In conversation,
@Earl and I were discussing the bit in the prequels where the Jedi just leave Shmi Skywalker in slavery on Tatooine. It really makes very little sense, and they Jedi come across as needlessly callous about a person's life. (In-universe excuses about slavery just being
legal on Tatooine don't affect the impression the average audience member gets.)
Narratively, it's just a way for Lucas to get Anakin's 'start of darkness' underway in Episode II, but it's poorly handled. Really just a case of Lucas being pretty clumsy about plotting "the human element". He really gets themes and narrative arcs, but the details often end up contrived and stilted.
So, if I got brought in to help re-write Episode II, how would I handle this? Well, here's a suggestion:
Generally speaking, I'd keep the Trade Federation (adding the Banking Clan et cetera) as the villains to start with, instead of inventing a new villain faction. And I'd have
them be the ones who secretly bred a private army of clones. With their army, they start "liberating" the Outer Rim, which involves attacking Tatooine. This is explicitly portrayed as their last-ditch effort to keep their enormous power, now that the great reformer Palpatine is finally taking action to crush the evil corporations.
(This effectively combines Lucas's criticism of mega-corps with the whole allegory of the slave states seceding. That, too, was a last-ditch move sparked by panic about the slavocratic elite losing their power.)
Meanwhile, the Jedi would simply have paid for Shmi to be freed, making them less of a bunch of dicks. Anakin
wanted her moved to Coruscant, too, but the Jedi were (somewhat reasonably, given "no attachments") against that. So Shmi married Cliegg Lars and stayed on Tatooine. Anakin misses her (and his emotional dependence on 'approving parental figures' is already a bit worrying), but otherwise, he seems okay with it.
Then the clones invade, and Tatooine is attacked. Anakin rushes off to save her, despite the Jedi wanting a calm and deliberate strategy. (We may assume he was sent to guard Padmé, and that she -- having met Shmi, too -- supports him.) Meeting up with Lars, Anakin finds out his mother is among the enslaved prisoners, but he is too late to save her. The slaves have been abused brutally, and many have died, Shmi among them.
Anakin goes berserk, and butchers the enemy command... even after they surrender, and have
broadcast that surrender to the galaxy at large.
Anakin's 'start of darkness' makes more sense now. Also, his victims are pure assholes who
definitely deserve it... but his obvious war crime creates enormous outrage, and causes many already-disaffected Rim systems to secede from the Republic. And
now the corporate instigators of the whole conflict form the CIS. Anakin has personally caused the Clone Wars to escalate beyond belief. He's done exactly what the Jedi wanted to avoid. Functionally, he's given the enemy leaders exactly what they wanted. An excuse to really split off from the Republic.
He's not thrown out of the Order
only because the Core citizens see him as a Great Big Hero who gave the filthy slavers what they deserved. Patriotism abounds on Coruscant. Palpatine elevates Anakin's rank, giving him a military command. But from this moment on, the Jedi no longer trust him, nor does he trust them. To the Jedi Masters, he is an unstable loose cannon with severe emotional issues. To Anakin, the Jedi's failure to act at once (as he wanted) is what killed his mother.
Obi-Wan tries to mediate, but we can see it's in vain. He tries to talk to Padmé, who is genuinely shocked by what Anakin did, but just then, the news comes in that the newly-formed CIS has bombed Naboo from orbit. Padmé's whole family is dead by their hands, too. She leaves a despairing Obi-Wan behind.
Later, in the Senate, Padmé delivers a rousing speech on behalf of Naboo, where she leads the charge in extending emergency powers to Palpatine (who is also a son of this victimised world). Flanked by Anakin and Padmé, the Chancellor promises to restore order and justice to the galaxy; and not to rest until the traitors have been vanquished.
As his address ends, we close in on Anakin and Padmé, their fingers entwined in reassurance and affection. (Because rushing right to marriage is silly.)
