The Book of Boba Fett – Chapter Seven In The Name of Honor Review
**SPOILER WARNING**
The finale to the latest journey to a galaxy far, far away has arrived and it was… decent. There are some great moments and shots in this episode but much like the overall season it’s a little all over the place. Directed by Robert Rodriguez the final episode sees Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison), Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), and Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) facing the Pyke Syndicate. For as excited as I was that Rodriguez was directing several episodes of this series his episodes have been the weakest of the bunch. Compared to Bryce Dallas Howard and Dave Filoni, Rodriguez’s episodes feel like a different show.
“Let’s do this right here, right now.”
Cad Bane – The Book of Boba fett – chapter seven
The episode opens with Boba, Fennec, and Din surveying the damage from the explosion at The Sanctuary and planning their strategy, deciding to post up in there and wait for reinforcements from Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant) and the people of Freetown. Unbeknownst to them Vanth was shot by Cad Bane (voiced by Corey Burton) in the last episode. We then shift over to Bane who is meeting with the Pyke Syndicate leader and Mayor Mok Shaiz about the people of Freetown. The Pyke leader informs Bane that they were responsible for killing Boba’s Tusken Raider family and framed the Nikto biker gang. Ouch… Boba definitely blasted them to bits a few episodes back. The group work out a way to draw Boba Fett out of hiding in the city.
Answering the Mandalorian or Jedi decision presented by Luke Skywalker in the previous episode, Grogu arrives at Peli Motto’s (Amy Sedaris) place on Tatooine via X-Wing Uber pilot R2-D2 wearing the beskar armor crafted for him at Din’s request. Peli, of course, takes her little buddy in. I found this kind of funny that Luke couldn’t be bothered returning Grogu himself. In the closing of season two he gives a speech on giving his life to protect The Child and then just sent him back with an astromech droid. I would imagine the budget and time for two episodes of Luke is pretty considerable.
Back with Boba and company planning their strategy in town when they’re informed a visitor has arrived. Cad Bane stands in the streets waiting for Boba Fett. The two seasoned veterans exchange words and threats with Bane informing Boba that the Pykes were responsible for the Tusken deaths. They almost have a duel before Fennec talks Boba down telling him he would have his moment to fight Bane. Now, I’m a little bias since I enjoy the character so much but I felt Cad Bane’s few minutes of screen time were more interesting than Boba’s entire run. While I loved Bane’s introduction in the last episode, his portrayal here was fantastic with the occasional smirk accompanying his lines. I really feel Bane should’ve been setup as Boba’s primary nemesis on the show. His presence felt far more intimidating than the Pykes ever manage to pull off. But where’s his toothpick?? Also random side note Boba’s gun looked really small for some reason. It almost seemed silly he was holding it with two hands as if it was a rifle.
I’m not sure why they didn’t take an episode or a flashback to flesh out Boba Fett and Cad Bane’s history before their showdown. Or even Bane’s history with Fennec which is completely glazed over. It would’ve added a lot more weight for the casual viewer unfamiliar with the history shared between the characters. Sure there are a few lines said but I would’ve much rather spent screen time watching that than listening to the Majordomo. The dent in Boba’s helmet and the metal plate on Bane’s head imply the unused Clone Wars shootout between the two is still relevant even though we’ve never officially seen it on screen. I’m also holding onto hope that Cad Bane isn’t done in live action but more on that later.
There is a moment when all of the conflict comes to a head with all the tribes of Tatooine turning on Boba Fett and attacking his crew. Our loyal Gamorrean guards lose their lives and Black Krrsantan gets ambushed pretty heavily. (A little nitpick on Krrsantan’s injuries, he goes from limping looking like his ankle is completely broken and unable to walk to jogging away seconds later.) These events kick off the culminating action sequence. Boba Fett and Din Djarin have a great moment where they take on the Pykes together while flying using their jet packs. Also, knee rockets FTW! The two do a lot of damage but are eventually overwhelmed.
The people of Freetown arrive to help and while played as a big “the Calvary is here” moment it fell flat without Cobb Vanth’s inclusion. The crew are overwhelmed by the attack of two large robots with shielding technology akin to droidekas from the prequels. Boba and Din both attempt to penetrate the shields but are unsuccessful. Boba flies off to find another way and eventually returns riding on the back of his rancor, gifted to him by the Hutts, to take on the robots. This was a really cool shot and I’m sure original trilogy Star Wars fans had a great nerd moment. The bulk of the final conflict is spent fighting these two big robots and while it was fun for a few minutes the sequence went on for a bit too long with about 15 minutes and reminded me of an emotionless kaiju versus mech style fight. Boba was pretty concerned about the robots damaging the city but returns with the rancor that does more damage than the robots were doing. High five Boba!
