The Latest The Book Of Boba Fett Episode Cements The Sequel Trilogy While Failing To Understand Darth Vader’s Redemption In Return Of The Jedi
The most recent episode of The Book of Boba Fett is Disney Star Wars to a tee, it fails to understand Darth Vader’s redemption in Return of the Jedi, it creates contrived scenes just for the sake of them, and makes it clear it is tying in to the abomination that is the Disney sequel trilogy.
**WARNING: Spoilers For The Book Of Boba Fett Chapter 6**
The episode begins with a contrived scene of members of the Pyke Syndicate meeting around a speeder as they allegedly smuggle spice across the planet. Marshall Cobb Vanth shows up and a fire fight eventually ensues.
The concept of this scene has promise, but the way it was executed by director Dave Filoni was terrible. Instead of actually seeing the Pyke Syndicate committing a crime, it’s relayed to us in dialogue.
But maybe the biggest issue, one that is repeated later in the episode with Cad Bane, is that Vanth just happens to show up out of nowhere to find the Pyke Syndicate. A better approach would have seen Vanth tracking the Pyke Syndicate as he attempts to keep Freetown, well, free from the criminal elements taking over Tatooine.
From there, the episode slows down to a drag as The Mandalorian arrives on the planet where Luke is training Grogu in order to give him, as we find out at the end of the episode, what looks to be a blatant rip-off or at best homage to the mithril armor worn by Bilbo and Frodo in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
His search for Grogu and Luke on the planet is for the most part utterly pointless unless you like being reminded about how terrible the sequel trilogy is because you get a number of member berries including R2-D2 and Ahsoka Tano. The R2-D2 one is probably the worst because he just randomly decides to shut himself off just like he did in The Force Awakens. I guess he’s already in low power mode…
When R2-D2 shuts himself off, he leaves Djarin in the company of a number of ant-like droids as they are building what is to be Luke Skywalker’s Jedi school that looks very similar to the architecture of the school that is shown in Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi. It’s clearly a conscious decision to connect the show to the sequel trilogy.
As Djarin waits around for the possibility of Luke or Grogu to arrive, the episode transitions to showing Luke training Grogu. This is another member berry moment meant to recall Luke’s training with Yoda on Dagobah. Not only does it prey on your memories of Dagobah, but it also continues Filoni’s ongoing frog gag as Grogu uses the Force on a frog in an attempt to eat it. Remember those eggs from The Mandalorian?
In a moment of instant contradiction, Luke chides Grogu for attempting to eat the frog, and one would assume using the Force on a living being. However, Luke then proceeds to lift up numerous frogs out of the grass and just lets them dangle in the air.
From there, the show makes another nod to the sequel trilogy as Luke uses the Force to allow Grogu to tap into his suppressed memories when he was training at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. It’s reminiscent of the ability Kylo Ren uses in The Force Awakens on Rey. This is a twisted take on Darth Vader reading Luke Skywalker’s emotions to discover he has a sister in the final fight on the Death Star.
Transitioning back to Din Djarin, he wakes up and Ahsoka Tano is there to greet him. The conversation the two have foreshadows the episode’s ending and shows that current Lucasfilm employees including Dave Filoni do not understand the redemption of Darth Vader from Return of the Jedi.
They make this clear as Tano pontificates to Din Djarin about Jedi not allowed any attachment as she convinces Djarin to leave the planet without seeing Grogu. Before he leaves the planet, Djarin does leave Tano with the mithril armor for Grogu, although at this point we don’t know that’s what it actually is.
As Djarin leaves the planet, there is a blatant member berry to Luke running through the swamps of Dagobah with Yoda on his back. Instead of Yoda on his back, he carries Grogu around. Grogu also trains with a training remote like Luke did in the original Star Wars film.
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After the training montage comes to a close, the episode flips back to Djarin as he joins Boba Fett’s team to take on the Pyke Syndicate in their battle for control of Tatooine. Djarin seeks the aid of Cobb Vanth and Freetown.
