The show doesn’t know what it wants to be. It barely develops Fett as a character and fails to give him any clear motivation. Most of the show is just him bumbling through situations and acting incredibly naive.
The most interesting aspect was the depiction of the Tusken tribe, and Fett’s acceptance into it. Had the whole show been about Fett going on a spiritual journey living with these desert nomads, it would have had a much clearer purpose and sense of progression befitting of the shows heroic theme music. Instead the tribe gets “fridged”, and we meander through an undercooked crime boss plotline with no antagonist besides these faceless Pykes who are barely even characterized other than “we sell drugs or something”. They introduce these Hutt twins and Black Krssantan early on as if to set them up as the villains, but proceed to dump the Twins to focus on the uninteresting Pykes. Krssantan, while great looking with frightening presence, becomes a hired goon for Fett.
Fett constantly babbles on about protecting “his people” from the Spice trade on Tatooine, but we barely even see these people… and we never see any of the harm the Spice trade is inflicting upon them. Fett and Fennec merely stroll through the rather clean looking Mos Espa set over and over as background actors pretend to be doing things. Fennec herself is regulated to mostly standing around responding to whatever Fett says that she thinks is wrong.
The cyberpunk gang with their colorful hover-vespas is so goofy and ridiculous looking that I have to admire the audacity of their inclusion. That they seem to make up most of Fett’s “muscle” only goes to show how pathetic Fett’s team is, and how utterly out of his depth he is at being a crime boss.
We waste 2 entire episodes (of a 7 episode series…) on catching up with Din Djarin and Grogu… and these 2 filler episodes are far more interesting in terms of character and plot, and look visually better than the rest of the show (thank you Bryce Dallas Howard especially!). Luke and Ahsoka’s brief inclusion in this show, while fun, is baffling in a narrative sense, reeking of fan service at the expense of the plot of the show. And Grogu’s choice to return to Din would have been better suited for Mandalorian season 3.
The show then drops Cad Bane on us at the end of the penultimate episode, then expects us to see him as a dramatic foil to Fett, when their relationship is barely alluded to. Had Bane been introduced early on and been presented as the main face of the Pyke Syndicate’s hold on Tatooine, then we would have had an interesting thematic villian that challenges Fett by representing his past life as a cold-blooded killer for hire. Bane does look really cool in live-action though, and I hope we see him again somehow.
I really didn’t have much expectations for this show, but wanted to be pleasantly surprised, especially at a somewhat intriguing albiet flawed first 2 episodes. Once it started to drag out its main plot, and then devolve into a cameo parade while sidelining its namesake character for nearly a third of its series, it became clear the show had no idea what it was trying to be other than filler content for Disney+. Everything about it, aside from Din and Grogu, feels so emotionally hollow…
C-
A few random notes:
- Teumera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen are usually great, but here their talents are wasted with shoddy dialogue.
- All of Robert Rodriguez’s episodes were so visually flat, and shot in such a boilerplate manner, that they were the blandest piece of Star Wars media I’ve seen in a while… I wish we got Sin City/Dusk Til Dawn/Desperado Robert and not… Spy Kids/Shark Boy & Lava Girl Robert.
-The whole show in general looks like it was shot on a studio backlot with barely any attempts to hide this… save for Din Djarin’s 2 episodes…
- I really liked the Tusken tribe… and though a prolonged period of nothing but their hoarse vocalizations would bring it dangerously close to the unbearable “Star Wars Holiday Special cacophony of wookie noises”, I would love to see more of their culture explored.
- Did Fett really think flying his ship directly into the mouth of the Sarlaac was a good idea? How would he expect to see anything that way?
- Danny Trejo showing up as a Rancor keeper was good fun, and I wished we got more of him.
- Speaking of which, did Fett bring his Rancor to Mos Espa during the finale even before the fighting broke out? If he kept it in his palace, how did he get back to Mos Espa with it so quickly during the big battle against those droids? Jabba’s palace is apparently quite far from the city…
- I wish Cobb Vanth was more prominent in the finale. Timothy Olyphant brings a much appreciated swagger to Star Wars
- More Amy Sedaris please!
- While Grogu returning to Din was quite obvious, it feels a bit frustrating to know that it basically renders moot most of the quest in season 2. But Din and Grogu sells… I only wish they held off on it longer, so their reunion would feel more impactful
- Also, did Luke seriously send Grogu out to Tatooine, a place he knows is full of scum and villainy, all by himself? R2 clearly wasnt going to chauffeur Grogu around looking for Din. That seems really irresponsible. (Maybe Grogu told them about Peli Motto, but how did he know Din was even on Tatooine?)
- Did anyone else laugh when the theme music during the end credits of the finale started to chant “FETT! Bo-ba FETT! Boba Bo-ba boba boba bo-baaaa!”
Idk y’all I think that Jedi school should have been shut down when Luke sent a baby with a droid across the universe. Like let’s start a small summer camp and work from there.
