Episode one of The Book of Boba Fett has the same spaghetti Western adventure meets sci-fi feel to it that helped make its predecessor The Mandalorian such a stand-out show. It also possesses the same depth of writing that shows the audience just enough to get them interested without revealing too much.
What we do learn pretty quickly is the answer to the question that we’ve all been wondering ever since Boba Fett (played by Temuera Morrison) made his surprising and celebratory return to the Star Wars universe in The Mandalorian. Which is how, exactly, he escaped from that Sarlacc pit that he so unceremoniously disappeared into during Return of the Jedi.
To fans of Boba Fett, his supposed demise always felt a little lacking for a character that, although mysterious, had such an air of badassery about him. Therefore, it was with no small amount of satisfaction that we learned that his escape was just about as badass as we had expected it to be. I mean, anyone that manages to escape from a Sarlacc pit has to be pretty badass anyway, right?
Badass escape notwithstanding, it turns out that the Sarlacc was the least of Boba’s worries as he encounters several other lifeforms native to the planet Tatooine, none of whom seem very friendly towards him. One thing is clear, and that’s that Boba had to fight long and hard to get to the station that we see him at in The Mandalorian.
To that end, the episode flashes between Boba’s past beginning at his escape from the Sarlacc pit and his present, where he and his personal assassin, Fennec Shand (played by Ming-Na Wen), have taken control of Jabba the Hutt’s old territory on Tatooine and are fighting to keep their hold on it. It seems clear that, if Boba intends to be the dominant crime lord that Jabba was, he will have to use both physical force and some political subversiveness to do so. However, even just this first episode shows us that, if anyone is up to the task, Boba Fett is.
Of course, it helps that Boba has Fennec by his side. Just as shrewd, fierce, and beautiful as she was in The Mandalorian, Fennec proves her worth over and over again as she both advises Boba and fights alongside him against those who would oppose him. One of my personal favorite things about the Star Wars universe is that the female characters have almost always been portrayed as just as formidable and capable as the male characters, and Fennec is no exception. As we learn more about Boba’s history, I think it will also be interesting to see how the association between Boba and Fennec evolves.
All in all, this was a promising and captivating first episode. It was over before I wanted it to be, which is a sign that they’ve just touched the tip of the iceberg with this storyline. I’m excited to see where it goes, and what adventures are to come.
Angela “LaLa” Rairden is an avid fan of comic books, Star Wars, and most things nerdy. A cosplayer, she loves to attend comic cons dressed as her favorite fictional characters, particularly Harley Quinn. Although her day job is at a grocery store, writing has always been her true calling. She lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she is currently writing her first novel.