Palpatine’s Big Reveal

Revenge of the Sith

The Prequel Trilogy is Chancellor Palpatine’s trilogy. Sure, the three movies tell of the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker, but it’s Darth Sideous who is moving the chess pieces. He’s the one stacking the board against the Chosen One and after two and a half films, Anakin finally catches on.

The scene in which Palpatine reveals himself as a Sith Lord to Anakin is one of the most chilling moments in the saga and shows the acting chops of both Ian McDiarmid – as if we ever needed further proof – as well as Hayden Christensen.

Anakin opens the conversation and he’s clearly rattled, pacing around the room. Then he opens the door for Palpatine; “there are things they [the Jedi] are not telling me.”

This is Palpatine’s Joan Callamezzo “Gotcha” moment (there’s a deep cut Parks and Recreation reference for you.) He knows that Anakin’s teetering on the edge of the force mountain and it’s time to push the issue.

He pauses, gets out of his chair and instantly starts to sound less like Chancellor Palpatine and more like Emperor Palpatine. Words like “power” and “strong” could have been lifted right out of Return of the Jedi. “Only through me could you achieve a power greater than any Jedi.” *Shudders* Delivery perfection.

And it’s not just the great dialogue. McDiarmid’s facial expressions are spot on. The little wry smile when he tells Anakin that he can save his wife “from certain death.” It’s top notch villain fare and Anakin, whether he knows it yet or not, is buying in to it.

This is Palpatine closing in on checkmate. We are witnessing the master of manipulation at the peak of his powers. He’s playing the game in every single line and in a trilogy where the dialogue is often criticised, and rightly so at times, this is a superbly sharp scene.