"Kidnapping Anakin's mom, and basically torturing her seems needlessly sadistic"

Not only that - I can be made to believe the impossible, but not the improbable. The whole kidnapping thing (from my limited memory) seems out of place (including the dreams) and convenient in terms of plot. I mean, everyone thinks she's dead but there she is clinging onto life until Anakin turns up and she decides to die on him. Great timing. Unintelligently contrived like so much else in the prequels.

I really need to stop dredging up these memories I have of watching the prequels. They are just plain bad filmmaking as much as anything else. Technically brilliant but creatively bankrupt.