Yeah, I kind of felt that way too. Here George was trying to make Sidious super mysterious, yet it was painfully obvious. Why was it painfully obvious? Because we had already met the Emporer in the sixth episode. I actually think, despite it being painfully obvious to us, that George was actually going in the right direction on this one. Imagine if he had never heard the name "Emporer Palpatine" before, or seen ESB or ROTJ. Would the connection between the two characters still have been so obvious? Not really. Perhaps internet whinning about this particular situation is what encouraged George to drop the necessary idea of making as if they would be viewed 1-6.