Book of Boba Fett S1, Ep. 1: Not the dream start, but it'll do

After watching Boba Fett come back to life in The Mandalorian, especially in Season 2 when he kicked butt, I was pretty hyped when we learned about Book of Boba Fett spin-off show. As he claimed the throne of recently deceased Jabba the Hutt, Boba seemed poise to be a major player going forward.

The first episode of Book of Boba did something that I did not expect, though. It took us backward in time to lay down some groundwork, though not necessarily for the upcoming story. Of course, it's hard to judge how effective that is now, when we've only seen the opening episode, but I'm sensing that the premiere's goal mainly was to show longtime fans the answer to some lingering questions while catching Mandalorian fans up to speed.

The important thing to understand about the first episode is the timing. The Mandalorian series is supposedly five years after Return of the Jedi, and Boba takes over Jabba's palace at the end of Season 2. We also see flashbacks to Boba's time on Tatooine, starting immediately with continued scenes from Episode VI. The trouble I'm having with what was established in the story is the state of Boba Fett himself. By the time we see him in Mandalorian, he seems back to full strength, but watching him need to jump into a bacta tank multiple times in present day of Book of Boba Fett already has me questioning the continuity of the character's strength a bit.

Return to Return

Finding Boba in a bacta tank was curious (more on that later), but while he was healing, we see some dreams he's having (again, apparently). Since Fett returned in Season 1 of Mandalorian, every fan has wondered exactly how he escaped the Sarlacc Pit in Episode VI. The controversial killing of a beloved character (though the fandom for him has grown far more since well after Episode VI's release) felt like a wasted opportunity, but now we are seeing that mistake corrected. In Boba's dream, we see a quick scene of him all gooey and nasty as the Sarlacc Pit's slow digestive process begins. Having none of that, Fett steals a dead Storm Trooper's oxygen, then flames his way out of the pit, bursting through the sand, with the wreckage from Jabba's sail barge still in the background.

It's a fitting escape, because honestly, what else could they have done? It would've been worse had someone come along and randomly grabbed him out of there instead of seeing him get out on his own. I'm curious if some longtime fans wished they wouldn't have shown his escape at all, instead preserving the mythos of his escape, which was part of Fett's allure in original trilogy in the first place. But I think the limited options for his escape made it a layup to show us visually; it would've been hard to screw that up. Heck, I kind of liked the horror element for the brief moment when he's in the dark and spots the dead trooper.

Raiders of the lost bounty hunter

The rest of Boba's story immediately after his escape involves his run-in with the Tusken Raiders. After a group of Jawas strip Boba of all his stuff (which, as we know from Mandalorian, ends up with the Marshall), the Raiders find a half-dead Boba and capture him. Boba eventually recovers enough to try to escape, but fails. Later, while searching for water shells in the sand (I suppose that's pretty fitting for the sand people; I also think this nugget was in a comic or legends book long ago), Boba and his one fellow captive run into a giant two-story, four-armed sand beast (which apparently doesn't have an official name). Boba grabs his chain and, taking a page from Leia's book after having watched her slay Jabba, chokes this creature to death. When they return to the Raiders' camp, the leaders give Boba some respect (more on that later).

There are two takeaways from these events for the current story. One, Boba is slowly getting back to full strength, but he's not there yet. As I mentioned before, it seemed like he was good to go in Mandalorian, but in this episode, he's apparently still in heavy recovery, even years after his escape. It's a bit unclear. What's worse is the thought of the writers throwing Boba into the tank every episode just so we can get more filler information on how he got to where he is now. Seriously, you can have a flashback moment while he's staring off into the distance. He doesn't need to be attacked and nearly killed every time. I understand that they're trying to grow the character's strength to make the payoff of him becoming totally awesome again worthwhile and earned, but this could be pushing it too much in the other direction.

