‘The Book of Boba Fett’: Cameos Everywhere — Plus, [SPOILER] Dies?! (RECAP)

[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Disney+ series The Book of Boba Fett Season 1 Episode 6, “From the Desert Comes a Stranger.”]

The Book of Boba Fett kicked things into high gear in this episode… just not so much for Boba (Temuera Morrison), who, unfortunately, still doesn’t have much to do. At least he appears in this one, though!

Overall, “From The Desert Comes a Stranger” is an exciting, thrilling and poignant installment of a show that’d been oft criticized for being too slow. As it’s directed by Dave Filoni, fans likely knew to expect — or at least to hope for — appearances from Clone Wars characters. But even the most devout among them might be surprised by the quantity of fan favorites that appear here, from adorable little Grogu to Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson). And that’s not to mention the bounty hunter who makes his live-action debut…

Laying Down The Law

At the start of the episode, lawman Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant) stops the Pykes from running spice through his town of Mos Pelgo by killing all but one of them and seizing the chest of the stuff they were transporting. Nice move, Cobb! (Except maybe not nice move, Cobb, because this comes back to bite him later…)

Meanwhile, Mando (Pedro Pascal) heads to Luke’s Jedi Academy only to find R2-D2 and plenty of droids constructing stone buildings, but not the “little friend” he hoped to see. After hours of waiting, Ahsoka finds him. She explains that Grogu will be the Academy’s first student, but that’s not good enough for Din — he asks to see him and says he wants to make sure he’s safe. “There’s no place in the galaxy more safe than here, with Luke,” Ahsoka says. (Or not, considering what eventually happens with Ben Solo [Adam Driver]… uh-oh.)

Nonetheless, Ahsoka leads Din to the edge of the forest, where he can see Grogu and Luke training. She makes one last attempt to dissuade Din from seeing Grogu, asking whether he’s doing this for the child’s sake, or for his own. At first Din insists he has to give Grogu the Beskar because he’s a foundling, but Ahsoka says he might be “a Padawan” now. As such, Din gives her the gift for Grogu and tells her to make sure he’s safe, then he leaves on his new ship… and, heartbreakingly, Grogu senses Din in the ship flying overhead and reaches out to it.

Begun, Grogu’s Training Has

We’re also treated to a montage of Luke-training-Grogu scenes, which are both adorable and illuminating on the subject of Grogu’s past. Luke helps Grogu remember his “home,” which isn’t his home planet so much as the Jedi Temple on the night of Order 66. He also teaches him to sense the Force, although as Luke notes to Ahsoka, he’s not so much “teaching him as he’s remembering.” Ahsoka gives Luke Mando’s gift, and Luke says that sometimes, he wonders if Grogu’s heart is in his training. “So much like your father,” Ahsoka smiles, and then she leaves — presumably for her own spinoff series. She’s gotta track down Grand Admiral Thrawn!

Din goes to the palace, where Fennec (Ming-Na Wen) explains that they have the muscle for an attack, but they need foot soldiers. Din volunteers to help with that, so he goes to see Cobb Vanth. (Yay!) He asks him to lead a garrison to go against the Pykes, but Cobb initially refuses, saying he and Mando are square. After some back and forth, he gets Cobb on his side. “Things are tough around here,” the marshal says, “but I’ll see what I can do.” Din leaves, and Cobb tells his people to gather everyone of fighting age.

The Stranger in the Desert

But then, the real kicker of the episode wanders in from the sands of Tatooine. A mysterious stranger tells Cobb that whatever Mando is paying him, he’ll pay double… and that Cobb should be careful where he’s sticking his nose. “I’m sorry,” Cobb says, “I didn’t catch your name.” This blue-skinned, red-eyed alien needs no introduction: He’s Cad Bane!

Things go sideways and a standoff ensues, and in the blink of an eye, Cad shoots and kills both Cobb’s friend and maybe Cobb himself (noooooo!). “Tatooine belongs to the Syndicate,” Cad tells the remaining, terrified townsfolk before he leaves. “As long as the spice keeps running, everyone will be left alone.” As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Pykes enter Garsa Fwip’s (Jennifer Beals) Sanctuary, leave a package, and then hurry away. Seem suspicious? It is — the whole place explodes after their departure. Presumably, Garsa doesn’t survive, although we don’t see the aftermath.

We also don’t see the aftermath of a key scene for Grogu, which ends the episode. In it, Luke offers the adorable youngster a choice between the Mandalorian armor that was forged for him and Yoda’s lightsaber. Luke makes it clear that he must choose either the way of the Jedi or the way of the Mandalore, and Grogu looks intently at both items… and then he looks at Luke, and that’s it. Which did Grogu choose? Does he choose? It seems we’ll have to wait until The Mandalorian Season 3 to find out.

Other Observations

• Holy moly, I wasn’t expecting Cad Bane but I’m SO excited he’s here. He looks incredible, and they really nailed his voice (which makes sense, given that he’s voiced by Corey Burton) and overall presence, too, which Clone Wars fans know is important. I do wish he’d been introduced earlier, though — having just one and a half episodes with him is going to be kind of a bummer, unless we get a Book of Boba Fett Season 2 with him in a larger role.
• On the subject of Cad Bane, where’s his sarcastic, world-weary droid, Todo-360? We can’t have Cad without Todo!
• One last note about Cad Bane — there was a cut storyline from The Clone Wars that showed a duel between Boba and the red-eyed Duros caused that dent in Boba’s helmet. Since Boba’s armor has that dent, it’ll be interesting to see if the show references that somehow.
• With Cobb Vanth dead or badly wounded (probably the latter), it seems unlikely Boba’s getting foot soldiers from Mos Pelgo/”Freetown.” I’m betting the Tusken Raiders show up to help him out.
• The Luke and Grogu stuff was splendid, and this may be sacrilege to suggest, but part of me wishes it’d been trimmed down to allow for more narrative focus on Boba and Fennec on the eve of war with the Pykes. Luke and Grogu’s story makes more sense, at least to me, in The Mandalorian. I was expecting a Grogu cameo this episode, not an entire storyline with him.
• I’m a little concerned about how The Book of Boba Fett is going to wrap everything up with one (likely hour-long) episode to go. As it stands, Boba has to realize the Sanctuary’s been decimated, gather his forces/realize Mos Pelgo probably isn’t coming, fight Cad Bane (why introduce him if they don’t at least meet?), and ultimately win or lose against the Pykes. The show has to resolve the lingering question of who sent the assassins, resolve the question about who really killed the Tuskens, and do something to tie up those Kamino flashbacks — otherwise, why where there so many of them? That’s a lot to cram into one hour.
• Rating: 4.5/5. While it again took us away from Boba’s story for long stretches, “From The Desert Comes a Stranger” tugged at our heartstrings and made us cheer upon seeing another beloved Clone Wars character in live-action. Here’s hoping the show can stick the landing.

The Book of Boba Fett, Wednesdays, Disney+