The Book of Boba Fett Review: A slow, assured preface to the story of the galaxy's feared Bounty Hunter

When a cape fluttered against the desert sun of Tatooine in Chapter 5 of Season 1 of The Mandalorian, fans of Star Wars went into a frenzy trying to decode who the character was. It wouldn't be until the second season of The Mandalorian, in Chapter 14, that the character was revealed as Boba Fett, one of the greatest cult characters in Star Wars universe. Boba Fett, while probably not having more than 15 minutes of screentime across the original trilogy, was a top-selling toy across the world for decades for George Lucas. Between the fandoms of Jedis and Siths, there was always a space for the deadly beskar armour wearing bounty hunters, who packed weapons galore. I wanted a jetpack to fly around Chennai thanks to Boba Fett long before such a thought became fashionable through the GTA games.

Cast: Temuera Morrison, Ming-Na Wen, Pedro Pascal
Created by: Jon Favreau

It is this backdrop that set up sky-high expectations for The Book of Boba Fett when it was announced as a post-credit scene in The Mandalorian Season 2. Four episodes in, what ideally should have been a weekly trending topic on social media and pop culture references in our everyday conversations, Star War fans were extremely muted in their reactions to the series. The events of the series, set five years after The Return of the Jedi, focuses these four episodes to merge the past with the present. While the galaxy assumes that the feared bounty hunter was dead, having been pushed into the Sarlacc pit by Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in The Return of the Jedi, the series shows his near-impossible escape from death. It is a chance for a new life, a rebirth, the remaking of what Boba Fett is and can potentially be. It is here that the first four episodes strip him of his mercenary armor (literally and figuratively) and help him learn what it is like to wear something far more powerful -- a sense of being. These four episodes have a meditative pace to them while also taking their time in world-building, setting it slowly up for the seventh episode, the finale. The only criticism I would lay at the foot of these episodes is that it was not the best experience for a weekly watcher when compared to binge-watching. You kept looking out for that quintessential Star Wars experience and it was far too sporadic.

However, the show made it all up in the next two episodes directed by Bryce Dallas Howard and Dave Filoni. Taking a page out of the way Star Wars' cousin company Marvel built its multiverse, these two episodes bring back Din Djarin, Luke Skywalker, Grogu aka Baby Yoda, Ahsoka, and one of the most feared bounty hunters in the Star Wars Clone Wars series making his first live-action debut. This is fan service done right while moving the story forward. These two episodes set up three future shows of Star Wars at a single go -- Ahsoka, Kenobi, and The Mandalorian Season 3 -- while at the same time ensuring continuity from its animated series offering of last year - The Bad Batch. And all this while not stepping on the toes of The Book of Boba Fett. These really felt like chapters in a book featuring different characters.

This series more than any in the Star Wars verse pays tribute to its original inspiration -- Frank Herbert's Dune. While not intentional, this film can be seen as a companion piece to Denis Villeneuve's latest offering. The religion explored is that of Mandalore, the Fremen here are Tusken Raiders and spice ...well is always... spice. This series continues the wonderful return to form that The Mandalorian had showcased to another of Lucas' inspirations -- the westerns. Star Wars was always a space western and the opening and closing of the terrific sixth episode (From The Desert Comes a Stranger directed by the man who should really be given creative control of all Star Wars -- Dave Filoni) is a straight homage to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Filoni is a masterful storyteller and has proved multiple times in the past but it is Bryce Dallas Howard who steals the series with two wonderful moments in the fifth episode -- a tracking shot of Djin Djarin that showcases the life of a Bounty Hunter in an everyday setting, and the building of a terrific star ship step by step with so many callbacks to the original and the prequel trilogies.

The Book of Boba Fett reads more like a foreword to the exploits of the galaxy's most feared bounty hunter turned Tattoine's upcoming crime lord. The finale has an episode stealing two minutes of pure horror featuring Ming Na Wen's Fennec Shand showcasing her particular set of skills, but more than that it has set up what seems to be Boba Fett's slow but assured takeover of Tattoine. More pages are yet to be written and I can't wait to read them.