The Book of Boba Fett has a problem justifying its own existence. The Mandalorian was as close as one could possibly come to making a story about Boba Fett without having him as the main character, and yet here we are with another show about another guy in the exact same armour, in the same space Spaghetti Western setting, in the same line of work. How do you make a show about a guy that isn't derivative of the derivative?
Getting past the first problem of Boba Fett being a redundant character, the show is also tripped up by the fact that he was never an interesting character to begin with. From the original movies, Fett had about five lines, and one of those was "Arghghgh!" as he fell down a hole to a clumsy death. Boba Fett does not ever manage resolve this fundamental lack of established character. From the first episode on, we learn that Fett aspires to be mob boss, but we never learn why he's doing it or what he hopes to achieve. We are also never invited to really care about it. The show depends entirely on reverence to the character to keep watchers invested, and it doesn't prove enough.
It also doesn't help that Fett is a thoroughly incompetent gangster, even if the show pretends otherwise. He is extraordinarily gullible for someone in his line of work, he never does any criminal activity beyond accepting protection money he doesn't deserve, and he refuses to delegate even the most trifling of tasks. Better writers might have wrote that incompetence into the character, and perhaps given Fett a reason to be persevering against these obstacles. Instead we are simply not meant to notice him being constantly outwitted and trapped.
Another problem is that Temuera Morrison is long in the tooth and lacks the physicality to pull off action scenes. That's a bad for an action adventure story, and the show tries to get around it by avoiding being about Fett. Several of the episodes barely have him cameoing in his own show, the plot instead focussing on younger, fitter, marginally more interesting characters to carry the story. It's not good when a show has to avoid its main character just to be entertaining. The show also doubles down on the excessive fan service stuff that I disliked from season 2 of The Mandalorian. There are some ludicrously long digressions to explore what are basically glorified cameos.
If there is anything I liked about the series, its that there are some fun alien and droid designs. Episode two has a fun train heist involving badass Tuskens and a robot Casey Jones, and I think I would have enjoyed more of those sorts of plots. Then again, it also felt like a Mandalorian episode. More redundancy. Boba Fett is a bizarre exercise in providing unnecessary, bland content. Nothing was offensively wrong with the show, but nothing is particularly right about it either.
The Gangsters Who Don't Do Anything
The Book of Boba Fett has a problem justifying its own existence. The Mandalorian was as close as one could possibly come to making a story about Boba Fett without having him as the main character, and yet here we are with another show about another guy in the exact same armour, in the same space Spaghetti Western setting, in the same line of work. How do you make a show about a guy that isn't derivative of the derivative?
Getting past the first problem of Boba Fett being a redundant character, the show is also tripped up by the fact that he was never an interesting character to begin with. From the original movies, Fett had about five lines, and one of those was "Arghghgh!" as he fell down a hole to a clumsy death. Boba Fett does not ever manage resolve this fundamental lack of established character. From the first episode on, we learn that Fett aspires to be mob boss, but we never learn why he's doing it or what he hopes to achieve. We are also never invited to really care about it. The show depends entirely on reverence to the character to keep watchers invested, and it doesn't prove enough.
It also doesn't help that Fett is a thoroughly incompetent gangster, even if the show pretends otherwise. He is extraordinarily gullible for someone in his line of work, he never does any criminal activity beyond accepting protection money he doesn't deserve, and he refuses to delegate even the most trifling of tasks. Better writers might have wrote that incompetence into the character, and perhaps given Fett a reason to be persevering against these obstacles. Instead we are simply not meant to notice him being constantly outwitted and trapped.
Another problem is that Temuera Morrison is long in the tooth and lacks the physicality to pull off action scenes. That's a bad for an action adventure story, and the show tries to get around it by avoiding being about Fett. Several of the episodes barely have him cameoing in his own show, the plot instead focussing on younger, fitter, marginally more interesting characters to carry the story. It's not good when a show has to avoid its main character just to be entertaining. The show also doubles down on the excessive fan service stuff that I disliked from season 2 of The Mandalorian. There are some ludicrously long digressions to explore what are basically glorified cameos.
If there is anything I liked about the series, its that there are some fun alien and droid designs. Episode two has a fun train heist involving badass Tuskens and a robot Casey Jones, and I think I would have enjoyed more of those sorts of plots. Then again, it also felt like a Mandalorian episode. More redundancy. Boba Fett is a bizarre exercise in providing unnecessary, bland content. Nothing was offensively wrong with the show, but nothing is particularly right about it either.