I’m gonna have to rewatch this to get a better hold on it. I’ll be honest that I was a little surprised by the overwhelming positive reviews in this thread.
I’ll start out on a positive note and say I really did love that four-armed sand kraken. It was a great monster, a clear callback to Ray Harryhausen (of whom I’m a huge fan) and in most shots it looked REALLY good. Like, it looked like a physical prop. I also like Temura as Boba Fett a lot more than I ever expected (and this carries over from his appearance in The Mandalorian). As someone who’d rather forget the prequels exist, they’ve done an incredible job retrofitting them into the OT and making me accept them as part of the story (as long as I don’t have to actually watch them again… 😄 )
I also really enjoy the dynamic between Fett and Fennic Shand. They make a good team.
Now for the airing of grievances (I’ve got a lot of problems with you people! And now your gonna hear about it! 😄)
First and absolutely least importantly, I just have a hard time buying Morrison as the guy in the Fett suit during ROTJ. He’s just the wrong body type and does not convey the lanky Clint Eastwood style of OT Fett, especially once the armor is off and he’s just in the jumper. To be clear I’m NOT picking on the actor. It’s just that his physical appearance is noticeably different than the guy(s) who played Fett 40 years ago. It’s something I want to just overlook but I just couldn’t help but notice repeatedly.
More importantly, the episode just had a lot of stuff that felt very un-Star Warsy. Parkour. The “humor” - particularly the very modern and marvel-esque banter between Fett and Shand while receiving tributes. It just felt out of place and too modern. Part of me wants to accept it as “hey they’re branching out and trying to give us different types of Star Wars content” but then, Star Wars has always had a very specific timeless and documentarian feel that is, IMO, an intrinsic part of what makes something unequivocally Star Wars. You can have all the right elements (stormtroopers, music, blasters, lightsabers, what have you) but if you just throw them into modern style editing or writing something feels very off. Maybe it’s just me but if it doesn’t capture that timeless feel it just doesn’t capture the Star Wars feel to me. And I realize “timelessness” is a vague and nebulous quality to require, but there you have it.