In the middle of all of this chaos Peli Motto arrives with Grogu to deliver him to The Mandalorian. This is a sweet moment between Din and Grogu as the two are reunited. Now, don’t get me wrong seeing Boba Fett ride a rancor was pretty awesome but it’s a lot of screen time dedicated to defeating nameless pointless villains. Followed by more screen time trying to tame the rancor which ultimately succumbs to Grogu’s use of the Force (and cuteness.) Also showing one of the big flaws of the series with no direct threatening villain it must result to the big showdown being the entire cast against two big gunned robots and then having to stop the thing that stopped the robots.
There are brief moments of Rodriguez’s El Mariachi/Desperado style but overall I think he was in the Spy Kids mind set for this episode. Also something about the way Rodriguez shoots outdoor daylight scenes in Star Wars feels like Power Rangers. Nothing at all to do with the Mod characters (although I hate them and was hoping they would be the “Red Shirts” of the battle) I’m talking a technical thing that I can’t quite place my finger on. Not sure if its a frame rate issue or something done to the lighting in post. It’s there in his episode of Mandalorian season two on the rocks and in all of his episodes of this series as well. I don’t know it’s a minor gripe of mine.
Boba Fett and Cad Bane eventually come face to face in a western style showdown. Cad proves that even in his old age he is still the fastest draw there is but unfortunately for him Boba wears armor. The two square off against each other with Boba, of course, seemingly killing Cad Bane. I’m hoping this is just a fake out as it would seem like a waste and a disservice to fans to bring in a loved character give him 5 minutes of screen time and kill him off. The shot of Bane laying on the ground shows the red light on his chest still blinking and an audible sound that I’m hoping was a hint that he may still survive. His scenes were some of the best of series and I would love to see more of him. Todo (Bane’s trusty droid assistant from Clone Wars) come fix up your boy!
Back with the mayor and the Pyke leader Fennec arrives and kills them both. I’m not sure why Fennec is enacting Boba’s revenge instead of him but I couldn’t have cared less whether these characters lived or died as they weren’t given enough screen time to establish personalities to care about. Remove Mayor Mok Shaiz and the Majordomo from the plot and the show doesn’t change at all. The characters served no purpose and I was honestly hoping someone would kill the Majordomo as I find him insufferable. I always thought the Pyke Syndicate looked cool on Clone Wars cause their helmets were dramatically different than anything we had seen in Star Wars. I did not find them interesting or at all threatening in this series. I was really hoping they had some bigger ties to Crimson Dawn, Qi’ra, or Maul to add a little more weight to their operation. We leave Boba, Fennec and crew in a shot that felt like it could’ve been a freeze frame shot the end of a kids tv show where all the characters are laughing.
Following Din and Grogu, now seated in the spare seat behind Mando, off planet with music from The Mandalorian kicking in. The scene coupled with the music felt like all of this was just a Boba Fett interlude and we are now resuming with our regularly scheduled programming and thank the maker for that. Grogu, as any child does, begins annoy his dad to go faster before the two speed off into space. Credits. The post credits scene shows Cobb Vanth rejuvenating in Boba’s bacta tank. The closing music during the credits featured lyrics using Boba Fett’s name in rhythm with the tribal sounds that I hadn’t noticed before.
Boba Fett riding a rancor was awesome. Cad Bane’s scenes were awesome. Grogu using the Force and protecting his dad made me smile. The series itself had some great moments but with the exception to the Mando episodes it was underwhelming overall and if I were to revisit the series those are the only chapters I will watch. The Boba Fett we saw in the Mandalorian season two and the post credits of that season finale was not the character we got during this series. I understand the point is to show Boba’s evolution from killer to leader but it just wasn’t that interesting. They made a show about a character and no one cares about him. When the supporting characters are more interesting than your title character something is off. I actually feel like the series did a disservice to Boba who was much cooler being masked, quiet, and stoic than an aging man demanding respect. The episode itself was fun but was a little underwhelming as a finale. I loved both seasons of The Mandalorian and I look forward to what Deborah Chow has in store for us with Kenobi.
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