Debuting on Disney + on Dec 29th, 2021 is the latest original series based in the Star Wars timeline, The Book of Boba Fett. The series picks up with Boba (Temeura Morrison) and his partner in crime, the legendary assassin Fennic Shand (Ming-Na Wen), both last seen in the Mandalorian series, now assuming the throne of crime boss on Tatooine. The same throne that was once occupied by Jabba the Hutt, but after the overthrow of Jabba’s would-be successor Bib Fortuna as seen at the end of the last season of the Mandalorian.

That’s about all we can say without getting into spoiler-y territory here. The first episode is just over a half-hour and barely leaves time to breathe. (That’s all Disney gave us for review). Although, at least the first 6 minutes go back in time. Those minutes explore on camera what fans have only speculated over for decades. The action is top-notch and the writing is on point. However, one can feel the episode is lacking due to time constraints. I’m comparing this, by the way, to shows that have hourlong episodes or have double episode premieres. A lot of things happen within this half hour. But nothing has moved forward in the overall story.

Reuniting the team behind the Mandalorian series makes great sense here, as they know this world very well and can hit the ground running. Plus Morrison and Wen have played these characters so often now they could play them in their sleep, and both deliver again. More intriguing is some of their newer additions with veteran British comedian Matt Berry (The IT Crowd, What We do in the Shadows) voicing the droid UK2-B and L-Word regular Jennifer Beals as tavern owner Garsa Fwip. Both make indelible impressions in their debuts.

Veteran action director Robert Rodriguez takes charge during the series premiere. He also serves as an executive producer for the show. His episode delivers a breakneck pace that will have audiences scrambling to keep up at points. In fairness, that could also be because Rodriguez is operating under the constraints of episode length here. That said, it does keep the audience wanting more and anticipating the next episode. But importantly, it doesn’t do anything to address what could be the underlying issue with the entire series. How do we depict a notorious bounty hunter who is actively recruiting to take over a crime organization? And how do we make that character into someone the audience will want to root for? Only time will tell.