Episode 2...
Hmmm.
The present-day stuff, with Fennec, Mos Espa, etc. is mildly engaging/interesting (albeit slow and repetitive).
However, when it flashes back to his "Dances with Banthas" time with the Tusken Raiders...zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Holy smokes, this episode, at 53 minutes, was more of a slog than last week. When I saw the run-time at the start, I was like "oooh, nice...they'll pack in a lot!"
Nope. They packed in a little, and then just dragged it out/repeated.
There is one of two things at play here, and I truly can't figure out which:
1) This is shaping up to be the most disappointing, pointless SW project ever (and, believe me, that's saying something)...
or
2) They're quietly laying the groundwork for an amazing, mind-blowing final five episodes between now and early February
But, once again...
NOTHING HAPPENS.
The present-day Mos Espa stuff is them doing the same thing as last week (sitting in Jabba's palace for a while, then going to town to talk to Flashdance girl). Meanwhile, Fennec is giving Dana Scully a run for her money in the RBF/scowl sweepstakes. That seems to be all she really does in this show...scowl and grimace at
everything. It was cute/sexy the
first 23 times. Now it's more like an annoying tic.
"Do you not have another expression or go-to move?!" That constant catty, side-eye thing gets old pretty quick...
And then when Boba takes his bacta bath and flashes back to his post-Sarlacc time spent with the Sandpeople, it just grinds to this woo-woo, hippie-dippy halt with all the clichéd tribal stuff and "we're allowing this outsider in to become one of us" thing we've see before. Last week it took an entire episode for the man to get a drink of water. This week? He gets a stick.
There's just endless posing and build-up (the Hutts, that long speeder sequence, etc.), but it just all seems like "is this actually ever going anywhere?". Nothing is really explained or made clear. It just happens, and serves as a cobbled-together, ginned-up thing to allow the
next scene/sequence to happen. It's just "stuff", kinda thrown into a pot. I picture a lot of the production meetings being like "hey, that would look cool if...". These shows have zero problem "looking cool". They can handle that all on their own. The trick is to make them engaging and entertaining, and, so far, two episodes into this series, they're coming up a bit short on that front.
I was hooked by
The Mandalorian from the get-go. Two episodes into this show, and if my Internet went down next Wednesday to where I couldn't catch episode 3, I'm not sure if I'd be all that devastated, really.
Maybe they're just setting out to make this show the slowest-burn in television history? They're succeeding so far.
I see where Jon Favreau wrote this episode too. How is it he makes such engaging, fun fare on one show,
The Mandalorian, while this new show feels like I'm sitting in a classroom and watching a clock?
As much grief as last week's episode got from many, I don't see this one doing any better.
It looks amazing. Very cinematic and Star Wars-y, at times, the visuals, locations, tech, callbacks/fan service, etc. But NOTHING HAPPENS and it just kinda half-heartedly chases its own tail for 40-50 minutes. It's so content to just be "quiet" and lay there, in a way I never would've expected from the folks who brought us
The Mandalorian.
If
The Mandalorian is
Die Hard, then
The Book of Boba Fett is
My Left Foot, or
The English Patient. With a dash of
Dances With Wolves.
Holy hell...two weeks in and literally nothing has progressed or happened, and it's like the show is stuck on some weird repeat loop!
There's just something very fan-filmish about this, IMO. In the way that many (most?) fan films
look amazing and nail the visual language, sound and overall Star Wars-ness, but come up really short on the story/writing/plot and it's just a bunch of average, amateur actors trying to sound deep and/or "bad-ass", so is this show! It just feels like a really high-budgeted fan-film, with little "moments" stitched together to try and make some "ooooh, he's a bad-ass" statement, but all the sullen, low-talking and long pauses aren't conveying that at all. It's conveying "we've run out of shit to say/do, but we still gotta somehow fill 25 more minutes!".
I'm quite disappointed, so far. Coming off
The Mandalorian, and how Boba Fett was on that show, in just a handful of brief scenes, this is such an odd let-down so far.
I'm not being a "hater", and it never occurred to me that I wouldn't enjoy this show. I'm just being completely honest in all this. A second viewing won't be necessary...I watched this with clear, sober and measured eyes, taking into account last week's episode. But I can't/won't "grade on a curve", just because it's Star Wars and/or Boba Fett.
