After nearly exactly a year's wait, Disney Plus fans finally got to take in the premiere episode of The Book of Boba Fett. It's a safe bet that those that have long been fans of the bounty hunter were thrilled to see that he's plenty tough as nails. On the other hand, the show is already raising questions as to whether or not this Star Wars tale is going to basically try and rewrite the character entirely from what the fanbase knows him as. It feels as though Lucasfilm understands the kind of hit it has on its hands with The Mandalorian but it's already feeling as if the show is trying to walk the ground that has already been well-tread.
There's some real danger in seemingly going after the same exact formula that has worked so well in the Disney Plus Star Wars spinoff hit. Not the least of the problems that showrunners should steer away from at all costs, is to make it feel as though the stories and adventures that are shown off in The Book of Boba Fett are just slightly different takes on adventures that have already taken place in The Mandalorian. It also already seems as though the people in charge of the new streaming series need to keep in mind that The Mandalorian was a blank canvas. He was a brand new character to the Star Wars universe and that meant they could have his character go in any direction they want. With Boba Fett, there is at least some familiarity with the character. There's an understanding of his motivations. Ignoring that entirely and seemingly pretending as though he too, is brand new could be a rather big mistake.
Filling In The Gaps In The Book of Boba Fett
One thing that The Book of Boba Fett did very well was answer one of the bigger questions in the Star Wars universe. How in the world did Boba manage to get himself out of that Sarlacc's stomach? The series showed in gruesome detail just how he managed to escape. Waking up inside the stomach of the massive beast he managed to save himself by using the equipment of a stormtrooper who wasn't as lucky while punching his way through the Sarlacc's stomach lining and eventually blasting his way out using his flamethrower. To be clear, it's a big, big plus that the show didn't leave the question up in the air for any real length of time. It was mildly entertaining to have that question floating out there during Boba's time on The Mandalorian. It would have been much less entertaining if how the bounty hunter escaped was still a lingering question after his own show's first episode.
While watching him get himself out of the Sarlacc pit was a nice way to start off the new series, the rest of his backstory feels a bit hollow. After he escaped that peril, he ended up getting captured by a clan of Sand People who basically used him as slave labor along with one other prisoner. This is where the show seemed to be not so subtlely trying to rewrite the Boba Fett Star Wars fans know and love. Granted, the character actually has a rather minuscule amount of time on screen in the movies, he's shown enough that people can get a hint at his character. That is to say, he doesn't have much.
There's a reason that Boba Fett is a bounty hunter and it's not because he's abiding by a code the way The Mandalorian is. This is one spot in which it appears Disney is trying to walk the same path for The Book of Boba Fett as it did the previous show. In short, Boba attempting to help another prisoner when he could have simply escaped himself, doesn't feel like the man audiences met in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. If that were the only time the show seemed to try to rewrite the former bounty hunter, it could be ignored.
Betraying The Boba Fett Character?
It was not, in any way, shape, or form a secret that the Disney Plus show was going to see the character turn over a new leaf. Several The Book of Boba Fett trailers showed him making it very clear that he wanted to be a kindler, gentler mob boss. That doesn't make the way they're carrying it out so far, quite clunky. There was one scene where a visiting dignitary started shaking the new crime lord down in his own throne room. That shakedown attempt was met with a polite "no thanks" and then sent the messenger on his way.
Even if Boba Fett doesn't want to rule with the same kind of iron fist that Jabba the Hutt did, it feels like there's a happy medium between everyone always fearing for their lives, and no one ever fearing for their lives. In what universe does a crime lord rule by letting everyone disrespect them to their face? Certainly not the well-established Star Wars universe. There are other ways the show made it clear that Boba is different from Jabba. He refuses to ride into town on the shoulders of his employees. He says that he prefers to walk instead. That sort of difference was enough that it didn't feel like the former bounty hunter needed to turn into a Tatooine version of Mr. Rogers.
There's also the fact that the show doesn't seem quite sure how consistent it wants to keep the kindler, gentler Boba. During the big fight scene of the first episode if The Book of Boba Fett, the new crime boss absolutely obliterates one of his retreating attackers with a missile. Then when Fennec Shand is pursuing several other members of the band of outlaws that attacked them, he yells to her and tells her not to kill them. It seems as if that's in direct contradiction to his own approach. Perhaps that slip was supposed to show that Boba Fett is still struggling with his former self, but if it was, it was far more subtle than it should have been. It just looked the writers didn't care about his new creed because they wanted to show off his cool toys.
So far, an episode of The Book of Boba Fett that seems to show someone who pales whenever he has to use deadly violence seems far too sanitized for the Star Wars universe. That they're doing it with a character that had no problem with violence of any kind the last time he appeared on the big screen makes the whole attempt feel especially off.