While I wouldn't say I was excited for the Disney+ show, The Book of Boba Fett, having lost interest in the character when he returned to the big screen, as a child with a New Zealand accent, in the Star Wars Prequels, I was still looking forward to seeing this new chapter.
As of writing this post I've seen the first five episodes, and it's become apparent that the show is not only not what I was expecting but isn't what a lot of fans were expecting either.
If you've ever wanted to see, what legend says, is one of the most feared bounty hunters in all of Star Wars have his arse handed to him week after week, while trying to earn respect as an underworld leader through unsuccessful attempts at diplomacy, this is the show for you.
It's not the show I expected, or even could have imagined.
The problem, in my opinion, is that The Mandalorian already delivered what a Boba Fett series could have been (or should have been). While Din Djarin doesn't quite have the reputation of Boba Fett, he's still pretty well known as a ruthless killer. Which is further highlighted in episode five of The Book of Boba Fett where he is literally slicing and dicing foes with the Dark Sabre.
As a result The Book of Boba Fett had to do something different in order to not be the same show, a bounty hunter doing his job, week to week.
Unfortunately that 'something different' was Boba Fett wanting to stop 'working for the man' in favor of becoming 'the man' with his nice little corner of underworld Tattooine neatly tucked behind a white picket fence. Living the dream I guess.
In itself, it's not a bad premise. The henchman wants to become the crime boss. I could get on board with that.
As an introduction to the series we see Boba and his sidekick Fennec Shand walk straight into Jabba's Palace, shoot Bib Fortuna (the reining crime boss) dead, and Boba takes his place like the throne was his all along. Cool. Very much a Boba Fett thing to do. Walk in and take what he wants.
Then the series starts and suddenly Boba wants to rule with respect rather than fear. No more shooting people to get what he wants. Not even henchmen (mostly).
The first four episodes, with exception to the somewhat interesting development of Tusken Raiders as part of his back story (who also hand him is arse even though he's kind of peak Boba when they meet), he walks from meeting to meeting trying to make deals.
We do get little glimpses of old school Boba when he comes up against a speeder bike gang but otherwise it's a talk fest for a character that didn't need to talk a lot in the original trilogy.
I do get that it's been a five years since Luke Skywalker exploded a fair few honest, hospitality workers along with quite a bit of scum and villainy on Jabba's Sail Barge. Maybe they've already had a good crack at retribution for that insult but, now Boba's back... and he can't be arsed?
Obviously it's problematic bringing back original cast members like Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fischer Beyond the real life issues, their ages in this time period are considerably younger than they are in 2022. However they did show it's not impossible with Mark returning at the end of season two of The Mandalorian.
A similar thing could have been done in Boba Fett's series where we follow him on the hunt for retribution, and we don't see any of his targets until the finale. Obviously if he did catch up with them, we know he doesn't kill them thanks to the sequel trilogy, but who's to say a mutual agreement wasn't reached, or a bigger bounty was offered to keep them alive?
Anyway, this is now all speculation on my part. My point is, in trying to do something to differentiate The Book of Boba Fett from The Mandalorian, the writers seem to have forgotten why the fans liked Boba Fett in the first place.
I'm pretty sure no one was waiting to see how good Boba Fett is at respectful diplomacy.
While The Book of Boba Fett isn't a bad show, it's centered around the wrong character. Or at least that character is in the wrong role. Maybe he should have been the gun for hire, helping some other underworld figure take over the Hutt empire?
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