review

Boba Fett Chapter 7 Review

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Well, The Book of Boba Fett has come to an end.

While the lasting reactions and memories of the show will take some time to settle in, I can give a glimpse of what I was feeling in real time. The bar for the series was quite high, coming off of the smashing success of The Mandalorian, so it had a tough task looking to meet those expectations.

In the end, the latter series did not top what they were able to achieve with the former. Boba Fett feels like a sidestep in the more sweeping thematic story of The Mandalorian. It was an amusing aside that created some all time visuals, but that left fans scratching their heads about the sudden U-turn in attitude from the titular star.


In the head canon of fans, Boba Fett was the most badass bounty hunter in the galaxy. A man who once stood up to Darth Vader. A loner who Darth Vader had to plead to use more humane tactics. With this build up of a character that was long fan beloved, and extremely limited in actual screen and story time, we had no idea what we were in for. But given the triumphant and brutal return of Boba in The Mandalorian, we did expect that the character would flex his muscle at all that stood in his way.

What we got in the series however was a suddenly pacifist Boba Fett, who spent long stretches without his signature helmet on. He was a character long on monologues and short on action. And while the sudden turn of Boba Fett into a ruler who wanted to lead by respect and not fear was intriguing, the thought was never paid off. We never concretely understood why he had the sudden change in temperament. We were just asked to accept it.

The series suffered from a lack of dramatic conflict. An interesting opposing force was introduced near the end of the series in rival bounty hunter Cade Bane. It seems like the story would have gained in tension and menace had a character like Bane challenged and threatened Boba in the opening episode. There was never a face to the danger that Fett was up against. There was a masked crime gang, but we were never taught to fear them, only to believe that they had a stranglehold on Tatooine. It seems there is a strong story to be told here, and I wonder what employing some Breaking Bad level tactics could have revealed. Breaking Bad put on a masterclass of revealing one menacing underworld character at a time that the main character had to go through. Each character was introduced as unhinged and brutal in their own way. From Tuco Salamaca to Gus Fring, we always knew exactly who was threatening the well-being of the characters in Breaking Bad. In The Book of Boba Fett, evil had no face. We never got to see Boba really agonize about who he was up against. It would have led to much more dramatic storytelling and still could have worked with the slow burn tempo of the opening episodes.

In the end, all of our heroes come back to Tatooine to assist Fett in his defense of the town from the Pike Syndicate. Big shootouts and set pieces abound, and we are given some cool and noteworthy action. The setup gives an excuse for Boba Fett to satisfy fan desires by showing him riding on top of a fearsome Rancor beast through the dusty streets of Tatooine. The beloved Grogu shows up and saves the day in Boba Fett's show with his new mastery of the Force. In the end, Fett is seen as the hero of the town and the other characters go off on their next adventures.

While the ratings proved to be a success, you have to wonder where the story of Boba could go from here. Will a season two see him defending the town from a new crime gang?

I was expecting to see some tie in to the Han Solo Star Wars film, which heavily featured crime syndicates. The Emilia Clarke character from that film, Qui-ra, was set up as a capable crime lord working alongside Darth Maul. That would have been a blockbuster worthy pairing to be the tormentor of Boba Fett in this series. But they were no where to be seen. Instead we got a masked gang who we had to accept as being brutal and ruthless.

In the end, The Book of Boba Fett feels like a series searching for an identity. There are cool sequences that lean into the space western trope. There were soulful moments where Fett learned the culture of the Sand People, where it felt like Star Wars culture was moving forward. But then there were also the bland gangster scenes that felt like they could be further developed. And lastly, there were full episodes devoted to The Mandalorian, which served as great asides in that parallel story, but felt shoe horned into a series supposedly building up Boba Fett. It makes you wonder if this wasn't a part of the original series vision, but came down in feedback from Disney looking to get the most popular characters of the new Star Wars era back on screen as soon as possible. Understandable from the Disney brand perspective, but it came at the cost of muddling the narrative around Boba Fett.

