In today’s episode, the Star Wars ranking team discusses Chapter 5 of The Mandalorian, I mean, The Book of Boba Fett: Return of the Mandalorian. How do you objectively rank an episode that has almost nothing to do with the sole character it hinges upon? We’ll be tackling that and listening to Brody unleash his fury due to Boba Fett’s absence.
“Everything we’ve been wanting from Boba, Mando delivers in the very first three minutes.” - Charley
Dank Farrik, what a fun episode to watch! We couldn’t resist smiling while watching Mando wield the darksaber, take the N-1 Starfighter through Beggar’s Canyon, a BD droid, the ring world, Captain Teva, and so much more. What’s not to love? Other than Boba Fett not appearing in his own show, there should be no qualms within the Star Wars fandom, but of course there has to be. With only two chapters remaining, we’re left asking ourselves if The Book of Boba Fett’s purpose was really to instead set up something larger for The Mandalorian season three. To put it in terms of Brody’s basketball analytics, The Book of Boba Fett’s seven episodes is like the seven game series for the NBA finals. In his mind, we’re 2-2 with a lot depending on the fifth game, and it’s spent on Din Djarin instead of featuring the bounty hunter in the show’s title. For a hardcore Boba Fett fan, “It feels like you lost game five by 40 points.” Maybe they can come back from home for the last two games. The fifth game is crucial for a victory and Brody counts it as a loss, specifically for Boba Fett.
“Context is really everything when rating things.” - Christian
Did Disney just need to get the ratings up by bringing in their big guns? Charley’s wife stopped watching at Chapter 2, but with the reentrance of Din Djarin, she’s back in! Is something larger at play that really boosts Boba Fett into glory? Or is it even about the guy clad in green Mandalorian armor? It’s really confusing that they would give us a slow start to this show with flashbacks, keeping us from present-day Boba Fett. Now we have Din Djarin keeping our attention away from him. Which one do you want us to watch, Disney? This episode does almost nothing for Boba Fett. On the contrary, it does so much for The Mandalorian and Star Wars in general. Thus, we’re battling two extremes for ranking this chapter, as Chapter 5 seems to be shoehorned into the series…for now. We can’t give this a high ranking simply for the context. Boba Fett fans were not getting any Boba Fett.
“It was a fantastic episode of the Mandalorian.” - Brody
Regardless, it’s so enjoyable! It’s the most enjoyable episode of the show, which doesn’t feel right. We couldn’t resist smiling while watching Mando take the N-1 Starfighter through Beggar’s Canyon, him wielding the darksaber, the BD droid, Captain Teva, Peli Motto, and much more. This chapter was like drinking a fire hose of lore; not just fanservice, but purposeful fanservice. We got to see the history of Mandalore with the beautifully terrifying shot of the Night of a Thousand Tears / the Great Purge. Though, the Armorer is narrating the story as if she’s in the right. Her and Bo Katan’s ideologies are very much at odds with each other, yet they’re both of Mandalore. So it makes you wonder: Will they unite or will they fall? Witnessing the darksaber in action, we can almost feel the weight of it ourselves. Din Djarin cuts a Klatooinian in half! The technical aspects of this episode were wonderful, enhancing that lore we so dearly love. It was a beautiful episode, and it looked really good. Nothing was awkward or out of place like the previous episodes other than, well, you know.
Hot Takes:
The Book of Boba Fett is milquetoast.
The Ring world (Glavis) is a complete ring, not an incomplete one.
Hell froze over! Amanda agreed with Charley on his hot take! Brody still believes this is better than season one of The Mandalorian, but agrees thus far that The Book of Boba Fett is milquetoast. However, would we be so critical if we had this show before The Mandalorian? It’s hard to follow up that second season. Should Boba Fett just retire and open up a petting zoo? I raised the question of the gorgeous ring world, Glavis. It’s a much welcomed world-building aspect of Star Wars. Sure, I could hear Martin O'Donnell’s Halo original soundtrack playing in my head immediately upon seeing that beautiful world. It’s science fiction; the rings are welcome everywhere if done well on screen, so we’re happy to see it. Though, I’m the only one on the team that seems to care about its structure. Is it a complete ring or an incomplete one? We never got a full shot of the ring, and it makes you wonder why. It makes the most sense for it to be a complete ring as I think you have to perform many more mental gymnastics to make the incomplete ring theory work. But people are making that claim, which I thought was interesting. If we don’t get any more Boba Fett, just please give us some clarification and more of that ring.
“It’s almost like it’s done more development with Tatooine than it has with Boba himself.” - Charley
How can these last two chapters redeem this apparent fork in the road of the show’s main character development? What if Boba Fett goes to the ring world, uses the N-1 Starfighter, wields the darksaber, or somehow justifies the use of this chapter? We can dream, but if not, Boba Fett fans might still have to live vicariously through Din Djarin. Brody would be happier if this Mando episode was placed as the third chapter instead of the fifth. If the Amoror is going to shun Din Djarin for taking off his helmet, then he’s sure welcome into Boba Fett’s tribe. However, let’s not forget that Boba Fett still has a stake in the fate of Mandalore. He is a Mandalorian so I don’t think we should completely disconnect him from the current events.
“I will be disappointed if the next two episodes rely heavily on Mando to carry them out of this season.” - Amanda
The whole show is likely gearing up to reclaim Mandalore in a typical avengers-like fashion. Are the Pykes really a threat? Do we even care about getting them or who is the true villain? Will season three of The Mandalorian completely redeem The Book of Boba Fett? Brody might have to shift his fandom onto Fennec Shand, because this show has proven she’s more deserving of this.
