This one is all about 'The Mandalorian' and right off the bat — There is the Dark Saber, there is a present for Baby Yoda/Grogu and yes, the lil Jedi wam bam is going to be part of Season 3. 'The Book of Boba Fett' presents the second lengthiest episode in the form of 'Return of the Mandalorian' and every minute is worth the watch. In an episode that will stir up quite the frenzy among 'The Mandalorian' fans, it is safe to say that this chapter actually serves as the backdoor pilot of 'The Mandalorian' Season 3 due to release in late 2022.
After his epic battle with Moff Gideon, Mando is doing what he does best — being the skilled bounty hunter that he is. However, he is struggling to use the Dark Saber that he won in combat. Mando has absolutely no control over the blade that had a 1000-year-old forged Beskar hilt. To make matters worse, when the Mandalorian reveals that he has actually removed his helmet to the Armorer, she disavows him as a Mandalorian. A disgruntled Mando later heads to Tatooine to meet with Peli Motto who offers him a replacement for a Razor Crest.
It ends with Boba's partner Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) tracking Mando down and recruiting him with a big bag of credits. However, Mando clearly feels like he, Fennec and Boba are buds since they teamed up in season 2 of The Mandalorian.
"Tell him it's on the house," Mando replies, throwing the credits back to Fennec. "But first, I gotta pay a visit to a little friend."
The bag with Mando's present for Grogu is folded to look like the little guy's adorable wee head, squee. Since Mando requested that the Beskar staff be forged into armor, maybe it's a teeny tiny Baby Yoda-shaped Mandalorian helmet (even though the bag is the wrong shape for that)?
It'd be amazing if we saw Grogu in next week's episode, but we likely won't meet him again until season 3 of The Mandalorian. I'd be OK with being wrong about this, though.
Early in the episode, we learn that Mando is using the Darksaber – a Mandalorian symbol of leadership he won from Imperial Moff Gideon – as a handy decapitation tool while bounty hunting on a space station. This work leads him to the survivors of his Tribe, the Armorer and Paz Vizsla.
They're as intense as ever, and the Armorer recounts the Darksaber's origin (which we've previously heard in the CGI animated series Rebels). It was constructed by Tarre Vizsla, the first Mandalorian to join the Jedi Order, over a thousand years ago. After his death, it became a symbol of conflict and ultimately leadership among the clans of Mandalore – but it must be won through battle.
"If, however, it is not won in combat and falls into the hands of the undeserving, it will be a curse unto the nation," the Armorer says. "Mandalore will be laid to waste and its people scattered to the four winds."
In Rebels, Sabine Wren simply handed the Darksaber to Bo-Katan Kryze in the final season of Rebels, allowing Bo-Katan to unite the clans of Mandalore against the Empire. Apparently this broke the rules.
A mildly Terminator 2 flashback reveals exactly what went down during the Empire's subsequent Purge of Mandalore – a massive fleet of TIE bombers absolutely wrecked the planet's surface and blew up its domed capital, Sundari (which we last saw in the epic final arc of The Clone Wars).
Conveniently, the Children of the Watch – the orthodox Mandalorian group Mando is a part of – were "cloistered" on the moon of Concordia, so they avoided the attack. That moon is where we first met the Death Watch, a splinter group that opposed Mandalore's pacifist government and joined constant troublemaker Darth Maul during the Clone Wars, adding fuel to the idea that Children of the Watch are an offshoot of the Death Watch.
So yeah, this episode gave us a hefty dose of Mandalorian lore (Mando-lore?), and it is truly delicious. Unfortunately, Mando also admits to having removed his helmet and gets kicked out of the club.
Even though he's alone again, Mando doesn't seem particularly bothered about the rejection. He travels to Tatooine to meet mechanic Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris), whom he and Grogu befriended in season 1.
She reveals the replacement ship she found to be a sweet Naboo N-1 Starfighter, as seen in The Phantom Menace. After they fix it up through the power of montage, Mando brings it on an epic test flight.
It's time to party like it's 1999, because part of his journey mirrors a chunk of Episode I's pod race. He travels into Beggar's Canyon (but doesn't bull's-eye the womp rat) before leaving Tatooine's atmosphere.
He also has a close encounter with New Republic Capt. Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee), who tracked the Razor Crest after saving Mando and Grogu from death by icy arachnids. It's all pretty wizard.
The episode does justice by dedicating its entire screentime to just Mando with Fennec Shand appearing in the final minutes of the episode to work with Boba Fett in taking down the Mayor and the Pyke syndicate. The chapter is all Jon Favreau as he brings back the familiar theme and the explosive action that was seen in 'The Mandalorian'.