The Book of Boba Fett, Chapter 7: In the Name of Honour

 "I gave you my word. I'm with you until we both fall."

So the season has ended already. It's been a little uneven and experimental at times in recent episodes, yes, but that's no bad thing. And this is a true climax, the ending to a Western movie in which the sheriff and his gang have to do the right thing to protect the townsfolk from the baddies. It's all quite topical, really; I'm typing this as Putin and his fascist underlings murder their way to lebensraum in Ukraine, not an inch of which must be surrendered. May Zelenskyy be as successful as Fett.

This is at once a splendid selection of great-looking CGI set pieces and full of surprises, sort of. The suspense lies in which allies will arrive and the answer is, of course, all of them, from Baby Yoda to the entire population of Freetown. But there's good  haracter stuff, too, as former bounty hunter Boba finally learns what it is to be a hero, to be respected, to... ride a Rancor. And yes, the extraordinarily well done CGI Rancor, cleverly foreshadowed a few episodes aho with Boba saying he wanted to ride it, is the visual highlight, even more than those two ED-209's with force fields that turn up as end-of-level bosses.

But what really matters is when the Freetowners turn up, enraged by the murder of their sheriff and, of course, Grogu returning to his dad, Beskar armour clad, to help save the day by putting the Rancor to sleep and then, er, curling up to sleep next to it in an incredibly cute way.

This is a perfectly structured and awesome finale to a bravely experimental variation on The Mandalorian which develops Boba Fett while reminding us that Westerns are often metaphors for not appeasing fascists and shooting them instead, whatever John Wayne's dodgy politics.

The Book of Boba Fett, Chapter 4: The Gathering Storm

 "You can only get so far without a tribe."

This time the focus is on the flashback as Boba, folloewing the detrruction of the Sand People tribe, resolves to get his ship back from Bib Fortuna and his underlings in the events prior to his and Fennec Shand's appearance in The Mandalorian. Yet this is crucial not only as backstory but also as deep character background, showing us how a bounty hunter came to settle down and become a "daimyo".

His first reconnaissance of Jabba's palace leads him to find a dying Fennec Shand, whose life he saves with cybernetic surgery. She agrees to assist him in order to pay off her debt of honour and they retrieve Boba's ship together, yet a genuine mutual regard grows between them- and when Mr Fett offers to employ her permanently he makes clear his respect and offers his "loyalty". It's fascinating to see the bond growing between them, and both interesting and fresh that there's no hint of sex or romance, just a friendship based on mutual respect. Boba is realising that the lonely life of a bounty hunter will not give him what he needs.

Returning to the present, we see Mr Fett undertaking the necessary diplomatic maneouvres in preparation for his attack on the Pyke Syndicate. Next episode will no doubt be action-packed, but I'm loving the diplomatic chess playing here. Yet again, this script may not focus on the most obviously crowd-pleasing areas, but this is top telly.

The Book of Boba Fett, Chapter 3: The Streets of Mos Espa

 "Take it from an ex-bounty hunter: don't work for scugholes."

This episode gives us a fascinating change of pace as it focuses on the realities of Boba Fett's new life as the boss of Jabba's former domain- he has to make complex, indeed political, decisions. The moisture farmers are having their water stolen by cool cyborg ne'er-do-wells, yet said cyborgs are left with no choice because of chronic unemployment and extortionate parties. The solution, as it often must be, is a messy compromise. Still, at least Mr Fett ends up with some cool cyborg underlings.

We get a nice bit of exposition from 808 too; Boba's position is not yet established as he only runs some of Jabba's old protection rackets and needs to expand his power- politics again. And it seems a bigger power, the Pyke syndicate, is muscling in, and charging protection money within Boba's sphere of influence. I'm rather enjoying this focus on Fett's responsibilities. Being a kingpin is za\a life of much admin.

Things get even more complex after a large set piece in which the twin Hutts' Wookie employee almost succeeds in assassinating Mr Fett (he would be dead if not for the cyborgs), only for the Hutts to apologise, give a Rancor monster as a geasture, and duly sod off so as not to offend the feared Pyle Syndicate. This serves to really big up these new baddies, although it will be a shame not to see the Hutts again. Still, saves on CGI, I suppodse.

