoying this! It’s got a bunch of stuff and characters in it I absolutely dig. I’m just enjoying it more as a larger “Adventures in the Star Wars Galaxy” show than a series about Boba Fett which – all other feelings about that particular character aside – is what we were explicitly promised it would be.
Tl;dr: all else aside, I just don’t think the second-to-last episode of any series’ season is the best time and place to do a backdoor pilot for another show.
Adam: I will say this: They have set up one hell of a finale. We have yet to see Boba Fett ride the Rancor, we now have the citizens of Freetown backing up Boba, Fennec, Krrsantan, Mando, the Mods, and the Gamorrean guards teaming up to overthrow the Pykes who have now declared war by blowing up Garsa Fwip’s Sanctuary. I am ready for helmeted fishy heads to roll!
Force Facts
- Luke’s body double is actor and voice artist Graham Hamilton, not Max Lloyd-Jones who we saw last week as an X-Wing Cop. Weirdly, he is credited as “Performance Artist – Jedi.”
- We last saw Cad Bane on screen in The Bad Batch episode 9, as he fought Fennec Shand hoping to kidnap Omega. That episode took place in 19 BBY, 28 years before his appearance here.
- The memory of Grogu which Luke involved was him watching the Clone Troopers attacking the Jedi Temple in Episode III (you know, the one led by Anakin, where he killed a bunch of kids), though the various Jedi we saw fall from Grogu’s perspective didn’t jump out to me as specifically being any of the Jedi we know to have died in the temple. The question remains who was holding Grogu?
- Luke presumably took Yoda’s lightsaber from him after Yoda’s death in Return of the Jedi. Luke never saw Yoda wield a lightsaber, so his expression when he found it must have been priceless (do we think Luke started rummaging through Yoda’s things right after he died – maybe even before he talked to Obi-Wan’s ghost, or did he go back after his dad killed the Emperor and the Death Star blew up?).
- I’m a sucker for hearing music cues from the film worked into the score, and it was great hearing a snippet of Yoda’s theme as Luke told Grogu about him, as well as the classic Force theme later in the episode.
- Ahsoka turns up on the Luke/Grogu planet as well, making this kinda a backdoor pilot as well for that rumored Thrawn series where Ahsoka goes off after Ezra from Rebels. In light of the Anakin/Ahsoka bond from Clone Wars, I love learning that she’s gotten to know Anakin’s kid (and, presumably, more of the details about his fall and redemption). She is also, presumably, the source of Luke’s knowledge about Prequel Era happenings, as expressed in The Last Jedi (and also his source for the Jedi’s anti-attachment bias, though Ahsoka wasn’t as dogmatic about that at the end of Clone Wars either).
- The Jawas have mounted the krayt dragon skull that Mando and Vanth slayed onto their Sandcrawler. The Krayt’s ribs are also now supporting the walls in the Freetown bar.
Austin Gorton also reviews older issues of X-Men at the Real Gentlemen of Leisure website, co-hosts the A Very Special episode podcast, and likes Star Wars. He lives outside Minneapolis, where sometimes, it is not cold. Follow him on Twitter @AustinGorton
Adam Reck is the cartoonist behind Bish & Jubez as well as the co-host of Battle Of The Atom.