The second takeaway is that the Tusken Raiders have a tiny bit of civility to them. Granted, they still seem cold-blooded and all about themselves, but now it appears they have a hierarchy, and I'm guessing they also have a sense of what an alliance is. I'm betting we'll see more of Boba's time with the Tusken Raiders (in more flashbacks), and they may end up playing a part in the story later on. Maybe the Tusken Raiders come to defend Boba at some point, who knows.

Clear Danger in the Present

The weakest portions of the episode involved Boba trying to establish himself as the new sheriff in town now that Jabba and Bib Fortuna are gone. With Fennec Shand (played by Ming-Na Wen) as his loyal assassin, the two of them are trying to figure out who they can trust and who will pose problems for them. It was fun to see the two Gamorrean guards, who previously worked for Jabba and Bib Fortuna, swear their allegiance to them (I'm guessing they're the same two that encountered Luke in Episode VI, maybe?).

Boba and Fennec have an awkward conversation with the Mayor's assistant; the Mayor is implying that Boba and Fennec should be answering to him. I'm guessing this could turn into one of the main story lines, especially if the Mayor is someone cool and we have an awesome cameo-like introduction (we hear the name Mok Shaiz, but that name is not an already established character in Star Wars, so either it's someone new, or that's not really the Mayor's name).

Later, after Boba and Fennec shun the assistant, they are attacked and surrounded by the Mayor's goonies (presumably) and their big energy shields. By far the worst scene of the episode, Boba and Fennec have a slow-paced showdown, with the help from the two Gamorrean guards. Boy, this scene was terrible. The action was slow, the camerawork and overall directing was hit or miss, the choreography was stale. It left a lot to be desired. Boba also didn't have his helmet on (which plays into the Mandalore wars concepts), which left him exposed. I guess walking around without his helmet on makes it easier to rule with respect than fear, an idea he may have picked up from the Tusken Raiders. And again, why did Boba seem so much more battle ready in Mandalorian than he does here?

Theory time

To recap, this episode felt far more like a one-off bridge episode that re-establishes the Boba Fett character. Seven episodes seems like an odd (no pun intended...or maybe it was) number of episodes for the show, so the premiere might just be a long intro that got split into its own episode, especially because it didn't really open up any major story avenues or plot twists yet.

That's where theories come in! I know, theorizing usually only leads to disappointments, but hey, anything is possible. The story is pretty wide open now, honestly. The first angle to look at with predictions requires observing the rest of the Star Wars universe at this time. We know that Luke Skywalker and Grogu are out there somewhere. We also know Ahsoka Tano is back and looking for Grand Admiral Thrawn. But I'd be willing to bet that those characters won't be involved in the main story of this show, especially considering we have Mandalorian Season 3 at the end of the year and Ahsoka's own show in the future.

So who else might appear? Well, let's take a look at the characters who are alive after Episode VI. Han Solo is one, and he has ties (in a rivalry sense) with Boba, right? I doubt they'd get Harrison Ford to come back, but hey, anything is possible. Leia is still alive, but without Carrie Fisher, I wouldn't want them to bring her back at all, not even like the one quick CG shot of her at the end of Rogue One. There's also Lando. Hey, Billy Dee Williams came back for Episode IX, so I wouldn't be surprised if he were up for more. I personally would prefer they bring in Donald Glover, who played the character in Solo: A Star Wars Story, although I'm sure they could pull the same aging/deepfake trick on Billy Dee that they used when Luke came back in the Mandalorian Season 2 finale.

Speaking of Solo, what would be really awesome is if they picked up the threads of the ending to that movie for once. If they aren't going to do it in the time prior to the original trilogy, they could do it here (this would fall in line with how they're bringing everyone else from that time period forward, with no trace of where they were during the original trilogy). In Solo, we found out that Qi'ra was working for Darth Maul and the Crimson Dawn crime organization. Could she and the Crimson Dawn make a triumphant live-action return? Darth Maul is already dead, so they'd need another leader if it isn't Qi'ra.

The other option is we don't get any major cameos of already established characters. That could open the door for new characters to step in. Maybe story ideas/characters that would've been in the Rangers of the Republic show could sneak into Book of Boba Fett? Lots of possibilities!