**This review contains some spoilers**
Watch the SPOILER review on YouTube
One of Star Wars’ most badass characters is back in his own series that takes place in the criminal underworld of that galaxy far, far away and it’s…perfectly mediocre. Thankfully, tons of cool easter eggs and some major guest appearances keep things interesting.
The plot is relatively straight forward, but there are plenty of detours along the way. For the first half of the season, the show splits it’s time between the present-day story of Boba taking over as a crime lord, and the other half is spent on flashbacks showing what happened to him from after “Return of the Jedi” to “The Mandalorian” season one. While this is fine, it’s the execution of it all that doesn’t quite work. Just as you get invested in one of those storylines, the show drops it and move on to the other time frame for the remainder of the episode. It may have made Boba’s arm much more fulfilling if the series just played out chronologically so that we can watch his character transformation as it unfolds, and it would make the bond with his adopted family feel that much stronger. The show then makes the odd choice to basically drop Boba all together for two episodes and follow the Mandalorian instead. Not only does this kill the momentum of Boba’s story, but it gives us a much more engaging character to follow, with a story the audience is heavily invested in. (Assuming they’ve been watching “The Mandolorian.”) It all wraps up with another big battle with almost all our characters throwing down against an enemy that greatly outmatches them.
As far as characters go, there’s not a ton to get excited about. Boba is quite watered-down from what most people would expect from the character. For someone becoming a crime lord, he’s quite compassionate and reluctant to kill his enemies. Meanwhile, Fennec Shand is not given much more to do than a couple action sequences and giving Boba advice that he won’t bother following. There are a handful of new characters introduced as well, but none of them are really given all that much to do. However, it’s the Mandalorian and his friends that are the real stars here. Watching their progression from where we last saw them is engaging and fulfilling but doesn’t leave many mysteries for the upcoming season three.
Overall, the show looks fantastic, with feature film quality effects. Some of the CG characters are obvious CG, but they still look great. The show also features a “de-aging” effect that has improved greatly since they tried it in “The Mandalorian.” And as expected, there’s an insane amount of easter eggs that cover just “Star Wars” from almost all eras and media.
“Boba Fett” is ultimately a mediocre story with odd pacing that becomes better than it should be thanks to the Star Wars toy box and special appearance of some fan-favorite characters.
**1/2 out of *****