In the Star Wars franchise, I have always been ambivalent towards the character of Boba Fett – he looked cool, but I didn’t understand the praise he received as being this absolute badass. Then once Attack of the Clones (2002) came out, I was way more on the Jango Fett train than excited about young Boba Fett. But my feelings shifted during season 2 of The Mandalorian, when an episode titled “The Tragedy,” (aired December 4th, 2020) showed Boba Fett getting his armor back and living up to the hype of being the most badass character in the galaxy. To top it off, watching through the post credit scene of The Mandalorian season 2, to witness Boba Fett and Fennec Shand going into Jabba’s Palace, killing Bib Fortuna and taking over the throne … holy heck! I have been so excited for this!
Temuera Morrison leads this tale as the title figure Boba Fett. The actor first arrived to the Star Wars universe in Attack of the Clones – playing Jango Fett, a bounty hunter who agreed to be the prototype to make an age-accelerated clone army for the republic through the use of his genetic material. Jango asked for an unaltered clone to raise as a son, Boba Fett. I have always liked Temuera Morrison, but I have never felt he is an amazing actor … and there were a few times where he did struggle in this series. Overall, though, I was quite impressed that he really felt like Boba Fett, and I never saw Jango Fett in him at all, so very high praise there. But something that really bothered me in this spin-off series was seeing Boba Fett kick some major butt in The Mandalorian to embody that badass he has always been touted as, only to see him in The Book of Boba Fett be ambushed in Mos Espa during the first episode, where he now felt old, slow, and not at all the same character. I felt he was brought back to badass status by the end of the season, but why hold back so much?
The series starts soon after Boba Fett fell into the sarlacc pit, near the beginning of Return of the Jedi (1983). He escapes from the pit, but is not in good condition. Soon he passes out and his armor is stolen by Jawas and when he wakes up he has been taken by the Tusken Raiders. After that we jump forward five years, to after the events of Season 2 of The Mandalorian, and Boba is beginning his rule of Jabba’s Palace on the planet Tatooine.
Throughout the first four episodes of The Book of Boba Fett, we go back and forth from “present” to 5 years earlier when Boba Fett was captured. It was interesting how they handled that because it is normal to have flashbacks and only have it last for a few minutes or so, but when ever we flashed back, we would be there for a lengthy amount of time, and sometimes even for half an episode. At first it would annoy me because I wanted to know what was happening in the “present” time with Boba Fett and Fennec Shand and that whole rise-to-power story. But no, we have to watch Boba Fett get to where we already saw him at when introduced during season 2 of The Mandalorian. That really annoyed me in the beginning, but by the end I am very appreciative of how and why the show writers decided to tell this story. Yeah, it is different pacing than the industry norms, but overall it ended up really working for me.
** PLOT SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT**
Years ago I had a dream that I watched a Star Wars movie that took place all on one planet. Even though the series did do a little planet hopping, I loved that the majority of this series took place on Tatooine – which also happens to be my favorite planet in this galaxy far, far away. I love open world games and the first game I ever played that had an open world level to it was The Phantom Menace for the original PlayStation. I got lost for hours in that level, partly because I couldn’t figure out what to do, but also exploring that detailed area of Mos Espa was amazing! So when most of this series took place on Tatooine, it was like a dream come true. I couldn’t believe how huge Mos Espa was, it looked like the size of Mos Eisley in the prequels, but seeing and learning more about it was awesome. And lastely, how exhilarating was it to see Mandalorian Din Djarin not only fly a Naboo N-1 Starfighter [the same ship Anakin Skywalker ended up piloting at one point during The Phantom Menace (1999)] but to fly through Beggar’s Canyon! [Where Anakin also competed in The Phantom Menace (1999) for the podrace that freed him from being a slave.] So wizard! What I like about this taking place mostly on one planet is the sense of small scale it has. The Star Wars extended universe is so gigantic, that it is really nice to take a moment and enjoy this little area in the corner of the galaxy where it all began.
The story mostly followed Boba Fett and Fennec Shand. But we got to meet a few new characters: a wookie named Krrsantan (played by 6’7″ Carey Jones), who had an imposing presence the moment he walked on screen; the Twins, brother-sister duo and cousins of Jabba the Hutt, who looked amazing but I would have liked to have seen more of them; the final main newcomers are Drash and Skad who lead a group of angsty, rebellious, young adults who purposefully upgrade themselves with robot modification, in a sci-fi nod to tattoos chops. The gang of cyborgs were a bit over the top, especially with their multicolored chromed speeder bikes sticking out like a sore thumb. For everything that happened in this series, that was the part that I definitely could have done without. Yes, they are there in the final battle, but overall didn’t really serve a huge purpose. Not only did The Book of Boba Fett have new faces, some legendary characters return as well.
Din Djarin returns and even takes on a huge part of the series, as the lead in both episodes 5 and 6 of the series’ total run of seven episodes. I was incredibly happy to see him back. In Din’s journey we are brought back to the Mandalorian Armorer, but his story also continues onto the planet where Luke Skywalker is setting up his Jedi Academy. We get a little glimpse at Ashoka – which I cannot wait for her series – while also getting to see Luke Skywalker and Grogu! I am actually really surprised we saw Grogu this soon after he went off with Luke at the end of season 2 in The Mandalorian. I thought we wouldn’t see him at least until the fourth season of The Mandalorian. But having him back always makes me happy … especially because he reminds me of one of my cats.
Okay, Luke Skywalker. Wow, did he look amazing – I completely believed this was Mark Hamill playing the role for most of episode 6, it was mind-blowing! He looked much better than he did from the special effects in The Mandalorian or the flashback in The Rise of Skywalker (2019). There were a few points it still looked a little fake, but just slightly. After seeing this technology I would absolutely love to watch another adventure with Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo. Fans of The Mandalorian see the return of Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant) as full on sheriff – even without the Boba Fett armor – taking care of Mos Pelgo, or as it is called now, Freetown. Cool to see Vanth back, as he brings quite the western feel to this. And finally the big surprise: bounty hunter Cad Bane showing up for the first time in live action. One of my favorite characters from the fully animated series The Clone Wars – there he is, standing there in the flesh, still as badass as ever! My biggest complaint: I wish he had moved a little more, because he did feel very stilted, but still, seeing him in live action was something I have wanted to see for a long time.
This show ended up feeling a bit weird at first and I never got to the point of disliking it, but wondering where are we going with this? And then there were two episodes that followed Din Djarin … which felt odd but I still loved it. What I did enjoy is that it felt like this is telling a much bigger story than we even witnessed in just these seven episodes. The first four episodes really focused on Boba Fett and his journey from escaping the sarlacc pit, to him taking Jabba’s throne on Tatooine. Then in episodes 5 and 6, taking a huge 180 degree turn to focus on Din Djarin’s journey being torn between Mandalore, the Jedi, and Grogu before leading into both beskar-wearing bounty hunters teaming up again was incredible. While the pace and layout of the show felt very different, overall I felt the pieces really fell into place and it worked as something new that I had not seen before. Even though it was a little questionable at times throughout, this season ended up being a 7.5 outta 10 for me.
I really hope we get another season, or at least get some big chunks of Boba Fett’s story in other Star Wars shows. What did you all think?
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