The Mandalorian Season 2 had begun in 2020 and “Chapter 9: The Marshall” had a mysterious hooded figure revealed to be a familiar face, Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett.

Boba Fett had supposedly died in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, but now the feared bounty hunter had returned and Temuera Morrison who had previously played his father Jango 18 years prior was finally playing Boba. The Mandalorian never answered any questions regarding the character until the finale which confirmed a spin-off about Boba Fett was in development.

Flashing one year later to December 29th 2021, the first episode of The Book of Boba Fett had been released, the show peaked with interest, but quickly became very controversial to review and discuss. Many who dislike the show bring up many issues with it; however, the majority of those issues revolved around the character of Boba Fett, but before covering Boba Fett, it is important to understand the actual issue with the show.

The series has issues such as pacing with the show containing many scenes that could further develop characters abruptly ending or sometimes going on too long and ruining the moment, along with two timelines in the show and it breaks the momentum, because it is as if Boba must always get injured in combat and then rushed to a healing tank that then leads to his flashback. The crew could have possibly wanted to show Temuera Morrison’s normal face instead of burnt and withered makeup and prosthetics that takes hours to apply, however it still makes pacing and editing odd. 

Other issues mostly revolve episodes five and six, which completely take out Boba, which is a problem itself. These episodes appear to have higher quality action, writing and effects which cannot be said for all the other episodes, the odd budget distribution is especially noticeable in episode three with what many fans are calling Space Vespas. The effects aren’t integrated well and make the space scooters look super slow and very obvious that they’re being run on wheels, many parts of the set can also be seen when the camera shot changes.

The episodes with higher quality could be the way they are because episode five is directed by Bryce Dallas Howard and episode six by Dave Filoni who both worked extensively on other Star Wars projects. The higher quality and removal of the main character of the show inadvertently gives the viewer a feeling of the team not being confident in a story completely revolving around Boba and choosing to continue other stories .

The last major issue with these episodes is how it heavily affects the style of the show, especially with them being right before the finale. Steph Green, Kevin Tanchcharoen and Robert Rodriguez give the show a very western look and feel to it, however once the story flips it gives it the known futuristic vibe that has been seen in almost every Star Wars related media.

A more minor issue is fan service, when done right fan service can be great, such as the ending to Rogue One. Episode six brings multiple fan favorite characters together, who have their unique stories to be a part of which for fans is great; however, like previously stated it messes with the theme. These episodes are enjoyable and objectively good; however, the budget and runtime could have been better used to expand the relationship between Boba and other characters or the world established. These episodes derail the show slightly but are necessary and the show gets back on track in the finale. 

While there are negatives, the positives outweigh them and fans seem to overall like the show, every episode except one has a rating of 7.5 or above on IMDB, which is where fans go to vote on the rating.

Like most Star Wars projects the music is amazing, the cinematography leads to beautiful shots and scenes especially in episode three, when it’s not a Vespa chase scene. The action is very enjoyable especially and what makes it even better is that Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen did many of the stunts themselves. When the show revolves around Boba and his crew the story that is being told is incredibly engaging and interesting, the characters are likable, and as said before the story of Boba has two timelines, the present time with the Pyke Syndicate and the flashbacks, if viewers ignore the odd way the timelines overlap, both are very interesting to follow and it expands Boba’s story in a natural way. The story keeps some of the old and new of Boba’s character, despite the mixture many fans are not happy with the decisions.

“Boba Fett is ruined,”  “Disney killed the Hunter,”  “The brutal mediocrity of Book of Boba Fett,” and  “How Disney ruined the coolest character,”  are some titles people have given the show, while it’s important to validate other people’s opinions, sometimes those opinions are over exaggerated.

Those who claim that “Boba is ruined” have overlooked what the show is trying to do regarding its character and by holding onto a previous iteration of the character and simply claiming that Disney has “ruined” another piece of Star Wars.

Many people who say the writing is bad take what Temuera Morrison has said about the character as law regarding his dialogue:

“I’m talking too much, this Boba doesn’t talk this much, we’ve got all these paragraphs, I think we should get rid of them,” said Morrison

While this sentence is used for proving how Boba is bad, they don’t include other things he has said like:

“I’m genuinely happy and humbled that it did okay in terms of ratings and in terms of what they wanted to achieve… I think it did okay so I’m glad to be a part of that walker, that journey of bringing the Book of Boba Fett alive”

He has gone on many more interviews and he genuinely likes the character he plays, he simply points out that he would prefer to play Boba in a similar way he was represented in The Empire Strikes Back.

Boba’s introduction in The Empire Strikes Back made him instantly known as the feared bounty hunter and while he is interesting to watch hunt down Han Solo, it is the only thing he does, he simply furthers the plot and it’s understandable to like a character who is just there to be menacing but many other characters like him were also changed, the prequels show Anakin Skywalker’s relationship with other characters like Obi-Wan Kenobi when their relationship is only implied through dialogue and not very enticing. Most characters in the franchise began with very little known but every time they were built upon more.

These complaints about Boba character have also been done before and were inspired by multiple Boba Fett comic stories, such as Star Wars issue #81 and #68 which both released in 1983 and focus on Boba on Tatooine, also Darth Vader #1 which was released in 2015 where Black Krrsantan and Boba Fett meet and have multiple similar story beats that the show has. These comics are regarded as some of the best stories told so what is the difference if it’s adapted into live action.

The original creator, George Lucas in the 2004 special edition release of Return Of The Jedi had said in the director’s commentary: 

“In the case of Boba Fett’s death, had I known he was gonna turn into such a popular character, I probably would’ve made it a little bit more exciting. Boba Fett was just another one of the minions, another one of the bounty hunters and bad guys.” 

If the creator of something says he wishes he had done more and other directors do just that, it’s not destroying a legacy, it’s further developing a character who had nothing . So the final verdict, did The Book of Boba Fett ruin the character? Not at all, and it may take some to accept what’s been done and if the crew truly believe there are issues then it could be resolved with a second season or future appearance, but until then The Book of Boba Fett was overall a very good show.