'The Book of Boba Fett' Episode 1: "Stranger In a Strange Land" Recap and Review
The premier episode leaves much to be desired and acts more as a prologue than a Chapter one
WARNING: Contains Spoilers
When introducing a new lead character, whether it be a show or movie, it is very important to establish what motivates the character and why we should care. The benefit of having an established character lead a series is that audience usually have a general idea of what makes them tick and already care about the character. This has been the bread and butter of Marvel for the better part of the last two decades and should carry over to one of the most popular characters of the Star Wars IP, but it doesn’t. Boba Fett has been a no more than a flat and mysterious side character through most of his existence. Yes, his character was expanded upon slightly in the much-lauded Clone Wars series but to a general audience, nothing has changed. That is not to say the stoic and mysterious nature of Boba Fett hasn’t worked, he remains an extremely popular character because of those reasons, but his role has always been that of a supporting character. Now that Boba is the lead character the mystery should have been stripped back a bit to reveal a bit of depth but as of now, he is just as flat and empty as the desert he crawled out of.
Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) begins his journey in the healing waters of a Bacta tank where his is haunted by memories of his past. it is in his dreams where we see his escape from the Sarlacc pit. After he crawls out of the sand, his gear is stolen by a roving group of Jawas then is captured by a band of Tusken Raiders. They drag him to their camp and hold him prisoner with another unlucky soul. At night, he is guarded only by an alien guard dog, so Boba seizes the opportunity, cuts the rope binding him. He offers to help the other prisoner, but the prisoner rats him out and Boba flees into the desert while being chased by a group of raiders. They catch up to Boba and he has a one-on-one showdown with one of the raiders. He is no match. They knock him out and sake him back. Suddenly he is awoken from his dream by Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen). He emerges from the tank, dons his trademark armor and sits upon Jabba the Hut’s old throne as his droid UK2-B (Matt Berry) ushers in his new underlings to present him with tribute. All goes well until an emissary of the Mayor comes in and demands tribute from him. They decide not to kill him and send him away just as he gains a couple Gamorrean bodyguards. Boba, Fennec and their new bodyguards set out to explore the town. They come across a very hip cantina where they meet the lovely Twi’lek owner Garsa Fwip (Jennifer Beals). The two establish the new power dynamic now that Boba is in charge Garsa promptly presents Boba with a helmet full of tribute. Suddenly they are ambushed and surrounded by an unknown group of attackers who almost get the better of them, if it weren’t for the new bodyguards. The fight turns quickly into Boba’s favor as they take out most of the would-be assassins. Fennec chases after two of the assassins and Boba is whisked away to the Bacta Tank to heal. Fennec dispatches one and takes the other in to be questioned later. Once again Boba is plagues by memories of the past, back in the Tusken Raider camp he and the other captive are led away by a Tusken child to dig for water. The dig lasts into the afternoon, and all seems well until they are attacked by a six limbed sand creature that easily kills the other captive. Boba tries to fight but is tossed away with ease. The creature turns its attention to the Tusken child. Just as the creature gets to the child, Boba jumps on its back and chokes it to death with the chain. Boba and the Tusken child return to the camp with the creature’s head as a trophy. As a sign of thanks, the Tusken Chief shares his water with Boba.
When we last saw Boba Fett, he was sitting upon his throne as the new crime lord of Mos Espa, nothing of note has changed. Boba is settling into this new role as crime lord and has already made some friends and enemies. This mysterious Mayor is set to be the main antagonist, assuming the parkour assassins were sent by him, and Garsa Fwip may be a re-occurring ally but other than that Boba and Fennec are pretty lonely. Their dynamic isn’t particularly interesting either. As good as Temura Morrison and Ming-Na Wen are, their interactions are wooden and flat. For the series sake, hopefully their interactions improve. They took the time to explain how Boba managed to escape the Sarlacc Pit, the explanation being as simple as: flamethrower. It doesn’t seem like much thought or effort was put into answering that question when compared to the answers given in the Star Wars Legends. The Tusken Raiders were nice to see, but again, their lack of communication skills severely hampers their interactions. As far as story is concerned, not much has happened really, the only difference between the begging of the episode and the end is the presence of the Parkour Assassins. So, considering the wide-open nature of the conclusion to the episode, the story could go anywhere.
So far, the only part of the series that is worth returning for is the fact that the lead character is Boba Fett, in theory. If you truly examine Boba Fett as a character, there isn’t much to him. He was never meant to have depth because he has a jetpack, something he forgot in his fight with the Parkour Assassins. Boba Fett was invented to sell toys, and in that goal, he has succeeded, but it takes more than a flamethrower to carry a series. If his lack of depth continues like this then the series needs some major help in the story department. Maybe the series needs a… mascot, something small, cute, green maybe, recognizable from Star Wars lore. Eureka! Baby Greedo, that should break the internet.