Boba Fett, Innocent Mafioso
Bounty hunter, Crime Lord, Civic Leader
The Book of Boba Fett wrapped up this week, and I want to keep this light on spoilers (though, still, SPOILERS AHEAD if you haven’t seen the season), but I need to express a thought that’s been on my mind for each of the seven episodes:
Boba Fett really doesn’t know how to be a crime boss.
For a guy who introduces himself in conversation as a “Crime Lord,” Boba’s pretty bad at crime. I mean he’s very good at violence, but in almost every scenario, he’s attacked first. Bikers attack his camp, he kills some bikers. Mercenary tries to murder him in his waterbed, he and his crew knock out a mercenary. Assassins come after him, he fights back.
There are two types of explanations for what happens in a story, and they were named for a creator and a character in the wildly popular Sherlock Holmes stories. These two types of explanations are called Doylist and Watsonian. Doylist (as in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) explanations come from the perspective of the writer. Watsonian (as in Dr. John Watson) explanations are the explanations that make sense within the context of the story.
So when we have a Crime Lord who doesn’t crime very well, we have two explanations.
-The Doylist Explanation: It’s a Disney show, and they’re not going to turn this in to The Breaking Bad Batch, so Boba Fett can’t be written as THAT bad of a guy.
And then there’s:
-The Watsonian Explanation: Boba Fett has been a secret sweetheart of a guy for 40 years and the truth is finally coming to light.
And folks, the Watsonians have a much more interesting take here. Boba was never really mean! He felt super bad about delivering Han to Jabba! And that massacre on the sand speeder? It probably happened because Boba was so distracted thinking about political reform in Mos Espa! Behind that hard, Beskar exterior was a heart of a gold, and at last he can share it with the twin-sunned world!
Don’t get me wrong, this line led to some silliness in the show, but I did enjoy the ride. And Boba Fett, the nicest mob boss you know, will forever be a part of how I view Star Wars from now on. And I’d like to thank The Book of Boba Fett for making crime fun for the whole family.