Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett [REVIEW]

“While maybe not as strong as The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett does manage to have a unique enough concept to stand on its own. Still, it does suffer from a weak overall story that’s overly dependent on flashbacks and Mandalorian scenes.“

The Mandalorian has without a doubt been one of the best of Disney-era Star Wars entries to have come out in the past decade. However, its legacy would not have been possible if it weren’t for the mysterious captivating bounty hunter, Boba Fett. His armor alone has spawned an entire warrior culture within the Star Wars community. Now after so many years the time has come for this mercenary to have his own series. In this article, I will be both reviewing and analyzing The Book of Boba Fett – both its pros, cons, and how I feel this could have improved.

Related Article: Book of Boba Fett – An Episode Ranking

A Long Time Coming

When Attack of the Clones was released 20 years ago, for the first time we get got a semblance of answers to Boba Fett’s backstory. As we get more and more information in the coming video games novels and animated shows there have naturally been calls for a Boba Fett movie.

Several projects have been proposed including one that was set to be directed by Josh Trank until the failure of Fant4stic put a stop to it. Eventually after Solo failed at the box office plans for future spinoffs films were either scrapped or put on hold. Eventually, as Disney Plus was unveiled, they became a new opportunity for Star Wars projects. Now with the full backing of Lucasfilm, Robert Rodriguez to direct, and Tumeura Morrison returning to the role the possibilities seemed endless. So what did they achieve? 

Verdict: A mixed bag 

The Scum, The Villainy, and The “Meh”

To start off, I will commend The Book of Boba Fett [BoBF] for introducing both familiar and old gangsters known in the greater universe.

Fennec Shand

First is boba’s number two Fennec Shand (above). Fennec is a character one to get a hold of as you don’t know 100% what her motivations are. We know she’s methodical and precise with her job and her brief appearance in The Bad Batch does reveal she carries a limited sense of compassion toward her younger targets. However, we’re never given a concrete explanation as to why Fennec joins Boba’s side. It seems both characters offered some kind of life debt which has become increasingly common in this series, Still,  they do make a powerful duo and I have to give Ming-Na Wen credit she pulls off that character so well.

Krrsantin (aka “Santo”)

Another strength of this series is bringing in characters from other media. One surprise appearance of the comic book character, Black Krrsantin (aka “Santo”).

Introduced in the Dr. Aphra comic series this powerful Wookie has crossed paths with several famous characters including Boba and even fought Obi-Wan on one occasion. At first, he had a menacing intro being an enforcer for the twins… but then he gets taken out by the teenage biker mod gang (and nobody liked that). Krrsantin, knowing he’s been beaten by lackluster teens, knows exactly what to do – get a drink and took his anger out on the next thing he sees.

Specifically, the Trandoshans. The two species have a long hatred over one another, as Trandoshins are notorious for hunting and enslaving Wookies. In the first episode, where an emissary presents a Wookie pelt to Boba’s throne room. Seeing Krrsantin rip off one of their arms makes this scene very cathartic.

Woke Teens for Vespa Memes

However, not all characters gave a good impression. Easily the most hated part of the series was the introduction of the young biker gang – “The Mods”.

To be fair the concept of cyborg bikers Is a good idea and sounds like something that would fit very well into Star Wars, especially given the abundance of body mods in the games. The problem however is that they don’t seem to fit into Tatooine itself. They look way too clean to be spending their lives in sandy alleys, and their speeder bikes are too brightly colored polished for this desert environment. It seems like someone from behind the scenes wanted to pander to teenagers and decided to insert these characters into some marketing scheme.

The slow-speed chase through Mos Espa didn’t improve things either.

The Rouges Gallery: Where Are They Now?

This is another problem with the series of all the scum and villainy that Boba could recruit to his posse – why did they stop with the bikers? There were some missed opportunities for Boba to tap his contacts and recruit any number of more grizzled mercenaries. Bossk, Dangar, Embo – bring some of those marketable characters back.

