It’s a big day! The Star Wars ranking team is discussing the finale of The Book of Boba Fett: Chapter 7 - In the Name of Honor. We’re also celebrating Star Wars Podcast Day (Feb. 7) by recognizing those who have come before us in the Star Wars audio world. And finally, we say farewell to one of the hosts as this will be their last recording with us. Stick around as we hash out the numbers and send our friend off into the sunset with Gandalf & the elves.
“I would consider myself a Boba fan after this.” - Amanda
It’s no small feat taking such a beloved character with a long history of notorious bounty hunting and turning him into a good-guy-daimyo who rules with respect. The Filoni-verse has used this series to acknowledge who Boba Fett was, and convince the audience of how he changed after the Sarlaac pit. Should they have spent more time with flashbacks focusing on the pre-pit Boba Fett? Or should they ditch the flashbacks altogether and focus more on present-day Boba Fett and his fight with the Pykes? Regardless of which direction the show could’ve gone, we can all agree that Chapter 7 did a good enough job of cleaning up its confusing pacing. The finale centered back on Boba Fett embracing his killer instinct, and showing off his talent for conquering beasts in style.
“They did the best they could with what they got working into it.” - Charley
It had to tie it all together. It wasn’t jaw-dropping, but despite having directed some cheesy action in previous chapters, Robert Rodriguez delivered a better action-driven episode. Boba Fett riding the rancor surprisingly looked really good and natural on screen. It was so enjoyable watching him command the beast to destroy those prequel-era Scorpeneke annihilator droids. Additionally, some of the best writing in this episode was Boba Fett’s duel with Cad Bane. It was most fitting having Boba Fett kill his former mentor in a way that didn’t compromise the terrifying nature of Cad Bane. Though, we were all asking the same question of Boba Fett, “What’s your angle?” because it wasn’t made clear to the audience with the previous chapters given to us. Amanda wishes there would’ve been a tie-in to the Bad Batch or Fennec Shand having acknowledged meeting Cad Bane before. We also wanted the mod crew to be more relevant than just props throughout the show.
Hot Takes
Season two of The Book of Boba Fett should be a sitcom.
The Book of Boba Fett is better than season one of The Mandalorian.
Grogu did not need to be in this show.
One of the Gamorreans should’ve been roasted on a spit.
“I like this show, but I don’t know what it did for my opinion of Boba Fett.” - Brody
Sure, it seems like a joke, but seeing a carefree Boba Fett with his newfound family and pets in a second season sitcom would be a fun way to retire the notorious bounty hunter. We know funny parodies of Star Wars can still work, and it may have been just as successful as season one. Let’s get a sitcom Tiger King version of Boba Fett! Brody thinks The Book of Boba Fett is better than season one of The Mandalorian. He argues we care more about the character of Boba Fett than we do with Din Djarin. That may be true for some. I still think he has a lot more explaining to do since The Mandalorian had a cohesive structure of storytelling and a season two to pair with it, whereas Boba Fett did not. The Book of Boba Fett also relied on Din Djarin, Grogu, and other cameos to bolster the show’s reception. This get’s right into my hot take: I think Grogu’s presence in the show was completely unnecessary as he has almost nothing to do with Boba Fett at this time. In this show, he is strictly a money-maker for Disney. It was disappointing seeing him steal the spotlight away from Boba Fett. I think they easily could’ve reserved him and his awesome scenes with Master Luke Skywalker for the start of The Mandalorian season three; truly starting off with a bang. It leads us to a larger discussion beyond just Chapter 7 of this series.
“I rated the finale as my favorite mainly because of the focus on Boba Fett.” - Christian
After the confusing lead-up and pacing of this show, it was nice seeing Boba Fett back on center stage, showcasing his warrior-like spirit. He was humanized for us, having a moment of weakness, almost giving into his anger upon hearing Cad Bane reveal who really killed the Tusken tribe. Thankfully he triumphed in that moment, listening to Fennec Shand’s advice. We saw him humbly change strategies when others suggested alternatives to his battle plan. My favorite of this chapter, and perhaps the series, was him riding that rancor. This was so satisfying to see on screen, especially for us fans who love his history of conquering beasts (Star Wars: Droids tv show). It was the action and focus on Boba Fett that I expected to see in almost every episode. Maybe those of us who grew up with the grande nature of the movies need to realign our expectations for lesser tv budget-like stories. However, with the medium of television, can’t we have a great build-up to something epic?
“It was refreshing to see that we could get some big budget action in a t.v. show.” - Christian
Sadly, this was our last recording with Charley. We’ve been so blessed by his presence on the show and helping us launch this idea for a podcast. Don’t worry, we’ll still have the numbers for ranking content as Tim will be joining our team as co-host. We’ll get to know what kind of Star Wars fan he is in due time. Charley is moving onto bigger and better things, and we wish him the best. Charley, may the force be with you.
