The Book of Boba Fett 1x03
Jun. 22nd, 2022 10:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urth posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
tori_reviewsTBoBF 1x03
So…we have an episode that is just a little over 30 minutes long and it’s more like three episodes smashed together, plus a really hysterical flashback. It’s actually giving me a little more insight into the problems this show (and maybe more of SW TV-verse), because there are no consequences for anything.
-Part 1: You Wanna be in Charge?
This part should absolutely have been its own episode. Also, the opening scene should have been in the first episode to set up what Boba would need to accomplish in order to take and hold power here; and show that he doesn’t have it currently.
But part of the problem is the Mando problem, we never see any of the investigation or learning about a situation, somebody hands him a side-quest and just goes to do it. Only in this case, the final decision of the quest arc is one that either needed a hell of a lot more buildup and/or should have massive consequences, especially for a spur of the moment decision. Maybe Boba won some support from the lower gangs, but at the cost of the local guilds not being willing to support him anymore. He might need that support later but it won’t be there. Maybe taking in the gang means he’s giving enforcement power to people who are looking for an excuse to abuse it. He takes the word of thieves over that of people who consider themselves honest business people. He doesn’t ask the quantity of water stolen to know if the cost is fair or price-gouged.
The choice he makes here should at best be a calculated risk. He needs people more than he needs the water guy’s tribute. But he has to know that there will be a consequence for the choice. Only there won’t be on this show, because nothing has consequences.
-The Really Hysterical Flashback
I’m sorry, but the longer the scene with the dead Tuskens went on, the funnier it got. Because I can tell that wasn’t the reaction I was supposed to have. But it starts with a basic problem of even the setup of this story, continues through the execution, and ends with the funeral scene taking itself entirely seriously.
The Tuskens are all faceless assholes, and have been the whole time. So that now, they don’t even look like dead bodies and I know nothing about any of them.
I feel like we have to be missing some major steps in Boba’s arc of giving a damn about these people who captured him. He saved the one back in the premier, but to me that seemed like self-preservation at least as much as deciding to save someone’s life. Why is he now the spokes-person for the tribe? Why do they want him to be? Why doesn’t he leave? It continues to want to be Avatar in ways it really shouldn’t (and again, the movie Avatar, not the cartoon that the SW cartoons should aspire to be but can’t come close to) and does it worse.
And wouldn’t it be ironic if the gang had carried off a few of the tribe members to torture and save for later? You know, like the Tuskens just might have done at some point in the SW saga? (And if you want to say it’s a different tribe and these guys have different rules, I don’t believe you. That’s basically what they did to Boba and the Rhodian guy. And if I’d grant the basics of it…I’m having to grant it blindly because the show hasn’t taken the time to build up this culture to a degree that I would say it deserves my benefit of the doubt.)
-Part 2: Making Dumb Friends and Bad Decisions
So how did the Wookie get into the palace? Does anybody ask that question? Again, this is a plot that could cover a good chunk of an episode; starting with an assassination attempt, raising questions about how it happened, why it happened; and definitely someone should have died. Realistically, it should have been Boba; even if the Wookie wasn’t standing over the bacta tank with weapon ready (which he should have been) he beat Boba pretty hard. But if it’s not Boba, there should still have been a consequence to letting the attack get far.
And…I’m sorry, why are you accepting gifts from the Hutt twins? If this show had any brains, it would acknowledge that they have just let a giant booby trap into their house rather than Boba being all excited to ride it. And then, even if you trust the Rancor hasn’t been trained to -say- attack clones of Jango Fett, they’re putting a hell of a lot of trust in the Rancor trainer who just showed up. Was he a slave of the Hutts and therefore could be traded? Did he want to stick with the Rancor so badly that he agreed to just move to Tatooine? On this show, I trust him completely, because this show is dumb; on a show that was any smarter, this would be seen as the truly stupid move that it is.
I’m getting to the point where in my head Fennic is just waiting for Boba to get himself killed with all these dumb decisions. He’s clearly not cut out for the job and isn’t even enjoying the perks while he has it.
-Part 3: Literal Fruit-stand
While this plot could be considered to carry on the opening plot of the episode, if it is, then it’s somehow worse than if it’s taken as its own thing. Boba just hired these kids, and now they’re crashing into everything and wrecking a solid swath of town. Not to mention it’s done in service of attacking the Mayor, who probably has some support, or could garner support the more Boba’s actions piss people off.
Maybe the thematic connection in these three plots is that everyone else is aware that Boba Fett is an idiot, and they’re just going to kind of humoring him sometimes until one of the many options decides to just kill him.
And here’s the thing, I never liked Boba Fett, always thought he was massively overrated by SW fans, never got the appeal. But if I did like him, I’d be really bothered by his portrayal here. I’m offended on behalf of people who think he’s a semi-competent person who deserved his own show. For myself I’m only offended that the writers are dumb enough to think this dumbass works as a protagonist.
