Diego said:
Anakin killing little Jedi kids is so cheap and stupidCheap? Yes. Stupid? No…if you’re going to kill all of the Jedi it’s reasonable to kill the kids too just in case one of them comes across a holocron. It’s called a contingency for God’s sake.
any clone could have shot the children
True but maybe Palpatine specifically had Anakin kill the children to show his commitment.
instead we’re shown the clones fighting older lightsaber-weilding Jedi
Younglings had lightsabers too.
while Anakin goes to kill the baby Jedi. Not a great start for the “awesome” Darth Vader.
Every villain has to start somewhere. To think he’d be instantly like the Vader in the OT is a ridiculous expectation.
It’s a nonsense scene to get the “Anakin is evil” reaction
Primarily yes but is it really that pertinent? Whether it was kids or random innocent people there was going to be a scene that exists for the explicit purpose to show how far Anakin has fallen. Even a good version of the PT would have had such a scene.