After a transcendent (but not without controversy) two-episode departure from its central storyline– not to mention main characters– Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett returned to Mos Espa this week for its climactic season finale (yes, that’s what Disney+ is calling it on its menu screen, but I won’t read any more into that than need be for now).
The Sanctuary casino has been destroyed by the Pyke Syndicate, and upon investigation Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) and his cyborg partner Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) declare that the war has begun. From that point on we get what boils down to an hour-long battle sequence that follows through on basically everything that was set up in the previous six installments, though not a whole lot else.
There are a couple showdowns with bounty hunter Cad Bane (Corey Burton), the return of Grogu to Din Djarin’s (Pedro Pascal) side, and knock-down drag-out combat between the Pykes and a team-up gang of the Mods, Mos Pelgo townsfolk, and fearsome Wookiee warrior Black Krrsantan (Carey Jones). We even get to see the Majordomo (David Pasquesi) and Mos Eisley-based mechanic Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) join the action as welcome contributors of occasional comic relief. But aside from Boba’s Rancor finally smashing its way through town to take out a couple pesky walking Cannon Droids, there aren’t too many gasp-worthy moments in a finale that instead chooses to deliver pretty much exactly what I would have guessed… except I also would have guessed there’d be some more surprises.
I enjoy Star Wars blaster fights as much as the next guy, but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed whenever something like this plays out the way it already looked in my head based on what came before, almost beat for beat. We do get a couple nice / fun / adorable moments of Grogu flexing his newly honed Force powers despite evidently having abandoned Luke’s Jedi academy (so much for those two seasons’ worth of Djarin getting the little green guy “back to his people”). So The Mandalorian season 3 is set up, its lead pairing having been reunited without that show having to do any heavy lifting on its own, but I think a couple teases of what else is to come Boba Fett’s way would have helped out a lot, as well. There’s one post-credit scene that elicited a big sigh of relief when it comes to one particular character’s fate, but other than that Fett and Shand’s entire narrative arc this season was that they tried and eventually succeeded to become benevolent leaders over Jabba the Hutt’s previous territory.
It feels a bit like small potatoes, and while I’m all for more intimate, character-driven stories set in the Star Wars universe, this was more like a moderately entertaining hostile takeover with a couple grander interludes thrown in for good measure. I will say that “In the Name of Honor” is the best-directed of the three installments helmed by series executive producer Robert Rodriguez, though the concept art for his episodes still somehow manages to look way cooler than what ends up in the final product. Ultimately I’ll predict that we’ll look back on The Book of Boba Fett as an uneven mixed bag– an intriguing concept that never really took off until it went and did something else completely outside the box. For that reason, maybe showrunners Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni should just call this big interconnected Disney+ story Star Wars – The TV Series and let it flow organically wherever their impulses may lead.
The full season of Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett is now available to stream exclusively on Disney+.