The positive side is we are still getting more Star Wars live action. While the series didn't take big risks or develop Boba in the most coherent way, it did create some magical visuals and nostalgic Star Wars vibes that kept me entertained. I'll always want the best for Star Wars, but I'll keep coming back for their live action offerings whenever they drop.

Next up, Ewan McGregor returns in the title role for the upcoming Disney Plus series, Obi Wan Kenobi.

A presence we have not felt since...

“THE LAST DANCE” REVIEWED - EPISODE 6

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The price of Immortality

I remember watching along at the time, that Jordan seemed different after the 1992 championship. Maybe he was tired. Maybe he was lacking in motivation. But he seemed meaner, angrier and with a much stronger physique. In 1992, it almost felt like he still had some child-like innocence about him. Like the game was a joy for him to play. He reminded me of the legendary baseball player Ken Griffey Jr. who was known for smiling and blowing bubbles the whole game. But in 1993, Jordan had some kind of shadow hanging over him. Even as a kid, I remember thinking that the game didn’t look fun for Jordan anymore. He was scowling, yelling more, getting more technical fouls. Something had changed.

Here we get to see the dark side of being Michael Jordan, the man everyone wants to be like. The doc shows take after take of Jordan delivering the same line over and over again in a high production interview session. Just imagine sitting in all those interviews, commercial shoots, media junkets, after practice talks, etc. Imagine having to be fully on and in character as super human Michael Jordan at all times. Think about how even celebrities and politicians were affected by Michael. This was never really about basketball. This was a grand business experiment in crafting an image. It was corporate politics. In an era before transparency and social media, with enough time and money, someone could create a sexy, mysterious, globally beloved image—and offer the public no real view into the human at the center of it. Michael Jordan’s life turned into a real life Truman Show level reality show. Only the cameras weren’t all access. We were flooded with the most premium images and videos in a high spending media era. The result was that we were sold an idea. The idea of the people’s champion. The idea that if you pursue greatness you have a fighting chance of achieving immortality. A 360 dunk here. A Big Mac there. Spike Lee holding up some Air Jordans over there. And Michael Jordan holding up another NBA championship trophy. Turning into the singular narrative arc in a team sport. He was marketed more as an individual athlete, like a tennis player or a golfer.

michael jackson

And then, at the end of the day, Michael Jordan would go back to his hotel room, alone. A human behind closed doors, taking a deep breath, puffing on a cigar and pondering the media monster he was complicit in creating. Was he driving the businesses surrounding him? Or were the business sucking him dry and driving him? As he deliberated, the mountains of cash piled up for everyone involved. And the trophies piled up for Michael. The Michael Jordan Project had reached peak saturation levels. Perhaps foreshadowing that the “first” end was near…

The Jordan Rules

I read the Jordan Rules book as soon as it came out. I was hungry to learn more about what made Jordan and the Bulls tick. All we got back then were nightly highlights and high production glimpses like Nike commercials and team highlight videos. On VHS. The Jordan Rules represented a fly on the wall view into the mystique of the budding dynasty. The press hype for the book was vicious, looking to take down Jordan as a bully. As a certified (certifiable?) MJ fan, I braced for the worst.

The accounts I found in the book were just a collection of anecdotes that just sounded like team sports. Players talking trash, fights breaking out in practice, alpha personalities exerting their dominance. All the episodes sounded like what I had already experienced on my teams. I breathed a sigh of relief. The Jordan Rules was shocking to non-competitive minds who believed that everyone deserved a participation ribbon. But to anyone who had ever dreamed of winning anything, there was nothing out of line. The only difference between what was going on between MJ and his teammates, and what happens in every high school locker room was that it was happening with famous millionaires. However, if the Jordan Rules were an attempted smear campaign, they seemed to have the opposite effect. They merely became another gospel account of Jordan’s legendary competitive nature. He was emerging as a kind of Steve Jobs of competitive sports. Stressing every detail. Demanding the best out of the weakest links. And as they say, you can’t argue with the results.

