The deluge of Star Wars content on Disney+ continues, and the first season of "The Book of Boba Fett" wrapped up this week. Like Bad Batch, it initially didn't strike me as a particularly interesting premise, but I was willing to give it a try. The first episode seemed decent (if not amazing), and I was optimistic to see where it was going to take things next. It seemed to borrow a lot from the Mandalorian, but I was hoping to see it come into its own with time.
Sadly... that didn't really happen, and I found my interest declining with subsequent episodes. The season finale was admittedly quite a spectacle and pretty entertaining in a somewhat over-the-top way, but couldn't entirely make up for the issues I had with the show up to that point.
In a nutshell, I think the showrunners got carried away with trying to be clever with all kinds of references, both to old movies and other Star Wars material, and this ultimately came at the expense of actually telling a compelling story. Boba's motivation for wanting to become the Godfather of Tatooine only receives a fairly weak explanation, and he spends a lot of time just staring at things with little expression. (That's not necessarily a knock on the actor, but probably more of an issue with the writing and direction.) I wanted to like him and care about what was happening, but the show provided very little to latch on to. When a certain character asks Boba "What's your angle?" in the last episode, I couldn't help but shout at the screen: "Good question!"
Instead we get a lot of moments and scenes that were clearly conceived primarily to reference something else or because someone thought it'd look cool, with little consideration for how each item would serve the story and whether what's being shown made any sort of logical sense in-universe (spice trains with snipers hunting down sand people on a desert planet). I had this issue with some parts of Mandalorian as well, but was mostly able to forgive them there because they were balanced out by some very strong material and characterisation. This was not the case here, so the result just felt bad and disappointing.
Ultimately, I didn't dislike the show, but I didn't love it either. Of all the Star Wars TV shows I've seen so far (Clone Wars, Rebels, Mandalorian & Bad Batch), it's easily my least favourite. Sorry, Boba.
I enjoyed the season for what it was, but yeah it wasn't the smoothest production. I hope one day we'll find out if there were production problems causing the issues or if the season was filmed as designed. I do think the show had the burden of setting things up for other shows (season 3 of The Mandalorian and show).
ReplyDeleteI absolutely *loved* the whole season. Sure it had its odd moments, but nothing stood out as bad or took me out of the enjoyment.
ReplyDeleteI also had no issues with Boba's motivations. To me, it all felt quite coherent. He was this mythical figure in the bounty hunting world until he was brought low by a fight he likely expected to win. Then, with nothing, he found unlikely kindred spirits amongst the Tusken. The inciting moment in his decision to take over as Daimyo of Mos Espa appears to have been finding his entire adopted tribe of Tusken wiped out by the Pykes and their allies. The entire season has, it seems to me, been an attempt to build a power base to strike back at them. Along the way he has, of course, found other reasons to care about the citizens of Mos Espa.
The heavy emphasis on the flashbacks (it felt like the show was 60-70% flashbacks, with minimal focus on the present) was maybe handled a bit jankily, though, and I certainly had moments of confusion as to his motivations. That question to Boba about his "angle" was, I think, meant to make the audience look back at how everything fits together and come to the conclusions above.
So, this season also then felt like the prologue to Boba's story. Like we are being brought up to speed on his history with little happening in the present. Season 2 will likely be way better in this respect, as his story is only now starting. I am a sucker for backstory and history, though.
That's obviously just one fan's opinion, though, and your mileage may vary. As long as we can always share our thoughts and opinions in a respectful way, though, I am happy.
To be fair, my favorite moments in this season were still those with Mando/Djarin. Admittedly, I have always really appreciated the Mandalorian culture, though, and this may also color my opinions here.
Glad, as always, to get other viewpoints, though. And your comments are, as always, a pleasure to read. It's been way too long since I read your blog. And I had forgotten how much I enjoyed reading it!
Hi Jerzy! It's been a long time indeed! But I still love getting comments that are longer than my original post. XD
DeleteI'm happy for anyone who enjoyed the show. I really wanted to like it too! It just seems to me - also based on your explanation here - that you had to project a lot into it to enjoy it, in the sense that everything you say could be true, but it's not really sufficiently shown or even hinted at in what we actually see on screen.
Personally I found this Polygon article both amusing and really validating... while it's obviously sarcastic in tone, it does highlight a lot of ways in which all the different parts of Boba's story aren't really well joined together.
I will never cease to be amazed by how much our individual perceptions and experiences colour how we see the world, especially art. Am I projecting myself into the show's story? It doesn't feel like it. But, it wouldn't would it? Because how can any of us help but see things from our own perspective?
DeleteI know my opinions are often out of synch with others. This is why I so appreciate interacting with your blog. I am not a fan of confrontation, so I usually withdraw from these sorts of discussions, but your insight and, more importantly, your willingness to respectfully debate (respect being the key word here, much like my pal Boba!), those with differing views is enormously comforting.
Regardless of our differing views on this matter, though, I have to grudgingly agree that the main culprit here was the show's (at times) poor attempts to show us more clearly what the old Hunter is intending. The flashback scenes felt far less connected to the main story than would be ideal. And I definitely feel like they were stronger pieces of storytelling than the "present day" scenes.
When the second season finally rolls around, the showrunners would achieve far better results if they worked to make the flashbacks more integral to the main story and found ways to telegraph Boba's intentions more clearly. Or, maybe just scrap the flashbacks altogether.
Either way, I look forward to it!