We end with a touching scene of bonding with the Rancor (nice cameo from Danny Trejo as the Rancor keeper!) and a bit of a very Star Wars car chase, crammed with visual Easter Eggs, before Bobba determines to go after the Mayor, who is clearly linked with the syndicate.

Meanwhile, in flashback, Mr Fett finds the Sand People settlement raided and destroyed, vowing revenge.

This is the best episode yet, daring to focus on areas which may not appeal to everyone but doing so superbly.

The Book of Boba Fett, Chapter 1: Stranger in a Strange Land

 "Jabba ruled by fear. I intend to rule with respect."

This is, in the end, a programme in a very similar format to The Mandalorian, although it unexpectedly acts not as a direct sequel but the story of a side character, albeit a major character in the mythos. Jon Favreau is still showrunner; the directorial house style (helmed this time by Robert Rodriguez) is similar, as are the closing credits. Oh, and we're still very firmly within the Western genre.

Temuera Morrison is excellent, as is the ever stoic and ever ageless Ming-Na Wen, whose room wust surely contain a much older-looking portrait of herself. But even more excellent is the writing. On one level there's lots of fan service, perhaps, with Boba's refusal to torture those Gammorrean Guards who escaped the Rancor and hire them instead being a nicely observed character point: he's not a Hutt, he won't travel by litter and he's ruthless but not sadistic. Boba is a much  more expressive character than the Mandalorian, but equally fascinating.

Structurally, the episode is clever. We have two time zones, both of which reflect the Heinlein-evoking title. In one, a flashback, Boba escapes the Sarlacc just after the events of Return of the Jedi only to have his stuff nicked by Jawas and to have to endure harsh captivity by a tribe of Sand People.  The other, in the show's present, shows the beginnings of his attempt to gain full control of Jabba's empire. It's a first episode, with lots of necessary exposition to get out of the way, but so far it's utterly gripping. More please.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 14- The Tragedy

 "They're back. The empire. They're back."

It's all go in this very eventful episode: Grogu goes to do that magic Jedi thing on the planet Tython but, awkwardly, Mando is attacked at the worst possible moment by a not dead Fennec (the ageless Ming-Na Wen) and... a hooded Boba Fett. Who claims that Mando's Beskar is his armour. Oh dear.

All this is a side-show, of course, to the clever bit of misdirection with stormtroopers from a more than normally moustache-twirling Moff Gideon who, finally, manages to nab cute little Grogu, who now faces an immediate future as a "donor". Brr. And those "Dark Troopers" are cool.

Yet there's another big reveal going on- Mando's armour is indeed his, and Mando eventually accepts that: honour succeeds where battle failed. It's a nice touch, that the esteemed Mr Fett agrees to help return the child as a quid pro quo. We also get a nifty bit of subtle retconning: Jango Fett was a foundling. This is the Way.

The script from the dependable Favreau, the direction from the Hollywood guest helmer, the performances, the whole damn thing... it's excellent. I'm loving this.

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

"Yeah, he's right. Peter Cushing does that all the time.

It's been twenty-odd years since I last saw this film and it is, in hindsight, even better now than it was then, courtesy of some truly splendid direction and a sparkling script from the premier exponent of metatextual hyper-violence, Mr Quentin Tarantino.

The film is, of course, famous for feeling like typically Tarantinoesque crime caper until the final forty-five minutes of the film where it suddenly pivots genre and introduces a load of vampires and magnificently rattles through a load of vampire tropes like a boss. Throughout it all both the dialogue and the delightful levels of violence make the film an absolute pleasure to watch, and the acting (Clooney excepted as the pretty face but Tarantino very much included) is top notch throughout.

The whole thing really does come across as just effortlessly masterful and splendidly cinema-literate to boot, and that's before a particularly alluring Salma Hayek and all her mates at the Titty Twister (love the name) turn into vamps. But the final scene provides a superb explanation of exactly why the place has always been home to vampires leeching off the public. Magnificent in every way.