Going for 3 / The Knicks

The Knicks presented a more made-for-TV version of the Bad Boy Pistons. Pat Riley had stacked the Knicks with hard-nosed defenders who had crafted an identity out of slowing the game down to a wrestling match. The Knicks could control the pace and score of the game. They would be perfectly happy with a final score of 62-57. They weren’t going for highlights. They were playing the long game. They wanted to mentally and emotionally drain their high flying opponents.

jordan over knicks

There would be flare ups in the match up, but not to the Pistons versus Bulls levels. I think Jordan and Patrick Ewing were too good of friends for true hatred to spill into the series. Still, the series was a spectacle and felt vital with the key matches being played at Madison Square Garden. It was truly must see TV. The Bulls got down in the series, but Jordan willed them back after spending some late nights, soul searching, in Atlantic City. A foreshadowing of darker headlines looming on the horizon.

“I have a competition problem”

This episode fully slides into Michael’s well-publicized gambling hobby. He seems in full denial of having a problem—but as he says, he is well-funded and still more than able to provide for his family. Everyone has to blow off steam somehow. When your bank account has that many funds in it, even the side bets become shocking headlines. But taken in context, maybe it’s overblown. Of course, we don’t like our heroes to have vices, so it’s a reality we all must reconcile. To me, it seems huge and noteworthy that no one has ever accused Jordan of betting on his own performance on the basketball court. Maybe he has a gambling addiction, but it appears there are boundaries.

After months of not talking to the media, this is how Jordan dressed when he went on national TV to deny he had a gambling problem.

After months of not talking to the media, this is how Jordan dressed when he went on national TV to deny he had a gambling problem.

And yet again, we see how Jordan takes headlines and barbs thrown at him in the press and eats them for breakfast, as his fuel to power himself and his team to another victory. It’s almost like he needed to power up the Knicks to Bad Boy Piston levels, so he spent a late night gambling, created a media scandal around that, and then had a basketball team and negative press to overcome. As though he needed to get the last laugh. “Who cares if I’m up till 1am in the playoffs playing cards, my performance didn’t suffer. Maybe it was enhanced.”

Michael gets the last laugh. Again.

“THE LAST DANCE” REVIEWED - EPISODE 2

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That Celtics’ series

It’s crazy how many short and mid-range jumpers Jordan hit in this early phase of his career. His jump shot for still looks the same as it did in his college days. It’s still a bit raw and not as refined as it would get later in his career. Also, the guy is hitting no three pointers. It’s all dunks and jump shots. It’s awesome seeing the Celtic legends Larry Bird and Danny Ainge talking about that playoff series. Nothing but praise. They realize that Michael was turning the game into something different. It was a special performance, peak young Jordan. As Bird said, he’s never seen anything like it before or after that series.

Pippen stews

I remember the narrative about Pippen being underpaid and asking for a trade. It was such a transition period for the NBA. In the 1980s you had players who had to have second jobs to support themselves in the off-season. Then the Bulls game through, turned the sport into a pop culture phenomenon, and suddenly the TV and marketing deals just swell up. Everyone wants a piece of what Jordan, Pippen and the Bulls created. But Pippen’s contract was locked in, long-term before the money really started pouring in. He was caught in the middle. He surely deserved to get some more coin for the popularity he was responsible for bringing to the game. Yet, as the documentary shows, the Bulls management weren’t willing to renegotiate. An unfortunate sour note in an otherwise soaring narrative of team dominance.

Late night WGN rebroadcasts

Way back in time, before streaming services, before Instagram, before Facebook even, there were a limited number of television channels. One of the national channels you could get anywhere in the US was the local Chicago station, WGN. So back before League Pass, if you wanted to, you could watch every Bulls game live if you wanted. 

Looking back now, there was something magical about tuning into WGN on a random weekday evening in January. There were no stakes. The playoffs lay waiting far on the other side of winter and spring. But there was basketball, and there was Michael Jordan. It’s funny thinking of this now, in this era of insanely hyped up YouTube mixtapes. On WGN, watching the Bulls was almost casual viewing. The crowds wouldn’t be that hyped in Milwaukee or Charlotte or wherever the Bulls happened to be playing. You would just dive through the worm hole and get to be a fly on the wall in stadiums across the US as Jordan and the Bulls would come to town. There was no fanfare, aside from the local Chicago announcers pulling out their best hyperbole to describe MJ’s latest aerial feat. 

