Is Omega headed for the dark side?

George Lucas once said of the original and prequel Star Wars trilogies: “It’s like poetry. They rhyme. Every stanza kind of rhymes with the last one.”

This is a helpful quote to remember—there was quite a lot of rhyming going on in episodes seven and eight of season two of The Bad Batch. And what these proverbial stanzas rhyme with makes me a little nervous.

The main question in play in “The Clone Conspiracy” and “Truth and Consequences” is this: What do we do with these aging clone troopers? The Bad Batch has been slowly dropping breadcrumb-style answers all along, and we, the viewers, know what ultimately has to happen: Clones Troopers will be replaced by Stormtroopers. Admiral Rampart has been keen on enlisting regular, non-clone citizens from across the galaxy to serve the Empire, and the Kaminoans will certainly not be adding any new clones to the Imperial ranks.

While these specific episodes follow Pantoran Senator Riyo Chuchi on her seemingly doomed crusade to enshrine rights for clone veterans in Rampart’s military recruitment legislation, the broad brush strokes of the episodes for me stir up scenes and plot points from Attack of the Clones.

Think of it: A troublesome senator, in the face of an assassination attempt, is given additional security—though, despite those threats to her life, continues her crusade for what is right and just. A confrontation with the assailant answers no questions but raises troubling new prospects, pointing toward a deeper plot. All the while, the gears of political discourse grind slower and slower until an authoritarian power play is made, disrupting democratic norms and creating an army to tighten a centralized grip on galactic freedom.

And of course, schemes upon schemes take place in the background while the Sith grow ever stronger.

In Attack of the Clones, it was Padmé Amidala who faced a failed assassination attempt. That effort led to Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker placing her under their protection. It would be Kenobi who worked to unravel the assassination plot; he stumbled upon Jango Fett and the burgeoning clone army on Kamino. Such discoveries led to deeper questions: Who commissioned the army? What role had the Jedi played? And who was ultimately behind it all? We know the answers now; we know, too, that then-Chancellor Palpatine seized upon the moment to initiate emergency powers, putting in place the groundwork for his Empire, Order 66 and all the rest.

In The Bad Batch, we’re left with similarly distressing questions: What’s the deal with the assassin clone? Are there more of them, and what role might they play? What now becomes of the clone veterans?

Unfortunately, we know the answer to who’s behind it all: Palpatine continues to be one step ahead of our heroes.

But what we don’t know is this: What happens to Omega? Because in this rhyming scheme, Omega mirrors Anakin Skywalker. She’s the one tasked with accompanying and protecting Senator Chuchi. She works hard to play by the rules of the Galactic Senate, though her early quips—What does a senator actually do?—hint at her growing distrust for the institution, distrust that only deepens as she learns her fellow clones have no representation and that the entire governing body is easily manipulated by the Emperor.

In a meeting with the disgraced former senator from Kamino, Omega—outraged at what she sees as indifference—is clear to state just how angry she is and what she sees as necessary action.

We know where anger leads. We know where it led a young Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi who could not protect his mother, who lost countless friends, whose Padawan walked away from his side, who would eventually lose his wife and his best friend.

Now, in Omega’s story, we see those same beats. Members of Clone Force 99 go their separate ways; the family Omega never truly had is already dissipating. She doesn’t have the power she needs to change galactic events.

So, will her story rhyme with Vader’s?