Easter Eggs You May Have Missed In The Book Of Boba Fett Episode 6

The penultimate episode of "The Book of Boba Fett" season 1 (I guess?) is out and there was only a glimpse of the bounty hunter to be found. Well, that bounty hunter. Whether you're posting about how mad you are or reading posts about how mad everyone else is, I'll just let you fight that out on your own. In the meantime, I'm going to tackle the Easter eggs and crazy moments from this week's episode, "From the Desert Comes a Stranger." 

That means SPOILERS, so you've officially been warned. Do not call that blue guy on me. 

Now go away and come back when you've watched. If we're clear, then let's proceed. 

Let's start with the Pyke Syndicate so we don't get too crazy right away with our squees and coos. The first cameo (and again, I'll let you go and debate about whether or not this is too much fan service) is from Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant), our Marshall for Mos Pelgo from "The Mandalorian." 

Disney+

Disney+

While Cobb Vanth is "explaining" to the Pyke Syndicate that Mos Pelgo (not the other name, interestingly) is his territory, we see a certain storage container called a camtono. You may recall a man named Willrow Hood carrying one through Cloud City in "The Empire Strikes Back." It's an ice cream maker. Not even kidding. We've seen one in "The Mandalorian" with Cobb Vanth as well, so it's not new. The Pyke Syndicate has it here but isn't storing their favorite pretty rocks in it. It contains explosives that are later used to blow up the Sanctuary and everyone in it. (Max Rebo wasn't there that we saw, so he's hopefully safe.) They also have spice (from the Kessel Run, which you remember that Han Solo flew through very quickly). Vanth spills it on the ground, and since George Lucas was so heavily influenced by "Dune," we know it's very similar. It's worth more than the entire town of Mos Pelgo, so what Vanth does is a big deal. 

Wait, did Luke almost call Grogu "Baby Yoda?" We knew Mando was going to look for Grogu to give him his widdle present (which did in fact turn out to be the cutest little beskar chain mail shirt from his papa), but no one was sure if we were going to see our favorite little alien from an unnamed race and his new Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, but we did. Not only that, but the CGI was fantastic. It should be. The person who did the deep fake that fixed Luke's appearance at the end of "The Mandalorian" season 2 was hired by ILM to make sure it was perfect. 

Now, where are we? The planet isn't named as far as I can tell, but it could possible by on Yavin 4 if the terrain is the same. That was one of the Rebel bases in the first trilogy. It's very lush though, and even if it isn't where Luke was trained on Dagobah in the swamp, there are similarities. It could be Ajan Kloss, which has a similar moist (sorry, sorry) climate to Dagobah and is where Luke trained Leia after the Battle of Endor. (You remember how she stopped her training because she had a vision of her son Ben dying, of course.) 

Luke asks if Grogu remembers someone speaking with the very strange pattern that Yoda speaks in, something we first saw in "The Empire Strikes Back." The training he gives Grogu is similar to what he learned from Yoda. 

He runs with Grogu in a backpack, which we saw him do with Yoda (though Yoda was teaching him and he's teaching Grogu). He lifts the frogs around Grogu (like floating pizza slices, amirite?) the way the rocks were lifted in "Empire." He brings out a training remote like the one he used with Obi-Wan Kenobi in "A New Hope," though Grogu is quicker at mastering it than Luke was. He even destroys it!

Luke has a black glove covering his droid hand (Luke is a mod!) as he did in the final trilogy. Just wanted to point that out as it immediately makes me think of the destruction of Luke's school. We learn that Grogu is his first student. 

May I just say that I'm sad that no one will give Grogu his froggie snax and there are no blue cookies for him to steal? Papa Mando can get you snax, froggies, and soupy soup, little guy. He can keep you safe from bad Uncle Ben. Go home to Papa Mando! He misses you so much! 

*getting tissues*

Sorry. Back to the Easter eggs. 

Luke is teaching Grogu a lot of things, like balance, which he's pretty good at, and jumping, which he's not great at right away. He does get better at jumping and flipping, and for me, this explains a lot about that big Yoda fight in "Attack of the Clones." Cool as it was to see all those years ago, that was a surprise. Now it makes more sense. Whatever this race of creatures is, they're really agile and flippy. 

Mando comes to the school and sees ant droids building a structure that looks like the ones Luke was living in years later when Rey finds him on Ahch-To. This is the beginning of the school that we saw burning in Luke's memory. R2-D2 is there, of course, and greets Mando. The ant droids make him a bench where he must learn patience, I guess. Ahsoka comes to talk to him instead of Luke and here's where my mind was blown. I guess I still think of Ahsoka from the animated series, but I have to remember ages here. Ahsoka was friends with Luke's father, Anakin, and his mother, Padmé. She is older than Luke here. Grogu is as well, since he survived Order 66 (we'll get to that). Sometimes, knowing the ages of the actors messes me up. 

Anyway, she appeals to Mando by talking about what's best for Grogu. He can see his little buddy up on the hill giving a fist bump to Luke, and he leaves, knowing that Grogu will be okay. 

