The Tragedy of Decoy Queen the Pointless
Introduction:
I figured I’d expand on some points from before and add some new things. This is (broadly speaking) a follow up to this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/DarthJarJar/comments/1ohieab/who_sent_the_transmission_and_who_knew_the_whole/
The Tragedy of the Pointless Decoy Queen:
One of the most forgettable aspects of The Phantom Menace is a bit of intrigue involving the Queen. Did you know she has a double? The double is named Sabé. George put considerable effort into swapping these characters back and forth and ADRing their lines between each other. The payoff is slim though: the swap is pointlessly revealed to endear the Queen to Boss Nass, and the decoy Queen is used to momentarily confuse Nute during the finale. Big Whoop. So why did we waste so much effort on a subplot of two characters with a shared identity, if these characters never leave the same room as each other? Surely George knows big setup should mean big payoff.
Well, first, it adds a character to the 'who sent the transmission’ mystery. This mystery simply doesn’t have enough warm bodies in its roster. We can safely rule out the Queen, Artoo and the Jedi. So the audience will have to decide if the transmission was sent by the Queen's suspicious handmaiden, exposition dump Panaka or Jar Jar.
But wait, the Queen and Decoy are separated when she goes to Tatooine! She does nothing there! So why did Lucas waste everyone's time by having the Queen tour Tatooine?
It could be the case that Jar Jar is meant to use this opportunity to kidnap the Queen! Support for this is meager. