**Spoiler warning for The Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian** 

The Book of Boba Fett is a series set in the Star Wars galaxy about the Mandalorian bounty hunter Boba Fett, and his rise in the criminal underworld on Tatooine after the events of The Mandalorian season 2. Set in the year 9 ABY (After the Battle of Yavin) it’s a 7 episode series of which the finale just released on Disney+ on February 9th. This series really focuses on the aftermath of the events of Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, in which Boba Fett falls into the Sarlacc pit. In turn, it expands his character vastly by giving him an emotional core and true morals. 

This series is a really good intermediate step between The Mandalorian season 2 and 3, but as a standalone series, it falters a bit near the end. At the beginning of the series, it was an extremely slow-paced and focused story about how Boba Fett changes as a man after falling into the Sarlacc pit and being taken in by the Tuskens. The way Bobas changes because of the hospitality the Tuskens show him, and how it informs his morals and decision-making while ruling as Daimyo of Tatooine, was laid out in a very good way. The emotional core of this series really lies with Boba’s relationship and kinship with the Tuskan tribe that adopts him. Once the series stops relying on flashbacks to fill in Boba’s time after Episode 6 at about the midway point in the series; it loses track of Bobas connection to the Tuskens. In favor of expanding the scope of the series and relying more heavily on plotlines from The Mandalorian season 2. This isn’t a problem if you factor in how interconnected it is with The Mandalorian already, but it makes it a weaker standalone show. As a result, some storylines from earlier episodes are all but abandoned with some being picked up in the finale. 

On another note, I feel that the world-building this series introduces, mainly for Tatooine, was very fulfilling. The way that the government of Mos Espas’ relationship with the criminal empires of Tatooine was shown was very interesting. The hierarchy of power between the government and criminal empires of Tatooine is set up in a very interesting way; with the government being all but powerless when it comes to bigger criminal enterprises like the Pyke syndicate. It’s interesting how the Daimyo stands in a higher position as the overall criminal ruler of Mos Espa and there are other rulers of smaller sections of the city. It makes sense that the mayor would choose to conspire against the new upcoming criminal empire in Boba Fett, with the more established and powerful Pykes. This makes for an interesting dynamic in that technically Boba is in a higher position as the Daimyo of Mos Espa, but the mayor sides with the Pykes, instead favoring their brute strength in numbers; which unfortunately for the mayor didn’t turn out in his favor in the end. 

The Mandalorian, Din Djarin, was a very good inclusion in the series and was a good continuation of his character arc from The Mandalorian. Din’s reunion with his Mandalorian clan did a really good job at setting up things that will later be fulfilled later on in The Mandalorian season 3 while also giving him enough short-term motivation to believably put off his long term goals to focus on the shorter-term goals. I also think his N1 starfighter is a really cool inclusion and does a wonderful job at foreshadowing his transition from a bounty hunter to a surrogate father, with the N-1 starfighter being a representation of him transitioning his needs and foregoing the need for a larger more bounty hunter capable Razor Crest. I think that this points to his larger character development of him changing from the dogmatic bounty hunter to the more caring father figure to Grogu. 

Overall The Book of Boba Fett is a good series with a few pretty noticeable problems, but all things considered, there’s a lot more good than bad. The character development for Boba was done well with most of the side characters having meaningful and impactful development on their part as well. I really enjoyed the world-building it lays out for Tatooine and the larger Star Wars universe as a whole. And the antagonists were good and I enjoyed the inclusion of Cad Bane quite a lot. In conclusion, I’d give The Book of Boba Fett an 8 out of 10 overall with episodes 2, 5, and 6 being my favorite.