Easter Eggs You May Have Missed In The Book Of Boba Fett Episode 3

Happy Boba Fett day, everyone! Episode 3 of "The Book of Boba Fett" entitled "The Streets of Mos Espa" is chock full of Easter eggs, and it's time to go deep into the Sarlacc pit (that sounded more appropriate than "rabbit hole") to see what goodies we can identify. Naturally we are going to spoil everything, so please watch the episode before continuing.

There are a whole lot of creatures and droids in this week's episode, so we'll start with those. In the opening scene, we see a B'omarr monk's brain being carried around by a BT-16 perimeter droid. That's the spider guy carrying the red liquid in a glass orb. These monks thought true enlightenment meant having their brains pulled out and carried by these droids. We saw them in "Return of the Jedi." Odd choice, guys, but you do you. We also see a creature called a Worrt eating a womp rat, something we saw in "Return of the Jedi."

I'll talk about the rancor (heart emoji) later, but they do mention feeding him a Ronto, which is a creature we saw added into "A New Hope" that look a bit like squat dinosaurs. (You can also eat a "Ronto wrap" at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in the Disney parks.) When the Hutt twins show up — more on them soon — we see that poor mouse being used as a sweat rag again. Freedom for mouse guy! All around the streets of Mos Eisley (in the flashback) and Mos Espa, there are pit droids, what might be R5-D4 falling over during the chase scene, which is the droid that was almost sold to Uncle Owen in "A New Hope," and a protocol droid with markings on his face who seems just as prissy as C-3PO as he says, "Oh my."  

Politics are a mess on Tatooine, and Boba showing up hasn't made any of that easier. Here's Boba trying to be a fair and kind of nice guy, and no one is letting him. We learn from 8D8 (and I love that Matt Berry is doing the voice) that after Jabba died, three families stepped into the power vacuum. There are the Trandoshans (the reptilian aliens we've been seeing all around), who have taken the City Center. You'll remember the bounty hunter Bossk as one of them. The Aqualish took the Worker's District. Remember the walrus-like creature from "A New Hope" in the cantina? Those guys. And the Klatoonians took on the starport and the upper sprawl. They sort of look like lizard dogs with an underbite. Bib Fortuna, who had taken over Jabba's Palace, had to deal with them and sent money to Mayor Mok Shaiz. That's why he was expecting a tribute when Boba took over. 

Not only is Boba dealing with them, but he has to put up with jerks like Lortha Peel (the incredible Stephen Root) who is a water monger overcharging for the precious resource. He mentions a gang of people who've modded themselves with droid parts. More on them later as well. 

Let's get into that flashback. I was wondering last week if the balance of the story was going to favor flashbacks, but this one was shorter. It also broke my heart. First, we see Boba as a child, watching his father fly away in Slave I. Poor little guy. Then Boba is riding a Bantha, clearly showing that he's risen in the ranks of the Tusken raiders. He gets directions from the Jawas to find the Pyke Syndicate in Mos Eisley. While he's there, he passes some Stormtrooper helmets on pikes. If that sounds familiar to you, you've probably watched "The Mandalorian," where Mando saw the same things. Even cooler? We get a cameo from Amy Sedaris's Pelle Motto from "The Mandalorian" walking by with her pit droids. Our Peter Sciretta sent this to me, so send your thank yous to him! You can see her below. 

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Remember the Pyke Syndicate from the train heist? Boba goes to see the leader, played by Phil LaMarr, who says he's already paying tribute to the Kintan Striders, that Nikto biker gang who Boba took out in Tosche Station in last week's flashback. They're the ones who use that sort of "Assassin's Creed" symbol. (Sorry. I'm playing "Assassin's Creed: Valhalla" right now, and I couldn't help but notice.) The Pyke's home world is mentioned as well, Oba Diah, which is conveniently located near the end of the Kessel Run, where the spice comes from.

When the Pyke leader tells Boba about the tribute to the Kintan Striders, he promises to rid them of the Nikto gang. Of course, when he gets back to the camp, the Tusken Raiders are dead and their camp is burned. This is a callback to when Anakin killed a camp of them in the prequels. These poor guys! If you told me back when the original trilogy came out that I'd be sad about Tusken raiders, I would have thought you were nuts. Well, here we are. That symbol from the gang is on one of the tents. Was the Pyke Syndicate responsible for sending the gang? I'm thinking yes. Boba burns the bodies and adds that tree branch and weapons. He does keep that Gaffi stick, I believe. 

I believe we have Black Krrsantan (that Wookiee bounty hunter from the last episode) to thank for shortening the flashback ...

