The Mandalorian Returning To The Status Quo Could Hurt Its Third Season

gamerant.com:

Star Wars fans eagerly awaiting the return of The Mandalorian were surprised a few weeks ago when the series returned to their screens under a different name. The Mandalorian’s first of many spin-offs, The Book of Boba Fett, started out as a Boba Fett character study. But midway through its seven-episode run, it turned into another show. The Book of Boba Fett had its moments, but structurally, it was a complete mess. It jumps back and forth between a fast-moving western storyline and a painfully slow-moving crime storyline before ditching both and becoming The Mandalorian season 2.5.

The flashbacks showed snippets of Boba’s childhood on Kamino, how he escaped from the Sarlacc Pit, and his efforts to reclaim his ship, his armor, and his groove. Meanwhile, the present-day post-Mandalorian sequences plodded aimlessly through a Tatooine gangster story that got thrown out the window as soon as Din Djarin stole the show. Since The Book of Boba Fett was spun off from The Mandalorian, a Mando cameo was expected. At most, fans expected him to have a supporting role alongside Boba.

The Book Of Boba Fett Episode 5 Is Just A Reminder That The Mandalorian Is A Better Show

But “Chapter 5: Return of the Mandalorian” was so ridiculously on-the-nose in handing the keys to a new series lead that it made the whole of The Book of Boba Fett feel like a big, extravagant, meta-commentary on Mando’s popularity overtaking his armor-clad predecessor. Boba is the title character of The Book of Boba Fett, and yet he’s almost entirely absent for two whole episodes. “Return of the Mandalorian” is upfront about being a Mandalorian episode, not a Book of Boba Fett episode, without a second of screen time for the title character. And then, in the following