We’re now halfway through The Book of Boba Fett and I’m still not 100% sure just what the series is trying to do. So far, we’ve seen a complex and interesting story of Fett’s past – escape from the Sarlacc Pit, learning at the side of the Tuskens, deciding he wanted to be a part of a team and not a solo act, saving Fennec and teaming up with her – and then a present day story that, well, is gearing up for a war that doesn’t really have all that much in the way of foundational storytelling to support it. With the past now officially behind us (turns out that once you no longer need that Bacta rehab, you no longer have any other flashbacks to share with the class), the story will presumably move to focus on the present in a full-time capacity. I just wish we had spent more time in that arc before now to better understand the stakes.
The highlight of the episode – as with the previous episodes – was a cool set piece within Boba Fett’s flashback. The liberation of his ship, Slave 1, from Jabba’s Palace was a crucial bit of storytelling for two central reasons. First, it showed the keen ability of Fennec to think on her feet and protect her partner – something that I suspect will be crucial down the line this season as the war heats up – proving that she is, as Fett deduced, smart as well as a stellar bounty hunter. As for the second, it showed the single-minded determination of Fett when he has something that he wants. He wants his ship back; he gets it. He wants his armor back; he’s willing to go into the belly of the Sarlacc one more time for it. Ultimately, he ends up getting it back from Cobb Vanth, but he still manages to get it. He wants revenge; so far, he managed to get it. Paired up with Fennec, he’s in shockingly good shape despite facing a trained criminal outfit.
So, why am I worried about where The Book of Boba Fett is headed in its final stretch of episodes? I’m worried because the series has done precious little to explain just why we should be so invested in this upcoming turf war outside of a desire to have Fett and Fennec triumph. We’ve barely spent any time with any characters outside of these two in the present, and those we have spent more than three lines of dialogue with have been written dreadfully thin. As I’ve written time and again in reviews for other shows, if we don’t know and care about characters, there aren’t any stakes when they are in trouble. So, when the team of modified teens gets in the cross-hairs of the Pyke Syndicate, why should we care if they live or die if we don’t even know their names? If Jennifer Beals’ Garsa Fwip betrays Boba Fett (because she has to have some purpose – you don’t hire Jennifer Beals just to dress up as an alien), why does it matter if we know nothing about her character thus far? And if Krrsantan teams up with Boba Fett, why should we care outside of our enjoyment of Wookies from the original trilogy?*
*I know Krrsantan has a backstory outside of the series, but the show needs to do the heavy lifting in getting us to care about the character in this incarnation and not simply rely on folks to do the outside reading to get an understanding of his role in the greater Star Wars universe. Even when a series exists in a wider cinematic universe, the writers must treat the story and characters as if the audience has no familiarity with them. Throwing in Easter Eggs is all well and good, but you need to build a character foundation for ALL of your characters so they are accessible to even the most casual fan. Not doing so runs the risk of alienating those causal fans and hurting your series. There’s plenty of time to ground each of these additional characters and make us care about them. The series just hasn’t taken that time yet. And it’s running out of time to do so.
We have three episodes left, and I’m not sure just how this story comes to a satisfying close at this point. Sure, I’m rooting for Boba Fett and Fennec to beat back the “bad guys” and rule over Mos Espa as benevolently as possible. But I don’t feel all that jazzed at the prospect of a turf war with a lot of expendable characters in the mix. It just feels like the series is going through the motions to get to the end of this run to potentially set up something more exciting in a hypothetical second season. The series was at its best in the Tusken flashbacks, followed closely by the interplay between Fett and Fennec. I can’t help but wish the series had opted less for a big battle royale (or at least the tease of one) and opted instead to focus on the pair of Fett and Fennec teaming up to right wrongs. At least then there would have been a finite number of characters – and two we cared about in the heart of things.
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