"Boba Fett" is a Tricky One

 Many spoilers ahead

This is not a traditional review of "The Book of Boba Fett," because I have very little to say about its quality.  It's all the meta stuff going on behind the scenes that's more interesting.  "The Book of Boba Fett" is the latest "Star Wars" universe miniseries about the adventures of Boba Fett, as played by Temuera Morrison, with Ming Na's Fennec Shand as his adjutant.  Both characters were previously seen in episodes of "The Mandalorian," so this can be considered a spinoff show.  And for four episodes, that's exactly what it is.  Fett decides to take over Jabba the Hutt's vacated seat as a "daimyo" of Tatooine's underworld, and we watch his efforts to gather allies and consolidate power, interspersed with flashbacks that get us up to speed on how Boba Fett got to this point after his encounter with the Sarlacc pit in "Return of the Jedi."

And frankly, this is boring.  Morrison is great as Fett, but the show is not about the mysterious bounty hunter from the original trilogy of "Star Wars" films, but instead a much older version of the character who has decided to settle down in the most familiar corner of the "Star Wars" universe and become a benevolent gangster overlord.  Suddenly he's a nice badass who wants to take care of his community instead of the guy known for his disintegrations.  Setting the show on Tatooine also means that we get plenty of cameos from alien species we already know from "Star Wars" and "Return of the Jedi."  Tusken Raiders, Rancors, Gamorreans, and Twi'leks show up.  Nostalgic references are everywhere, and frankly tiresome at this point.  However, whenever the show does introduce new elements like a cyberpunk biker gang, it's not great.  Jon Favreau is credited with writing every episode, and Robert Rodriguez directed more episodes than anyone else, so I'm holding these two responsible.

The only interesting thing about "The Book of Boba Fett" is that it's seven episodes long instead of four, and those last three episodes are essentially an extra half-season of "The Mandalorian."  Boba Fett is barely even in two of them, which are focused on the adventures of Mando and little Grogu figuring out how to move forward after the finale of the last season of "The Mandalorian."  Luke Skywalker shows up again, still sounding weird and stilted, but looking better than his last appearance.  Amy Sedaris, Timothy Olyphant, and Rosario Dawson are all back, and there are obvious tech upgrades everywhere.  And it's clear that even though Boba Fett's name is on the show, these "Star Wars" series are all part of one big narrative now.  There's no way you can watch this miniseries without being caught up on "The Mandalorian," and fans of "The Mandalorian" are going to need to watch "Book of Boba Fett" before moving on to the third season.  Mando and Grogu don't just have cameos here, but actually resolve some big character arcs and change their status quo.

So, going forward, we can't trust that any of these "Star Wars" shows to play by the rules.  To follow the further adventures of Mando and Grogu, we might have to tune into the upcoming Ahsoka Tano series or the Cassian Andor series.  I wouldn't even rule out tie-ins to "Obi Wan Kenobi" at this rate.  This also means that we can expect the same sort of reliance on nostalgia and familiarity for the foreseeable future, no matter which character's name is on a series.  We're about to see a shift from most of the references involving the original "Star Wars" movies to references to the prequel series and the various animated shows.

I'm curious as to whether the decision to add the "Mandalorian" characters was made from the beginning, or after "Boba Fett" was in production and people behind the scenes realized that it wasn't going to be very good.  This has clearly been one of the weakest "Star Wars" outings so far, and one of the most calculated in its dispersal of bits of familiar IP.  Every episode is built around a familiar guest star or piece of classic "Star Wars" iconography.  And it's clearly not a coincidence that the marketing push for "Obi Wan Kenobi" started up right after the last episode was released.      

I hate getting more cynical about these shows, but the shameless, formulaic pandering is starting to wear me down.

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