Disney has been expanding the Star Wars universe ever since Mickey Mouse laid his hands on Lucasfilm. While some productions they created weren’t anything less than phenomenal, others were heavily disappointing.
Now, which category does The Book of Boba Fett belong to?
Credit: Lucafilm/Disney
To be perfectly candid, neither of those. Boba (Temuera Morrison) first appeared in Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978, and has been a fan favourite for quite some time. Some say his own show has been long overdue and the fandom was excited to find out it would be released as a spin-off of The Mandalorian.
While the show isn’t a complete disappointment, it feels like there’s something missing. Something that no amount of fan service in the form of Easter eggs and cameos can ever replace.
The show seemed like it would tell the story of organised crime. You would expect Boba to be portrayed as an antihero and a powerful and respected figure, especially with his reputation. However, that isn’t the case.
The first few episodes seem pretty uneventful, to avoid using the word “boring”. While the score and cinematography are fantastic, the plot doesn’t thicken until halfway through the season – that’s when you can’t stop watching. But until then it is pretty, well, uneventful.
Credit: Lucasfilm/Disney
Most Star Wars fans are it in for the action. The flashy explosions, perfectly choreographed lightsaber duels, starfighters advancing onto their next target… It’s in the name – Star Wars – war and fighting are a given.
When The Mandalorian first came out, everyone could see how different it was to your regular Star Wars. Not just the vibe, but the way it focused on a side character forced into the role of protagonist against his own will. The “side quests” in the show people so often joke about are what make this show so much different. It is given a slow pace and depicts everyday life in the galaxy far, far away.
The Book of Boba Fett decides to go a step further – the entire story is about a side quest. The pace is even slower than in The Mandalorian and the series feels more like a character study than a story. The first four episodes are mostly about Boba sitting on a chair or having flashbacks. The show shines a new light on his character; he’s no longer a bounty hunter, instead we are meant to see him as a hero. That doesn’t quite work out as he doesn’t seem to be the main character of his own story.
The real action starts in episode five, which is the best one in the entire series. And Boba doesn’t even appear in it. The second half of the season isn’t just where all the action went, it also sets up The Mandalorian season three. But that’s not the only reason to watch The Book of Boba Fett. Despite it being slightly uneventful in the beginning, the action picks up its pace later. Moreover, the show is just a really, really good production. As aforementioned, the score and cinematography are masterful, and the series is beautifully written and directed. Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni outdid themselves once more.
The problem with the show is that although Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen deliver great performances as Boba Fett and Fennec Shand, their characters don’t fit into the roles of protagonists. While they are amazing as deuteragonists or tritagonists, they cannot carry a show on their own. Personally, I feared this would be a problem with The Mandalorian, until its true plot was revealed and Mando went from being a regular bounty hunter into someone very special.
All in all, the show is good and worth a watch, but it’s not your typical Star Wars. There are many Easter eggs and cameos from certain characters, but fan service isn’t enough to grant The Book of Boba Fett a higher star rating than three out of five.
Featured Image Credit: Lucasfilm/Disney.
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