#anakin's a messy melodramatic bitch who makes spur of the moment impulse choices based on what he wants right then and there

[antianakin]

I feel like the best way to "fix" Padme in the Prequels isn't to have Anakin brainwashing her, but to just have her be morally corrupt from at least the start of AOTC. In TPM, she's a scared young Queen, she's trying so hard to be peaceful and diplomatic and it DOESN'T WORK and she has to turn to violence and war to save her own people. She's not who she used to be anymore.

So when you start up AOTC, Anakin makes his interest known sort-of accidentally and Padme is immediately intrigued. There's none of that "Oh Ani, you'll always be that little boy I knew from Tatooine" stuff, let her follow up on the "Wow you've grown" comment just a tad more, comment on how impressive he looks now, nearly a Knight himself! And in the packing scene, instead of calmly explaining that sometimes mentors see our flaws better than we'd like, have her agree that Obi-Wan's treatment sounds frustrating perhaps, she can relate it to her own struggles in the Senate with other politicians who just won't LISTEN TO HER. In response, Anakin says that at least this new mission means he'll be away from Obi-Wan and spending time with Padme alone which sounds so much more enjoyable. Padme asks him how much more enjoyable and, well, things can devolve from there. Fade to black or just a kiss and a promise to follow up on Naboo or something, doesn't matter.

And you can let Anakin question why she's doing it or something if you want, bring up that it should be forbidden for them to be together and that Padme is risking a lot by doing this with him. Give Padme a nice simple answer here. Something like "I learned when my planet was attacked that life can be so short and sometimes the best way forward is to act decisively. I know what I want, and I'm willing to take the risk, because this feels worth it to me, it feels right." Nothing too deep and it brings up a little sympathy from the last film.

At the lake scene in the rainbow dress, bring back the comment Padme made in that deleted scene from their arrival on Naboo where she mentions she had expected to have a family by now, but with everything going on in the Senate she isn't sure that'll ever happen. Instead of "I hate sand" (yes yes I know) let Anakin RELATE to Padme's musings on her desire for a family, mention how he'd always kind-of wanted a child of his own, how important family is to him and while the Jedi ARE a family, it's not the kind of family he knew and grew up with and sometimes he misses it.

Come back to her frustrations with the Senate during the meadow scene on Naboo, let her admit that sometimes she DOES wish she could just force them all to listen to her even though she knows that that would lead to more problems than it would fix, so when she brushes off Anakin's dictatorship comment as a joke, it makes a LOT more sense that she would think that way.

And then for a more modern fix-it, have Anakin NOT murder all of the Tuskens, just the warriors, but he admits that he nearly did kill them all, that he wanted to, and a part of him still wants to return to the village and finish what he started even if it's not the Jedi way. It's still violent, and still a horrifying red flag, but this allows Padme to decides that Anakin's feelings are more important than the lives he took (and almost took). It's less out of character because she's been stupid for him from literally the start, they've been probably fucking since they got to Naboo, she's already compromising on her own morals for him, why not do it again?

Is this my ideal Padme? No. My ideal Padme is much more complex than this, but that Padme cannot exist in the story they were telling in the Prequels, so the best way to have Padme exist more easily in the Prequels without completely changing the story for her is to just simplify her down a lot.