As soon as Djarin and Vanth wrap up their conversation, Cad Bane decides to show up and he makes no secret of his presence as he makes a long walk into the town just for the sake of having a shot of him walking into town from the desert instead of landing whatever his transportation is near the town.
The dialogue is groan inducing as Bane attempts to buy off Vanth and Freetown in order to keep them out of the Pyke Syndicate’s confrontation between Boba Fett.
This is not something Cad Bane would do. This ruthless bounty hunter is not the one you send to buy off people. He’s the one you send, after they refuse to be bought off. Bane also wouldn’t flaunt his presence, he’s not stupid enough to do that. But that’s exactly what he does in this episode and completely takes away any kind of suspension of disbelief you could have.
The episode closes out with its worst crime. Luke offers Grogu a choice to either stay with him and train under the Jedi and receive Yoda’s lightsaber, another issue in itself, or return to Din Djarin and receive his gift of the mithril armor.
The reason this choice is such a crime is because it completely destroys Darth Vader’s redemption. Luke tells Grogu, “You may choose only one. If you choose the armor, you’ll return to your friend, the Mandalorian. However, you will be giving in to attachment to those that you love and forsaking the way of the Jedi.”
“But if you choose the lightsaber, you will be the first student in my academy, and I will train you to be a great Jedi. It will take you many years to master the ways of the Force, and you may never see the Mandalorian again. Because, Grogu, a short time for you is a lifetime for someone else,” Luke continues.
He concludes asking Grogu, “Which do you choose?”
The reason why this choice is such a crime and destroys Darth Vader’s redemption, is because Luke and Anakin bring balance to the Force by defeating the Emperor because of their attachment or compassionate love for each other.
Luke’s entire decision to surrender to the Empire in Return of the Jedi is so that he can try to save his father because he loves him. He tells Darth Vader, “I’ve accepted the truth that you were once Anakin Skywalker, my father. … It is the name of your true self. You’ve only forgotten. I know there is good in you. The emperor hasn’t driven it from you fully. That was why you couldn’t destroy me. That’s why you won’t bring me to your emperor now.”
Luke even tells Vader, “Search your feelings, Father. You can’t do this. I feel the conflict within you. Let go of your hate.” However, when Vader does command him to be taken to the Emperor, Luke tells him, “Then my father is truly dead.”
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However, these are words Luke doesn’t actually believe as he again attempts to save his father while the two engage in a lightsaber duel after Luke attempted to strike down the Emperor.
Luke tells Vader, “I will not fight you, Father.” He later tells him, “Your thoughts betray you, Father. I feel the good in you, the conflict. … You couldn’t bring yourself to kill me before, and I don’t believe you will destroy me now.”
As the duel between the two progresses, Luke’s internal conflict with himself progresses. He eventually is consumed by his anger when Vader threatens to turn Leia to the Dark Side.”
The fury of his blows eventually beats Vader down and he chops his father’s mechanical hand off. Luke eventually begins to take back control of himself and he realizes what he has done. He refuses to strike down Vader and tells the Emperor, “Never. I’ll never turn to the Dark Side. You’ve failed, your Highness. I am a Jedi like my father before me.”
As he says this, he throws his lightsaber away and the Emperor proceeds to attack him with Force Lightning. As he’s being tortured by the Emperor, Luke calls out to his father, “Father, please! Help me!”
Seeing his son being tortured and on the brink of death, Vader firmly states, “No. No!” He then picks up the Emperor and tosses him down the room’s central chamber, where he is vaporized.
In Vader’s final moments he tells Luke Skywalker, “Help me take this mask off.” Luke responds, “But you’ll die.” To which Anakin says, “Nothing can stop that now. Just for once… let me look on you with my own eyes.”
After Luke takes his helmet off, Anakin tells him, “Now, go my son. Leave me.” Luke making clear his attachment to his father says, “No, you’re coming with me. I’ll not leave you here. I’ve got to save you.”
Anakin replies, “You already have, Luke. You were right. You were right about me. Tell your sister you were right.” As Anakin dies, Luke says, “Father, I won’t leave you.”
