With the launch of The Book of Boba Fett finale, Chapter 7: In the Name of Honor finished the uneven run for the Star Wars series.
If you haven’t watched the finale yet, please do not read. If you didn’t watch last week’s episode, please do not read. No, seriously, I mean it.
The series as a whole has been uneven with the best episodes coming during the back half of the run. What’s most telling is that the two best episodes came during the past two weeks. If your best episodes are the ones that don’t have your main star or make little use of him, it’s a major problem. The season (or series) finale makes better use of Boba Fett. One question from last week gets answered early on and in the process, it answers a different question regarding the sequel trilogy. Grogu will have a major presence once again. It’s nice to know that he doesn’t get killed by Kylo Ren when he destroys the Jedi Academy. Although I’ll add my disappointed in seeing that R2-D2 flew the X-wing solo and Luke didn’t have the epic reunion we expected.
When one takes the final three episodes into account, The Book of Boba Fett really is The Mandalorian 2.5. Looking back at the earlier episodes, it was a lot of back and forth between “present day” and the immediate aftermath of Return of the Jedi. I have no problem with exploring his past because many of us wanted to know how he got to where he is today. However, they spend way too much time in doing so. For the sake of driving the series forward, maybe they could have just done one episode in catching us up on everything. At the end of the day, however, Boba Fett just doesn’t work as the main character. He’s more of a side character–again, this series sidelined him in two of its seven episodes. If you’re sidelining the titular character for nearly two entire episodes, what does it say about him?
Boba Fett could be on any planet in the galaxy. And yet, he chose to go back to Tatooine. I know he has a past with Jabba but nobody is holding him back. He’s Boba fricking Fett and could be anywhere else. Instead, he chooses to look over Mos Espa. We’ll have to see what happens but I would love to see him journey with Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) when it comes to Mandalore’s future. There’s no shortage of stories when it comes to Star Wars so there are several directions to go should Lucasfilm decide to do a second season. Time will tell.
Temeura Morrison is a fine actor and I love what he does with the character. Again, the writers make as much use of Boba Fett as possible but how many times do we want to see him parade through Mos Espa? Saving the day by riding a rancor and taking out as many Pyke Syndicate members is awesome but we needed more of this! One thing that the series does is better explore Ming-Na Wen’s character, Fennec Shand. I was kind of hoping for an Omega mention since Shand appeared in The Bad Batch last year.
The Mandalorian is one of the best things to come out of Star Wars. I love the films (prequels to a lesser extent although The Clone Wars greatly enhance them) and love how Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are exploring these other areas of the galaxy. Listen, I have no problem with breaking back Luke Skywalker or Ahsoka Tano. But after last week, part of me was hoping for an epic reunion with Boba Fett. Alas, it didn’t happen. We did get an epic Western showdown between Fett and Cad Bane but it was too short even for television standards. Is he alive or dead? With so many flashbacks running through the series, I thought maybe we would have gotten another one. Again, it just wasn’t meant to be. I have high hopes for Ahsoka because it’s going to be a continuation of Star Wars: Rebels.
Our time on Tatooine isn’t over yet. The planet appeared in several films and once again, we’ll be heading back this year for Obi-Wan Kenobi. I know, I know. I hate sand. It gets everywhere.
CREATOR: Jon Favreau
DIRECTOR: Robert Rodriguez
SCREENWRITERS: Jon Favreau
CAST: Temuera Morrison, Ming-Na Wen, Pedro Pascal, Matt Berry, Jordan Bolger, Corey Burton, Carey Jones, David Pasquesi, Amy Sedaris, Sophie Thatcher
The Book of Boba Fett is currently streaming on Disney+.
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