This article contains spoilers for The Book of Boba Fett episode “The Return of the Mandalorian”.
The Book of Boba Fett has so far received a mixed reception from fans. The story has been relatively slow-paced and loaded with momentum-killing flashbacks, the title hero is kind of a doofus, and there’s been very little variety in locations due to the entire story so far being set on Tatooine. This week’s episode changed all that… by turning into The Mandalorian.
After teasing Din Djarin’s arrival in the closing moments of last week’s episode this week’s adventure – “The Return of the Mandalorian” – is effectively a standalone installment of his own show. After the events of the last season, he’s back hunting bounties, though we soon learn his true objective is to hunt down the Armorer on a Halo-like ringworld.
His encounter with her delivers a lot of exposition and hints as to where the next run of The Mandalorian is heading. It appears we’re going to see Din Djarin learning to master the Darksaber, a dangerous and unwieldy weapon for someone not attuned to the Force. We also got a big hint that Bo-Katan will be back, with her lieutenant Paz Vizsla quickly challenging Din to a duel for the saber.
After that, we learned that Din breaking the rule of never removing his helmet has consequences, with him being declared an apostate, unless he purifies himself in the “living waters beneath the mines of Mandalore”. This could prove tricky, as they seem to have been destroyed long ago by Imperial bombardment.
The rest of the episode saw Din getting a new ride on Tatooine. In a beautiful nod to the prequels, his fresh mode of transport is a Naboo Starfighter, the sleek craft used by the Royal Guard in The Phantom Menace. A large portion of the episode was simply Din and Peli Motto fixing the old girl up and adding some aftermarket tuning, before an exhilarating ride through what appeared to be the old pod racing circuit.
Things wrapped up with Fennec Shand arriving to hire Din, but before he steps in as Boba Fett’s muscle, he has to pay a visit to everyone’s favorite little green Jedi. Sadly, we didn’t get to see that, but it seems that Grogu will return soon.
After all that, I’m betting most viewers won’t have minded one bit that Boba Fett wasn’t in this week’s The Book of Boba Fett. But when it’s this fun to watch, who cares?