One has to wonder if Dave Filoni and the people at Lucasfilm completely forgot what happened in Return of the Jedi and that Luke’s attachment and love for his father is what led to Anakin’s redemption.
It’s more than likely they haven’t, they just want to turn Luke into another Anakin so we end up with what Mark Hamill called Jake Skywalker in the abominations that are the Disney films.
Lucas’ idea of attachment in Star Wars is more about control and greed as he not only conveyed in multiple interviews, but also showed in The Revenge of the Sith.
In Revenge of the Sith, Yoda cautions Anakin after he tells him about his visions of death and sorrow. Yoda tells him, “Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them, do not. Miss them, do not. Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed that is.”
He adds, “Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.”
Lucas would explain what he meant by attachment to Time Magazine in 1999 when he asked what would transform Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side.
He said, “Yes, I know what that is. The groundwork has been laid in this episode. The film is ultimately about the dark side and the light side, and those sides are designed around compassion and greed. The issue of greed, of getting things and owning things and having things and not being able to let go of things, is the opposite of compassion–of not thinking of yourself all the time. These are the two sides–the good force and the bad force. They’re the simplest parts of a complex cosmic construction.”
In another interview with Time Magazine, this one in 2002, Lucas said, “He turns into Darth Vader because he gets attached to things. He can’t let go of his mother; he can’t let go of his girlfriend. He can’t let go of things. It makes you greedy. And when you’re greedy, you are on the path to the dark side, because you fear you’re going to lose things, that you’re not going to have the power you need.”
Lucas told CNN in 2002, “In this film, (Phantom Menace) you begin to see that he has a fear of losing things, a fear of losing his mother, and as a result, he wants to begin to control things, he wants to become powerful, and these are not Jedi traits. And part of these are because he was starting to be trained so late in life, that he’d already formed these attachments. And for a Jedi, attachment is forbidden.”
Lucas would provide more clarity on what he means by attachment to BBC in 2002, “Jedi Knights aren’t celibate – the thing that is forbidden is attachments – and possessive relationships.”
Lucas made it very clear what he meant by attachment comparing it to possessive love to Rolling Stone in 2005, “Well, a lot of people got very upset, saying he should’ve been this little demon kid. But the story is not about a guy who was born a monster – it’s about a good boy who was loving and had exceptional powers, but how that eventually corrupted him and how he confused possessive love with compassionate love. That happens in Episode II: Regardless of how his mother died, Jedis are not supposed to take vengeance. And that’s why they say he was too old to be a Jedi, because he made his emotional connections. His undoing is that he loveth too much.”
The difference between this compassionate love and attachment is clearly shown in Attack of the Clones when Padme asks Anakin, “Are you allowed to love? I thought that was forbidden for a Jedi.”
Anakin responds, “Attachment is forbidden. Possession is forbidden. Compassion, which I would define as unconditional love, is central to a Jedi’s life. So you might say that we are encouraged to love.”
The idea that Luke would force Grogu to choose between being a Jedi and his friendship with The Mandalorian is, in my mind, a possessive love. Luke wants to control Grogu and his behavior, something a Jedi would not do.
And this is probably done on purpose to ensure that Luke Skywalker is well on his way to becoming Jake Skywalker as seen in Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi. And this is why The Book of Boba Fett Chapter 6 is a criminal episode and it reinforces the idea that Disney has set out to destroy the character of Luke Skywalker and completely ruin Star Wars.
On the flip side, Grogu has not expressed any kind of possessive love or control over Mandalorian. In fact, he’s showed the opposite. He’s showed the compassionate love Lucas talks about.
At the end of the day, Lucas said it best during an appearance as part of the Virtual Speaker Series for The East Harlem School At Exodus House.
He said, “I kind of lost control of Star Wars, so it’s going off in a different path than what I intended. But the first six [Star Wars films] are very much mine and my philosophy. And I think that philosophy sort of, goes beyond any particular time, because it’s based on history, it’s based on philosophy, it’s based on a lot of things.
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