Typically, street racers only care about two things when it comes to their rides: performance, and flashy aesthetics, and not necessarily in that order. So that seemed perfectly consistent to me. Also; broke street kids spending every penny they can beg borrow or steal (mostly steal) on their rides and their threads instead of, you know, food? Accurate. One of things I love about Star Wars is how it can mix literally almost any genres together and make it work. Mafia bosses and ninjas? You bet! Old west gunslingers and samurai wizards? Of course! Godzilla, 'Apocalypse Now', and film noir? Indeed! Boba of Arabia Dances with Tuskens and recruits a blinged up moped racer gang of teddy boy greaser cyborgs to chase a midlevel bureaucrat in a flying 70's muscle car!? Sure, why not!?
I found it strange that they put the reveal of all the Tusken slaughter in the middle of the episode and the ending was just some Pikes arriving. A bit underwhelming; I don't find the Pikes particularly intimidating. I agree with everyone saying the chase scene felt off and slow. For a bit I was wondering if it was meant to be comically slow but it probably wasn't. Black Krrsantan kicking ass was fun.
The point isn't that they're supposed to be physically intimidating in and of themselves, it's the numbers they're arriving in. The Pyke Syndicate isn't just some local faction, they control (or at least, controlled) the rancor's share of the Kessel spice trade in the galaxy. They have numbers, credits, equipment, and the will to back it all up. Boba has one master assassin, a handful of teenage street racers, two gamorreans, and himself. Boba is a very small fish in the underworld, and a very large school of very dangerous sharks just swam into his pool like they own the place. As for why put that part of the flashback here: I'm pretty sure the implication is that the Pykes were the ones that wiped out the tribe and just made it look like the kintan striders did it. That way, Boba goes off after them in revenge, and they don't have to pay ANYONE protection for that territory anymore.
I mean, do know all that and I agree with your speculation that the Pykes are likely responsible for wiping out the Tuskens. I just didn't find the way the ending was done all that exciting and maybe it would have worked better for me if they'd had Boba realise the Pykes were responsible for the massacre during this episode.
Random thing that just occurred to me: the water merchant bloke seems particularly disgusted with the mod crew, practically spitting the word "machine". One could interpret this as an expression of generational difference. As we saw in ANH anti-droid sentiment was still strong, yet these kids embrace their cybernetic droid parts. Both because they were born after the Clone Wars while the merchant is of the generation that lived though it, and because of that what they're doing is inherently rebellious and counter-culture.
I wonder if they were going for a double meaning with the mod crew? They look like futuristic Mods and have body modifications.
It is odd that the kids and their scooters look out of something like Quadrophenia rather than something more like American Grafitti. It’s just an odd element for a Star Wars property and outside what you think of the experiences of the principals involved like Favreau, Filoni, Lucas, Rodriguez and so on and for the Tattooine setting. Though it’s nearly worth it for Sophie Thatcher alone who looks born for the part.
On the fence about episode 3. Hated the pointless chase scene, not interesting and Boba could have just pulled his gun on the guy and gotten the same info. I did like the bit with the Rancor, never thought it bring a loving sensitive creature before. We will probably eat up a chunk of time seeing how he learns to ride it. I do foresee an awesome scene where Boba rides the Rancor through the center of town, a payback from all those comments of why doesn't he be carried everywhere like the Hutts
Not that accents in Star Wars ever make any kind of sense, but is Sophie Thatcher trying to pull off a non-specific British accent? Jordan Bolger is actually British so maybe she's trying to make them both sound like they're from the same part of town? Or hell, the same planet even. For all we know they're war refugees.
Tatooine is full of citizens with all sorts of accents. British. American. Alien. At this point I'm not surprised to hear any specific accent on a Star Wars planet.
I got a kick out of the Pelli Motto cameo. Boba better ride that Rancor before this is all said and done. Krrsantan did not disappoint.
The biggest problem with this show remains unclear character motivations. Three episodes in and I still don't understand what Boba wants out of being a crime boss. Boba Fett: Crime Lord sounds fine for the Fett we saw in ESB, the one who was implied to love killing so much that Vader of all people had to tell him to dial it back a bit; that guy I can see sitting in Jabba's throne and ordering and threatening people around. But this Boba Fett is everybody's Space Dad and he wanders around being vaguely officious before wandering off again. And I really don't understand how he's been able to take over Jabba's enterprise so easily. Those are interrelated issues – the whole Daimyo thing feels low effort in-universe, meaning there's no opportunity to see Boba struggle and overcome and thus reveal character (I don't mind seeing him get his butt kicked, but since the personal stakes are so low, it ends up being boring; call it the Johnathan Archer Effect). Instead it feels like he wandered into an already-empty palace (what, no squatters?) and said "sure, why not?" His time with the Tuskens is much more compelling, and I think that should have been the show and not this criminal underworld business.
I am surprised no one is using Boba’s clone heritage to denigrate him. His face is quite famous I’d imagine. At least with the older folks around.
The Clone Wars never really made it out to Tatooine, what with it not being a republic world and nominally under Hutt control, if not technically in Hutt space. So I doubt many people out there saw a clone up close, let alone without a helmet. I also doubt any wartime propaganda featured their uncovered faces, just the uniform helmets. Bo Katan on the other hand is very familiar with clones, and made that point to Boba at the earliest opportunity.