A Cold-Blooded Killer

However, the cameo that truly blew the fanbase was the live-action debut of Cad Bane. As with Ahsoka in The Mandalorian, bringing in an animated character to real life has always been a challenge – but never impossible. While some complain the look does not resemble his animated counterpart, it is expected when translating an animated character to live-action. All things considered, Cade’s live-action debut was perfect.

Boba’s one-on-one fight with Cad was brief and can leave some dissatisfaction with some people if they haven’t followed the Clone Wars cartoon (Cad Bane’s fights were always split-second affairs). Thematically, this was a rematch that fans had been waiting for as one of their deleted story arcs involved Cad Bane somewhat mentoring a young Boba before challenging him to a duel to prove Cad was superior to that of Boba’s father Jango. The themes were there but absent context the final fight doesn’t carry nearly as much weight to it.

Worldbuilding

Tatooine has been part of Star Wars from the very beginning and yet it has often been regarded in-universe as a backwater world. However, where all good Star Wars content shines is expanding on the worlds, people, and cultures of its universe that make it feel all so very “lived-in”. Even in a world as desolate as Tatooine, there’s much more to this world than it seems.

One important element that made this setting it in Mos Espa. When we last saw Mos Espa in The Phantom Menace it looked no different from Mos Eisley, resembling a large town. In the past 40 years, Espa has grown rapidly into a large city perhaps because of funding by the Empire or Hutt Enterprises.  However, as such, Tatooine has always been a haven for criminal elements as after Jabba’s death, Bib Fortuna cut deals with other alien syndicates to divide the city into territorial control.

It’s clear that on Tatooine there’s no official central authority. What BoBF reveals about Tatooine politics is that there are legal officials that openly govern like Mayor Mok Shaiz, but they serve as Administrative puppets while real power lay within the cartels that hold great sway over the cities resources. When Boba demands tribute from the mayor it’s clear that nobody, not even other bosses takes boba seriously.

It is clear that Jabba essentially ruled Tatooine’s affairs or at the very least Mos Espa was his base of operations as evident back in The Phantom Menace, Jabba officiants events like he is the most important being of the city. In BoBF it’s been revealed there was a massive power vacuum in the wake of Jabba’s death and the fall of the Empire has made things worse as this cleared the way for other alien syndicates to take over Tatooine’s operations.  It appears that the head of the most powerful crime lord that reigns over the city itself is labeled as a Daimyo

Fun Fact: The term “Daimyo” was the Japanese title for Samurai Lords

Dances with Tuskens

Just like The Mandalorian, Boba Fett has added even more depth and culture to these mysterious people. Indeed some of the best parts of the series are the captive Boba slowly winning the respect of the sand people eventually becoming one of their tribe. We see their rituals and folklore from this one tribe and understand that these aren’t savages depicted in older material.

 It’s clear that this is a different tribe as they seem to wear darker attire and have identical dresses for men and women. In comparison to the Tusken village we briefly see in AoTC there were clear dress differences between men and women. In Boba’s tribe, men and women are on equal footing with one of their best warriors being female. Minor details like this really expand more of the Tuskens than we’ve ever seen on films. In both the original and prequel trilogies Tuskens have largely been portrayed as savage aliens to be feared. I’ve even written an article talking about how isolationist these people are. But they’re not savage to the point of being uncivil with outsiders if they are paid proper respect.

It is important to emphasize that Boba would not have been the first human adopted in the Tusken tribes. In the Legends universe, a Jedi named A’Sharad Hett was taken in by sand people. He was so proud of his adopted heritage that when he turned to the dark side, he would dub himself called himself Darth Krayt after the revered Dragon on Tatooine. 

