Everyone Goes to Tatooine
A surprisingly good episode of The Book of Boba Fett last night considering it was directed by Bryce Dallas Howard. She directed some of the weakest episodes of The Mandalorian and I still think her presence on these shows is Disney paying back Ron Howard for stepping in on Solo. But she actually did a decent job on the fairly low key episode last night though, since it relied mainly on baked in, previous established elements, most of the credit probably has to go to the writing and performances.
The clues last week that Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) would appear this week turn out to have understated the fact. Not only did he appear, he took over the whole show, basically making this a new episode of The Mandalorian in which Boba Fett didn't even make an appearance. In a way, it makes sense considering the creators had been calling Book of Boba Fett "The Mandalorian season 2.5". But with only seven episodes for Boba Fett, I don't quite see why a lot of this material couldn't have been saved for Mandalorian season three.
Anyway, it was cool seeing Din wielding the Dark Sabre. When he cut that guy in half it was pretty much confirmed, if it needed to be, that Boba's reluctance to kill now has nothing to do with Disney policy.
And it was just nice seeing Din again and his colour coordinated armour. It really is a shame Boba has to wear black with dusty green. Obviously Boba changed the armour's original colours from when his father wore it, couldn't he do it again? Or would that be too drastic a change for fans? He can't lose those robes, though, considering how much they mean to him, being gifts from the Tuskens. But, damn, last night proved how much colour coordination matters.
The ring space station was cool. Din reconnecting with his old Mandalorian friends featured some subtle lore smoothing dialogue, confirming that, instead of being representative of all Mandalorians, they are in fact a small cult. Naturally they incorporated their survival into a justification of their beliefs.
There were some logistical problems I had with the episode's writing. Why were the clients desperate to pay so much for just receiving the head of the bounty when surely his death was the important thing? Why did Din risk losing his weapons, particularly the Dark Sabre, just to fly commercial? Why does he accept a new ship with no cargo hold? Does he need space to transport bounties? But it all felt like a nice way of making the world feel a little bigger to spend so much time watching Din and Amy Sedaris working on the thing. Even if it does seem like a bit of indulgence when there's not much story-telling time left this season.
The end of the episode teases an appearance by Grogu before Din finally meets up with Boba. Is Luke training Grogu on Tatooine or is Din heading off-world again? Once again, Luke's complaint about Tatooine in Episode IV, that it's the place furthest from the centre of the galaxy, seems a less and less accurate description. Everyone's going to Tatooine.
Next week is the episode directed and co-written by Dave Filoni which makes me wonder if it's the one in which we'll see Cad Bane. I suppose it would have to be if we're going to see Cad Bane at all, there's not much time left. I'm feeling less and less like Jennifer Beals is going to get a big scene.
The Book of Boba Fett is available on Disney+.