TV REVIEW: The Book of Boba Fett S1E2: “The Tribes of Tatooine”
I’ll be honest about this from the outset; as much of a Star Wars fan as I am, Boba Fett is not a character that stood out as a particular favorite for most of his history. He stood out in the original trilogy mainly on the strength of the armor’s iconic design and the mystery surrounding the character, and to be fair, he worked in those films. However, he never interested me that much as a character until the second season of The Mandalorian, where he finally began to earn his fearsome reputation as a bounty hunter. By the end of that season, when Boba Fett kills Bib Fortuna to claim the throne of Jabba the Hutt, I became interested in where this series was going.
Although the first episode is somewhat shaky, the second one is an improvement and demonstrates some consistency. The show takes some time to warm up, in part because there are two running threads throughout The Book of Boba Fett. The first consists of Boba in the present, several years after Return of the Jedi, as he attempts to rule as crimelord of Tatooine. The second thread is a flashback scenario, focusing on Boba’s memories of his years after fighting his way out of the Sarlacc Pit and his time among the Tusken Raiders. This is a good general setup, filling in the gaps in Boba’s past and fleshing out his character while also moving forward with the current storyline.
In practice, the result is somewhat more of a mixed bag than I expected, although still being generally enjoyable. The issue is one of expectations, and it’s unfortunate. One might reasonably expect Boba’s efforts to replace Jabba as Daimyo to be the most interesting, but in fact, this thread turns out to be less interesting than the flashbacks. The scenes in the present end up being more slowly paced, more built on intrigue than action, and with Boba doing less. (Of course, that may change in later episodes, as this episode hints at promising conflicts between Boba’s organization and the Hutts.) In contrast, the flashbacks are much more action-packed, push Boba’s character to more difficult extremes, and give Boba with more interesting things to do. There’s also a deeper sense of character development for Boba in the flashbacks, as he changes from being a simple bounty hunter to surviving among the Tusken tribesmen in the desert. Probably Boba’s most awesome moment in the episode is the bar fight in the flashback sequence, where Boba cuts loose with the action in a way he doesn’t seem to in the crimelord scenes. While the episode’s writing is generally solid, and good enough to get through the series, it doesn’t quite hit the high notes as the better Mandalorian episodes at this point.
The cast for this episode is also reasonably solid, held together mainly by its two leads. Temuera Morrison is always welcome in the role of Boba Fett, having portrayed Jango back in Attack of the Clones. He has a strong presence in the lead role, and he makes Boba seem distinct from Jango or any of the other clones we’ve seen in Star Wars. Morrison also does a good job of showing Boba’s development in the different stages of his life, looking visibly different between the present and past versions while being recognizably the same person. Ming Na-Wen is an actress that I respect greatly, from Mulan to Agents of SHIELD, and I’ve enjoyed seeing her as Fennec Shand. Her dynamic with Boba is enjoyable to watch, representing a practical counterpoint to Fett’s more restrained and honorable worldview. The remainder of the cast works well enough in their roles, though some of them haven’t had the opportunity to truly shine in these roles yet. This may come in future episodes, however, especially with antagonists like the Hutt twins and Black Krrsantan.
As someone who has loved The Mandalorian so far, I haven’t quite seen the same spark in Book of Boba Fett just yet. There is still room for growth on that score, and I have faith in Favreau and Filoni to deliver that in the remaining episodes. That having been said, even as is, the show is still enjoyable as an SF/Western series dealing with Tatooine and the criminal underworld. The Tusken Raiders especially have been expanded well in these episodes, and I hope to see that deepened in the rest of the season. This series has been at its most effective in filling in the backstory gaps in Boba’s life and portraying Tatooine as a more compelling setting, and for now, that’s good enough for me.
Score: 4/5
Director: Steph Green
Writer: Jon Favreau
Cast: Temuera Morrison, Ming Na-Wen, Matt Berry, David Pasquesi, Jennifer Beals, Carey Jones, Joanna Bennett, Xavier Jimenez, Paul Darnell
Author Profile
- Steve Sellers had been a fan of superheroes ever since Superman: The Movie. But it took the JSA, the Legion of Super-Heroes, Dragonlance, Lord of the Rings, Twilight Zone, and Chris Claremont's legendary run on the X-Men to make him a writer and a longtime fan of comics, fantasy, and science fiction. Steve is the co-creator of WHITE DRUID & MICHAEL NERO and GUARDIANS OF ELAYIM for Omen Comics, and he is also the creator of BLITZ and SHOCKWAVE for Revelation Comics (an imprint of Omen Comics).
