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In Star Wars: The Bad Batch season l, episode 9, learning the truth about Omega changes everything. Please stop reading here if you don’t want spoilers. This knowledge affects the Batch (all played by Dee Bradley Baker) and the young clone girl (Michelle Ang), but it also reverberates across the rest of that galaxy far, far away.
Last week’s devastating episode saw the return of toothpick chomping bounty hunter Cad Bane (a terrific Corey Burton) – last seen in The Clone Wars – and his target was Omega, whom he snatched away from the Batch as they also battled former Batch member Crosshair (also Baker) who is heading a team to take them out.
The fact that the Batch has to turn on their Clone brother was bad enough – seriously wounding him to allow for their escape – but Bane successfully nabs Omega and flies away with her. It was a heartbreaking moment that left me quite numb. It’s not like Star Wars is above putting a child in danger (think Ezra Bridger in Star Wars Rebels), but this seemed too much to bear.
This week’s episode picks up with a now bandaged Crosshair in hot pursuit of the Batch, who are busy trying to trace Bane’s ship and get Omega back. They finally manage to escape into light speed and begin the process of finding Omega.
Meanwhile, Omega is locked in a cell on Bane’s ship, but she continues to prove herself resourceful. She bargains with Bane’s droid Todo (hilariously voiced by Seth Green) by offering to repair its broken leg. Todo’s leg is repaired, but then Omega finds a way to short circuit Todo. She grabs her wrist communicator and escapes the ship, which has landed on Bora Vio at an old cloning factory. It is here that Bane is to meet Taun We (Rena Owen) who is to pay his bounty and take Omega back to Kamino. Omega does manage to contact the Batch with her communicator, and they desperately try to locate her.
Back with the Batch, Tec has tested Omega’s blood and has made a startling discovery – Omega is a first generation clone! This means that she is like the “daughter”of Jango Fett (from whom all the clones descend) and the “sister” of one Boba Fett (Temeura Morrison). Subsequent batches of clones –including the Batch – have been engineered over and over again and Fett’s original DNA has declined, making the Kaminoan clone makers have the need for fresh, “pure” DNA – the kind Omega possess.
Bane drags Omega to his rendezvous with Taun We, but a shot is fired and they find her lying on the floor. The person who fired the shot is bounty hunter Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), and she is holding the case with Bane’s bounty. Considering the personalities involved, an amicable exchange of credits for clone seems out of the question.
What follows is one heck of a brawl between Shand and Bane – simply the best fight scene this season. Shand tries to tell Omega she’s there to help her, but Omega is smart and remembers that was not the case when they met in the past. As the duel continues, Omega has a chance to escape, and she finds a computer in a room of the old factory and uses it to contact the Batch. In that same room are cloning pods with dead clones floating inside (making the viewer think of the ones seen in the film The Rise of Skywalker).
Omega finds escape pods and uses one to lift off. Bane, his exhausting duel with Shand over, watches its trail as it zooms up into the sky. He has been sent by Kaminoan Lama Su (Bob Bergon), and he is determined to deliver his package. Of course, we learn earlier in the episode that Su wants to collect Omega’s DNA and then terminate her. Clone engineer Nala Se (Gwendolyn Yeo) has other plans. She has grown fond of Omega, and we learn she hired Shand to save Omega. This is an interesting twist that we can look forward to developing in future episodes.
Once back with the Batch, Hunter gently tells Omega the truth about her origin. Omega is stunned as she recalls the clones in the pods. She is frightened and doesn’t want to be test material for the Kaminoans. Hunter promises her that she will be safe with them and that will never happen as the episode ends.
So, how does this change everything? Well, it is a huge revelation that Jango had two direct children. The fact that Boba is older than Omega could explain why they look so different, but series showrunner Dave Filoni has some more questions to answer. Why is Omega a girl? This one has me thinking some weird thoughts, including were the Kaminoans planning on making Alpha (Boba’s original name) and Omega mate to produce more pure clones? Or were they experimenting for some other devious desire for the Emperor (Ian McDiarmid)?
There is also the whole notion of clones and the cloning process in Star Wars, which has been very significant since the prequel trilogy, The Clone Wars, and Star Wars Rebels. Cloning is also a crucial element in The Mandalorian, where the nascent First Order is trying to get Grogu (Baby Yoda) for his Jedi DNA to make super clones. With the new live action series The Book of Boba Fett coming later this year, there seem to be no coincidences here. Since Fennac Shand has aligned herself with Boba after taking over Jabba the Hut’s palace in the last episode of season 2 of The Mandalorian, did the young Fennac know Boba even back when she rescues Omega from Bane? It would seem clones and the act of cloning are more important than ever, especially considering the Emperor cloned himself to survive after the events of The Return of the Jedi.
We have nine episodes of The Bad Batch left. It is entirely possible that Boba shows up in one of these episodes to claim his little sister – the way Luke (Mark Hamill) claimed Grogu from Mando (Pedro Pascal). We can also speculate that Omega could end up appearing in the live action series. Of course, it is also possible that Boba has no idea about a sister since she is younger than he is and was created well after Jango’s death and Boba’s leaving Kamino.
I’m not sure what is coming, but I am really excited about it. It seems like Filoni is working within the framework of the canon but also expanding it and clarifying things, elucidating elements we have never understood or have not known. Also this kick-ass episode was one of the best of the season, even with very little of the Batch in it. Omega, Bane, and Shand carried the ball in this one, and it was a touchdown!
Until next time, may the Force be with you!
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