SERIES REVIEW: THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT

 

SERIES REVIEW:  THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT  

 Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni continue to deliver on the STAR WARS front, as we got the backstory (in a sense), of what happened to our favorite bounty hunter, Boba Fett.  In The Book of Boba Fett, we pick up where we left off from the end of Season 2 of The Mandalorian, as Boba has taken control of the late Jabba's territory on Tatooine with Fennec Shand's help by killing off Bib Fortuna.  We also finally get the long awaited answers to what happened to him in between Return of the Jedi, and the The Mandalorian.  We get to see what he does as the new ruler of the territory, what new threats he faces, and even a slew of guest appearances (as Filoni and Favreau LOVE to do in order to give us long time fans of STAR WARS what we want). 

This series had plenty of memorable moments, surprises, and OMG moments to fill our little fanboy/fangirl hearts.....but it also seems to wander OFF from the main character for a good stretch.  We did start off the series with having the question we ALL wanted answered:  which was how in the HELL did Boba Fett escape the Sarlaac Pit?  We get that covered in the first episode, as well as seeing that the Jawas had stolen his Mandalorian armor.  We also see that he's captured by Tusken Raiders, and forced to dig for black melons in the desert until he came across a monster set upon eating him, a young Tusken, and a captured Rodian.  Having lopped off the head, he returns to the Tusken camp, and earns their respect.  We also see that, in current time, he's now taken over Jabba's palace with Fennec Shand as his right hand guard, and they are gaining tribute from some of the local businesses in Jabba's territory...except the Mayor.  Fett and Shand visit the Sanctuary, a cantina run by a woman named Garsa Fwipp (Jennifer Beals), who offers tribute.  But they're attacked by assassins.  Fett is hurt, and the Gamorrean Guards who joined him, help him back to his bacta tank to heal.  Fennec manages to capture one of the assassins.

Upon his capture, we find out that Mok Shaiz, the Mayor who refused tribute to Fett, had hired him to kill Boba, and they go to see the Mayor personally, who denies such allegations, and has the assassin killed. Fett is then later visited by Jabba's relatives, the "Twins", who want Jabba's throne as their own, but Fett flat out refuses.  They bring out a Wookiee bounty hunter named Black Krrsantan, but Boba shows to be unintimidated.  When healing in the bacta tank, Boba remembers training with the Tuskens on their style of fighting.  After being attacked by a Pyke spice train, Fett stole speeder bikes, taught the Tuskens how to ride them, and they ended up attacking the train, and succeeding in stopping it.  Boba then told the Pykes that they had to pay the Tuskens to travel through their territory.  He then went through a trial that involved a lizard in his head (it looked like some weird acid trip), but it lead Fett to a branch that would end up becoming his gaffi stick.  He returns, and he is accepted into the tribe.

He doesn't get much time to recover in the bacta tank, because Krrsantan has invaded Boba's palace, and yanks him out of the tank, beating the hell outta him.  Fennec returns to help, as does some cyber-bikers he hired as help to stop Krrsantan from killing Fett.  The cyborgs made a deal with Fett after a water-monger named Lortha Peel had asked him to kill them because they're stealing his water, when he himself has overpriced the water for anyone looking to buy.  Once back in the tank, Fett recalls what happened to his Tusken tribe, as he went to go collect the toll that he said the Pykes owed the Tuskens for travelling through their land, and he finds the entire tribe killed.  From what he sees, it's the Nitko gang he stole the speeder bikes from.  With Krrsantan captured, the Hutts apologize to Fett for their transgression, and as tribute, offer him a rancor.  The Hutts warn him about the Pykes, and they take off.  Krrsantan is released, and he heads off.  Boba, Fennec, and the cyborg gang head back into Mos Espa, and find the Mayor gone, but his majordomo is captured, and reveals to Fett that the Mayor is working with the Pykes.  

Back into Fett's past we go once more, as we see how he tried to get his ship back from Jabba's palace, but it was heavily guarded.  This is where we find out how he happened upon Shand.  He took her to a Mos Eisley mod-parlor, and they helped save her from her gut wound (which she suffered at the hands of Din Djarin---our resident Mandalorian).  She is healed, and she then helps Fett regain the ol' Slave-1 from Jabba's palace. He has a few scores to settle, so...he heads out to find the Nitko clan that killed his Tusken clan...and obliterates them.  He then heads back to the Sarlaac Pit to recover his armor, only to find it gone.  But in the process...he and Fennec end up killing the Sarlaac in the process.  This is where his past becomes present, as we catch up finally to him killing Bib Fortuna, who had somehow survived the massacre of Jabba's gang, and became the new leader.  Now fully healed, he heads to Sanctuary to find Krrsantan attacking some Transdoshans, and offers him a job.  He also tries to get the other syndicates to side with him against the Pykes, but hey refuse.  With a little influence from the rancor beneath his banquet table, they decide to stay neutral....but Fett knows he needs more muscle---Fennec has an idea. 