One more thing that should at least be addressed with regards to this story. It is true that Boba’s storyline Does have elements of the white savior narrative (or in this case human savior) to the story. However, since Tumerua Morrison is Moari that’s perhaps too much of a stretch to say. Furthermore, we have to remember that this is Boba’s story (at least until episode 5), and we’re seeing the lives of the Tuskens through his eyes. Furthermore, Boba is not even really a savior since by the end of episode 3 all of his Tusken friends were killed by the Pyke Gang. At the end with his new Tuskin family gone there is nothing left but the newfound humility and outlook on life.

Lackluster Villains

One major problem is a lack of a focused antagonist. During the first few episodes, it looked like it was going to be the Hutt Twins. Being Jabba’s cousins, they look like characters that have real potential. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Hutts in live-action, and we could even explore how the Hutt’s Criminal empire worked. There was even an interesting line Fennec says where they would “have to have permission” from the Hutt family to kill other Hutt’s. Clearly, huts have a high privilege structure much like the Italian Mob.

It looked like there was going to be a big confrontation between Fett’s Syndicate and the Twins. Perhaps Boba Tries to strategize how to get the Hutt’s blessing before taking on the two slugs. Imagine traveling to Nal Hutta and seeing how their operations work. However, after the (rather lackluster) fight with Krrisantine. And after some confusing exposition, the hut twins offer a peace agreement with Fett, handing over a baby rancor as a parting gift.

Instead, the main antagonist has been switched to the Pyke Syndicate. In the expanded universe they are a feared and spice cartel introduced in the Clone Wars animated series. However, even in the cartoon, the Pykes have never been as imposing compared to the Hutts. They may have looked and sounded sinister in the cartoon, but when adapted for live-action they look like generic fish people. Furthermore, I don’t Count Cad Bane as the main villain as he’s very much a mercenary working for money while confronting Boba on the side.

However, they are FAR less frightening in live-action

I’m puzzled as to why they decided to make that change. We are often told that they are a ruthless organization but we almost never witness what atrocities they are known for. The only evil thing we witness them doing is bombing the “Sanctuary” Cantina. My guess is that it’s to give a reason for Fett to fight as revealed that his Tusken family was wiped out by them. Ultimately, the Pykes inclusion just serves to muddy the plot of the overall series.

The Not-So-Dirty Life of the Underworld?

This leads to one of my biggest problems with this Disney-era Star Wars, they often pull back on depicting the harshness of criminal life. Accept we are delving into an organized crime where honor and respect are really just concepts. Crime no matter how noble should not be watered down. Drug use, slavery, and even implied sex exploitation should be discussed when delving into organized crime they were definitely implied but not explored as much as they could be.

This is the same problem with villain turned heroes like Maleficent and Venom – just because they serve as our protagonists doesn’t mean they have to avoid performing morally heinous acts.

The Clone Wars, for example, had entire arcs with Darth Maul depicting his savageness taking over the criminal underworld. I’ve stated before audiences will follow any character as long as they have an authentic personality. You can make an engaging character no matter how unsympathetic they are. Disney’s Star Wars has held back too much with its anti-heroes, we needed to be reminded that they are still criminals that just happen to have so much power. Kidnappings, slavery, and murder are very much key elements of organized crime and when you don’t depict its harshness it undermines the idea of criminality.

“You’ve Gone Soft, Fett”

This does lead to one important question with this series. Does this series water down Boba Fett’s character? Well, it’s debatable as to whether or not Boba should be a cutthroat bounty hunter who takes no prisoners or a mercenary with a strong moral code. Even before the Disney purchase, Lucas had taken steps to soften Boba’s arc so much that we are dedicating a follow-up article to talk just about that.

Article Link Pending: Softening up Boba Fett

In my opinion, BoBF needs to be given more of a Narcos treatment where we can explore these gangs and how they operate. Perhaps that is what each episode can focus on – have Boba explore the Trandoshans in one, and the Aquelish in another. Perhaps one gang is more persuasive than another, all building up to a fight with the Hutts, the villains that we should be focusing on.

