In today’s episode we take a deeper look into The Book of Boba Fett: Chapter 2 - The Tribes of Tatooine…or as we like to call it; The Tribes of Dune, Dances With Wolves, and The Last Samurai! Is the show ripping off other great works or is it giving us a healthy dose of classic cinema? Tune in as we rank it and decide the fate of trains in Star Wars.
“This episode was fun and fine.” - Christian
The fruits of our patience are starting to pay off with this second episode. We get to see a lot more of Boba Fett’s character development, which explains why he’s wearing the black robe in Season Two of The Mandalorian. However, we wish we could’ve had this in the first episode as this is introduction material. If we’re starting off with present day Boba Fett ruling as the daimyo, we hope the flashbacks tamper off in order to get to the current task at hand. Now, that doesn't mean we didn't appreciate some deeper dives this episode took.
“I wanted to see more of present day Boba Fett interacting with the Mayor.” - Christian
When ranking Star Wars content, it’s easy to lock into the boundaries of its universe and make sure it “follows the rules” as we see them. However, that’s not soley how you should make new and exciting content. For example, the lizard-induced dream with Boba Fett finding himself in the tree was a creative liberty that worked well at depicting Boba’s next steps forward in terms of self-discovery. The big tree represents his father, which he then later makes his weapon (the gaffi stick) out of. Sure some of us could see this whole scene as a stretch, but it’s not like the typical peyote hallucination that could’ve been, and for that we’re thankful for it.
“It is an indigenous person telling an indigenous story respectfully.” - Amanda
This episode brilliantly displays the difference between cultural appreciation and appropriation. They wrap Boba Fett into his own look instead of copying the Tusken Raiders. He also protects the land of the sand people, demonstrating land sovereignty. Throughout all of his interactions with the tribe, we should also keep in mind that we’re witnessing a solid performance by Temura Morrison. It takes serious talent working with masked supporting actors.
“Why would you need a train when you have a spaceship?” - Amanda
Hot Takes
Is this not Dances with Wolves?
We don’t want any more backstory for Boba Fett.
Trains should not be in Star Wars.
This show needs to be more violent.
“I want to watch Star Wars, not Dances with Wolves.” - Charley
While watching this episode, Charley was expecting wolves to show up. To him, we need something more original and less lazy. Brody mentions what we’ve all been getting at: time spent on backstory is starting to kill the whole thing. With just five episodes left, we’re nervous for the present day Boba Fett story. We hope he gets more screen time. Amanda raises the boldest claim of all…no trains allowed in Star Wars! Being the logical thinker in this scenario, She says they could’ve and should’ve used a different plot device (like a spaceship). It’s almost an irrefutable case for sci-fi cinema. However, we train-lovers just can’t seem to let them go, especially if we’re supposed to be watching a space western. It would seem wrong getting rid of them. And finally, why can’t Boba Fett go off on some gang members and brutally kill them? Maybe that’s what they were going for at Tosche Station, but that’s not how it came off. It’s Boba Fett, the notorious bounty hunter. How about some snapped necks or blood? This was a missed opportunity for a show advertising itself to be something different.
individual Rankings
“I would rather watch an hour of this than many of the Star Wars films.” - Brody
Despite our gripes, this episode adds more depth to the Boba Fett we never thought we’d get, while also giving us some more lore to drool over. The Pykes, the Mayor, Black Krrsantan, the black melon, the Mustafar joke, the Hutts, it’s all great! It was cool seeing the Mayor’s translating tool in action as we have not heard from Ithorians before. These teases into the universe were almost all during the present-day scenes, and we hope to focus more on the present moving forward.