If it wasn't crystal clear before, we're definitely in the Filoniverse now.
The run for the first six seasons of The Clone Wars aired well over a decade ago. But the seventh season, which was excellent in every sense, aired in 2020, the year after the premiere season of The Mandalorian. We were introduced to Fennec Shand, hen saw a younger version of her in animated form in that seventh season. The bombshell surprises kept coming in Mandalorian Season 2 when we saw the live-action version of Ahsoka Tano for the first time.
This week's Book of Boba Fett episode gave us another bombshell in spectacular dramatic, pure old-western fashion.
The Pykes continue their encroachment on the territories of Tatooine. After a visit from Din Djarin, who attempts to recruit as many foot soldiers to join Boba Fett's cause as he can, the Marshall (reprised by Timothy Olyphant) is approached in the sandy street of his small town (renamed Freetown, because originality) by a figure in the distance. A man in a brown get-up with a wide-brimmed hat keeps his head low as he threatens the Marshall to stay out of the Pykes' way when they invade. The Marshall stands his ground.
Then, Cad Bane lifts his head, and his big, buggy red eyes stare down the Marshall as he issues one final threat before walking back off into the sunset.
Yes, I had another one of those giddy, nerdy moments. It wasn't on the same level as watching Luke Skywalker return, but I definitely got pumped.
Cad Bane is one of the coolest, meanest, bounty hunter dudes in The Clone Wars. He became quite the fan favorite, so much so that Dave Filoni brought back Cad Bane in the final season of The Clone Wars to remind us that he is still around, which, of course, peaked my interest at the time; if someone like Fennec Shand has been around all this time, why not Cad Bane? The costume was fantastic. He had his two connecting pipes to the device that allows him to breathe in space, and the device is also set up to prevent Force users from using Force choke on him. They even brought back Corey Burton to voice the character, and he still had that sly, low-growling sound (reminds me of Jeremy Irons). Cad Bane is the ultimate gunslinger. He's gone toe-to-toe with Obi-Wan Kenobi multiple times, and he's not afraid of anyone. You literally can't overuse the "fastest gun in the west" moniker to describe him.
In the end, though, his appearance was a one-scene cameo, but no doubt they'll bring him back, hopefully even in the finale next week during the Pykes' attack.
Speaking of bringing Clone Wars characters into the live-action realm, Rosario Dawson's Ahsoka Tano made an unexpected return. Din Djarin completed his mission to visit Grogu one last time and give him the Beskar armor suit he forged in last week's episode (seriously, the armor looked like a mini version of the Mithril suit Frodo donned in The Fellowship of the Rings). Din finds Grogu deep in his training with Master Skywalker, and Ahsoka warns him not to distract Grogu, which is understandable.
Where is this happening? Luke has secluded himself on a forest planet. Could it be Endor? Or maybe even Ahch-To, the planet we first in "The Force Awakens"? Wherever it is, Luke has enlisted an army of crawling ant-like droids to build a structure out of stone. Could we be witnessing the first stages of Luke creating his Jedi Academy? What an unexpected tie-in; I was fully prepared to not see any of that until Sebastian Stan's presumed Luke Skywalker show in the future (obviously this episode is serving as a teaser for that). But here we already see Luke training Grogu much in the same way Yoda trained Luke in Empire Strikes Back. At times, watching Grogu try to make it through some Jedi exercises was the cutest thing ever, but I also felt shocked that Luke would be so hard on such a small, young Grogu. Of course, Grogu isn't really that young; in fact, I really wanted to hear Grogu speak for the first time. Though we didn't get that, we did get some insight into Grogu's dreams that may still be haunting him in a flashback to when Clone Troopers were executing Order 66 in front of Grogu. Though we still didn't officially see how Grogu made it out alive, I'm still presuming Ahsoka is the one who saved him. But who knows.
The deepfake of Luke Skywalker looked incredible, but there were still moments that quickly reminded me that CG work is in effect. But for the first for me, I'm convinced that they could have a show with a deepfake Luke leading a Jedi Academy without too much distraction. The movement seemed pretty realistic, especially when he was flipping around (like he did in Episode V). It's not perfect, but by the time that show comes around, I anticipate it looking even better. It was great to hear Mark Hamill's voice, but I wonder if they applied some effects on his voice, too. Possibly not, but he definitely sounded younger than his age. But hey, Hamill has been voice acting for a long time, so I wouldn't put it past him to be able to sound like that even now.
The episode ended with Grogu facing a Sophie's choice of sorts. Luke doesn't want Grogu to lose focus knowing Din Djarin is still around. Luke presents Grogu with a choice: take the beskar armor that Din left, or take the lightsaber that once belonged to Yoda himself (it makes sense that Luke would have it since he was the last one to see Yoda before he died in "Return of the Jedi"). The choice is symbolic, of course, and Grogu already needs to learn to let go of attachments if he wants to dedicate his life to the ways of the Jedi.
In the scene prior to that, back on Tatooine, the Pykes set off a bomb to signal their arrival, so we know stuff is going down next week. The bomb blew up the tavern we've seen a few times this season. I hope that Max Reebo's band made it out alive! We didn't see Max playing in this one, so at the very least, Max may have survived. But the lady who runs the tavern seemingly did not. Boba needs to make a firm stand next week and flex his muscle. Between Boba, Fennec, Mando, the street gang, and any of Marshall's people who decide to help, there should be enough people to put together a decent stand. I expect a high-quality action scene with multiple phases next week. Hopefully we get a shot of who's leading the Pykes' syndicate (please be Qi'Ra!).
If you'll notice, I didn't talk about Boba or the actual events of the current show until just now. Book of Boba has continued to veer off the path of its own story in favor of setting up other storylines and future Star Wars projects. The finale really needs to get back on track to at least service the current show's story. It's hard to be mad when so many cool things are happening all around the Star Wars universe, but this is bordering the annoying Marvel style of bad endings and set-ups of future projects. Star Wars has never needed that, so I hope they don't become dependent on shocking reveals like that to propel excitement forward.
Notes:
-It was great to hear Cad Bane refer to Boba Fett as one of the deadliest men in the galaxy. Boba is known as a cold-blooded killer. This reputation is sort of what fans expected to see from Boba coming into this series. Boba was recruited by the likes of Darth Vader, for crying out loud. I've been dying to see a more lethal version of this character that we have built up in our heads based on the few encounters we actually had with the character in the original trilogy. But Cad Bane mentioning Boba serves as a reminder that Boba is known throughout the galaxy. He's obviously worked with Jabba the Hutt, who runs one of the most dangerous crime rings in the galaxy. I really hope we see this side of Boba in the finale next week.
-Seeing R2-D2 again was very joyful!
-Getting back to the planet Luke was on, I really got Ahco-To vibes, but it would make sense for it not to be Ahch-To. The hut he's building in this episode is reminiscent of the flashback scene in "The Last Jedi" when we see disaster come upon Luke and his academy. The idea was that Luke fled there to hide on Ahch-To, suggesting his academy is not on Ahch-To. But man, the stones and the planet very much looked like it could've been that planet, save for the fact that we didn't see an island. It's entirely possible this is a new planet. It could also be the planet where Grogu did his meditation thing in "Mandalorian" Season 2, but that's a longshot. Most likely we won't know until Luke's actual show.