After The Mandalorian finished, we were all left longing for more. Luckily, the final episode of The Mandalorian gave us something that we always love to see and definitely wanted… A really good tease. We were all absolutely ecstatic to learn that our journey with Boba Fett had only just started… And thus The Book of Boba Fett was born and we finally had something else to cling onto. The return of Boba Fett, familiar settings, new characters, and a deep look into the criminal underworld. What more could we ask for?
A whole year has passed since the announcement of The Book of Boba Fett and despite the year itself… It seems to have sped past. Before we knew it, the countdown for the first episode had begun. There was excitement in the air and anticipation took hold. Our hopes of diving into the life and survival of the legendary bounty hunter had been realised. And then, as inevitable as a twin sunset on Tatooine, the first episode dropped.
Stranger in a Strange Land was a fantastic first episode for The Book of Boba Fett. Simply put. What I loved most about it was that it purely focused on Boba Fett both in the past and in the present. While it could have thrown us head first into the chaotic nature of the criminal underworld, this episode actually spends a majority of the time exploring Boba Fett as a character while planting subtle clues on where this series could be heading next. But Boba is at the heart of this episode and righly so.
There was an opportunity to use this opening episode as a gateway to connect the aftermath of Boba’s ‘demise’ in Return of the Jedi to this new series and it absolutely goes for it. Fans have been yearning to learn about Boba’s survival for years. Not only do we find out how he survived, we also learn what happened next. At that point, we essentially entered uncharted territory. There’s a huge gap in Boba Fett’s story and Chapter One does a brilliant job at contextualising and redefining Boba. The Boba Fett we knew in the Prequels and in the Originals is not the Boba Fett we know now. While this Chapter did indeed answer many lingering questions, it seems as though there is more to explore in regards to Boba’s survival and transition from bounty hunter to crime lord.
Just like The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett is ripe with Star Wars goodness but not to an extent that distracts from the core narrative. In fact, Chapter One perfectly balances the more familiar aspects with the new. The incredibly talented writers and directors, wonderfully absorbed in the Star Wars narrative, are able to take elements that have survived through every era of Star Wars history and revitalize them with fresh ideas which ultimately allows for opportunities to expand. We get to see the thriving Tatooine in an entirely new light. Which reveals how the fine citizens of Mos Espa have been adjusting to life without Jabba The Hutt.
In stark contrast to the busy and lucrative settlement of Mos Espa, we also get to explore the seemingly less civilized areas of Tatooine. The areas that are controlled by the Tusken Raiders and populated by creatures that we’ve never seen before. It’s a perfect concoction of nostalgic elements that will please the more hardcore Star Wars fans, and excitingly new aspects that will take the extensive Star Wars mythos to an entirely new level.
As expected, this episode was action-packed. It was full of well-choregraphed fight scenes that felt very traditional to Star Wars yet also encompassed the Maori culture that was utilized in The Mandalorian to reshape and add a new harshness to Boba Fett. I would argue that the various skirmishes didn’t hit quite as hard as the fights and explosive set pieces in both opening episodes of The Mandalorian. However, this is just the start. We’ve seen what both Fennec and Boba are capable of and it is terrifying. But it seems as though building a new empire might be trickier than they imagined. Reputation alone won’t be enough to turn the tide and control the sea of crime that plagues Tatooine. Based on what The Mandalorian gave us in regards to scale and the absolute ruthlessness of Boba Fett, this episode barely scraped the surface. At least we hope so.
Combined with a cracking and almost tribal soundtrack by the brilliant Ludwig Göransson, this opening episode is a character-driven journey that will surely satisfy long-term fans and introduce all audiences to a new side of Boba Fett. Chapter One is a fun, exhilarating and explorative dive into one of Star Wars‘ biggest mysteries. There is still a lot of ground to cover, especially with only six episodes to go, but it’s safe to say that Stranger in a Strange Land was a really promising start to a series that we never thought would happen.
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What did you think of Chapter One? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Don’t forget that Chapter Two will be dropping on January 5th, 2022. What’s next for the Galaxy’s deadliest duo? Find out next week.
The Book of Boba Fett stars Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen. Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Robert Rodriguez, Kathleen Kennedy and Colin Wilson are the executive producers. Karen Gilchrist and Carrie Beck serve as co-executive producers, with John Bartnicki producing and John Hampian as co-producer.
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