The Book of Boba Fett: Whose story is it Really?
by Niko Adams
The Book of Boba Fett was released last December, and since its welcome onto Disney + it has received a myriad of mixed reviews, criticism, and general hype.
The show is mired with fan-service, incredible worldbuilding, and a pinch of exposition to let us know just how our favorite bounty hunter survived his famous fall into the Sarlaac pit during Return of the Jedi. And although the show started with a strong start and vision of where it wanted its story to go, the series quickly derailed into what has been dubbed “The Mandalorian 2.5”, as we see the return of fan favorite Din Djarin, Grogu (Baby Yoda), and even Ahsoka with Luke Skywalker.
The result of this odd story-shift comes as odd discourse online about the return of these characters for future installments, or whether their story ends before the start of the sequel trilogy.
Although the first episodes were initially satisfying and wound the Mandalorian into the Boba Fett tale with surprising smoothness, it was unclear why Disney chose to stretch the Book into a thin, flat, story, rather than give its actors and characters the screen time they deserved. Grogu’s return is excitable and heartwarming. And the return of a de-aged Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker has provided fans with more intel into the Jedi’s antics before The Force Awakens, but the show does so little for its titular main characters, who deserved to steal the spotlight: Boba and Fennec Shand.
Furthermore, Fennec Shand, played by Ming-Na Wen, is sidelined and given hardly any time to show off her incredible action sequences and fighting prowess. For a show that was so vocal in its promotion of its female POC character, there was little to see and actually enjoy in terms of what her character had to offer.
The season ended with a flashy and epic finale, but it was clear that the writers were at a loss for what they could have Boba do. He is absent from many internet-beloved scenes, and even the surprise showdown between his nemesis Cad Bane fell incredibly flat because of poor camera work, and a lack of historical context. We have little to understand about the relationship between the two bounty hunters, and cannot fully invest ourselves in the severity of the animosity between them.
And although the series is entertaining, action-packed, and a classically fun Star Wars adventure. It painfully comes across as a setup for other, more anticipated shows. Ahsoka and The Mandalorian season 3 being well prepared for by Boba Fett’s antics on Tatooine and Grogu’s growing force powers and choice of family. It is certainly upsetting for Boba fans that the most memorable part of the series to many, was the reunion of Grogu and Din during the final battle in Mos Espa.
Even though the show failed to deliver on its promise of a bounty-hunter-focused tale, it still gave us many incredible moments for the story of Star Wars as a whole. And hopefully, we’ll see the characters appear in other tales as Disney scrambles to fix its mistakes with shows and prequels.