*Warning: This post contains spoilers regarding the latest episode of the Mandalorian*
The Mandalorian continued it’s excellent season on Friday by premiering “The Tragedy”, in which the show left us with a suspenseful cliff hanger, and brought back another legendary character in full form from decades in the past.
I’m talking about Bounty Hunter, Boba Fett.
For reasons unknown to even George Lucas, fans have been fascinated by Boba Fett for 40 years. That bears repeating. Four decades. Why? We don’t know other than he looks cool.
But yesterday’s episode and more specifically, his heroics, throws his whole mythology into the gray area between good and evil.
Now, bounty hunters are in it for the money. Even our guy Din.
But if it’s 1980 and you’re taking our boy, Han Solo, frozen in carbonite by Darth Vader, to Jabba the Hutt, then you’re a bad guy.
And if you’re attacking Luke Skywalker during that rescue attempt in the next film, then you are also a bad guy.
Yes, you can give me the politics of it all. The Empire was the authority and from his perspective, we’re supposed to be blind to the evil of Vader and Palpatine. And technically, Solo owed Jabba money and he was technically the criminal.
You can die on that hill if you want, but Boba Fett was still the bad guy.
Now, flash forward to yesterday, when Fett is fighting side by side with our Mandalorian and pledges to help him recover the child after getting his armor back. That’s a good guy.
If we turn a blind eye, that he had a sniper trained on Grogu just 15 minutes before that. That’s a bad guy.
Does it really matter? Not really. But Star Wars fans are a very reflective bunch. Maybe Fett doesn’t belong in the good or evil camp.
Either way, we can’t wait to see him again. A true combat scene with him in the armor will go down as a highlight in the entire 43 year mythology of Star Wars. Episode director, Robert Rodriguez, did a fine job.
We’ll all be here next week. This is the way.