This post contains detailed spoilers for The Book of Boba Fett.
At the end of last week’s extremely buzzy episode of The Book of Boba Fett, Luke Skywalker offers Grogu a choice. On one hand, the infantile “Baby Yoda” can remain Luke’s padawan, inheriting the lightsaber of one of the most legendary Jedi to ever live in the process. On the other, he can take a symbolic, just-forged gift from his enigmatic former caretaker, after which, Luke will return him to the Mandalorian.
Here in lies an opportunity—a chance for Star Wars to partially free itself of the stories of old. That or, well, thanks to Kylo Ren, we know the fate that awaits the students at Luke’s Jedi Academy. So, what will the writers have Grogu choose? There’s really only one option worth exploring.
Going on seven years after The Force Awakens was released, Disney’s Star Wars is still wrestling between the old and the new. Each episode of the sequel trilogy has faced vocal opposition from fans who thought creative choices were either too radical or too safe. In the years since, The Mandalorian seems to have struck a middle ground with a little bit of both. Here are two new characters with an understated yet sweet dynamic who, even as they meet classic Star Wars characters, are emotionally cuffed together, continually forcing each other to change and grow. Their path intentionally feels separate from the Skywalker Saga, and on an emotional level, it works incredibly well.
Exciting as it was to see none other than Luke Skywalker take the fledgling Force-user under his wing in The Mandalorian’s Season 2 finale, there was a sense that this fresh new energy Star Wars just found had been taken away, again in favor of classic characters and destinies. Then came the Disney+ series’ first spinoff.
The Book of Boba Fett is set almost entirely on Tatooine, the only planet to show up in six episodes of the Skywalker Saga, not to mention every TV series. It follows a character popularized for looking cool in the original trilogy, even though he mostly just stood around and rarely had a line of dialogue in those films. We watch him take a tour of Star Wars iconography—living with Tusken Raiders, negotiating with the Hutts, and battling it out with the Sarlacc Pit that once swallowed him. Anyone arguing that the franchise hasn’t evolved since George Lucas left it just got their most definitive evidence. After Luke separated Mando and Grogu, Star Wars went right back to its familiar devices.
But after the season’s midpoint, something shocking happened. The title card still read The Book of Boba Fett, but both stylistically and in terms of plot continuation, we got two episodes of The Mandalorian, and with them a renewed creative energy. The butcher shop in “Return of the Mandalorian” looked more like something out of a Saw sequel than Star Wars, while the city on the halo offered visuals far more arresting than seeing Tatooine’s Dune Sea for the tenth time.
The most recent entry saw Grogu going through basic Jedi training with Luke. Adorable as it may have been (not to mention a gesture of good will for those who felt Luke didn’t act to their liking in The Last Jedi), it was the start of the same story we’ve seen over and over again. But the conflict within the young padawan is apparent from the moment his true father figure leaves the planet. It’s the same conflict Star Wars creators face today: Do they stay on the path charted out for them, or go in search of something strange and undefined?
Whether intentionally or a stroke of blind irony, The Book of Boba Fett as a whole represents the very same conflict. Fans willed the series into existence after decades of outcry for more Boba Fett. Now he too is part of the same old story. But the untapped potential of Mando and Grogu’s adventures that the season suddenly pivoted to? It feels like an invitation for Star Wars to evolve, rather than slowly digesting in a Sarlacc Pit of its own making.
In “The Return of the Mandalorian,” Mando gets rejected by his own people. Now, Grogu can choose to reject his, and with them a destiny laid out to him solely by previous Star Wars stories. Their stories can simply be with each other, allowing them to chart paths of their own, free from the titles Mandalorian and Jedi. Where they can go from there knows no bounds, Star Wars and Disney merely have to have the courage to let go of the past, even if they won’t kill it, like they probably have to.
If you, like us, can't wait for tonight's finale, join us as we break down our burning questions for the Book of Boba Fett finale.
