SPOILER TBOBF Ep.7 - In The Name of Honor

I'll have to watch again, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary to me about that shot other than the typical "here's the vanquished foe" shot you see in Westerns.

 

Finally watched this episode episode!!

Mixed bag for me! But overall, my third favorite episode after 6 and 5, which were incredible.

A lot of stuff really worked for me here. The Cad Bane/Fett confrontation. The way Cad Bane reveals to Boba that the Pykes killed the Tuskens (really glad this plot point happened, it makes the Pykes actually matter as villains).

Also the Mando/Grogu/Peli stuff was all great. Grogu standing alone in front of a Rancor? A+ Star Wars imagery.

But some of the issues from the first half of the show did leak over into this one for me. Weird pacing. Bland cinematography.

The biggest issue for me, though, is that I feel the show can’t decide what Boba should be.

I mean, he’s a crime lord, right? That’s been his goal this whole time. He’s not trying to become the legitimate mayor of Tatooine. He’s trying to become the *crime* *lord.*

But the tone at the end of the show is like, “Look at this benevolent, honorable leader everyone loves!” And it’s like, dude! He’s a CRIME lord! He’s technically a villain still! He’s here to do crime stuff!

It would be as if The Godfather ended on a happy note, and the filmmakers were unironically like, “Isn’t it great that Michael killed his brother in law and became The Godfather? Happy ending!”

 

For what it's worth, he was trying to become Daimyo. If that title carries roughly the same connotation it did in Feudal Japan, it's basically a medieval lord.

The "crime" aspect probably comes from:

1) Tatooine itself, being an outer rim world steeped in a history of crime

2) and more specifically, the previous Daimyos (Jabba and Bib) being crime lords, making it almost a dark tradition

Ultimately, we can see Fett's differentiation in what he promised earlier in the season- "They ruled by fear, I will rule by respect". I think the "crime lord" thing was a bit inflated by fans.

 

I think that's because relatively speaking, Tatooine has for a long time been fairly lawless. The Marshal did point out the hypocrisy of it, but Din managed to convince him that the reality of the situation is that it's better the "devil" you know. Especially when they have the same objectives as you. Like kicking the spice trade out of the territory. It's historically resonant too. A lot of prosperity has grown from the seed of a great crime or crimes in a developing civilization. Like in North America in the 17th/18th/19th centuries. Over time people care less about the crime unless it affects their own continued prosperity.

It's never really specified what crimes Boba is the lord of. I assume it's smuggling and Mos Espa being a hub for trafficking and trade of all sorts of contraband, counterfeiting, stolen hardware and other forms of piracy. Stuff that could go on without harm coming to civilians. With spice though it's a different story.

The question of whether slavery was driven out of Tatooine has still to be answered in live action AFAIK. It's quite possible that, inexcusable though it still is, that organised crime would regulate its practice in lieu of a Republic/Empire abolishing it outright. Slaves might have received better treatment due to this fact and it not being good business to let it run to its worst excesses. Which it might have done otherwise. That's not meant to make it more palatable but it's another example where relativity in-universe needs to be taken into account regarding Boba or any other crime lord's status.

 

Yep. That was: "What? What the h... you have been doing since episode 1 then?".
I think this is a pretty good exemple of what has been the show. Script confusion and don't know where to go. Seemed weak and done quickly.

Last Boba sentences: "Why must everyone bow at me?", "We are not suited for this". Seriously? After all you said and done during 4 chapters? Not a clever bounty hunter.

 

Well, I'm a little hard on Boba with that post. I'm not sure that's a script problem--it could just be that Boba had to go through this experience of ousting the Pyke syndicate in order to realize he's made for different things. He's an experiential learner.

 

I don't think it's the script that's confused.

People have been predicting since the beginning that Boba would get restless despite his stated intentions. That he would realise that he doesn't really belong on a throne. And that putting things right after what happened to his Tusken tribe was his true motivation and once that task was accomplished, the attraction of being "lord" of his people would begin to wane. We even have Cad Bane spelling this out.

I don't recall Boba ever saying his ambition was for ordinary people in Mos Espa to bow to him.

 

I was mostly going by Boba saying “I’m the crime lord now.”

But you bring up some good points. My problem is, ruling by “respect” doesn’t make you a good dude.

Going back to The Godfather, Vito ruled with respect. And in the context of the movie, we like him. But we also understand that he’s still a crime boss. He’s still a bad dude.

I like what you’re saying, but I don’t think the show illustrates it well. Because he starts out by killing Bib Fortuna in cold blood and explicitly saying “I’m the crime boss.” If at some point in the show, he had a change of heart and said, “Maybe it’s time to stop this crime lord stuff. Maybe I need to go legitimate, be a fair leader, get rid of Tatooine’s corruption,” I would be all for that.

But as far as *what the actual show says*, he never expresses a desire to be more than a crime lord who rules with respect.

