Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3’s first few episodes throw around a bunch of codenames and technical jargon – including the term “M-Count.” So what does M-Count mean, and how does it fit into Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3’s story?
Related: When Does Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3 Come Out?
What Does M-Count Mean in Star Wars: The Bad Batch?
M-Count is a contraction of “midi-chlorian count.” This is never explicitly stated on screen in Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3, or during term’s debut in another Star Wars series, The Mandalorian. Instead, we’re left to figure out M-Count’s meaning ourselves via contextual clues littered throughout both shows.
For example, Imperial Remnant scientist Doctor Pershing references Grogu’s high M-Count in The Mandalorian, which jibes with the little green critter’s impressive Force abilities. Similarly, dialogue in The Bad Batch‘s third season establishes that the Galactic Empire’s Project Necromancer needs a clone blood sample with a suitably high M-Count to succeed. And given the Empire’s experiments ultimately result in a Force-sensitive clone of Emperor Palpatine, M-Count has to refer to midi-chlorians, right?
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Assuming it does, that has some potentially major knock-on effects for Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3. Episode 3, “Shadows of Tantiss,” reveals that Omega’s blood sample meets Project Necromancer’s M-Count criteria. Whether this means the young clone possesses hitherto untapped Force potential remains uncertain for now – but if she does, it’ll be a game changer for the Disney+ show’s remaining episodes.
Either way, the concentration of midi-chlorians in Omega’s system means that Project Necromancer boss Doctor Hemlock won’t rest until she’s back in his clutches. So, expect Omega and the rest of Clone Force 99 to spend most of The Bad Batch Season 3 on the run from Hemlock’s forces.
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What Are Midi-chlorians in Star Wars Canon?
Star Wars creator George Lucas first introduced midi-chlorians in 1999’s Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. They’re microscopic life forms inside all living things that connect their hosts to the Force. As a result, the higher someone’s midi-chlorian count, the greater their potential as a Force user. This makes midi-chlorians one of the more controversial aspects of the saga’s lore, as they provide a partial scientific explanation for the Force (previously an entirely mystical concept).
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Aside from acting as a cosmic go-between for Force users and the Force itself, midi-chlorians are supposedly capable of creating and sustaining life. 2005’s Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and later licensed media imply that Emperor Palpatine manipulated midi-chlorians to engineer Anakin Skywalker’s virgin birth, however, various official sources have since refuted this. The canon is also equally hazy on whether midi-chlorian-specific techniques alone are enough for a Sith Lord to cheat death as Palpatine claims in Revenge of the Sith.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season is currently streaming on Disney+, with new episodes dropping Wednesdays.
