Warning: SPOILERS for The Book of Boba Fett episode “The Gathering Storm” are ahead!
Well, folks, we’re now past the halfway point with The Book of Boba Fett, and the Star Wars franchise’s latest Disney+ series looks like it’s wrapped up the flashback portion of its run. Thanks to bacta tank sessions, Boba has been dreaming about his life following the events of Return of the Jedi and prior to his emergence in The Mandalorian Season 2. “The Gathering Storm” filled in the remaining pieces of that puzzle, namely by showing how Boba established his partnership with Fennec Shand.
But The Book of Boba Fett’s latest episode wasn’t entirely set in the past. The final chunk of the episode also laid the groundwork for what’s to come in the present-day storyline, with Boba and Fennec now ready to go war with the Pyke Syndicate. While not confirmed just yet, “The Gathering Storm” has seemingly teased that a crossover with The Mandalorian is forthcoming. But before delving into that, let’s go over how Boba and Fennec came into each other’s lives.
We Learned How Boba Fett Saved Fennec Shand
Fans of The Mandalorian will recall how at the end of Season 1’s “The Gunslinger,” a mysterious individual was seen approaching Fennec Shand, who at the time was believed to have died after being shot by Toro Calican out in the Dune Sea. Not so as we would later learn in “The Tragedy” when Boba and Fennec were first seen together, but now we know the specifics of how she was saved from moving on to the great beyond.
After making sure that Tusken tribe that welcomed him was properly laid to rest after they were slaughtered by the Nikto tribe, “The Gathering Storm” saw Boba Fett embarking on a new mission: retrieving his Firespray gunship (formerly known as Slave I) from Jabba the Hutt’s palace. Boba soon realizes he can’t accomplish this alone since the palace is too heavily guarded, but that night, he witnesses the flares Din Djarin fired during the events of “The Gunslinger” and eventually comes across Fennec’s unconscious form. Realizing he needed to act quickly so she didn’t die, Boba took Fennec to a mod-parlor on the outskirts of Mos Eisley to be outfitted with cybernetic implants to heal her gut wound.
Upon awakening and learning how she was still alive, Fennec Shand offered to pay Boba Fett for saving her life, but he didn’t want credits in return. Instead, Boba, who was well aware Fennec’s reputation as an assassin, said that her debt would be paid if she helped him steal back his ship. But before we get into that, it’s worth noting that when Boba informed Fennec about how the Tusken tribe was wiped out by the Nikto bikers, she scoffed at the idea that those criminals could defeat Sand People. So perhaps there’s more to that massacre than meets the eye.
The Origin Of Boba Fett And Fennec Shand’s Partnership Is Revealed
After getting the lay of the land using a tiny probe droid to show just how many guards they’d have to deal with in Jabba’s palace, Boba and Fennec broke into the stronghold and managed to break the Firespray out of the hangar. Although a little “rusty,” overall the ship was in good shape, which means after gunning down the bikers that killed the Tusken tribe, Boba was ready to move on to his next objective: retrieving his armor. Since Boba lost consciousness immediately after breaking free from the Sarlacc Pit, he had no idea that Jawas stripped him of his armor while he was out, and thus assumed his prized possession was still within the tentacled beast that nearly devoured him.
With Fennec Shand deciding to tag along for this portion of Boba Fett’s journey, the two started to look through the Sarlacc while aboard the Firespray, but the creature quickly attacked them. The duo might have been crushed to death, but Fennec was able to drop a seismic charge into the Sarlacc Pit, resulting in its demise. Upon searching further within the Sarlacc’s corpse, Boba was understandably frustrated to learn his armor wasn’t there, though Fennec urged him that it was more important that he find a batch tank so he could properly heal his injuries. We know from The Mandalorian that eventually Boba discovers that Cobb Vanth had his armor and was using it to protect Mos Pelgo as its marshal, but evidently The Book of Boba Fett won’t show how he came upon this information.
In any case, after their jaunt with the Sarlacc was over, Fennec Shand asked Boba Fett if he was serious about forming his own house. He explained how he was tired of their kind “dying because of the idiocy of others,” and asked if Fennec wanted to join him in building a more effective criminal empire. Initially she declined, as she valued her freedom too much. But Boba’s promise of loyalty and cutting her in on the success was too much to turn down, and thus one of the Star Wars franchise’s most memorable duos was properly born. From there, we re-witnessed Boba killing Bib Fortuna and taking the throne with Fennec by his side, as first seen at the end of The Mandalorian episode “The Rescue.”
Boba Fett And Fennec Shand Need Muscle In The Present Day
After Boba Fett awoke from his bacta session in “The Gathering Storm,” he was informed by a droid that he was now fully healed. So unless Boba’s badly injured in one of The Book of Boba Fett’s final episodes, we won’t be seeing him back in a batch tank, and thus the method through which we look at his past is off the table. Fortunately, the show’s present-day looks poised to kick things up a notch. Not only is the Wookiee known as Black Krrsantan now in Boba’s employ, but Boba managed to ensure that the Trandoshan, Aqualish and Klatooinian crime family bosses on Tatooine stayed neutral in his upcoming conflict with the Pyke Syndicate. They may not be willing to spill blood on Boba’s behalf, but they’re also not jazzed about the prospect of the Pykes taking their territory.
So with any interference from rival Tatooine crime families nipped in the bud, and Boba Fett having plenty of credits to finance his activities, there’s just one problem left to be solved: getting the muscle to help him fight the Pyke Syndicate. Fennec Shand said that credits can buy muscle provided one knows where to look, and the episode ended with The Mandalorian motif playing. That music choice wasn’t just thrown in for fun; odds are we’ve been teased that Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin, who teamed up with Boba and Fennec in The Mandalorian Season 2’s final episodes, will be brought in to help them out ahead of his return in The Mandalorian Season 3.
Who knows, maybe we could even see Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan Kryze stop by The Book of Boba Fett too. Sure, she and Boba didn’t get along during their time together on The Mandalorian, but throw enough credits Bo-Katan’s way, and she’d surely be willing to put aside her issues with Boba if it meant getting more money to fund her quest to restore Mandalore. Both her and Din Djarin’s inclusion would also be a good way for The Book of Boba Fett to delve into Boba’s Mandalorian background, which hasn’t been on in this series yet. Whatever the case, the stage has been set for a war between two criminal factions, and Boba Fett and Fennec Shand will need all the help they can get to emerge victorious.
New episodes of The Book of Boba Fett premiere Wednesdays on Disney+. If you’re curious about what else he franchise set in a galaxy far, far away has coming up, browse through our upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows guide.