Continue reading...
At the end of last week’s extremely buzzy episode of The Book of Boba Fett, Luke Skywalker offers Grogu a choice. On one hand, the infantile “Baby Yoda” can remain Luke’s padawan, inheriting the lightsaber of one of the most legendary Jedi to ever live in the process. On the other, he can take a symbolic, just-forged gift from his enigmatic former caretaker, after which, Luke will return him to the Mandalorian.
Here in lies an opportunity—a chance for Star Wars to partially free itself of the stories of old. That or, well, thanks to Kylo Ren, we know the fate that awaits the students at Luke’s Jedi Academy. So, what will the writers have Grogu choose? There’s really only one option worth exploring.
Going on seven years after The Force Awakens was released, Disney’s Star Wars is still wrestling between the old and the new. Each episode of the sequel trilogy has faced vocal opposition from fans who thought creative choices were either too radical or too safe. In the years since, The Mandalorian seems to have struck a middle ground with a little bit of both. Here are two new characters with an understated yet sweet dynamic who, even as they meet classic Star Wars characters, are emotionally cuffed together, continually forcing each other to change and grow. Their path intentionally feels separate from the Skywalker Saga, and on an emotional level, it works incredibly well.
Exciting as it was to see none other than Luke Skywalker take the fledgling Force-user under his wing in The Mandalorian’s Season 2 finale, there was a sense that this fresh new energy Star Wars just found had been taken away, again in favor of classic characters and destinies. Then came the Disney+ series’ first spinoff.
The Book of Boba Fett is set almost entirely on Tatooine, the only planet to show up in six episodes of the Skywalker Saga, not to mention every TV series. It follows a character popularized for looking cool in the original trilogy, even though he mostly just stood around and rarely had a line of dialogue in those films. We watch him take a tour of Star Wars iconography—living with Tusken Raiders, negotiating with the Hutts, and battling it out with the Sarlacc Pit that once swallowed him. Anyone arguing that the franchise hasn’t evolved since George Lucas left it just got their most definitive evidence. After Luke separated Mando and Grogu, Star Wars went right back to its familiar devices.
But after the season’s midpoint, something shocking happened. The title card still read The Book of Boba Fett, but both stylistically and in terms of plot continuation, we got two episodes of The Mandalorian, and with them a renewed creative energy. The butcher shop in “Return of the Mandalorian” looked more like something out of a Saw sequel than Star Wars, while the city on the halo offered visuals far more arresting than seeing Tatooine’s Dune Sea for the tenth time.
The most recent entry saw Grogu going through basic Jedi training with Luke. Adorable as it may have been (not to mention a gesture of good will for those who felt Luke didn’t act to their liking in The Last Jedi), it was the start of the same story we’ve seen over and over again. But the conflict within the young padawan is apparent from the moment his true father figure leaves the planet. It’s the same conflict Star Wars creators face today: Do they stay on the path charted out for them, or go in search of something strange and undefined?
Whether intentionally or a stroke of blind irony, The Book of Boba Fett as a whole represents the very same conflict. Fans willed the series into existence after decades of outcry for more Boba Fett. Now he too is part of the same old story. But the untapped potential of Mando and Grogu’s adventures that the season suddenly pivoted to? It feels like an invitation for Star Wars to evolve, rather than slowly digesting in a Sarlacc Pit of its own making.
In “The Return of the Mandalorian,” Mando gets rejected by his own people. Now, Grogu can choose to reject his, and with them a destiny laid out to him solely by previous Star Wars stories. Their stories can simply be with each other, allowing them to chart paths of their own, free from the titles Mandalorian and Jedi. Where they can go from there knows no bounds, Star Wars and Disney merely have to have the courage to let go of the past, even if they won’t kill it, like they probably have to.
If you, like us, can't wait for tonight's finale, join us as we break down our burning questions for the Book of Boba Fett finale.
Continue reading...