Padme's HairPin Saves The Day! (Long Question)

In the scene where Padme and Anakin are standing in that little chariot and they are about to be brought out into the arena for their deaths, they give their pronoucements of love, if you will, to each other and Padme basically confesses finally that she truly, deeply loves Anakin.

She also tells Anakin that she is telling him this now because their lives are really, literally about to be destroyed, as in, she is convinced this is their end, complete with the Love Theme accompanyment music in the background.

Then when they get out to the arena where Obi Wan and the pillars are, Padme cooly picks out her hairpin and we all know the rest.

Was she ever really worried this would be there end? Or was she convinced they would get out of this mess too? If she had the hairpin all along why wouldn't she have told Anakin in the chariot before they were brought out, at the least of it, "I have a hairpin and I know how to pick locks!" lol. Don't you think she woulda given Anakin a heads up of what her plans were or was there a scene edited out where they go over their plan of action?

I just thought it was kinda funny that they had this big melodramatic love, last kiss scene, etc. and then as soon as they get out into the arena she just simply picks the lock out and hides it until the right moment. Wouldn't it have made more sense to take her hairpin out when they were in the cave, in the chariot before coming out in front of thousands of those alien thingees? lol. What do you all think? Was this scene disjointed or did it still work to it's best effect?

Love confession, last testaments to each other and then the hairpin unlocks the cuffs escape. Did she just trust Annie and Obi Wan would go into action? Both Obi Wan and Anakin seemed very confident that they could handle the whole thing too which was too cool to me.

 

It is funny when you think about it like that. From the camera's perspective of just a few feet away, you can hardly see the hairpin, so I wonder if some Geonosian in the stands is going to spot that and call her out on it. I don't know though. I doubt it. So she has to do it calmly and nonchalant to avoid bringing attention to herself. She couldn't really tell Anakin about it either, because the Genosian chariot driver sitting right in front of them could have heard it. She could have showed it to him and winked but then that wasn't the direction Lucas wanted to take it I guess.

I feel the reason her confession works here, is even if she does have a plan, is there is no guarantee it will work. More importantly, this love thing has been eating her up from the inside and she wants to get it off her chest before she has a chance to die. From the way she dresses, to the looks she gives Anakin, her thoughts betray her. She really does like him, she just knows it's not right. I think her ordeal in the droid factory helped her realize, she doesn't always have a plan, and it won't always work. When you come that close to death, you realize you may want to take advantage of situations you never bothered to take advantage of before. Telling Anakin the truth about her feelings and opening up to him is her attempt to try something she never has before. And she realizes this may be her last time to do that. Things don't always go as planned. Take the mission to Geonosis for example. She wanted to approach it diplomatically when they first arrived. That was the plan. So much for that plan. There was no guarantee the pin was going to work. And I feel that getting it off her chest, and telling Anakin the truth about her feelings, gave her the strength and confidence to carry on and fight in the Arena.

Edit: And if that reason wasn't good enough for you, consider this. Isn't it dangerous to put sharp objects in your mouth while riding on a chariot? What if the driver brakes really hard and you fall? That's why she waited until after she was off the chariot. It's the SW equivalent of not running with scisors.

 

Well, I think that Padme is simply a practical person. Once the difficult part is done, she has to think of the next phase. Unlike Anakin, she does not need to take care of her now-significant other - he is a Jedi, so she probably thinks that he would be fine; time to take care of herself, then, isn't it? She'd better make sure she is in the future.
First, however, the difficult part must be over. For what's escaping from an execution arena next to following one's thoughts to a place they should not go, or however that fireplace quote went?
Priorities, priorities...

 

In the novel it is a piece of wire. It is stupid. She should have unlocked hers and Anakins restraints. Unless they were watching too closely and she felt the only time she could do it was when she did.

 

Padme didn't know she was going to be chained to anything by a lock. She wouldn't have known until she was out there (correct me if I'm wrong).

Then, she's in the middle of an arena surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Geonosians there to see her die. I don't think her 'plan' was to do anything more than buy her - her, mind you - time. There was no escape for her, she knew it. And lucky for her she thought of the wire/pin, because it did allow her some time. Anakin and Obi-Wan were more than capable of getting free and defending themselves - or a least avoiding immediate death. She would have been instantly killed by the Nexu with no way for either Jedi to help her.

Later even free of chains and on the Reek, they never 'got away'.

 

I correct myself. Just watched AOTC. She had handcuffs on. But they were closely watched until they were out in the arena, then she was clear to pick away.

 

Maybe she got the lockpick from Anakin!

 

That seemed a bit odd to me too... and a bit funny. "Oops... did I neglect to mention this handy lock pick?"

Granted... simply getting out of those chains was hardly the same as getting out of danger. And perhaps she was concerned re being overheard, etc. Still, one would think that she would find some way to tip off Anakin - realistically, if they are going to have ANY hope (and again, there was no real reason for much hope under any circumstances!) , they are going to have to get HIM loose somehow.

Shadow

 

The real question is why Anakin and Obi-Wan didn't use the Force to pick the locks of the cuffs, ala the Emperor in ROTJ...