We’re finally here, at the finale of The Book of Boba Fett. The show has had an interesting journey so far, in that the story turned out to be different than I think many of us anticipated. We’ve had flashbacks with Tuskens, Mandalorian-heavy episodes and plenty of setup for the season’s end game. But does the show stick the landing? Let’s find out.

Robert Rodriguez directs an action-packed closer to The Book of Boba Fett. Boba and his crew, including Mando, prepare for an attack from the Pykes after the bombing of Garsa Fwip’s cantina. After a bit of planning, the always menacing Cad Bane strolls up to deliver a message: leave now and let the spice flow (I’m paraphrasing, but I wanted to toss in a Dune reference here). He’s already taken Cobb Vanth out of the equation, which guarantees to him that the people of Freetown won’t be joining the fight. After some taunting at the expense of the fallen Tuskens, Boba tells Cad to get lost, which in turn triggers the climactic battle. But despite being assured that the other crime families would remain neutral, Boba is promptly betrayed, with each zone turning on him in a coordinated attack. Boba is suddenly left very alone in the fight, save for his small ragtag team.

What follows is a meaty and extended action scene. And while it was entertaining, full of memorable moments such as Boba riding the rancor, Grogu returning to Din and giving him a big hug, the citizens of Freetown joining the fight despite losing Cobb and Bane facing off once and for all with Fett, the episode felt kind of predictable and safe. It was furthermore peppered with some cringey humour, courtesy of the Majordomo and Amy Sedaris’ Pelli Motto. I find it interesting, now that the show is over, that the episodes I’ve enjoyed the least are the ones directed by Robert Rodriguez, but this episode was the strongest of the three he’s done, thanks some to some fun action moments and an adorable flying hug from Grogu.

All the safe plays happened and Boba came out on top. But on top of what? He wants to be crime lord, but his racket is bounty hunting and protection (and he utterly failed at the latter). Shouldn’t he just run a guild? Boba is left as the big cheese of Mos Espa, but I still find it hard to buy into him wanting to be a crime lord as he walks down the street, bowing to the average citizen and accepting their fruit. He has the respect of the people due to getting rid of the spice trade, but he’s yet to prove himself as a leader, so I don’t quite buy into the town offering their respects to him. Considering his mindset, why doesn’t he just run for mayor at this point? There is a vacancy after Fennec wipes the original mayor out along with the leaders of the other syndicates. So Mos Espa should be relatively peaceful going forward. It’d make a lot of sense to have Fennec deal with the underworld while Fett deals with the people.

Speaking of playing it safe, Fennec never betrays Boba, despite the show giving her every motivation to do it, so. I was expecting she would kill the crime families and then assume command herself, but she just wiped them out and then fade out. It felt a little, anticlimactic in that sense, as Fennec was ultimately the more interesting character while also having no real character arc.

Likewise, Grogu ended up picking Mando over Luke. I had no problem with that outcome, but I do wish it would have happened either partway through season three or in season four of The Mandalorian, as I feel it undermines the season two finale. Grogu reaches out with the Force and Luke finds him at the 25th hour, only for Grogu to give up so quickly. I wish Grogu stayed with him for the duration of Mando season 3 before reuniting with Din, but merch gotta merch I guess eh?

Boba Fett’s reunion with Cad Bane will be a welcome one for those who have watched The Clone Wars, but I can’t help but wish that he was introduced earlier. This show needed an antagonist and the Pykes simply were not it. Cad should have been introduced much earlier on and established himself as the antagonist to Fett’s progressive character. We got a taste of that in the finale, but only a taste. It’s a satisfying conclusion if you’re familiar with the character, but if this was your introduction, you’ll be left wanting. But it’s been pointed out that when Bane is stabbed, a light on his chest activates, indicating that we may not have seen the end of him as this could be a transmitter telling Todo (Seth Green’s droid character in Clone Wars and Bad Batch) to come and get him.

Instead of focusing so heavily on the Tusken Raiders in the early episodes, I think the show would have benefitted by flashing back to the prequel era, when Boba was doing jobs with Cad. There were four episodes worth of flashbacks, so putting two on the Tuskens and two on Cad would have fleshed out Fett’s backstory that much more.

That sort of sums up my feelings about The Book of Boba Fett as a whole. It was fine. It was certainly entertaining, with an interesting story, but it wasn’t as iconic or as memorable as The Mandalorian. Character motivations were thin for the primary cast and I just couldn’t get behind Fett’s arc, despite understanding it. Critically, the best episodes of the show were the ones where the lead was absent, highlighting a problem of this show. Sure, this was basically The Mandalorian season 2.5 in a way, but the show is named after Boba Fett, and he was definitely the least interesting part of the show. Despite trying unexpected things, chiefly with the Tuskens and Fett rejecting violence, the show felt very by the numbers. On the same hand, episodes five and six were some of the best Star Wars content I’ve seen in a long time, so I can look back on those episodes fondly and can’t wait to rewatch them, but I can’t say that about the show as a whole. But what about you? What did you think of The Book of Boba Fett? Did it deliver the goods or did it leave you left a little wanting? Let us know in the comments!

Oh, and in case you didn’t know, there is an after-credits scene that answers the fate of one Cobb Vanth and let’s just say I’m very happy he’s coming back.

For every episode of The Book of Boba Fett we’ve reviewed, we have this article which complies each post into one handy location. Enjoy!