Warning! The following contains spoilers for The Book of Boba Fett finale. Read at your own risk!
Disney+’s The Book of Boba Fett finale put a neat little bow on the bounty hunter’s chapter as the Daimyo of Mos Espa, and did so in a way many Star Wars stories do. The finale had a good number of classic tropes that the franchise likes to revisit quite often, many of which helped bring the series to a close.
Some of these tropes are obvious, and others are a bit more nuanced, but all of them are rooted in the deep tradition of Star Wars storytelling, which for better or worse, continues to show us a lot of the same moments over and over again.
Badass Character Killed Off With Minimal Screen Time
Boba Fett’s first run in Star Wars movies was incredibly short, and while comics and books painted him as one of the most fearsome bounty hunters in the galaxy, Return of the Jedi made him look like a goofball. The trained bounty hunter was inadvertently launched into the side of Jabba’s ship and into the Sarlacc Pit after Han Solo inadvertently hit his jet pack. Lore maintains he’s awesome, but it wasn’t until The Mandalorian Season 2 and The Book of Boba Fett that audiences saw that on screen.
This tradition carried on over the years with Captain Phasma, Darth Maul, and a bulk of the Jedi council. Now, Cad Bane is added to the list after longtime Clone Wars fans lost their minds seeing him appear in live-action just an episode before. We’ll likely see more adventures with Cad Bane in Star Wars: The Bad Batch on top of previously existing works in animation and comics, but why couldn’t he just live to fight another day? Because it’s Star Wars, and some badass characters apparently have to look less powerful when they appear in live-action.
Force Sensitive User Appears Massively Improved Despite Minimal Training
If there’s one thing Star Wars loves, it’s granting Jedi excessive control over their abilities with minimal training. There’s Luke Skywalker, who used the Force to destroy the Death Star after a saber training session with Obi-Wan Kenobi, and all but mastered it after a few months on Dagobah with Yoda. Remember Rey? She was pretty damn good with the Force from the jump, but limited training from Luke Skywalker really leveled her up.
Grogu is the latest Force-sensitive character to massively upgrade his powers after a limited amount of training, which is pretty common in Star Wars. It wasn’t that long ago that Grogu couldn’t use his powers without sapping a massive amount of energy and fainting. Hell, he didn’t even seem to have a firm grasp on the Force when training with Luke, but then he shows up and soothes a Rancor? That’s arguably a pretty high-level skill, so I guess Grogu just picked that up during a time we weren’t watching him. Granted, we don’t know how long Grogu was with Luke, as the length of time jumps is another thing that Star Wars sometimes excludes in these situations.
Character Who Is Dead Is Not Actually Dead
Boba Fett is, once again, the poster boy for this trope, though there was a question on whether or not the bounty hunter actually survived the Sarlacc back when Disney retconned what’s now known as the Legends material. Boba Fett is back now, and he’s not the only notable Star Wars character to cheat an almost assured death in Star Wars. Darth Maul is another notable example (who survived being chopped in half via the power of pure hatred), and who can forget the bizarre resurrection of Emperor Palpatine that was hard to understand even with details?
Cobb Vanth is the latest to join this group, as the Marshall of Freetown was thought dead basically up to the post-credits scene. Hell, even in the finale, the Freetown bartender referred to him as “gunned down,” which to me seemed to confirm it was curtains for Timothy Olyphant’s wonderful character. Thankfully, Star Wars has a way of bringing back beloved characters, and we see Cobb chilling in the Bacta tank right as the mod parlor artist (played by musician Thundercat) is about to go to work on him.
The Wilhelm Scream Is Heard In The Midst Of Battle
A New Hope wasn’t the first movie to utilize the Wilhelm scream in battle scenes, but Star Wars contributed (despite the attempt The Last Jedi made to kill it) to it becoming a somewhat ridiculous yet immediately recognizable part of pop culture. I mean, no one in real life has actually screamed like that since the initial recording, right? And yet, it’s used frequently in and out of the galaxy far, far away.
The Wilhelm scream is so ingrained in Star Wars that viewers might’ve missed it in The Book of Boba Fett's finale. Those who need a refresher need to revisit Boba Fett riding the Rancor (which was amazing) and pay attention to the beast when he grabs hold of a Pyke and launches him over the city. There it is, that classic scream, and one that I’d be utterly embarrassed to let loose mere moments before my death.
Pit Droids Causing Trouble No Matter The Situation
Pit droids are some of the most animated droids in the Star Wars saga. Whether you saw them in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Star Tours, video games, or The Mandalorian, the pit droids are known to act foolishly as comedic relief. Typically, we see them away from the thick of intense action, so that behavior just seemed normal, right up until The Book of Boba Fett finale.
Peli Motto brought her pit droids to the heat of the action in The Book of Boba Fett finale, and believe it or not, I got pumped. I was ready to see these guys contribute to the battle, maybe build something wild, and be a meaningful cog in the wheel in the fight against the bad guys. Unfortunately for me, they just proceeded to be goofy and skitter around as they usually do. No subversion of expectations here! Pit droids are just goofy and cowardly, and apparently, that applies to all situations.
An Annoying Character Deliberately Being Used As A Distraction
Star Wars has its fair share of heroes and villains, and then there are the people just along for the ride. Heroes tend to pick up others along the way, and occasionally, one of them is really annoying. While these annoying characters can inadvertently cause trouble for heroes, they often pay it back by being the perfect distraction. Think about Jar Jar Binks (who, despite previous rumors, won’t be returning soon) during the Battle of Naboo or C-3PO (who might return soon) in a lot of situations. Their main value is that they can be so annoying, it can create a distraction.
In The Book of Boba Fett, that person was the Mayor’s former assistant. Boba Fett used him in negotiations with the Pyke representative, only to reveal there weren’t any actual negotiations to be had. His foolish antics afforded just enough time for Boba Fett and The Mandalorian to mount an attack and get the drop on the enemy just when their backs were against the wall. It wasn’t the nicest thing to do to the Twi’lek, but hey, he wasn’t ever really a nice guy.
The Book of Boba Fett is over, though don’t drop that Disney+ subscription just yet. There’s plenty more Star Wars on the way in 2022, and it won’t be long until we’re all watching Obi-Wan Kenobi!
