Chapter IV of The Book of Boba Fett is the origin story of Fett’s relationship with Fennec Shand. The audience can witness him rescuing her from the injury she sustained in The Mandalorian and then making sure she is augmented to save her life. After Fennec’s surgery is completed, the two work to get back his ship from Jabba’s Palace, as well as track down the bikers who massacred the Tuscan Raiders tribe who saved Fett. It allows for a nice espionage mission to really get the audience invested in the relationship between the two bounty hunters.
There is an especially amazing moment where Fennec jumps into action at the last second to save Boba Fett from multiple soldiers. Once obtaining his ship, Fett not only gets revenge on the bikers, but he also goes after the Sarlacc Pit. While he is unable to locate his armor, there is another exciting sequence where Fett puts down the desert beast for good. Boba Fett then calls for a treaty between himself and the other ruling bosses of Mos Espa to make sure that they will not go against him when the Pyke Syndicate comes calling.
This was a fascinating episode highlighting the bond between Fennec and Fett. Surprisingly, the bond they share is not a blood bond but more of a deep understanding of what the other person has experienced. Ming-Na Wen finally gets the chance to show just how deep her acting range runs, and she does a spectacular job at reintroducing us to this cold, deeply reserved bounty hunter. I love that essentially all her best dialogue is one-liners. It creates this Abbott and Costello dynamic between the two opposing forces that make for great drama.
I’m going to be very interested in seeing where their relationship develops. Furthermore, I am surprised that she never elected to turn against him, but his offer of mercy and mutual respect has led to loyalty, which no other job has offered.
Even though this episode was dedicated to Fennec Shand, Krrsantan’s moment inside the bar where he has to make a decision was absolutely priceless. Whatever his issue, I was amused to see him go after the other gamblers because he was bored (and drunk). The fact that the gambler literally had his arm ripped off despite Jennifer Beal’s bar owner character attempting to be persuasive was hilarious. I hope this encourages the writers to create more standoff moments with all of the characters.
The story for this series continues to go up a level each episode, and I’m surprised that the quality is either equal or surpassing the previous episode each and every time. I love all the new characters that I’m getting the opportunity to interact with. My only question is, how does Fennec grow from her experience of working with Boba Fett? What changes about her, and how does she deal with life? I guess I’ll have to wait till next week to find out but it was a solid adventure until then.
The Book of Boba Fett is now streaming on Disney+
