[Warning: contains spoilers for part one of the season finale of The Bad Batch. Read on at your own risk.] When is a plot hole not a plot hole but still a plot hole? A confusing question with which to begin this article, admittedly, but allow me to explain. In latest episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch (“Return to Kamino“) Omega leads Clone Force 99 back to a secret cloning facility on Kamino. She reveals that the location is where she was created… as well as the rest of them. She knows this because she was there when they were created. This revelation creates both an apparent plot hole (that isn’t) and an actual plot hole. Still with me?
First, it seems odd that Omega would claim to have been present when Hunter & Co. were all created. If you’re familiar with the nuances of the Star Wars cloning process, however, you’ll know it’s entirely possible. As we learned in Attack of the Clones, the clones mature at half the normal rate. Thus, they reach full maturity by age 10 or so. And as we learned in earlier episodes of The Bad Batch, Omega is a wholly unaltered clone just like Boba Fett. Therefore, it’s not a plot hole to have Omega be older than her brothers in real time. But….
The Bad Batch time continuity plot hole
We also know from background history that the Kaminoans created two unaltered clones at the same time, Alpha (Boba Fett) and Omega. Piecing together information from the rest of the franchise (notably the prequels and The Clone Wars animated series), we know Boba Fett is approximately 13 years of age at this time. And therein lies the problem. Omega would be about the same age… thus there’s little to no possibility she would have any memory of being in the same lab as the Bad Batch when they were created.
Assuming Clone Force 99 was at full maturity at the beginning of the Clone Wars, and the wars’ 3-year duration, they would be over 13 years old in real time during the events of The Bad Batch. Even if Omega was older (and that’s a stretch), she’d still wouldn’t be old enough to have any real, cognitive memory of their creation. The only explanation of Omega saying “she was there” when they were created was that Nala Se had told her as such. There’s no way she would possess that information otherwise.
So what do you think? Did Dave Filoni inadvertently create a plot hole, or does the “Nala Se told her” explanation work for you? Let us know your thoughts.
The Bad Batch season finale, part two, airs this Friday on Disney+.
