We get some much needed character motivation and direction as we officially head towards the back half of the season.
I'm a little dissatisfied with this episode, and I think at this point, with the series overall. Most of my issues can be explained by flaws in two areas: motivation and pacing. Thankfully, we got motivation for Fett and why both he and Shand are on Tatooine trying to build a crime family. Fett is tired of being ordered around by violent fools who get him and others like him killed. Shand... okay, maybe her motivation is still a little unclear. But I liked their conversations by the fire a lot. Like the quote at the top says, he's all about the tribe, the group. He wants to build an actual kind of family, which we've seen glimpses of this whenever he brought new people into his organization. I like this motivation. It makes sense given his character and upbringing and what we know of him. But it was all information that we should have been told two episodes ago.
This brings us to my second problem: pacing. I didn't realize that we had spent so much time with the Sand People. It felt more like five weeks than five years. What was the exact timeline? I'm assuming the train robbery was recent, so was he just inducted into the tribe only for them to be immediately killed? And it does seem like all of them are dead, despite not seeing the awesome female warrior among the dead. No more batca tank trips, so presumably no more flashbacks.
Which is a little confusing considering the fact that we suddenly have a reason to doubt that the speeder gang was behind the massacre. So who did it then? The Pyke Syndicate? If you get your two enemies to take each other out, then there's no one that you need to pay tribute to. I wonder if we'll get the answer or not.
Either way, hopefully the present timeline gets into gear and starts to have some more urgency. The meeting with the major crime lords really should have happened sooner. How do you try to install yourself as Daimyo without reaching out to these people? Especially if your goal is cooperation and not competition.
That being said, the dinner party over the rancor pit was excellent. That pit really is the gift that keeps on giving. For such an iconic location, I'm glad it's getting used so well. The aftermath I liked less. Fett's belief that no one will turn on him because they're smart enough to see that the Pyke Syndicate will take over the whole planet if not stopped struck me as woefully naive and foolish. It's an impression that I got a few times this episode. Surely Boba Fett, renowned bounty hunter, knows that you can use credits to hire muscle. This shouldn't be a surprise. And I can forgive Fett thinking that his armor was still in the Sarlaac, because he was very out of it at the time, but the fact that the audience knew that the Jawas took it made the scene frustrating.
He simply doesn't feel competent. Chasing the rat catcher robot around the kitchen in Jawa's Palace was a farce, especially compared to how cooly confident and efficient Shand was. Honestly, she feels more like the true power in the pairing than he is. She's the one with all of the information and the initiative and the pointed looks and the smirks at people. I don't think that she's secretly working for someone else, but I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't end up betraying him at some point for her own power and benefit.
I wouldn't be surprised if Garsa is more powerful than she lets on, either. She was very calm and collected when Krrsantan was about to dismember the Trandoshan. Her plea didn't quite work, but it did drop some interesting backstory tidbits about her. I like her a lot. She just commands the screen whenever she's on it.
Random Thoughts
The rat catching robot was still around during the dinner party. As much as it annoyed me, it was a nice mix of CGI and practical effects.
The mod shop at the beginning was interesting but also didn't fully feel like it belonged in Star Wars to me. I just kept thinking how it was good that Luke didn't fall into that culture before he left on his magical quest.
There was a specific musical flourish at the end of the episode that seems to suggest that we're getting some Mandalorians next episode. That could be fun.
Loved the casual way Fett obliterated the speeder gang.
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An Honest Fangirl loves video games, horror movies, and superheroes, and occasionally manages to put words together in a coherent and pleasing manner.
Love the review. You have great points about the pacing of the series, Fangirl. I like Garsa too - I can get behind your guess; she seems to be the type to have her fingers in several pies.
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