Boba Fett gathers machines and muscle for “The Gathering Storm”

We’re about halfway through the first season of The Book of Boba Fett, and the latest episode features a couple of flashback rescues and some heavy teases for what’s to come. “The Gathering Storm” is all about the bloody, sandy war the ex-bounty hunter (Temuera Morrison) will soon face as he tries to cement his rule on Tatooine.

*There are SPOILERS ahead for The Book of Boba Fett Episode 4, “The Gathering Storm”*

Is The Mandalorian crossing over with The Book of Boba Fett?

The connections and parallels between The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett are obvious: from Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) and Mandalorian armor to both series literally being set on the same planet around the same time, there’s a lot of crossover. The newest episode of The Book of Boba Fett finally details how and when Boba and Fennec met and why they have such a sturdy partnership. The end of the episode also teases a cameo from the Mandalorian himself, Din Djarin.

In The Mandalorian season 1, Fennec was shot by bounty hunter Toro Calican and left for dead. In The Book of Boba Fett, we see that Boba saw the bright flash charge Din and Toro used to blind Fennec and went to investigate. He finds a dying Fennec and takes her to a mod-parlor run by an ultra-cool cyberpunk guy (Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner), who fixes her gut wound by filling it with droid parts.

I know the show took some heat last week when it introduced a street gang who rode around on brightly colored speeder bikes. This episode introduces more cyberpunk elements, which creates an intriguing juxtaposition between two vibes: midcentury futuristic and space western.

In the final moments of the episode, Boba and Fennec talk about what to do next to prepare for their war with the spice-running Pyke Syndicate. The two just had a dinner meeting with the ruling families in the area, and Boba convinced them to remain neutral and not betray him.

But to fight the Pykes, who have been around for decades, he needs more muscle. Even his gang of Swiss army knife bikers and the newly-hired Black Krrsantan aren’t enough to take out a long-running crime syndicate.

At least Boba has plenty of credits. “Credits can buy you muscle, if you know where to look,” Fennec says as we hear the main theme from The Mandalorian by Ludwig Göransson, who created a similar one for The Book of Boba Fett.

So, it’s all but confirmed that Mando is coming to The Book of Boba Fett.

Starships and Sarlaccs

From The Mandalorian, we know two key things about Boba: he has his armor and his ship back. We saw how he got his iconic armor back, and how he spruced it up. But where was his starship this whole time? How did he get it back?

The Book of Boba Fett‘s fourth episode came with answers: it was parked in Jabba’s hangar the whole time.

But Boba is just one man, and Bib Fortuna still employed too many guards at the palace for Boba to take out on his own. After rescuing and recuperating Fennec, the duo break into the palace and mess up the kitchen and the hangar in order to break out Boba’s Firespray (formerly known as Slave I).

Later, the pair go back to the Sarlacc pit to look for Boba’s armor. His memories of being in the belly of the beast are a bit hazy, probably from the lack of oxygen. We know his armor was stolen by Jawas and eventually commandeered by Cobb Vanth of Mos Pelgo, but Boba doesn’t know that yet.

The scene of the Firespray hovering over the deep, dark Sarlacc pit before the creature surges out and wraps its tentacles around the ship has elements of horror similar to what we saw when Boba woke up inside the beast.

Thinking quickly, Fennec drops one of those beautiful-sounding seismic charges into the beast’s maw, killing it. Boba then crawls down into the dead Sarlacc and returns with nothing but a gross and painful coating of stomach acid.

Even without his armor, Boba takes a moment to get some revenge on the Nikto bikers who supposedly murdered his tribe of Tuskens. Fennec may believe the Niktos aren’t capable of taking down the whole tribe and that the Tuskens have made Boba soft, but he doesn’t seem soft as he guns down the whole gang with the Firespray’s cannons.

War on the horizon

Now that we’ve seen how Boba escaped the Sarlacc, how he and Fennec bonded and how he got his new outlook on life, it’s likely there will be no more flashbacks. That point is also driven home when Fennec tells Boba he’s completely healed and won’t need more Bacta baths, which is when the flashbacks have been occurring.

It’s likely the rest of the season will drive the story forward and show Boba’s war with the Pykes. He’s got Fennec and Krrsantan on his side, and probably Din Djarin very soon. And there could be even more cameos coming.

Comic fans know that Boba previously brought together all the major players in the original trilogy era in the War of the Bounty Hunters crossover series.

What will happen in the finale of The Book of Boba Fett?

Din Djarin: Din has given over Grogu to the care of Luke Skywalker and is now the rightful owner of the Darksaber, which Bo-Batan Kryze really wants. Could Din help Boba in this Pyke war and in return recruit the Mos Espa daimyo to help him figure out his next move with the Darksaber, Bo-Katan and the fate of the planet Mandalore?

Black Krrsantan: Santy is not used to being defeated, and in Episode 4 he takes out his anger on a group of Trandoshans, an alien species notorious for enslaving Wookiees and killing them for their pelts. But before Krrsantan worked for the Hutts, he worked with Doctor Aphra, who we would LOVE to see make a live-action debut in any series.

The Pykes and Crimson Dawn: There’s an uneasy alliance between the two crime syndicates, and both were antagonists in Solo: A Star Wars Story. But theories have been swirling ever since the Pykes’ arrival in The Book of Boba Fett that the real villain of the series will be the Crimson Dawn, which at this point is likely still run by Qi’ra (played by Emilia Clarke in Solo). The space mafia formerly run by Darth Maul has made a comeback thanks to recent Star Wars comics, so it’s only a matter of time before one of the live-action series brings them in. And while the Pykes are a large group, it’s highly unlikely they are enough of a threat to scare off the Hutts.

Overall, “The Gathering Storm” is a strong contender for one of the best episodes of The Book of Boba Fett. It’s got a little heart and some humor with plenty of strong action from both Wen and Morrison. It brings together key narrative threads and teases others to come.

It’s been fascinating to see Boba’s evolution after Return of the Jedi, and his transformation into a (still lethal) loyal leader is a welcome one. The fourth episode has all the trappings of a successful live-action Star Wars show: high stakes, daring rescues and plenty of small details to leave fans theorizing until the next episode.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels