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In my suggested version, the “You’re sounding like a seperatist” scene would come before the deleted scene where Padmé suggests involving the Jedi. So since Padmé already tried to approach the subject with Anakin and he became defensive, I think it could lead the audience into thinking she was referring to someone else in the later scene, like Obi-Wan or Yoda.
So a brief order of scenes (skipping some):
- Tells Anakin she’s Pregnant
- Balcony scene
- Discussing Anakin’s Nightmare
- Anakin appointed Palpatine’s representative, doesn’t become Master. Anakin and Obi talk afterward.
- Padmé and Petition of 2000 see Palpatine.
- The next day or later, Padmé and other senators complain how Palpatine has ignored their wishes and continues to exert his power, then they suggest forming an “organization” to stop it (which is now more clearly implied to be the Alliance rather than the Petition of 2000). They agree not to talk about their plans with anyone, and Padmé hesistantly agrees.
- Later that day, Padmé tries to approach the subject of politics with Anakin, but he becomes defensive and she drops the topic.
- The senators meet again and Padmé asks if she can speak to a Jedi she trusts about it, and the senators seem open to the idea.
- Later that day or the next day, Anakin senses that Obi-Wan been to Padmé’s apartment, and Padmé says he was just worried about him.
And the movie continues as normal.
(Grievous speaking to Sidious and Anakin’s Nightmare could also be placed later in the film, maybe after Yoda, Obi and Mace’s gunship conversation. Haven’t really decided on this.)
And like I’ve mentioned, I would trim the deleted scene to end where the other senators seem open to the idea rather than Bail telling Padmé to wait, as well as the mention of the Petition of 200 in that scene. I would also remove the mention of regional governors from the Palpatine scene since it now takes place before he does that, and then remove Padmé defending Palpatine with the other senators at Bail’s apartment, because at this point she has already recognized the problem.
This could add more reasoning as to why Bail goes to the Jedi temple during the attack, and why he goes looking for Yoda and Obi-Wan. There would be the implication that Padmé has spoken to Obi-Wan offscreen (Anakin: Obi-Wan’s been here?) and has established the crucial link between this Alliance and the Jedi.
And the benefit of it being offscreen is that it helps us see the situation from Anakin’s perspective. At this point Palpatine has already planted seeds of doubt in Anakin regarding the Jedi and Padmé. So Anakin’s suspicions would only build if he feels like something is going on behind his back. Yes, Padmé says he came by her apartment to talk about Anakin and how stressed he is, but is that all they talked about?
And hopefully this build up could help rationalize his erratic behavior on Mustafar. Anakin might have doubted Padmé’s loyalty at brief moments, but kept faith because he was doing all of this to save her. So when it appears that Padmé brought Obi-Wan with her, all of Anakin’s fears, that have now been better set up, seem to have come true. His best friend and wife have come to kill him. Anakin has sacrificed all of these lives and turned the galaxy upside down for her, and this is what she does in return?
Obviously Anakin goes too far but I’m hoping his paranoia would better explain his reaction in this version of events.
On another note, I also found this relevant video discussing Padmé’s character in ROTS.
Basically, he suggests that rather than Padmé just losing the will to live, that due to complications, she has to make the choice between saving her own life or saving the twins.
It would be nice if she could make this choice using her own words, but probably the easiest way to do this would be the Hal-method, and create a new medical droid VO to deliver the necessary exposition, and state that the delivery process will be dangerous, and Padmé has chosen the lives of her children over her own.
I think it would be worth it, because it would give her character one final decision, and allow her the choice to make a sacrifice, not only for Luke and Leia but the future of the Rebellion.
And while realistically I do think it is rare for mother’s to have to make such a choice on the delivery table, it would at least be as equally, if not more believable, than “losing the will to live”. Yes, dying of a “broken heart” is possible, but I think this option would also better serve the narrative and do Padmé a little more justice. Although Padmé dying still falls into the trope of a female character’s death being used to drive the male character’s own narrative, at least it would allow Padmé to maintain some agency in the end.
