Ok, at this point, we’ve dropped the pretense that this is a show about Boba Fett. I know many people whined about that across the internet after last week’s episode. But I’m going to be blunt, and quote Rhett Butler: Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn. The show has only gotten better since last week, and I actually care about things now. Because for the first 4 episodes prior, much like a cybernetic goth kid from a Tatooine Hot Topic on a stupid colorful little slow-moving moped, I felt like I didn’t feel things anymore (at least for this show). The only thing I felt was that the narrative was moving as slowly as that stupid moped chase in CHAPTER 3. Then the “muscle” showed up and changed the game! Or should I say the combined efforts of Filoni and Favreau (aka Favs)?
I’m not going to spoil any of the surprises because they make for the most fun experience I’ve had watching this show or anything even related to STAR WARS in a long time (rivaled only by the first two seasons of THE MANDALORIAN). But suffice it to say, CHAPTER 6 is full of “holy s**t” moments, one after the other, after the other, that many will write off as fan service. But, similarly to SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME, these are not there for member-berry sake. How Filoni and Favs were able to balance all of them, and keep them all secret is astonishing. But most importantly, the surprises of this episode further develop both the plot, the stakes, and the characters in ways we’ve been dying to see since the whole idea of THE MANDALORIAN was first introduced back in 2019. And there are a LOT of those moments. From the very first frame of the episode, I was smiling. And that never faded.
All at once, in this one episode alone (though I also loved last week’s, like Aaron did), the critic whose emotions were numb for the first 4 episodes of the series, felt happy, relieved, terrified, sad, excited, and angry in a span of 45 mins. Most importantly, like last week’s episode, it left me wanting more! And it’s because Filoni and Favs know and get and love STAR WARS better than anyone else. And know how to serve it to us in ways that matter to us, with characters that mean everything to us.
Look, to address the elephant in the room, I want to remind people that this is a fully shared universe. The development of characters in this series, even if their names aren’t on the marquee of the series, are just as, if not even more important, than Fett himself (who’s honestly just been incredibly uninteresting from the get-go, as I succinctly put it in my review of CHAPTER 4). But even if Boba can’t stand on his own, who cares? I’ll take a good story, a lot of fun, a lot of heart, a lot of suspense, and some badass action moments any day, over 4 hours of watching some crusty dude bathe himself in a spa tank, just because he has his name in the title.
THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT is dead. Long live THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT!
THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT CHAPTER 6: FROM THE DESERT COMES A STRANGER is now streaming on Disney+!
