The Book of Boba Fett: Season 1

 

Based on: Star Wars by George Lucas

Created by: Jon Favreau

Executive Producers: Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Robert Rodriguez, Kathleen Kennedy, Colin Wilson

Starring: Temuera Morrison (Boba Fett), Ming-Na Wen (Fennec Shan)

My thoughts going in:

Okay so I think some of you may be upset that I'm watching this 😅 I've seen a range of shows from Star Wars, but I haven't seen the prerequisites for this show. I've seen nearly half of The Clone Wars (2008) animated series (as opposed to the Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) animated series, which I've seen none of) and almost none of The Mandalorian. However, I've heard many spoilers for Mandalorian, I don't mind coming across spoilers for other series in Boba Fett, and I don't want to stay behind as new series air. I'll just fit the story into the right order in my mind as I go back and watch other things! 

As you might gather from the above, I consider myself a casual Star Wars fan. I enjoy the whole franchise, but I'm not dedicated. I don't have strong opinions about the different movies like many other fans do; I just enjoy all of them. In fact, I probably wouldn't have considered Boba Fett worth watching if it didn't air on Disney+. I don't care for Boba Fett as a character; he just never grabbed my attention in the movies. However, Disney+ has been producing series of incredible quality. I felt the same of Hawkeye; in the Avengers movies, he never really grabbed my attention. But his series was really great. So, I've simply come to expect great things from D+ series, and they always seem to deliver. 

Premiere review:

It was good. I think it started off slow and it didn't actually gain great traction by the end, but it did manage to pick up my attention. I didn't have much of an idea what was going on at the beginning because I don't remember what happened to Boba Fett in the movies in the end. He started off in the Sarlacc pit, a giant predatory worm-like creature whose mouth forms something of a pit in the sand that prisoners are often pushed into. His escape was exciting to see but seemed a bit unrealistic because they didn't really show how he got up and out. 

The rest of the episode depicted his journey from the pit to claim Jabba's former throne on Tatooine, a desert planet. The most interesting parts of the episode, for me, were after Boba had found the throne and began forging his new path as a ruler (or whatever he is). Where Jabba ruled with fear and an iron fist, Boba is intentional about creating an atmosphere of respect. It's a policy and change that I deeply admire and is definitely the biggest hook for me. However, he's also a human with no force ability (that I'm aware of) or any other abilities, so commanding that respect is going to be a challenge. That's the thing I'll be most excited about going forward: how does he show his followers and enemies alike that he is, in fact, to be respected? How is he going to assure his allies that he can take care of himself? I look forward to seeing that.  

Boba and Fennec establishing themselves 

I'm also kind of wondering how he's taken Jabba's throne in the first place and who this Fennec Shan lady is and why they're partners, but I kind of assume those are pieces of the story that were made clear in Mandalorian or even Clone Wars. Still, it would be nice if they'd reference it. 

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Season (finale) review: 

Let's be clear first that a lot of the above has changed, especially my top "Thoughts going in" section. After prodding from several friends, I decided to watch through The Mandalorian simultaneously as Boba Fett aired. I didn't finish the former in time, but that's fine. All the pieces of the puzzle were slowly filled in and now, as I write this, I have the complete picture!! Minus the animated stuff. 

I'm not surprised that Boba Fett wasn't spectacularly received. I didn't think it was super amazing either, though I did very much enjoy the finale episode. It begins rather slow and I'm very surprised at the two-episode interruption for more of Din's story, especially when Boba has such a smaller episode count. But those issues aside, I thought the story was great and I really enjoyed seeing Boba and Fennec establish themselves on Tatooine. 

It was cool to see "The twins" negotiate with Boba, as a reference to Jabba's prior rule

The series also accomplished the very pleasant feat of making me care more about Boba and Fennec themselves and take vested interest in their involvement on Tatooine. It also made me care more for them in Mandalorian. Boba's team-up with Din in the season finale was a real treat, though at the time I wasn't sure where Din had gotten the black saber. 

The godzilla-esque rancor attack was my favorite part of the series! 

The most effective thing this series seems to do is pave the way for the future. Boba and Fennec are now established and respected in charge of Tatooine. Din and Grogu are back together after Grogu has now been seen to choose Din over Luke's training. Din has the black saber and Grogu has fancy chain mail. What will come of those parties now? Will we see more of Luke, Ahsoka, or other Jedi? 

My remaining questions about Din from the end of Mandalorian season 2 are also relevant. Now that Grogu has been with "his own kind," which was Din's primary mission through season 2, and rejected Luke's tutelage, what's next? Will there be a way for Grogu to learn more advanced force technique? Perhaps another Jedi will be willing to train him. 

It's a little sad to me that my questions about Boba Fett have much more to do with Mandalorian. I don't really agree with the producers' choice to put so much of Din's story in Boba's series, but it's done, and the Boba finale did use that development to make Boba much better.