TV Show Review: The Book of Boba Fett

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Acting and effects

Cons: Slow story that wanders

The Bottom Line:

Focus on Boba

Well, in early episodes

Show needed focus

“I’m Not a Bounty Hunter.”  “I’ve Heard Otherwise.”

I’ve never quite understood the fascination with Boba Fett from the Star Wars movies.  Heck, as far as I’m concerned, he’s a bad guy since he captures Han Solo.  But I wasn’t surprised that the creative minds found a way to resurrect the character.  Easy way to draw in the fans, right?  I was even less surprised that they gave him his own spin off from The Mandalorian.  I am surprised that The Book of Boba Fett wasn’t better.

The story focuses on Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) as he returns to Tatooine to claim Jabba the Hutt’s territory on the planet.  Boba Fett wants to be more benevolent than Jabba was, but even with Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) by his side, he finds that there is danger all around him.  There are others who want Jabba’s territory.  Plus, there are the spice traders who operate on the planet.  Can he establish himself?  Or will he be driven out, or worse yet, killed?

And are you wondering how he survived what appeared to be his death in Return of the Jedi?  Don’t worry, we get flashbacks here that show us how he survived and his trials on Tatooine immediately after.

And that’s my first problem with this show.  Yes, flashbacks can be good when done well like they were in Lost and Once Upon a Time.  However, they have become overdone, often interrupting the flow of a story with stuff we don’t care about.  Arrow was a prime example of that for me.  This show is another.  Yes, a few flashbacks in the first episode were good to help us fill in that gap in Boba Fett’s story.  However, after that, we should have stuck with the story in the present.  I found that much more compelling.  Instead, we got flashbacks in the first four episodes, sometimes taking up much of the episode run time.

The results made the show feel slow.  Yes, story was advancing, but it wasn’t advancing that fast.  I wasn’t the only one who found the early episodes slow.  Granted, I found that the case with The Mandalorian at times, so I was surprised to find myself agreeing with others on this show.

Then come episodes 5 and 6.  Boba Fett hardly appears in these episodes.  Instead, we get episodes that really could have been the start of season 3 of The Mandalorian.  Many fans loved these episodes because we got to see beloved characters again.  Me?  I was watching to see what was going to happen to Boba Fett.  Again, it felt like it stopped the flow of the story.  And, they were once again slow with hardly anything of significance happening.  I feel like the writers were so in love with these characters, they just wanted to spend time with them even if it was on throw away stuff.

Which brings us to the seventh and final episode.  The plot threads do come together, which I appreciated.  And, we get action.  In fact, we get too much action.  Yes, there is such a thing.  The action was repetitive.  They could have shaved off ten minutes of the episode and no one would have missed it.  If they’d done that, I would have been cheering the episode.  As it was, I was bored.  We knew what the next plot point was going to be, but they showed us the characters fighting against overwhelming odds while we waited for that plot point to happen.

It's a shame because, from a technical standpoint, this show is good.  The acting is great.  The special effects are top notch.  The show is lovely to look at.  The characters have fun moments.  It’s just that the episodes were stretched out longer than they needed to be.

I feel like this would have been a good two, maybe two and a half hour, movie.  Instead, it got stretched out to seven episodes that average 45 minutes or so.

You definitely need to know what happened here before you watch season 3 of The Mandalorian.  But that’s the only reason to watch the disappointing The Book of Boba Fett.