Everyone Goes to Tatooine

[setsuled]

A surprisingly good episode of The Book of Boba Fett last night considering it was directed by Bryce Dallas Howard. She directed some of the weakest episodes of The Mandalorian and I still think her presence on these shows is Disney paying back Ron Howard for stepping in on Solo. But she actually did a decent job on the fairly low key episode last night though, since it relied mainly on baked in, previous established elements, most of the credit probably has to go to the writing and performances.



The clues last week that Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) would appear this week turn out to have understated the fact. Not only did he appear, he took over the whole show, basically making this a new episode of The Mandalorian in which Boba Fett didn't even make an appearance. In a way, it makes sense considering the creators had been calling Book of Boba Fett "The Mandalorian season 2.5". But with only seven episodes for Boba Fett, I don't quite see why a lot of this material couldn't have been saved for Mandalorian season three.

Anyway, it was cool seeing Din wielding the Dark Sabre. When he cut that guy in half it was pretty much confirmed, if it needed to be, that Boba's reluctance to kill now has nothing to do with Disney policy.



And it was just nice seeing Din again and his colour coordinated armour. It really is a shame Boba has to wear black with dusty green. Obviously Boba changed the armour's original colours from when his father wore it, couldn't he do it again? Or would that be too drastic a change for fans? He can't lose those robes, though, considering how much they mean to him, being gifts from the Tuskens. But, damn, last night proved how much colour coordination matters.

The ring space station was cool. Din reconnecting with his old Mandalorian friends featured some subtle lore smoothing dialogue, confirming that, instead of being representative of all Mandalorians, they are in fact a small cult. Naturally they incorporated their survival into a justification of their beliefs.

There were some logistical problems I had with the episode's writing. Why were the clients desperate to pay so much for just receiving the head of the bounty when surely his death was the important thing? Why did Din risk losing his weapons, particularly the Dark Sabre, just to fly commercial? Why does he accept a new ship with no cargo hold? Does he need space to transport bounties? But it all felt like a nice way of making the world feel a little bigger to spend so much time watching Din and Amy Sedaris working on the thing. Even if it does seem like a bit of indulgence when there's not much story-telling time left this season.

The end of the episode teases an appearance by Grogu before Din finally meets up with Boba. Is Luke training Grogu on Tatooine or is Din heading off-world again? Once again, Luke's complaint about Tatooine in Episode IV, that it's the place furthest from the centre of the galaxy, seems a less and less accurate description. Everyone's going to Tatooine.

Next week is the episode directed and co-written by Dave Filoni which makes me wonder if it's the one in which we'll see Cad Bane. I suppose it would have to be if we're going to see Cad Bane at all, there's not much time left. I'm feeling less and less like Jennifer Beals is going to get a big scene.

The Book of Boba Fett is available on Disney+.

Comments

[insaneladybug]

While I was happy to see Din, I wasn't happy that Boba wasn't in the episode at all! That seems a poor writing choice.

The opening fight was extremely gruesome, moreso than anything I remember on The Mandalorian. I was not happy about that, nor about Din taking back the head as proof of the contract fulfilled. Yuck.

That figures that Din has now been kicked out of his clan for the unforgivable crime of removing his helmet. It seemed like The Mandalorian already established that clan as a break-away cult, so not surprising, but very sad. He needs to find Bo-Katan and other more chill Mandalorians again.

I hope we do see Grogu. I love that Din is still thinking about him.

[yourlibrarian]

But with only seven episodes for Boba Fett, I don't quite see why a lot of this material couldn't have been saved for Mandalorian season three.

Yes, I didn't expect the whole episode to be about him either. I liked it for what it was but I agree that, given how long we've waited for Boba's back story, that we could have waited for one flashback episode to catch up on Din's later on and instead extend Boba's.

In fact, I think there could have been more of an impact if he'd, say, come out of nowhere in his new ship as part of a larger plan Boba and Fennec come up with. Then there would have been curiosity for the next Mandalorian season, wanting to know what he'd been up to and where the ship came from. Given that another season of Mandalorian is assured, there's no reason not to put it off.

Naturally they incorporated their survival into a justification of their beliefs.

Yes, I thought that was nicely done. And the ring station was neat to see. The fact that Din gave up the beskar spear was also interesting and, potentially, symbolic. He turns part of it into a gift for Grogu but it also stays behind when he's kicked out of the order. So it serves as a sacrificial bridge between his old life and new -- a gift given by Jedi becomes a gift to his order. And I suspect he himself will be the (unintentional) gift in return. I'm pretty sure Tar Vizla isn't done with him.

I also thought it quite interesting that he injures himself with the saber during his bounty fight, which emphasizes the need to learn to fight with it. That makes me think that maybe he'll be a recurring connective figure with Ahsoka's series? I kept thinking of Sabine's difficulty in learning to fight with the saber despite being trained by Jedi.

I suspect the flying commercial thing was largely because (a) they wanted the joke, (b) they wanted the callback with the Rodian child later (although I notice this was changed from initial plans, given the ending artwork), (c) and perhaps they also wanted to emphasize why it was important to him to have any ship at this point.

I agree though that the new ship, however good an attack ship and exciting as a callback to Clone Wars, seems entirely impractical for a bounty hunter. Which leads me to suspect that either the ship will be short lived, or else he is going to join forces with Boba more longterm, or else bounty hunting isn't going to figure much in his future because of increasing Jedi connections.

Once again, Luke's complaint about Tatooine in Episode IV, that it's the place furthest from the centre of the galaxy, seems a less and less accurate description. Everyone's going to Tatooine.

Yes, it's particularly interesting because not that much time has elapsed since Luke lived there, whereas by the time of, say, the third trilogy it might make sense that the Outer Rim is becoming less neglected given how much time the Resistance spent in it and that they would likely give it more priority than it got under the first Republic and then the Empire.

The fact that there are regular commercial flights, plus our reminder of the new Republic's reach in the encounter with the X-Wing patrol, suggests that it hasn't been abandoned to lawlessness at least.