The Book of Boba Fett episode 4 recap: the weakest chapter so far
Huge spoilers ahead
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
- Episode 4 (of 7), ‘Chapter 4: The Gathering Storm’- Written by Jon Favreau- Directed by Kevin Tancharoen★★
Spoilers for The Book of Boba Fettfollow.
Beware the bacta tank!
For an inanimate object, Boba Fett’s soggy fortress of solitude has become a remarkably influential player inDisney Plus’ latestStar Warsoffering. As a signpost to the former bounty hunter’s frequent trips to flashback-land, it has the power to shape the direction of an entire episode.
And its appearance at the start of ‘The Gathering Storm’ proves to be something of a portent of doom, as this isdefinitelyThe Book of Boba Fett’s weakest chapter so far.
By the time we’re transported back to Boba’s crime-boss present – a very long half-hour later– we’ve barely learned anything that we didn’t know before.
Instead, the rescues of both Fennec ShandandBoba’s famous ship take center stage in this Sandcrawler-paced episode. Ultimately, it feels like unnecessary filler, as the few additions to the vastStar Warsmythology – the most intriguing being a nod to Bib Fortuna’s double crossing ways – could easily have been explained away in a comic, a book or even some well-placed lines of dialogue.
The one significant positive is a beefed up role for Fennec Shand, who’s been a disappointingly minor player up in the show up to now. As the flashback timeline intersects with her appearance in The Mandalorian season 1, however, we gradually come to understand the nature of her relationship with her fellow bounty hunter – and how he saved her after being “left for dead on the sands of Tatooine”.
Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.
Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.
When it comes to understanding how a mercenary went from paying off a debt to becoming her rescuer’s most loyal disciple, this is undeniably essential information. But the evolution of the duo’s relationship feels simultaneously rushed and ponderous, as the key character beats are reduced to rapid-fire hits struggling for oxygen among some excessive, tedious padding.
Their mission to recover the renamed Firespray gunship – a story that didn’t need to stretch beyond Boba remembering where he had parked it – is a subsequently strangely muted affair. Its tour of Jabba’s Palace, in particular, is as pedestrian as the Millennium Falcon flythrough available on Disney Plus.
Anyone who’s seenThe Mandalorian season 2 episode 6will know their endeavor is successful anyway, so the sequence is constantly battling the spectre of pointlessness. And their trip to the Sarlacc is similarly disappointing aside from a brilliant jump scare, with this overblown encounter amounting to little more than Fett settling a score – and the not-really-a-revelation that his armor is hidden elsewhere.
If ‘The Gathering Storm’ is a good week for Fennec Shand, it’s a terrible one for the titular antihero. The show is now at serious risk of entering a death spiral where everything new we learn about the iconic (ex) bounty hunter dilutes his carefully crafted mystique. Admittedly, Fett was as close to a blank slate as it’s possible for a 40-something character to be. But, the more The Book of Boba Fett gets under the helmet, the less interesting he becomes.
These days, the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy seems as concerned about the welfare and employment rights of his fellow mercenaries as securing his status as top-dog on Tatooine. We can’t help but be reminded of Grocer’s fledgling hitman union in Grosse Pointe Blank.
And, while Fett’s previous moves towards ruling by respect could be justified as pure and logical pragmatism, he’s now shifting so far towards the light that he no longer feels like the Boba Fett we thought we knew – and definitely loved.
But Fett’s inconsistent character evolution is just one manifestation of the episode’s frustrating tonal inconsistencies. The rare hints at the gangster aspects of the show – notably where Fett uses his newly recovered Firespray to brutally gun down the gang that massacred his Tusken friends – sit uneasily next to the slapstick of Jabba’s Palace, where comedy droids are routinely dispatched by a pair of highly trained assassins.
And if you didn’t like the Vespa-riding mods last week – or even got yourself hooked onzip-gate– chances are you’re going to hate the tattoo shop/dance music aesthetic of the cybernetics parlor where Fett pays the proprietor to repair Fennec. While there’s no doubt Star Wars has to evolve if it’s going to stay relevant, this feels like someone trying too hard to appeal to the kids, and missing the mark spectacularly. The original Star Wars captured millions of imaginations with its believable otherworldliness – the riffs on the real world here, however, make the story feellessplausible. And, to give it a video game sensibility, a bit too Cyberpunk 2077-esque.
Relive Fett and Shand’s previous adventures inThe Book of Boba Fett episode 1,The Book of Boba Fett episode 2andThe Book of Boba Fett episode 3.
Boba eventually waking from his bacta slumber feels like a blessed release, but it soon becomes clear that the episode isn’t going to live up to its portentous title – indeed, this ‘Gathering Storm’ may have even less to offer than the one the old lady warned Anakin about in The Phantom Menace.
After last week’s instalment suggested that pieces were falling into place for some major gangster showdown – hopefully with someone or something more substantial than the Pykes – Tatooine’s criminal community appears to have gone into a collective state of hibernation. Madam Garsa trying to talk down Black Krrsantan from full-on Wookiee beserker mode makes you want to see more of the Sanctuary’s Twi’lek boss, but Fett and Shand’s working lunch with the heads of the various families stuggles to match the drama of an average episode of Come Dine With Me. Not even the threat of Boba’s pet Rancor can liven things up.
Now that the title character is “completely healed”, The Book of Boba Fett has hopefully lost the excuse to devote much of its remaining running time to flashbacks. There’s only so much they can tell us about his impending discovery that amarshal in Mos Pelgois wearing his famous suit. Well, we hope anyway.
Ultimately, ‘The Gathering Storm’ is an episode you could quite happily skip, safe in the knowledge that next week’s “Previously on The Book of Boba Fett” recap will tell you everything you need to know. And, for a franchise as beloved as Star Wars, statements don’t come much more damning than that.
Our verdict
The Book of Boba Fett has been a constant push-and-pull between flashbacks and driving its story forward. ‘The Gathering Storm’, however, proves to be a no-win scenario on both counts, an episode that fails to build on either existing Star Wars lore or the show’s promising allusions to The Godfather.
At some point in the series’ development, the writing team clearly decided that filling gaps in Fett’s sparse mythology was the priority, and they’ve neglected the opportunity to put the man and his amazing armor into exciting scenarios. This is the episode where that choice feels like a massive error of judgment, bringing the absence of a McGuffin as powerful as Baby Yoda into sharp relief. Too many more episodes like this and fans are going to want to put The Book of Boba Fett down for good and metaphorically read something far more interesting.
Force facts
New episodes of The Book of Boba Fett debut on Disney Plus every Wednesday.
Richard is a freelance journalist specialising in movies and TV, primarily of the sci-fi and fantasy variety. An early encounter with a certain galaxy far, far away started a lifelong love affair with outer space, and these days Richard’s happiest geeking out about Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel and other long-running pop culture franchises. In a previous life he was editor of legendary sci-fi and fantasy magazine SFX, where he got to interview many of the biggest names in the business – though he’ll always have a soft spot for Jeff Goldblum who (somewhat bizarrely) thought Richard’s name was Winter.
Singapore Criterium live stream 2024: How to watch FREE UCI cycling online
How to watch Gold Rush season 15 online: live stream new episodes with a free trial
7 myths about email security everyone should stop believing
