Our Verdict
The Book of Boba Fett finally finds its mojo and a clear direction for the future of the series.
To say I’ve not been overly impressed with The Book of Boba Fett so far would be an understatement. After an impressive first and second season of The Mandalorian, I had high hopes for a TV series set in the Star Wars universe about the man who made bucket helmets cool, Boba Fett.
So far though, the sci-fi series has failed to meet those expectations, in my eyes essentially serving as glorified fan service at best and as tedious as helping Uncle Owen on the farm moisture at worst. Finally, though, three episodes in, the series has found its voice pulling the rug from under me, and revealing my preconceptions about the series were entirely wrong.
The show’s marketing, and Mando’s season 2 post-credit sting, led me to believe we were going to be watching a crime thriller. Basically, I was expecting The Godfather set in a galaxy far, far away, but The Book of Boba Fett isn’t that. It looks like it’s going to be John Wick in space – with Tusken Raiders instead of a dog serving as the jet fuel for the chaos.
‘Chapter 3: The Streets of Mos Espa’ begins on a high note by introducing the always entertaining Stephen Root as a moisture broker who wants Boba’s help in dealing with an unruly gang of teens. In this moment, I broke out in a slightly cold sweat, concerned that Book of Boba was taking a wild pivot into a ‘monster of the week’ format where we’d see the titular bounty hunter dealing with different gangs.
Thankfully it didn’t do this, and it was at this moment I realised I’d perhaps judged the show too harshly. I’ve been complaining a lot about the show not delivering on its promise of Fett taking over Jabba’s old territories but would this format be any better than what we’ve had so far? I seriously doubt it.
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Anyway, once Fett’s dealt with the teens, we’re back in the Bacta tank, and I won’t lie when I saw the tank, I let out an audible groan. The Book of Boba’s big problem has been the flashbacks; I believed they were unnecessary and basically served to bring the narrative to a screeching halt.
I realise now though I may have misjudged them. I will say I still disagree with the way Jon Favreau has structured the series; the flashbacks have disrupted the show’s flow. I would have preferred a more linear story where we opened with Boba’s time with the Tusken Raiders before moving on to his attempts to take over Jabba’s old territory. Still, this storyline has ended up being quite important to Fett’s arc.
In this (blissfully brief) flashback, we see how Fett’s influence doomed the Tusken Raiders, and it sets up the series’ real villain. This was when I had my epiphany about the show being more John Wick inspired than a classic gangster narrative.
The series needed to devote time to the raiders so we’d care about them and want Boba to triumph over his enemies. Were there better ways to do this? Maybe, but at least all these flashbacks weren’t for nothing. Instead, they were like Wick’s flashback to his wife and dog, an emotional connection that’ll serve as the cathartic catalyst when Boba inevitably starts blasting.
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To be honest, it makes me think that The Book of Boba may have been better served if Disney had released the first three episodes at once. At the moment, it kind of feels like a movie that’s been cut up into individual pieces, and that’s no way to structure a TV series.
Boba is then rudely awoken from his Bacta nap by the Wookie bounty hunter from last week – who’s confirmed to be Krrsantan from the Star Wars comics – and we get a quick fight. I won’t lie; I like seeing Boba get beaten up. I’ve never really bought into him being such a badass Star wars character, and it’s fun seeing him get knocked around. That said, the editing on the fight was a bit sloppy, and the whole thing had far too many quick edits.
The episode then wraps up with Boba getting a new pet Rancor (and introducing a fair amount of lore about these monstrous beasts), the Star Wars universe’s take on the car chase from The French Connection, and finishes by revealing the show’s main antagonist.
Overall I thought this was a solid episode that delivered in ways previous episodes haven’t. It wrapped up the Tusken Raider stuff, we saw more of Tatooine’s criminal underbelly, and best of all, the series finally has a solid direction. I will say I’m still only giving it three stars – which is a positive review – because I have concerns about backsliding but this was a marked improvement on the first two episodes. Let’s hope they can keep it going.
The Book of Boba Fett is available exclusively on the streaming service Disney Plus.