Mando Season 2.5

“The main storyline is so thin that they had to rely on flashbacks to stretch the episodes – and when they ran out of time for those flashbacks they resort to relying on other characters to grab your attention.”

So about 4 episodes in it looked like it was going to be about boba Hiring “muscle” for his coming war with the Pykes and the sudden Mandalorian theme hints that we will be getting Din Djarin back. In the very next episode, not only does he come back, but the next two episodes were dedicated solely to him like a Mando season 2.5. This secret surprise was a welcome one since fans feared it wouldn’t be another year that we would be getting Din back. However, such a move essentially made Boba Fett a side plot in his own series.

It is important to emphasize this isn’t the first time that a Star Wars show has deviated from its main plot to focus on a separate character. Case-in-point: in The Bad Batch, where much of the season focuses on the elite commando’s post-order 66 – only to suddenly shift in the last third of the season the show deviates to a younger Hera Syndulla from the Rebels cartoon. Indeed there have been several Star Wars novels that deviate from the main narrative for other associated characters.

Situations like these do have their upsides and downsides. It does provide further insight into otherwise established characters. However, it does interrupt the flow and may confuse casual audiences. It’s almost like making a series about Ahsoka and completely deviating halfway through and focusing on Captain Rex. It can be jarring deviating on a completely different story if you don’t follow all the shows.

Ironically, this exposed the biggest problem with BOBF: the main storyline is so thin that they had to rely on flashbacks to stretch the episodes, and when they ran out of time for those flashbacks they resort to relying on other characters to grab your attention. Mando’s sudden return effectively hijacks boba’s plotline and in turn, starts to make the earlier episodes feel weak by comparison.

It also potentially robs some impact for future storylines. The sudden realization that Ahsoka and Luke have already met and rebuilt the Jedi brick by brick was an anticlimax for fans awaiting their inevitable meeting – but it does create space for the upcoming Ahsoka series, should there be a scene where Luke meets Ahsoka for the first time. Also, wasn’t Ahsoka on the trail to find Grand Admiral Thrawn? Already this show has made me ask so many questions that will hopefully be answered in future shows, and not forgotten like in the Sequel Trilogy.

Temuera Morrison

It’s important to emphasize This show likely would not have been as strong as it was without the return of Temuera Morrison. Ever since his debut as Jango Fett he has become one with both characters. The script needed some more touches, but Morrison does everything in his power to give this grizzled veteran Hunter a certain not seen in the character before (onscreen that is). It’s clear that this was an actor who loved the role and wants to give justice to the character.

In some respects, his actions might appear flat in some scenes, but I like the idea was that Boba has seen so much carnage over his career that he’s largely unaffected by what has happened. Regardless of how it was interpreted, Morrison is what made the role work as he always had for the past 20 years.

Conclusion

While maybe not as strong as The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett does manage to have a unique enough concept to stand on its own. Still, it does suffer from a weak overall story that’s overly dependent on flashbacks and Mando scenes.

Like any show there are hiccups but It’s clear Jon Faveru, Robert Rodriguez, and Dave Faloni wanted to tell a story with this Boba rather than just a cheap nostalgia bait that the sequel trilogy fell victim to. It was a story that looked strong on paper, but hit minor faults in its execution. This is not a bad season by any means and far preferable to the sequel trilogy.

The idea of a hardened mercenary retiring and finding his own crime family only to use it as a platform for change in a crime-ridden world is a fascinating idea to explore. But, this series really needed more of a gritty edge to convey that, and that’s not something this Disney-era Star Wars has the tonal history of pulling off, despite the talent involved.

Rather than tell the same story as Mando – that was about a Hunter learning to be a surrogate father – it instead goes for the hunter deciding to build his own tribe after his hunting days are over. What better way to start retirement than founding your own crime family? If Favreau and Filoni keep this up then I will be looking forward to other star wars content from them in the future. Given the fact we are likely going to have 4 other shows this year then hopefully this will be one of the few bright spots of 2022.