Legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett has survived his date with death and is looking to turn over a new leaf. After eliminating the ruthless Bib Fortuna, Boba Fett has taken over the former throne of Jabba the Hutt. Following a complicated run with a family of Tusken Raiders, Boba swears to be a better person with his new loyal companion Fennec Shand by his side. 

 The Book of Boba Fett is a 2021 space western series, it is produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by Walt Disney. It airs exclusively on Disney+ and season one is available in its entirety. 

Editor’s Note: Near complete spoilers for The Book of Boba Fett season one may be present within this review.

Set after the events of The Mandalorian season two Boba Fett now rules the former throne of Jabba the Hutt. Since meeting Din & Grogu and having his armor returned Boba has considered leaving his former occupation behind. Sick of risking his life for criminals who only want to harm Boba decides to change his life opting instead to be a protector. Naturally, things don’t go the way the former bounty hunter has planned and he finds himself facing powerful forces from all sides. 

THE GOOD: Boba Fett has survived his near death via the sarlacc. Soon after Fett encounters a family of Tusken Raiders who capture him. After proving himself capable he gains the trust of the group and it’s leader who teaches Fett Tusken combat training. He successfully raids a train with the group and officially becomes an honorary member. One night while returning from an outing he finds the raiders killed. Forced to move onward he buries the family leading to his re-appearance in The Mandalorian. 

Back in the present Boba and Fennec tour the city to get to know the locals. Following a visit to the local bar the two are attacked by hitmen. Fennec captures one alive and interrogates him revealing that the Mayor may have sent out the attack. Boba & Fennec have a heated meeting with the mayor over tribute but seemingly comes to terms with an agreement. Members of Hutt’s family arrive with the employee of Wookie bounty hunter Krrsantan to threaten Fett into returning the the throne to them. He refuses and the group leave with a warning. He soon stops a group of thieving cyborgs who stole water from Mos Espa at the request of Lortha Peel. He hires the same group as enforces and tells Peel to lower his price of water to make it more affordable. 

Krrsantan on orders from the Hutt twins attack Fett’s headquarters leading to a battle with Fett, Shand, and the cyborg group. They capture him and keep him alive, sometime later the twins arrive apologize and release Krrsantan from his deal. Fett lets Krrsantan leave and warns him of the dangers of being a bounty hunter due to the people who hire them. Fett later acquires a Rancor from the twins for the pit which was previously empty and trains it. They find Shaiz an assistant to the Mayor and learn he’s been working with the Pykes a gang who protects the spice trade. While returning to the bar Fett finds Krrsantan attacking a group of Trandoshans he consoles him and hires him as a member of his new crew. He tries to unite all of the crime groups against the Pykes but they refuse, instead he convinces them to remain neutral. Fett & Shand prepare to gather more forces as they feel an impending war is coming. Shand tracks down Din Djarin who just finished up a job and offers him payment to aide Fett. Djarin refuses the payment telling Shand to consider his employ an owed favor finally paid. 

Following a completion of a contract Djarin reunites with the remaining members of the Mandalorians (the Armorer and Paz Vizsla) who now have a secret hideout with plans to rebuild the clan. The Armorer creates armor for Grogu using the beskar spear at request from Djarin. He shows the Dark Saber to the Armorer who agrees to try and teach him how to control it properly. Djarin is challenged to battle for the Dark Saber by an agitated Vizsla who is a descendant of it’s creator. Vizsla loses the battle but Djarin reveals he was forced to remove his helmet and must go on a journey to redeem himself & title as Mandalore. He meets Peli Motto who had been in the process of acquiring a ship for him. The modify an old N-1 starfighter & after a test run Djarin accepts it as his new ship. He heads off to the location where Grogu is and after witnessing Luke Skywalker train him he converses with Ashoka Tano who tries to explain that his presence will distract Grogu from his training & destiny. 

Djarin gives Tano the armor and aides Fett & Shand in gathering forces. Djarin finds Cobb Vanth who had confronted Pyke traders earlier. He attempts to enlist Vanth, but is refused as Vanth has a duty to protect Freetown. Djarin departs disappointed but understanding and Cad Bane arrives shooting Vanth & his deputy. Skywalker is training Grogu and helps him unlock memories of his past including the moment he was captured during Order 66. The Sanctuary is later bombed and Skywalker provides Grogu with a harsh choice by presenting him with Djarin’s gifted armor & a lightsaber (originally belonging to Yoda) gifted by Luke. R2-D2 flies Grogu off to Motto’s hangar where he looks for Djarin seemingly making his choice. Bane and the Pykes confront Fett and his forces with the former revealing that the Pykes killed Fett’s adoptive Tusken family. As the battle begins Fett & co. are betrayed by the other crime gangs and outnumbered. The citizens of Freetown arrive and save them seeking revenge for Vanth and the deputy.

Two shielded Scorpenek droids arrive giving the enemy forces the edge. Motto & Grogu appear and Grogu helps destroy one of the droids. Fett gets his rancor who destroys the other droid but soon goes on a rampage due to Cad Bane’s attack. Bane & Fett fight with Bane initially getting the upper hand, but Fett reluctantly kills him with his staff gifted by the Tuskens. Grogu calms and puts the rancor to sleep using the force. Shand kills the mayor, Shaiz, the treacherous crime lords, and the remaining Pyke forces freeing all effected by their influence. Fett and his group are praised as heroes by the citizens as Djarin & Grogu fly off together. Vanth is later revealed to be alive healing in Fett’s bacta tank. 

The Book of Boba Fett is probably one of the strangest things we’ll ever watch and not merely due to being a Star Wars project. It’s a literal tale of two cities kind of thing only it’s a tale of two Mandalorians with focus on Fett and later Din Djarin. Even stranger the quality of the series ramps up to one hundred during the Djarin heavy episodes. This is largely due to the character shift of Boba Fett from hardened killer for hire to honorable leader to the people. The other reason is due to mysteries I can’t currently begin to understand as of this writing. The Djarin episodes also serve as the more fan service based episodes with appearances of Ashoka Tano, Luke Skywalker, and Grogu.

The episodes that are fully focused on Fett tend to act as character and world building. In that regard they work well enough to establish a background for those who haven’t watched any of the Star Wars animated series which heavily featured the character. Shand being the competent & loyal right hand of Fett is also one of the more enjoyable episodes of the series. 

THE BAD: There’s some slight retconning of Boba Fett’s character that’s sure to piss off some longtime fans. I get wanting to humanize Fett, but there’s no reason why Fett can’t be humanized and still be the badass that he’s been historically known ass. The softening up of Boba felt a bit phoned in at times. The idea of Fett wanting to redeem his family name is great I just think there was a better way of going about it than what they chose to do. The second half of the series also nearly completely abandons Fett & Shand in favor of closing off some lingering threads from The Mandalorian. And the worst part is these episodes are the most enjoyable of the show. This shouldn’t be a bad thing, but when you consider this is a Boba Fett series it’s a bit of a bad look for the titular hero.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: While a fun continuation of the legendary story of legacy Star Wars character Boba Fett The Book of Boba Fett ultimately hurts that very same legacy by putting too many eggs in one basket. A dueling story with Fett/Shand & Din Djarin/Grogu pits the quality of the entire series strangely at odds with itself as it struggles a bit to find it’s full identity. However, when The Book of Boba Fett knows exactly what it is it’s moments like these that make the ride worth the price of admission. Otaku Dome gives The Book of Boba Fett a 75 out of 100.