The Book of Boba Fett, Chapter 6, From the Desert Comes a Stranger review: The Star Wars show is dipping into the well of the past. (Photo: Disney+) It’s probably not a good thing that The Book of Boba Fett is at its best when the titular character is nowhere to be seen or heard. After the excellent Chapter 5—Return of the Mandalorian—the latest episode of the wildly messy Star Wars show does the unthinkable and benches its main character again!
In fairness, he isn’t completely absent this time; in Chapter 6—From the Desert Comes a Stranger—the bounty hunter-turned crime lord makes a silent cameo for around 10 seconds, which is a wackier move than to ignore him altogether.
I was only half-joking when I said after watching Chapter 3—The Streets of Mos Espa—that the show is in desperate need of a Luke-level intervention. Little did I know that creator and head writer Jon Favreau was headed in that very direction. There is no way to discuss Chapter 6 without getting into plot details, so consider this your spoiler warning.
Seemingly aware of the non-story that he’d saddled Boba Fett to, Favreau in a plot pivot that might reek of desperation to some viewers, appears to have fully surrendered to the power of the past. Reintroducing fan-favourite characters isn’t an alien strategy for storytellers in the Star Wars universe, but things are getting a little out of hand now. Dipping into the well of nostalgia always has its consequences.
Throwing Din Djarin into the mix made sense — he belongs in the same lawless world as Boba Fett, and it was only a matter of time before their paths crossed again. But when the sandbox is so large, how does one restrain themselves? Favreau, co-writing with the great Dave Filoni (who also directs), opens Chapter 6 with a familiar face—Timothy Olyphant’s Cobb Vanth. And in the next 10 minutes, hits you with surprises of such incremental intensity that it feels like he’s almost assaulting you into submission. Or, at the very least, into believing that The Book of Boba Fett is actually a good show.
It isn’t, and no amount of pandering will change that. Firstly, it’s hardly even about Boba Fett anymore, and I’m sure this is something that fans will continue poking fun at for years to come.
Nor is Chapter 6 about Din Djarin, who ran away with all the appreciation last time around. The protagonist of From the Desert Comes a Stranger, without any exaggeration, is Luke Skywalker. We’d probably expected him to show up at some point, especially after Din Djarin made it clear in the last episode that he’s going to pay Grogu a visit before meeting with Boba Fett. But the amount of screen time that Luke has here is truly surprising.
Happily, he isn’t shrouded in darkness like the last time we saw him—in that phenomenal season two finale of The Mandalorian—and spends most of the episode in broad daylight. This is a bold move by Filoni, because it also makes him vulnerable to criticism about the de-aging tech that they’re using on Mark Hamill. But again, if you don’t know that Hamill is actually in his 70s, you won’t be able to tell that his face is a CG creation. This is what Arthur C Clarke was talking about when he said that ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’. It boggles the mind to think about what they’ll do with this tech in the next five years. But for now, it’s all about turning back time, quite literally.
And Filoni lays it on thick, with the Force theme playing in the background as Luke trains Grogu in the ways of the Jedi, just like Yoda trained him all those years ago on Dagobah.
The Stranger of the title, by the way, is neither Luke nor Grogu nor Cobb Vanth nor Ahsoka Tano (who also drops by), but another character altogether. I imagine he’ll make his presence felt more strongly in the season finale next week.
It is also worth pointing out that The Book of Boba Fett has now completely abandoned the grittiness that Robert Rodriguez brought to it in the first few episodes. Having been fully taken over by a trifecta of Mandalorian directors—Bryce Dallas Howard, Filoni, and with Favreau expected to direct the finale—this is exactly what the show should have always been. It’s a pity, then, that it uses nostalgia as a crutch and shows borderline disrespect towards its title character.
The Book of Boba Fett, Chapter 6, From the Desert Comes a Stranger
Director – Dave Filoni
Cast – Pedro Pascal, Ming-Na Wen, Mark Hamill, Rosario Dawson
Rating – 4/5
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