[CaptainCrunch]

I will say it again. I loved the underlying story line in the PT. The republic was not all sunshine and roses. There was slavery, poverty on the outer ring and exploitation of the outer ring by the rich worlds in the middle. The Jedi had become entitled and wealthy, and clumsy in terms of their mission often coming in on the wrong side of issues. At the same time, the senate was slow moving and corrupt.



Even without a Sith Lord pushing over the whole rotten pile, the Republic was probably doomed to failure. We saw the Clone Wars series really flesh that out. People didn't trust the Jedi at all.



This was a story about the rise of authoritarianism and the welcome death of Liberty by the masses who wanted something else.



We kept hearing that the Jedi and Sith were nearly identical in their pursuits.



The Jedi were about knowledge to power. The Sith about gaining power to get knowledge.



The Jedi were about peace and democracy. The Sith about Peace and Order.



In the end the most poignent piece was Padme bitterly remarking that "This was how Liberty dies, with thunderous applause". And it was true. In the Senate the thunderous applause came from the corruption of the Senate. But on the streets and especially in the outer rings of the galaxy, there was thunderous applause at seeing a system that had failed them so miserably being replaced with something else.




Palpatine was absolutely evil . . . from a certain point of view. But Good and Evil is merely a concept of perception, and to him the Jedi were evil for their hypocrisy, limited viewpoint of the Force, and their willingness to prop up a corrupt republic. We saw that with the eagerness that the Jedi became Generals and Commanders to fight not for the Force, but for the government. They doomed themselves. But at the same time, Palpatine was a reformer in his own mind. He thought that what he was doing was for the best for the Galaxy.


Oh and we saw what happened when the Empire collapsed and was replaced by the Old Republic. Slavery, corruption and the rise of lawlessness returned.