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The Book of Boba Fett Episode 5(Disney+): On one hand, this is the best episode of the show by a substantial margin. On the other hand, it has absolutely nothing to do with the series thus far as a whole. This episode should have been the first episode of season 3 of The Mandalorian, considering the amount of building into the plot of that show that is built in here. Din Djarin has been up to a lot since handing off Grogu to Luke Skywalker at the end of season 2, but key information about where The Mandalorian is going from here is tied up in this episode. Suddenly Din has been excommunicated from the religious order of Mandalorians and he has his new ship (an N-1 Starfighter akin to what Anakin destroyed a Trade Federation command ship with in The Phantom Menace) complete with a Grogu-sized seat where the astromech should go. It appears that the next episode will be Din going off on a mission to liberate Grogu from the Jedi Temple before coming back for the climax against the Pike Syndicate, but hopefully that can wait until after this show ends to give something to The Mandalorian.
Peacemaker Episode 5(HBOMax): This episode is the most entertaining so far and works on two fronts. The action in the front half of the episode where the team storms the shipping center is some of the best action on the show to date and allows Gunn to lean into his Troma roots. The back half of the episode does one of the most interesting things a show can do: exposit key information by pairing off characters that have not been paired off before to allow them to learn more about each other. This makes the revelations feel more organic and allows for the dialogue to not feel forced between two characters who have been established to be friends for a long time.
Naomi Episode 3(CW App): CW’s superhero fare usually works best when it is broken up into a modular format. While a season may be standard cable length (something around 20 episodes), they tend to be broken up into smaller sections so one villain is not taking up the whole season, especially when the heroes know who the villain is early on (see seasons four and five of The Flash, especially the nonsensical ending of their hundredth episode). Naomi is not repeating these mistakes and is making sure that, while the audience knows who the villain is, the protagonists remain in the dark. So long as the show keeps this knowledge a secret from the protagonists until closer to the ending, the show will keep itself from getting repetitive.
You May Have Missed:
The Roaring Twenties (1939)(Amazon Video or iTunes $2.99 rent/$12.99 buy): It is infrequent that a movie makes this section that both came out more than ten years ago and is not available included on a streaming service. The Roaring Twenties however was considered one of the best gangster movies by the American Film Institute and is just as resonant today as it was in 1939 when it was originally released. It is an indictment of how America treats its war heroes after they return from the conflict (in this case World War I), how America treats it’s incarcerated, and the cycle of incarceration. To say that this movie could be remade today with a new cast and very minor plot and timeline changes (obviously the bootlegging would have to be changed) should speak volumes about how much society has moved in the near century it has been since this movie was released.