So…we have an episode that is just a little over 30 minutes long and it’s more like three episodes smashed together, plus a really hysterical flashback. It’s actually giving me a little more insight into the problems this show (and maybe more of SW TV-verse), because there are no consequences for anything.
-Part 1: You Wanna be in Charge?
This part should absolutely have been its own episode. Also, the opening scene should have been in the first episode to set up what Boba would need to accomplish in order to take and hold power here; and show that he doesn’t have it currently.
But part of the problem is the Mando problem, we never see any of the investigation or learning about a situation, somebody hands him a side-quest and just goes to do it. Only in this case, the final decision of the quest arc is one that either needed a hell of a lot more buildup and/or should have massive consequences, especially for a spur of the moment decision. Maybe Boba won some support from the lower gangs, but at the cost of the local guilds not being willing to support him anymore. He might need that support later but it won’t be there. Maybe taking in the gang means he’s giving enforcement power to people who are looking for an excuse to abuse it. He takes the word of thieves over that of people who consider themselves honest business people. He doesn’t ask the quantity of water stolen to know if the cost is fair or price-gouged.
The choice he makes here should at best be a calculated risk. He needs people more than he needs the water guy’s tribute. But he has to know that there will be a consequence for the choice. Only there won’t be on this show, because nothing has consequences.
-The Really Hysterical Flashback
I’m sorry, but the longer the scene with the dead Tuskens went on, the funnier it got. Because I can tell that wasn’t the reaction I was supposed to have. But it starts with a basic problem of even the setup of this story, continues through the execution, and ends with the funeral scene taking itself entirely seriously.
The Tuskens are all faceless assholes, and have been the whole time. So that now, they don’t even look like dead bodies and I know nothing about any of them.
I feel like we have to be missing some major steps in Boba’s arc of giving a damn about these people who captured him. He saved the one back in the premier, but to me that seemed like self-preservation at least as much as deciding to save someone’s life. Why is he now the spokes-person for the tribe? Why do they want him to be? Why doesn’t he leave? It continues to want to be Avatar in ways it really shouldn’t (and again, the movie Avatar, not the cartoon that the SW cartoons should aspire to be but can’t come close to) and does it worse.
And wouldn’t it be ironic if the gang had carried off a few of the tribe members to torture and save for later? You know, like the Tuskens just might have done at some point in the SW saga? (And if you want to say it’s a different tribe and these guys have different rules, I don’t believe you. That’s basically what they did to Boba and the Rhodian guy. And if I’d grant the basics of it…I’m having to grant it blindly because the show hasn’t taken the time to build up this culture to a degree that I would say it deserves my benefit of the doubt.)
-Part 2: Making Dumb Friends and Bad Decisions
So how did the Wookie get into the palace? Does anybody ask that question? Again, this is a plot that could cover a good chunk of an episode; starting with an assassination attempt, raising questions about how it happened, why it happened; and definitely someone should have died. Realistically, it should have been Boba; even if the Wookie wasn’t standing over the bacta tank with weapon ready (which he should have been) he beat Boba pretty hard. But if it’s not Boba, there should still have been a consequence to letting the attack get far.
And…I’m sorry, why are you accepting gifts from the Hutt twins? If this show had any brains, it would acknowledge that they have just let a giant booby trap into their house rather than Boba being all excited to ride it. And then, even if you trust the Rancor hasn’t been trained to -say- attack clones of Jango Fett, they’re putting a hell of a lot of trust in the Rancor trainer who just showed up. Was he a slave of the Hutts and therefore could be traded? Did he want to stick with the Rancor so badly that he agreed to just move to Tatooine? On this show, I trust him completely, because this show is dumb; on a show that was any smarter, this would be seen as the truly stupid move that it is.
I’m getting to the point where in my head Fennic is just waiting for Boba to get himself killed with all these dumb decisions. He’s clearly not cut out for the job and isn’t even enjoying the perks while he has it.
-Part 3: Literal Fruit-stand
While this plot could be considered to carry on the opening plot of the episode, if it is, then it’s somehow worse than if it’s taken as its own thing. Boba just hired these kids, and now they’re crashing into everything and wrecking a solid swath of town. Not to mention it’s done in service of attacking the Mayor, who probably has some support, or could garner support the more Boba’s actions piss people off.
Maybe the thematic connection in these three plots is that everyone else is aware that Boba Fett is an idiot, and they’re just going to kind of humoring him sometimes until one of the many options decides to just kill him.
And here’s the thing, I never liked Boba Fett, always thought he was massively overrated by SW fans, never got the appeal. But if I did like him, I’d be really bothered by his portrayal here. I’m offended on behalf of people who think he’s a semi-competent person who deserved his own show. For myself I’m only offended that the writers are dumb enough to think this dumbass works as a protagonist.