He won't, Mando! Go get him! Ben is going to destroy the school someday! She takes the gift for him and gives it to Luke, and here we learn that Grogu is remembering more than learning. That begs the question: Did Grogu know Yoda? Age-wise, maybe he did, but he's blocked it out. Luke might have been asking if he remembered his own species, but maybe that was a question about Yoda specifically. 

When Luke and Ahsoka talk, she says he's so much like his father with his doubt about training. Of course, we know she knew his pop. She mentions this to Mando as well when she says she's a friend of the family. She leaves and says she may see Luke again and says, "May the Force be with you." I didn't realize how much I needed to hear that.

Luke presses Grogu to remember where he's from and he does remember something. He remembers three Jedi being killed, defending him from Clone Troopers during the destruction of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant from Order 66. I can't place these Jedi, but we know they weren't the ones who ultimately saved him. We don't know who that is, and Grogu isn't remembering. PTSD can do that, you know. 

Could it have been R2-D2? Grogu seemed to recognize him when Luke came to take him for training, now that I think about it. Maybe the Bad Batch came in? Either way, we'll likely find this out in "The Mandalorian" season 3, because no way is Grogu going to choose to stay away from Papa. (Back to that in a few.)

There is a symbol here, pointed out on Twitter by /Film's own Peter Sciretta) that appears to be the symbol of Jedi gone bad Barriss Offee (from "The Clone Wars") on the wall. Were these her former quarters? She died on Felucia when Order 66 was given, so she wasn't there. 

Mando leaves and heads back to Tatooine (land of the moisture vaporators that we saw on Luke's farm in "A New Hope"), learning from Fennec (and Boba was there for a second!) in a meeting with the mods, Black K, and the whole Boba gang that they need more muscle. (Outside Boba's palace, we see one of Jabba's skiffs lying there. Remember those from "Return of the Jedi"?) He returns to Mos Pelgo to see Cobb Vanth and passes a Jawa sandcrawler with a Krayt dragon skull on it. He helped kill one of those in the first episode of season 2 of "The Mandalorian." Maybe it's the same one? The rest of the skeleton seems to be decorating the Mos Pelgo cantina.

Vanth and his bartender Weequay from "The Mandalorian" aren't keen to help with Boba's mission and say that as long as the spice is out of their town, it's all good. He does agree to see what he can do and calls a meeting of all the fighting-age men and women in town. The town is now called Freetown, something we learned in the "Aftermath" novels. Other inhabitants include Jo, the woman who helped fight that Krayt dragon. After Mando is gone though, someone many of us have been speculating about arrives... 

Yes, it's Cad Bane, voiced by Corey Burton who does the role for "The Clone Wars" and "The Bad Batch." He is a Danos bounty hunter who was the best in the galaxy after the death of Jango Fett. He mentored Boba Fett a long time ago. He's been hunting Omega in "The Bad Batch," who is the last unaltered clone of Jango Fett, so the sister of Boba. I wonder if we'll see her. 

This wild West shootout was very much inspired by "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly." Cad Bane (who has one of the best character designs ever) is working for the Pyke Syndicate and offers double what Boba is paying if they leave the spice trade alone. The shootout leaves red shirt dead and maybe Cobb? They say there is "something wrong" with him, so maybe not. You don't kill off Timothy Olyphant without a very good reason. 

Meanwhile, in Mos Espa, some of the Pyke are at the Sanctuary, and they have that camtono. The place is hopping, and that's a bad thing, since it explodes, killing everyone, including some protocol droids, Bith, and Garsa (unless there is something we don't know). As I said, we didn't see Max Rebo, so maybe he was taking a night off? Lucky little blue guy!

Speaking of little guys, we have a final choice for Grogu. Luke gives him the choice of the widdlewist chainmail shirt from Papa Mando or Yoda's lightsaber. If he chooses Mando's gift, he goes home. If he chooses the lightsaber, he stays and becomes Luke's first pupil. We know what happens to that school, and we also know we're getting "The Mandalorian" season 3, so the choice seems clear. In my heart, at least.

About Yoda's lightsaber: We know he lost it when he fought Darth Sidious in his big fight scene, but he built a new one in "The Trial of Dagobah" from Marvel Comics. That is the one Luke found after Yoda died. 

Our own Max Evry points out that this scene is a direct homage to the "Lone Wolf and Cub" manga. If you've read it at all, you know what a big inspiration it was for "The Mandalorian." It was featured in the film "Lone Wolf & Cub: Sword of Vengeance" and the American version of "Shogun Assassin." You can see the scene in his tweet below. It was also sampled in a Wu-Tang song. 

Posting this for no reason... #BookofBobaFett https://t.co/IWjtss15Is

— Max Evry (@maxevry) February 2, 2022

We don't see Grogu's decision, but we all know what we want it to be, right? Papa Mando! I know other people have been saying it, but Ahsoka mentions the deep connection between Grogu and Mando, and the last episode made a big deal of how the person who forged the Darksaber, Tarre Vizsla, was both a Mandalorian and a Jedi. He had to blend the Mandalorian part of himself that is tribal with connections, and the Jedi side which tries to avoid them. (Though George Lucas did tell a seven-year-old boy that Jedi could marry, and we've seen Jedi with connections before.) Will Mando become a Jedi and blend both things? At least a Force user? Just throwing that out there. 

Go home to Papa, Grogu!