It's just not all that interesting. It's failing at the one thing Star Wars (for the most part) has never had trouble with...being interesting/engaging.
It isn't
The Rise of Skywalker bad, don't get me wrong. It's just not all that interesting and, so far, feels quite pointless.
The Mandalorian came storming out of the gate. This show is limping out, and pausing to tie its shoe. My main, initial fear - 40+ years of mystique and allure being undone by a seven-episode TV show that nobody really truly asked for or needed - may be playing out before my very eyes.
That whole "overexplaning" and "filling in the gaps" that Star Wars is (in)famous for it fully at play here, it's looking like. If the remaining episodes are like this, by the time this show is over the character will never be seen as he has been for the past four decades. That's really something to think about.
Sorry. Ain't my fault;
I'm not the one writing/directing any of it; my hands are clean.
Here...I'll end on a positive (or neutral, at the very least):
Interesting tidbits, callbacks, etc.
- The rancor thing; while it was given a twist, the actual approach to it and the visuals nailed the ROTJ thing perfectly...the floor giving way, Jabba's throne scooting up, the "POV" looking up at Boba and Fennec through the grating, etc.
- A merc/hired-muscle/bodyguard Wookiee? That heavily-armed, mean-looking black/grey figure accompanying the Hutt twins was a Wookiee, correct? You
know he's torn a few arms out of their sockets...
- That "gang" of shitheads, with their "bikes" and emblem patch vest/jackets...space
Sons of Anarchy. It's funny how they do that visual thing to tie things in with what we have here on Earth
- The cantina band guys again
- Two Hutts, with the male one sounding very Jabba-y
- The desk clerk at the Mayor's office...who hasn't dealt with that type? "Do you have an appointment? I don't see your name on the list...". If they were thinking, they would've hired David Spade for that role. "And you would be...?" And then Boba just shoots him (see what I did there?)
- We now see how a gaffi stick is made
- That train sequence reminded me both of those raiding pirates attacking Mando and Bill Burr's truck in episode 15, and also that train sequence in
Solo. It's funny trying to figure out which vehicles get wheels and which ones float in Star Wars. The desert "train" in this episode: floats, as do the speeder bikes. In the Mandalorian and
Rise of Skywalker other things roll on wheels/treads...including bikes in the desert, which should definitely float/ride on air. That's toy-making reasons, though, I realize. When stuff is written into movies/TV shows that make no sense - and/or contradict all that has been established before - rest assured that's the Hasbro Effect taking place.
- Those bacta treatment soaks are working; present-day Boba looks smooth and tanned compared to flashback Boba, all scarred up, white splotchiness etc. A handsome devil, present day. An unfortunate, full-size Mini Me in those flashback sequences.
- Jennifer Beals as a Twi'lek is pretty damn hot
- Those "from the air" establishing shots of Mos Espa are gorgeous. What a bustling town! Such detail and it looks quite real. I'd love to walk around a place like that!
I'm sure there are more, but I can't recall (and I'm not gonna rewatch, so...).
PS - Despite all the above, I'm still optimistic and look forward to seeing if things hit a groove and stuff starts to happen! I like Temuera Morrison in this role. He's watchable/interesting in the same way Daniel Craig is...interesting face, and how he carries himself. I like how he is in current-day, in the armor and just being kinda cool/unflappable when walking around town. He'll be a fan favorite and enjoy a long, healthy existence on the convention/con circuit now. He probably was already, just from his prequel role. But he'll
really be a popular fan-favorite now! I just can't figure out why Favreau & Co. are taking the slow, long away around the bend with this show, when they didn't with
The Mandalorian. If this were a whole different team of writers/directors, it would make some sense. But it's all the Mandalorian folks. And that show has never bored me. In fact, if
The Mandalorian was paced like this one - taking forever to get to anything, long pauses, repetitive sequences, etc. - we wouldn't have seen/met Grogu until about episode 5-6. I don't mind a slow ride, but there has to be some "worth it" payoff at some point. I just hope it isn't the final eight minutes of this show's final episode. Quit screwing around, Disney. People have waited 40+ years;
get to it already.
PS #2 - Apparently that black/grey shaggy creature is a Wookiee and he's been in some comic books and other media. So this is his first live-action appearance. When one's Star Wars knowledge is 99% confined to the live-action fare (me), you learn something new all the time. I have no idea what's in the books, comics, video games, etc. These shows can bring some of those characters to life.