Highlights
- The first season of The Book of Boba Fett disappointed fans with its portrayal of the iconic character, softening his edges and making him less of a badass.
- The series focused too much on side characters, with two entire episodes sidelining Boba Fett and introducing unrelated storylines.
- The show's action sequences, particularly the slow-moving biker gang on space Vespas, were underwhelming and lacked excitement.
The Book of Boba Fett is one of the most wildly polarizing Star Wars projects to date (and that’s saying a lot, given how passionate and critical Star Wars fans can be). It might seem like the smartest move to just sweep this misfire under the rug and forget it ever happened. Lucasfilm certainly has plenty of other shows to focus on: Andor is ending its run with a second season that will connect its gritty, ground-level spy story to Rogue One; Ahsoka is a promising new Star Wars property with plenty of potential for the future; and there are more of Ben’s exiled Jedi adventures to explore in a second season of Obi-Wan Kenobi. But The Book of Boba Fett needs a second season to fix all the problems with the first season and get the beloved character back on track.
The post-credits scene of The Mandalorian season 2 finale saw Boba Fett bursting into Jabba the Hutt’s palace, killing everyone inside, and seizing the throne for himself. A title card then announced the development of a spin-off series entitled The Book of Boba Fett. The darkness and brutality of this tease set up a very different show than the one that ended up getting made. It teased a brooding, hard-edged antihero story about a gunslinger settling old scores like the Bride in Kill Bill. But, compared to the violent revisionist western set up by that post-credits teaser, the series that fans got was a bitter disappointment. Still, that doesn’t mean it can’t be salvaged with a corrective season 2.
What Happens In Book Of Boba Fett Season 1?
The Book of Boba Fett season 1 primarily revolved around Boba and his sidekick Fennec Shand taking over Jabba the Hutt’s criminal enterprise on Tatooine. Along the way, they butted heads with outlaw bikers, rival gangsters, and fellow bounty hunters. This present-day storyline set during The Mandalorian’s timeframe was intercut with flashbacks to Boba’s past. These flashbacks showed how Boba survived his fall into the Sarlacc Pit, which had supposedly killed him in Return of the Jedi. After escaping from the Sarlacc, he was enslaved by some local Tusken Raiders and proved himself to them by spearheading a train robbery. It had all the makings of a great space western, but it just didn’t click.
At the end of the season, lo and behold, Boba decided that the crime lord lifestyle wasn’t for him and decided to give up his throne so that he and Fennec could pursue other ventures. While this ending and the resolution of the show’s narrative arc felt rushed (and made the whole crime lord thing feel like a massive waste of time), it did set up the possibility of a season 2 with a more faithful portrayal of the title character.
What Were The Complaints About Book Of Boba Fett Season 1?
When it arrived on Disney+, The Book of Boba Fett received a mixed response from critics and fans alike. Most of the complaints revolved around the show’s characterization of Boba himself. It softened Boba’s edges and turned him into a friendly, compassionate guy. It might make sense for Boba to undergo some growth and personal change after surviving a near-death experience and being humbled by short-term enslavement, but he just didn’t seem like the ice-cold gunslinging badass that Star Wars fans fell in love with back in 1980.
Two entire episodes of The Book of Boba Fett’s seven-episode run pivoted away from Boba to focus on other characters (he has a blink-and-miss-it cameo appearance in one scene across two whole episodes). One of these episodes is essentially a Mandalorian season 3 premiere wedged into a Boba Fett show. It reintroduces a Grogu-less Mando wielding the Darksaber. He’s back to a simple life of bounty hunting while he waits for Grogu to finish his Jedi training with Luke Skywalker. The other Boba-free episode follows Mando on a visit to Luke’s Jedi academy, where he sees Grogu and catches up with Ahsoka Tano. When the episode finally returns to Tatooine, it focuses on Cobb Vanth and Cad Bane. The episode will give screen time to literally anyone in the Star Wars universe besides the series’ title character.
There was also an outlaw biker gang that rode around on multicolored space Vespas that moved at a snail’s pace. These hovering space Vespas took center stage in the slowest chase in Star Wars history. It’s not the most egregious thing in the world to have slow-moving bikes with Power Rangers color-coding, but it is a prime example of the lameness of the show’s action.
Could A Book Of Boba Fett Season 2 Fix Things?
There’s a chance for The Book of Boba Fett season 2 to right the wrongs of season 1 if it actually focuses on Boba and doesn’t just use a Boba Fett story as a backdoor into a Mandalorian story. A galaxy far, far away is full of enemies with whom Boba has unfinished business, like Han Solo and Mace Windu. The Book of Boba Fett season 2 needs to be a true space western with a badass gunfighter going from planet to planet, exacting revenge on his old foes.