Is Book Of Boba Fett Boring? Why Its Tusken Raiders Flashbacks Hurt It

Warning: SPOILERS for The Book of Boba Fett episode 2.

Viewers call The Book of Boba Fett boring, and the flashbacks may be why the Star Wars show gets negative feedback. Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) returned to the Star Wars universe in The Mandalorian season 2. During the season, the bounty hunter helped Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) in his attempt to save Grogu/Baby Yoda, giving fans plenty of action scenes and shots of his ship, Slave-1, in the process. A Mandalorian post-credits scene set up Boba Fett’s ongoing Star Wars journey. In the scene, the bounty hunter kills Bib Fortuna (Matthew Wood) to take over Jabba the Hutt’s old throne. Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) then takes her place by his side.

The Book of Boba Fett changes the character’s Star Wars story, demystifying the mysterious bounty hunter. Boba Fett reached surprising popularity following a relatively minor role in 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back. However, the bounty hunter then made an embarrassing exit in 1983’s Return of the Jedi, falling into a Sarlacc pit and supposedly dying, doomed to get slowly digested for years. The creature even belches after consuming Boba Fett. Finally, however, The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett retcon Boba Fett’s abrupt exit, giving fans a story nearly four decades in the making.

Though many viewers praise the series, The Book of Boba Fett also has its detractors. Among the negative feedback, fans often call the show boring, as it leans into several flashbacks involving Boba Fett’s journey with the Tusken Raiders. Unfortunately, these flashbacks don’t necessarily focus on the storylines fans anticipated and often don’t use dialogue. Whether or not the scenes are successful comes down to individual preference; however, the creators behind the show also set up fans to expect surprises that never came to fruition. Still, the series will have plenty of opportunities to redeem itself.

Why Boba Fett Uses So Many Flashbacks

Temuera Morrison’s Boba Fett series showcases the bounty hunter’s Star Wars journey in both the past and the present. Through flashbacks, the series shows Boba Fett’s adventures after surviving the Sarlacc pit and making it onto the sands of Tatooine. Following the ordeal, Jawas take his armor, and the Tusken Raiders capture him. However, Boba Fett eventually learns the Tusken Raiders’ ways and becomes accepted as one of their own. In the present, the series showcases the bounty hunter’s quest to take over Jabba the Hutt’s throne and become the crime lord and Daimyo of Tatooine.

Flashbacks were always going to be a significant part of The Book of Boba Fett. Fans have been captivated by questions surrounding Boba Fett for years, and the bounty hunter’s mysterious reappearance in The Mandalorian just fueled those inquiries even more. Most importantly, fans wondered how the bounty hunter survived the Sarlacc and where he had been in the years since his fall into the belly of the beast. The Book of Boba Fett was finally a chance to give fans the answers they craved.

The Problem With Boba Fett’s Flashbacks

The problem with demystifying fan-favorite characters is that viewers might not like what they see. For example, Boba Fett was a badass bounty hunter who could seemingly take on any threat in style in fans’ minds. Unfortunately for viewers wanting an invincible bounty hunter, that’s not what the Boba Fett flashbacks show. Instead, The Book of Boba Fett reveals a flawed, vulnerable character. The bounty hunter gets defeated by a Tusken Raider in one-on-one combat and looks much more human than fans expect the legend to be.

Additionally, the flashbacks focus on the wrong things. The Book of Boba Fett handles its biggest questions in the first few minutes of the series. The opening scenes reveal how the bounty hunter survived the Sarlacc and what happened to him after making it out of the pit. With the questions out of the way, the flashbacks become less necessary. However, the series continues to return to them, showing Boba Fett learning the ways of the Tusken Raiders and using very little dialogue the entire time. The Book of Boba Fett episode 2 ends with a long, dialogue-less sequence of Boba Fett carving a Tusken Raider weapon, constantly looking at his new friends for approval, and performing a ritual with them. But fans haven’t been waiting forty years to see Boba Fett carve a stick. Strangely, the series lingers on that moment but breezes past more anticipated flashbacks, such as the Sarlacc survival.

How Book Of Boba Fett Hurt Itself

The backlash to the show primarily comes down to expectations. The Mandalorian post-credits scene and the series’ trailers set up The Book of Boba Fett to be about the bounty hunter becoming a crime lord. And fans were looking forward to significant reveals in the show. In a previous interview, The Book of Boba Fett co-showrunner Robert Rodriguez said the trailers were left vague to hide “big surprises.” Fans also expected to see Boba Fett’s helmet, ship, and advanced weaponry. But that’s not what the series has delivered thus far. Instead, the first two episodes spend most of the time looking back on Boba Fett’s adventures with the Tusken Raiders. His iconic helmet is just an afterthought in the show.

Having a show that’s slow and builds up isn’t the problem. Plenty of successful shows, including Mad Men and even The Mandalorian, take time to build stories. But they need to build towards something. Through two episodes, The Book of Boba Fett has no clear direction. For instance, the second episode ended with Boba Fett performing a ritual with the Tusken Raiders in the desert after a lizard went up his nose and gave him a psychedelic experience. Though a lot is going on in the final scenes, the series fails to show viewers why they should care. Simply having Boba Fett on screen isn’t enough. Fans expected a much different show from the post-credits scene and the trailers. Unfortunately, The Book of Boba Fett isn’t the show they’re looking for.

How Book of Boba Fett Can Save Itself From Being Boring

The Book of Boba Fett needs a clearer direction. If the series had delivered multiple episodes of the bounty hunter trying to get out of the Sarlacc, Star Wars fans would’ve likely eaten it up. After all, those moments mean something to them. But scenes heavy on branch carving sessions and light on dialogue may confuse fans. With a clearer direction and a show that delivers on the promises of the trailers, Book of Boba Fett can quickly end disappointment and boredom. After all, the character has built goodwill with fans for four decades. It’s not over for The Book of Boba Fett quite yet. But if the most exciting moment continues to be the scenes where Boba Fett gets slowly digested, the show has a problem.

The Book of Boba Fett streams Wednesdays on Disney+.

About The Author

Bill Bradley
(524 Articles Published)

Bill is an experienced reporter who’s covered entertainment and fandom since 2014. He’s done everything from unearthing the discarded Game of Thrones pilot script in a library in Texas to finding out why Steve left Blue’s Clues. He also enjoys eating Taco Bell and drinking chocolate milk.

More From Bill Bradley