The Book of Boba Fett: Season Recap and What Comes Next

It feels like it has been far longer than seven weeks since the premiere of The Book of Boba Fett. A series that started out slowly before delivering some massive additions to the live-action Star Wars canon. But now, after two episodes that deviated from the narrative of the first four, we have reached the final episode of this long-awaited solo effort for the titular bounty hunter. The finale was definitely one of the more action-packed episodes to grace the Lucasfilm Disney+ series and yet it ended up feeling underwhelming compared to where it could have gone. Let’s dissect the finale as well as reflect on the entirety of The Book of Boba Fett

Review: The finale opens by showing us a lot of the moving parts set in motion over the last few episodes. First, we see Cad Bane and his employers from the Pyke Syndicate and the Mayor of Mos Espa as they prepare for their showdown with Boba Fett. In the aftermath of the bombing of Garsa Fwip’s Sanctuary, Boba and Fennec must assemble as many supporters as they can. Mando promises that Cobb Vanth and the people of Freetown (formerly Mos Pelgo) will come to their aid but little do they know that Cobb was gunned down by Cad Bane. Meanwhile, Peli Motto is greeted by an X-wing piloted by R2-D2 and carrying Grogu who has made his decision to abandon his Jedi training and rejoin his surrogate father.

While preparing their stand, Cad Bane appears and threatens Boba. The two have a long history in animated form and seeing them face off here is pretty damn cool. Cad reveals that the Pykes killed Boba’s Tusken family in an attempt to incense the daimyo. Boba also learns that Cad killed Cobb Vanth. Soon after, Boba’s strategy comes undone as the Cyborg street kids and Krrsantan are overrun by villagers in various parts of town. The showdown with the Pykes begins. With Mando by his side, the warriors fight back the attacking forces while Fennec quickly heads off to Mos Eisley to try and stop the Pykes from the command location. The fighting quickly turns against Boba Fett when a pair of Scorpenek droids, giant robot tanks similar to the Droidekas from the prequels, arrive and their shields are too strong to be breached by even the Dark Saber. Boba asks Mando to protect the people while he runs off for support.

Peli Motto arrives with Grogu as Mando and the team tries to stop the Skorpeneks to no avail. As they fight, Boba returns with his Rancor and a massive fight ensues that would make Godzilla drool. Grogu helps Mando take down one of the Skorpeneks by using the Force while Boba and the Rancor take down the other. In a brief moment of quiet, Cad Bane arrives and uses fire to send the Rancor off running. In classic western style, the two have a showdown where Boba uses his Tusken staff to disarm and kill Cad Bane. Fennec takes down the Pyke leaders and kills the Mayor of Mos Espa. With the Rancor in pain and rampaging, Mando tries to stop it but is almost killed. Grogu once again steps up with the Force to put the Rancor to sleep.

With everyone safe, Boba and Fennec walk the streets of Mos Espa, praised by the villagers. Boba questions whether they are cut out to be leaders to which Fennec asks “if not us, then who?” The pair then meet up with Krrsantan, Drash, and Skad and celebrate their victory. Above Tatooine, we see Mando and Grogu flying away from the planet and enjoying the speed of their new ship. In the post-credits sequence, we see Boba Fett’s Bacta tank with Cobb Vanth recuperating inside. Outside, the Modifier who saved Fennec’s life prepares his tools.

What worked: Robert Rodriguez and Bryce Dallas Howard both contributed stellar and action-packed Star Wars fare this season which worked primarily as fan service more than anything. Seeing new additions to live-action like badass Wookie warrior Krrsantan and Clone Wars villain Cad Bane were amazing moments as were the return of Mando, Luke Skywalker, Ahsoka, and Grogu. The early flashbacks helped fill in a lot of Boba Fett’s story while centering this tale in a Western-style narrative that didn’t venture to a new setting each week and instead gave us a single, serial tale. Well, sort of.

Watching this series made the Star Wars kid in me very happy. So much cool stuff happened and it still managed to bring in elements from the Original Trilogy while still forging a new story.

What didn’t work: The Book of Boba Fett started out with the promise of being the tale so many fans have been waiting for and after four episodes it seemed to be on the brink of delivering before it completely changed course. The fifth and sixth episodes, which were both excellent, completely ignored Boba Fett. By centering them on characters and elements from The Mandalorian, they ended up forcing the finale of Boba Fett’s tale to feel anticlimactic. I understand that Jon Favreau had to explain why and how Grogu and Mando could return to this story, but completely shifting the focus from four consecutive weeks of the story for two episodes and then going back for the finale was jarring and felt as if it detracted from this series being truly about Boba Fett.

The other issue I had with the series is that it shifted Boba Fett’s character from being a mysterious character to one whose creed differs from what was expected. On The Mandalorian, we all wanted to see Pedro Pascal take off his helmet, but on this show I just wanted Boba Fett to keep his on. Temuera Morrison is a solid actor and I really like the gravitas he brings to playing Boba, but it just felt like he was another guy rather than the mysterious man of few words.

The special effects this season were also very uneven. The new technology innovated on The Mandalorian to transform sets into larger-scale environments often looked fake during the desert scenes on Tatooine. The speeder chases were also very poorly executed and look like they were either far too slow or they had been sped up in post-production. To be fair, the Rancor and droids looked really damn good as did the enhanced work on Luke Skywalker.

There were also a lot of characters introduced, like Jennifer Beals’ Garsa Fwip, who seemed to have a lot of potential and then were snuffed out unceremoniously. Cad Bane, another fan-favorite character, was introduced and also killed off fairly abruptly. There is always the potential for them to return in future shows or series, but the shortened run of The Book of Boba Fett could have benefited from a couple more episodes. Even the Tuskens were given a spotlight and became significant to the plot before being killed to make room for the Power Rangers-esque teens that aligned with Boba and Fennec.

What comes next: The post-credit sequence for The Book of Boba Fett does not carry any sort of reveal regarding a second season or dates for the impending third season of The Mandalorian. We don’t even know if The Book of Boba Fett will get a second season, but I hope that we do. There is a lot of story left to tell for this character and it may require Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni to leave Tatooine but I hope the tales continue to feature Krrsantan, Fennec, and Cobb Vanth.

As for The Mandalorian, we now know that Grogu has foregone his Jedi training which means we will likely see all new adventures for Din Djarin and Baby Yoda. Whether they include Bo-Katan remains to be seen, but she will likely make her return on Ahsoka which is heading into production soon.

The next series we will expect to see will be Andor and Obi-Wan, neither of which have formally announced premiere dates yet.