 

Wait till Boba gets to green flag the Boonta Eve Classic. He might get used to the idea of being the crime lord then.

 

I get what you're saying. I think part of this transition is that, by deposing of the corrupt mayor, Fett had a few options-

1) Allow a new mayor to be elected/appointed
2) Install a puppet mayor
3) Rule Tatooine (or at least Mos Espa) on his own

Seems he made the third choice, though I think I'd agree with you that the show didn't really get across this point or its implications very well. Would've been interesting to see Fett struggle with his desire to hold power weighted against the responsibilities to actually govern.

 

That was his initial goal, yes. It shifted when the hypocrisy was pointed out to him. When he wanted to run off and defend his castle instead of the actual people. “Oh, I’M the a**hole.” Suddenly he cares. Now our heel is a face. Tada!

Seems like the only morally objectionable crime going on in that town was “drugs”. “Drugs are bad, mkay?” Get rid of the drugs. Get rid of the crime. Now the crime lord is just a regular lord. Tada!

No one elected him. He still appointed himself dictator. But he’s a ‘benevolent dictator’ and people like him, so . . . it’s OK.

Man, if only this season had a couple extra episodes to really build that up and stress the character’s evolving perspective on being a leader of people and what that really means. Too bad that wasn’t an option

 

People complained of too many episodes per season, to the point that streaming services like Disney+ listened, now there isn't enough episodes or chapters to develop the character or plot... oy vey. 13-14 episodes per season were too long, all these so-called Youtube critics outlined how if there were less episodes the story would be a bit more streamlined... Watch what you ask for fandom... it's not the script or direction now its the number of episodes/chapters

I enjoyed longer seasons 13-14 chapters/episodes, especially if I am a fan of the character. I never thought that 6, 7, or 8 episodes would be sufficient or enough, for me that is.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is 6 episodes long, they are marketing it like a mini movie dished out in small portions. Is 6 episodes enough... we will see? So now, 2 seasons of a show add up to what we used to get with one season.

 

I can’t speak to that. The heart of the criticism I’ve scene is that series, whatever their episode count, weren’t managing their time effectively to tell a satisfying story. This isn’t a Goldilocks issue of just the right number. It’s about what you’re doing with the number you have.

Did they clearly not have enough story to tell and are padding to fill the order? Did they clearly have more story to tell and are truncating to fill the order? Neither is ideal.

Who locked them into only having 7 episodes? Was that audience demand? I imagine not.

 

I agree, filler episodes played a big part with the number of episodes we get today from what I watched and read.

 

We spent alot of time with Boba, but I just don’t think we got the character journey that some of you are pointing out. If you want to read that character journey into it, that’s a valid perspective, and I don’t think anything in the show contradicts it.

But at the end of the day, I just don’t think the show coherently conveyed that character journey. Alot of the pieces were there, but they didn’t seem to fall in the right places.

The show wants us to see Boba’s transformation from self-serving bounty hunter to community-focused, respectful leader. But we never actually see him as the self-serving bounty hunter. From the first moments, he’s offering to help his fellow captives escape.

The show wants us to see the transformation from respect-driven crime boss to fair ruler. But there’s no moment in the snow that actually drives that transformation. In the first episode, he’s all about being a crime boss. By the last episode, he’s all about protecting his people (who we really never even see until the last episode, too). But at what point does he make this transition? What deep character moment makes this transition happen??

I like the story they are trying to tell, but I don’t think they told it.

 

Right, and it totally bites him in the rear. He leads with mercy and gets instantly punished for it. So you’d think he’d be dissuaded from ever trying that again. You’d think if he got the opportunity, he’d only consider himself and bolt. But he does try it again and this time he’s totally rewarded.

I agree with you though. It would have worked way better if they first established what his existing perspective was: “Everyone’s out for themselves. You can’t rely on anyone but yourself. A mean blue guy named Cad Bane taught me that once.”

Again, the closest thing I see is when the Mods (representatives of the Espa people) call him out. That’s his aha moment. Where he recognizes that his motives had largely been self-serving up to that point.

I feel like they did, just not terribly well.

 

I knew Boba's pose with the gauntlet and knee rockets looked familiar!..

 

I’m pretty sure the mayor met his end at the hands of Fennec… Not sure how one could say the actions of a woman are the result of toxic masculinity. Either one of us misunderstood who killed the mayor or I think you may be stretching to see things there.

 

I thought it was awesome! Fennec has some good in her but she is still an assassin or bounty hunter and so it makes sense for her to have some gray areas. She ain't a jedi and it doesn't necessarily equal to her being "toxic"

I enjoy anti-heroes more than pure good and noble or all fully baddies. I will admit though that I ain't into politics and have no fondness for politicians and so political figures like this being taken out even by hanging doesn't make me sympathetic at all.