I disagree, ShiftyEyes. I think it helps show the audience why Padme doesn't want to rush into a relationship with this guy. She wants to like him, just like the audience wants to like him, but there are warning signs that keep casting doubts in her mind. To me, it's more effective than her simply being "focused on her career".

And I think the reason the edits feel to you like they cut in the middle of a scene, is because they do. This happens with the theatrical cut of every film. It's called editing. We just don't realize it because we haven't seen the entire scene, we see the parts the director wants us to see. You've watched the Star Wars saga a million times and you've gotten used to the flow of the George Lucas version. I don't think that fact can be used in criticism of ADigitalMan's editing skills or whether or not his edit of the film is good.

Watch this one enough times and your memory of the original version will be hazy at best, as has happened with the OT after almost ten years of watching the Special Edition.