It's here that we start wandering off Boba's story, and back to our old pal Din...who's on another bounty, gets hurt while trying to use the Darksaber in order to defeat his bounty's henchment.  He collects his bounty, but also information on where his fellow Mandalorians are.  In a secret place, he finds The Armorer and Paz Vizsla, and they help him recover, as he recalls his story about how he got the Darksaber, and it's origins, which are traced to Paz, since it was one of HIS relatives that forged it.  The Armorer then takes the staff that Din got from Ahsoka Tano that was made of beskar, and he has her forge it into a gift for Grogu, as he plans to go visit him and check upon him, as he's being trained by Luke. After some training with the Darksaber, Paz ends up challenging Din for it---looking to win it in battle, and become the new ruler of Mandalore.  But Din manages to defeat him.  However, because he has removed his helmet, he has violated Mandalorian law, and thus is Mandalorian no more.  He ends up taking a transport to Tatooine, in order to meet Peli Motto, who had been trying to find a ship to replace Din's destroyed Razor Crest.  However, she managed to wrangle up an old F1  Naboo Starfighter, which Din rejects at first, but Peli manages to convince him to fix it up, and he won't regret it.  So, the two, with the help of some Jawas, managed to fully repair and spruce up the fighter, and Din takes it out for a test spin.  He's happy with the result, and returns just in time to meet Fennec----who has a job for him.  She offers the pay to him, but he gives it back, knowing he's helping Boba Fett, and agrees to do it free of charge---but he's got to visit a friend first. 

Again, we stay with Din for a bit, as he travels to a forest world, where he's greeted by R2-D2, and takes him to meet up with Ahsoka Tano, while we also check in on Luke Skywalker now training Grogu to be a Jedi.  Luke tells Grogu about Yoda, and the choices Grogu must make to become a Jedi.  It is here that Luke is building his new Jedi Temple.  Ahsoka gets Din to agree to let Grogu train, and adhere to the Jedi code.  He leaves the gift he had for Grogu with Ahsoka, and she gives it to Luke, who is seeing some improvement in Grogu's training.  He's unsure of what to do with him, since Grogu STILL has an attachement to Din.  Ahsoka tells Luke he's like his father, but he'll know what to do.  Meanwhile, back on Tatooine, we revisit an old friend of Din's---Cobb Vanth---the Marshall of Freetown (formerly Mos Pelgros), and stops a band of Pykes from dealing spice in his territory.  Din makes his way to Boba's palace, where they try to figure out what to do in case of a Pyke attack.  Din travels to Freetown to enlist Vanth's help along with the town.  After he pleads his case, he leaves, and Vanth tells them to get every able bodied man and woman who can fight.  But before he can rally the town, bounty hunter Cad Bane shows up, and tells Vanth not to side with Boba Fett, and just let things play out.  But thanks to Vanth's overeager deputy, he and the deputy are shot by Bane, who says the Pykes now control everything...and takes off.  Back on the forest world, Luke offers Grogu a choice:  take the beskar chain mail  that Din brought to him, and go back to him, forgoing the Jedi Way, or he can take Yoda's lightsaber, and train to be a Jedi.  We also see Sanctuary get destroyed by two Pykes, who left a bomb in the cantina, and it exploded.  

We finally get a heated battle between the Pykes and Boba's band of fighters.  Luke's X-Wing shows up at Motto's hanger with Grogu aboard, wearing the beskar chainmail.  She takes him to go out and find Din, as he is fighting with Boba Fett to hold off the Pykes and some of the Mos Espa townsfolk who've turned against Boba Fett.  They find out from Cad Bane, that Vanth won't be showing up.  But the townsfolk from Freetown eventually show up to aid Boba, who goes to get the rancor he was training to ride while Scorponek Droids are taking the fight to Din and the rest of the fighters.  Krrsantan is injured quite a bit in the battle.  During the wild battle, Motto manages to catch up to Din, who is renuited with Grogu.  They escape the laser fire, and have to take cover.  Boba then brings in the rancor, and manages to destroy one of them with the monster, and they manage to get through the shield long enough for Din to impale one with the Darksaber.  Eventually, the rancor is out of control, and Fett is knocked off it by Cad Bane, and the two face off.  Bane shoots Boba, but Boba recovers, and kills him with his gaffi stick.  Grogu manages to use his Jedi powers to put the rancor to sleep.  The battle is won, and Fennec has snuck into the hideout of the Pykes, who had been joined by a couple of the syndicate members, as well as the Mayor.  She kills all of them, and the battle is won. 

In the end, Mos Espa pays tribute to Boba Fett, and he and his clan wonder what to do next, as we see Din and Grogu fly off in his starfighter to who knows where, and we finally see Cobb Vanth in the bacta tank...healing while the mod is standing nearby, ready to do his work to bring Cobb back. 

Overall, it was an amazingly fun series, though it did stray AWAY from Boba Fett GREATLY in order to give us what was going on with The Mandalorian. So, with what happened with Din and Grogu, we have our set up for Season 3 of The Mandalorian.  I just felt that since was a how about BOBA FETT....we could've had MORE of it.  I do appreciate the five year gap from the time of Return of the Jedi until now, but I had thought we'd get more of HIM and what was going to happen when he became the new leader in Mos Espa.  But...it strayed greatly.  But we DID get some AWESOME things happen in this series.  Whomever did the CGI for Luke THIS time around did a MUCH better job---he really LOOKED like Luke, and looked more realistic.  And to see him AND Ahsoka have a chat---that was incredible.  And for her to refer to Anakin when talking to him---our hearts burst with tears.  Do we want MORE Luke and Ahsoka?  Bet your ass we do!  And maybe we get more of it in Mando's next season.  But I felt we could've gotten MORE for Boba, and a better use of his series.  Not sure if there's going to be a Season 2, but maybe....just MAYBE..we can see him and Han Solo finally bury the hatchet?  I'd like to see that.  

The performances were amazing all around, but if there's just ONE knock on this series, is that it strayed AWAY form Boba Fett too much---it was HIS story---NOT Mando's or anyone elses.  Hopefully, they'll have amazing stories for him next season with his new band.  

What did YOU all think of this series?  Where do YOU fall?  Thumbs up?  Thumbs down?  Lemme know by subscribing to the blog, and leaving your comments below.  

Until next time.....May the Force Be With You.