Review: "The Book of Boba Fett" (Disney+)

 

Overall Thoughts: Entertaining and exciting, but unbalanced and does not quite stand on its own two feet.

NOTE: Being a TV show, I have reviewed each individual episode in a couple of small paragraphs apiece. I will do my best to avoid spoilers!

Episode 1: Stranger in a Strange Land

In the premiere, Boba Fett (Temeura Morrison) is in a healing Bacta Tank for injuries from his last escapade. Meanwhile, he's having overall visions of his past, including how he escaped the Sarlaac monster of Tatooine. Finally, he and Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) start to come across Jabba the Hutt's cronies.

This season premiere is interesting, with some interesting flashbacks and explanations of Boba's survival from his impending demise. And there's some of the usual Star Wars elements in place. A cantina with music. A desert town. Some interestingly crazy creatures. That being said, the editing is a little confusing, and the pacing is choppy and slow. It takes quite a bit of time to get from Point A to Point B. There's also a lack of action this time around too.

But, the production design, visual effects and performances are all solid. Morrison continues to be strong in the lead role from his appearance in Season 2 of Mandalorian.

Grade: B-

Episode 2: The Tribes of Tatooine

This odd second episode shows Boba striving to be accepted into the Tusken tribes, while in the present, Boba and Fennec come across strange adversaries seeking Jabba's throne.

There are entertaining stretches in this episode, and the inclusion of a new Wookie assassin character is an interesting touch. And, there's several great uses of practical effects here too. But, like the first episode, the pacing is pretty slow. There's unnecessary scenes of exposition and a few moments where tests overstay their welcome. At over 50 minutes, this episode definitely could have been cut short. Plus, the idea of Boba Fett striving for acceptance by a nomadic tribe just does not feel like Star Wars.

Yes, there's fun to be had in a few spots. But it's not a memorable episode by any means.

Grade: C+

Episode 3: The Streets of Mos Espa

This much shorter episode features some political drama. Boba and Fennec investigate a group of bikers, a duplicitous mayor and twin relatives of Jabba the Hutt. In the meantime, a villainous group of Pykes are intent on coming in and causing havoc on Tatooine.

This episode's main strength is the visual creation of the Rancor, which also involves a very good, fairly brief appearance from Danny Trejo. Meanwhile, David Pasquesi is surprisingly nimble and unique for a character in this universe. However, the gang of teen/young adult bikers here are unimpressive. They feel very out of place with their costume and cycle designs. Also, despite a shorter runtime, this episode has more exposition and drawn-out debates than action.

In the end, another relatively unmemorable episode that does not really advance the plot much.

Grade: C+

Episode 4: The Gathering Storm

In this episode, we witness Boba meeting Fennec Shand, and attempting to rescue his long-lost armor from the Sarlaac pit. Meanwhile in the present, Boba and Fennec attempt to convince others to join in the fight against the Pykes, but with little to no success.

This episode has a few plotholes filled in, beginning with Fennec's interesting survival from her run-in with the Mandalorian back in Season 1. There's also a couple of effective jump scares. A surprise midway through the episode does succeed at being emotionally-compelling. And finally, the episode ends with a really great sense of foreshadowing. That being said, there's also little overall action and plot movement in this episode. And, there seems to be too many side characters joining into the fight as well.

This episode is a slight overall improvement on the last two episodes, but it's still not quite the show at its' best.

Grade: B-

Episode 5: Return of the Mandalorian

As the title would imply, this episode features the return of Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal). Following saying goodbye to a dear friend, he reunites with two of his fellow Mandalorians, while almost facing exile for a decision he made. After forging a new weapon, he makes his way back to Tatooine to find Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris). He then helps her finish building an old starfighter, only to be found by Fennec to see if he can come help in the conflict against the Pykes.

Bryce Dallas Howard returns to the directors chair, and does a wonderful job bringing this character back for a new short story. A few great action scenes, a few great character moments, and some real plot development easily make this the best episode of the series yet. Pascal and Sedaris are in top form as their characters, and it ends on a very promising, edge-of-your-seat note.

However, the fact that we have a full episode without Boba Fett present at all makes it as unnecessary as it is entertaining. 

Grade: B+


Episode 6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger

In this episode, the Pyke syndicate advances on small Tatooine towns, hoping to scare off Boba Fett's growing rebellion. Meanwhile, Din Djarin flies to a distant planet with the intent on delivering a gift he made out of beskar.

There's some really great surprises in this episode, ones I wish to not spoil. But this episode definitely felt the most like Star Wars out of the entire season. There were excellent callbacks, some really great visual effects here and there, and some really nice "fill in the gaps" and "answered questions"-worthy moments. Some emotional elements here in the story worked really nicely too. Director Dave Filoni continues to show why he understands these characters and how to effectively adapt them.

If I were in charge of this series, I would have shortened Episode 5 and 6's events and overlapped them with 3 and 4. However, that being said, with the exception of the continual issue of Boba Fett being pretty much AWOL again, this episode was still strong.

Grade: B+

Episode 7: In the Name of Honor

In the finale, Boba Fett, Fennec Shand, Mando, and the rest of their scrappy gang team up to fight off the Pyke advance.

I have to say, this finale was entertaining. The action scenes with giant robot scorpions and the Rancor were pretty impressively done from a filmmaker standpoint. There are a handful of hilarious and emotionally-rewarding moments. And, the overall confusing plotline is resolved with plenty of action and surprising resolutions. As far as how Boba's story concludes here, it seems that a post credits scene does leave a door open. That being said, there are two or three scenes of exposition that could have been cut. However, for an hour long episode, the pacing did not have an issue this time around.

As far as bringing characters together, action, and the feel of Star Wars, this finale did manage to be fairly satisfying.

Grade: B+

Overall Thoughts

I think I can speak for many fans and say that Boba Fett's reappearance in the second half of the second season of The Mandalorian was a pretty big shock. And then, hearing that he would have his own spin-off show was even more surprising. Of course, Star Wars has been on a major resurgence in recent times thanks to the smash success of it's flagship Disney+ series. So, you could say, the bar was set pretty high. And with Robert Rodriguez getting a break here to direct a big-budget project, it was pretty exciting.

Unfortunately, despite some very entertaining setpieces and a few intriguing developments with its' characters, Book of Boba Fett ends up being a bit of a mess. It's choppy in its' editing and plot execution. It's new characters are a little off for the brand at times. It takes a little too long of a detour away from the main plot. And, interestingly enough, these detours show that the creators may not have been confident in having a whole series on Boba Fett's shoulders.

While it's nice to see some Mandalorian characters again (and the episodes they are in are arguably the strongest of the bunch), the plotline involving these characters should have been shelved for a third Mandalorian season. You can't call a streaming series Book of Boba Fett and practically have two episodes without the main character. It just doesn't work that way. Yet, I guess it does help boost the overall show a bit. Maybe putting it intermittently (while keeping some of the later revelations for another time) between Boba's plot would have been more effective.

That being said, Boba Fett does have its' share of fun and surprising moments. Temeura Morrison is very much up for his role, and good for Ming-Na Wen to have a big role like this. Meanwhile, it's nice that returning directors Dave Filoni and Bryce Dallas Howard get more to do in this universe, as they continue to show excellent directing skills. And Rodriguez, while he doesn't quite step up to the challenge in his first two episodes (1 and 3) - he does manage to stick the landing with the finale.

So, in the end, Boba Fett is entertaining, exciting, and has a very good last three episodes. Yet, that makes the whole series an overall mixed bag and a bit of a missed opportunity. Not on the level of Bad Batch as far as disappointments go, but not must-watch TV either.

Grade: B-