A Polygon columnist challenges the nearly universal dismissal of the Anakin and Padmé subplot in the Star Wars prequels, arguing it represents the trilogy's strongest creative choice. While granting that the films are fundamentally flawed—suffering from awkward performances, painful dialogue, and CGI overreliance—the author contends that Lucas deliberately committed to the romance as melodrama across all three films, using it as the emotional spine connecting the characters to the original trilogy.

The piece traces how the relationship develops from an uncomfortable introduction in The Phantom Menace to Attack of the Clones' garden scenes and through Revenge of the Sith, arguing that despite cringe-inducing moments like the sand monologue, the accumulation of scenes creates genuine emotional stakes. The author credits John Williams' orchestral theme and occasional moments of quiet chemistry alongside the melodrama, suggesting that Lucas made intentional artistic decisions that make Anakin's transformation and Padmé's death feel narratively inevitable rather than arbitrary—a rarity in films otherwise dismissed as incoherent.