But a lot of the time, the game just kind of dragged. And it was beautiful. You’d see Michael Jordan just moving around the court, sometimes not even touching the ball. But when he did, it was electric. The crowds he was visiting wouldn’t make much noise as he beat up on their home team, but he kept on at a constant clip. Racking up dunks and stats. Slowly building, almost behind the scenes, to something that would add up to be seen by all. These little nightcaps became a comfort food. Something to unwind to after a day of school and an evening of practice. A little competitive snack. Somewhere, in middle America, the Bulls were silently marching.

Paranoid Music Box: Thom Yorke's ANIMA Album Reviewed

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Thom Yorke’s latest solo offering, ANIMA, sounds like the personal sequel album to Radiohead’s shock and awe masterpiece, Kid A.

Kid A was the national anthem that radically broke the music industry with it’s bold departure. It created a seismic shift that reframed the narrative of not only Radiohead, but it was the singular popular music album that signaled the end of rock and roll as we knew it. It burned the guitars and familiar drum textures in the dumpster out back, and replaced the familiar sonic palette with bloops and bleeps. With cut and paste lyrics that turned humanity into a machine and twisted it so far that the humanity and intention came back out through the speakers. It was a brilliant effort of smoke and mirrors piping directly into our collective ears. Minds were melted. A statement was made. 

And it’s one of the last “rock” albums we all definitely point to. The last hurrah before Napster, before streaming, before we had a million songs in our pocket. Before Steve Jobs changed the world. Kid A was a record of intent of a certain time and place. A shared space.

If Kid A was meant to ironically dominate stadiums filled to max capacity, ANIMA is the same artist, and longtime producer Nigel Godrich, working from hotel rooms and basement studios, intended to go directly and personally out to each of us. Through headphones. Starting intimate conversations and picking up threads. Weaving shared textures.

Call it chill-paranoia. A cousin of the paranoid-android sci-fi branch of rock pioneered by Yorke and Radiohead bandmates. Here, the discomfort in our modern times comes even closer to home. In paired down, minimally backed electronic tracks, Yorke croons and meanders in melodic and sedated tones. He sings of regret, disconnection and the fragility of our so-called shared experience. His lines, sharply written as ever, elucidating truths that we all feel but maybe haven’t articulated for ourselves. Yet when Yorke pulls his lines through the gentle ecosystem of beats and loops, the sentiment hits home.

ANIMA is filled with dream imagery. Upon first listen, it has the sensation of someone waking up from a dream and being forced to deal with a startling new reality. Slowly observing and then reckoning the change in atmosphere from a lost time.

The album’s opening track Traffic, crystalizes this awakening with tonal clarity. The track pulses in as Yorke’s disembodied voice calls out “Yeah.” The first command comes “Submit” followed by “Submerged.” Then comes world play with “Nobody and No body” an incantation to the avatar filled world we anonymously find ourselves drifting through—submerged. We then move immediately into a crystal clear thesis “It’s not good. It’s not right.” And then two more bits of stark imagery “A mirror. A sponge.” In this shattered poetry, Yorke establishes the setting and atmosphere. 90 seconds in, the characters have emerged. 

But then comes a line that straddles hope and irony “But you’re freeeeeeeeee,” Yorke lilts, letting the last syllable roll out and come undone as a chorus of machine-like applause rings out. The bass doubles down.

From here its terse verses and turns of phrase roasting elitist pigs, or apparently “zombies” now. Yorke muses on as the beat sustains. It’s all very dystopian—what else could it be—but there is also a brightness that coarses through the album. It’s as though, three albums into a “side-project” solo career, Yorke has found a sense of mission. A clarity of purpose.

On ANIMA, Yorke and Godrich paint from the same palette they’ve been using since Kid A, however there is a refinement and sophistication here. It suggests that perhaps this is not so much a side project, as it is a alternate project, or a legitimate Thom Yorke vehicle. Worthy of attention, not just as a restless oddity from a creative soul, but as a document of admiration in its own right.

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Below Thom Yorke discusses ANIMA and how his creative process has evolved over the years: