Once we move away from Mandalore, we go straight into the familiar red carpet of the Galaxies Opera House, where Dr. Pershing is essentially doing a space eugenics TED Talk, convincing an audience of rich people that he was very sorry for the atrocities he committed, but nevertheless believes his research was important and good, actually.
Turns out, Pershing was working on cloning research, trying to pull DNA not from one source, but from several, then fusing it to create something new. This explains what we learned in season 2 about using blood from baby Grogu in experiments to create … something.
Cloning has been a very important part of the “Star Wars” canon in recent years, particularly this year with “The Bad Batch” bringing the idea that the Empire is very, very interested in secret cloning research personally approved by the Emperor. That we’re bringing cloning back after Palpatine’s death, however, gives room to think the show is building up to an “Heir of the Empire” adaptation, where cloning plays a big part in the plot.
It is unfortunate that this nazi apologist TED Talk takes place in the Opera House, because as magnificent a building as that is, it has also a rather unfortunate place in the history of the galaxy far, far away — and it has to do with the tragedy of Darth Plagueis, the Wise.