Black K yanks Boba out of his bacta tank, and that guy is strong! However, before the Wookiee can kill Boba, his gang shows up. That gang is the Mod Gang, the group of toughs with droid body mods that Lortha Peel said was giving him trouble. Boba found out that they were being taken advantage of, understood why they were operating under the law, and hired them. The lead gangster, Drash, is played by "Yellowjacket" actress Sophie Thatcher and her fantastic Pat Benatar hair, and they show up for Boba and help him capture Black K. The Wookiee has hurt one of the Gamorrean guards, who Boba sends to his very own bacta tank. A bounty hunter with a heart of gold, no? 

I have to say, one of the group — the one on the left in the picture who rides the yellow speeder, though I have a better one below — looks very much like he's a refugee from the "Harry Potter" universe. Considering 8D8 made a sort of "He Who Shall Not Be Named" reference early in the episode about Jabba the Hutt, I feel like maybe this was deliberate? Either way, it's funny. 

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We'll get to the big chase scene in a bit, but I do want to point out that on their very colorful speeders, they look like Star Wars Power Rangers™. I would also like to mention something Heavy Spoilers noticed, which is that the lead gang member Drash could maybe be Arden Lyn, who was part of the 1997 game "Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi," and part of a group of Dark Jedi that left the sect a very long time ago, and while she isn't a Sith, she's not exactly Yoda. She was awakened 25,000 years after being put into a Force trance in 4 BBY. I never played that game, but visually, it could be the case. Either way, Drash just oozes cool. 

Black K is being held in the empty rancor pit, but it won't be empty for long. The Hutt twins show up and apologize for sending him. They're leaving Tatooine because they say they were all lied to (about the Pyke Syndicate). They don't want war because it's bad for business (despite that not being the case in the real world). They give him a young rancor and turn Black K over to Boba and Fennec. Boba frees Black K, and if they don't start working together now, I'll be shocked. 

I love rancors. I cried as a little kid when the rancor died in "Return of the Jedi." I was comforted by a comic print and I'm going to leave it linked here for you in case you're like me. It comes to us from artist Chris Gugliotti, and though it is sold out, I think this episode might change that. Please make more. I want one!

Along with the rancor comes Danny Trejo (frequent collaborator of the show's Robert Rodriguez and referred to only as the rancor trainer), who explains to Boba that these creatures are emotionally complex, loving if not threatened, imprint on the first human they see, and can get depressed. My heart! This "little" guy has blinders on, and Danny Trejo was going to train him himself. Boba shows compassion for the creature and says he'd like to ride him. The rancor imprints on him and now Boba is a rancor papa! I have never been happier about a storyline, but now I'm all worried something might happen to Boba's new buddy. 

By the way, Danny Trejo mentions that the Witches of Dathomir used to ride them. We have an explainer from our own Danielle Ryan that I've linked to, but in the Legends canon (the book "The Courtship of Princess Leia" written in 1994 by Dave Wolverton), they're a clan started by a Jedi named Allya, who had been banished to Dathomir. The Nightsisters from "The Clone Wars" are a dark clan of the Witches of Dathomir. 

8D8 tells Boba that the Mayor is unavailable for 20 days, but he needs to talk to that guy. (He gets the news in the middle of a very large feast with a large Nuna bird that I hope he's sharing with his new friend, Ronto snack aside.) He and Fennec set off to the Mayor, but is stopped by his Majordomo, who escapes while the door is locked. Fennec shouts "Dank farrik," a curse we heard in "The Mandalorian," if memory serves. Sci-fi really does have the best curses. The Mod Gang goes after the Majordomo in his Cadillac-looking landspeeder and a chase that is worthy of any heist movie ensues. There is even the obligatory fruit cart that gets smashed. It's usually watermelons, but not this time. The fruit here are meilooruns from "Star Wars Rebels," as pointed out by our own Bryan Young. There are also a couple of Bith being driven on a rickshaw that we saw Padmé and Anakin riding in "Attack of the Clones."

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We learn that the territory is promised to another syndicate — the Pykes, who arrive in huge numbers. The Mayor is working with them, and this is likely going to be the main story going forward. I hope Boba feeds them all to his little baby rancor, who deserves a good snack just as much as Grogu did in "The Mandalorian." Ooh, maybe they could share Grogu's blue cookies! (*Fan art request.)

One final bit of coolness Peter pointed out to me: There is a mural that the chase smashes through, and it's got Jabba the Hutt and Salacious Crumb on it. It's based on concept art from Ralph McQuarrie, the conceptual designer and futurist responsible for so much of the look of this franchise we love so much.

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This episode was really fantastic. I'd love to know what you all thought as well. Tweet us @slashfilm and cc me @jennabusch!