Review: The Book of Boba Fett – The Streets of Mos Espa s01e03

The Book of Boba Fett is in a particularly weird place right now, with some elements working fantastically well, while others just seem remarkably clunky.  Episode 3, ‘The Streets of Mos Espa’ had its fair share of horrible moments, and some especially jarring ones.  *Warning! Spoilers Ahead!*

The first aspect of this series which gets a mixed response is how it has handled the Tusken Raiders.  Previously, in the films, they have been seen as just aggressors and drawn in rather broad strokes, so it was good to have their culture explored somewhat in the first two episodes.  It was still rather broad though and didn’t give us much detail, but it was at least something.  There was at last a chance to explore their world a little and get a fresh perspective on life on Tattooine.  Sadly, ‘The Streets of Mos Espa’ dashes those hopes rather abruptly, with the cheesy speederbike gang we saw briefly last week, killing them all off.  It seems an odd choice to remove an interesting story direction, unless you have something spectacular to replace it with.  Sadly, for us and the show, what follows doesn’t live up to that.

Back in the present day, Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) continues trying to solidify his position, while having to deal with the various factions in Mos Espa.  The most pathetic of these appears to be the local Mayor (Robert Rodriguez himself!) who seems to hold some power, but also doesn’t seem to pose much threat.  It’s unclear why Boba even gives him the latitude he does, and it seems strange how most of the scenes with him play out.

Alongside this, Boba also finds himself being petitioned by a local water dealer (Stephen Root) to help protect his business against some young thieves.  This doesn’t go according to plan for the dealer, as Boba ends up hiring all the thieves as his new ‘muscle’.  While this seems a good idea on the face of it, it does highlight some significant flaws in the show’s set up.  For starters, Boba and Fennec (Ming-Na Wen) live in Jabba’s palace with two Gamorrean Guards, but when they’re out, what is to stop anyone just robbing them or destroying it?  Gaining new bodies to work with fills in some of this plothole, but much more needs to be done here.

Pulling on this thread also brings to mind that the assassination attempts on Boba’s life are pathetically executed and make no sense.  Why send in a troop of useless assassins, and then follow that up with a single Wookie, Black Krrsantan (Carey Jones), when you could easily just use a missile strike, or a sniper?  It’s baffling how this narrative has played out and just underlines the complete lack of any threat there is in this show.  At no point do you ever get the sense that Boba is in any real peril, and we haven’t as yet seen a villain worth their weight.  It is in danger of becoming too cartoonish and losing the credibility that The Mandalorian worked hard to create.

That brings us to the biggest faux pas in ‘The Streets of Mos Espa’ and that is the ridiculous gang he hires as that new muscle.  The Star Wars universe always seemed to work best when things were a bit grimy, and definitely not too shiny.  It needed to feel lived in and have that down to earth element.  As much as a space-opera can anyway!  This is partly where The Phantom Menace etc.. fell flat and got much criticised for.  So, to now have this gang appear, replete with shiny scooters, seems very jarring.  This could have been done so well, but instead what we get is a kind of Cyberpunk cartoon meets Grease element being wedged into the Star Wars environment.  Like the supposed villains, they have no sense of threat or strength, and much like Danny Zuko’s useless crew, it all seems like bluster.

It could have all been so much better, but thankfully there are some interesting angles in ‘The Streets of Mos Espa’.  There’s a great appearance by Danny Trejo as a Rancor trainer, with the potential for him to appear more often and there’s also Matt Berry’s presence as Boba’s droid 8D8. This is kept comedic, but just on the right side of it, so it doesn’t get too jokey.  But all that doesn’t quite make up for the horrors elsewhere in the episode.  As a Robert Rodriguez fan, this is a little disappointing, but there is still hope he could bring it back again, as he is due to direct another episode.  It isn’t really all down to him though, as the direction of the whole season is an issue that needs to be rectified, but it may be too late.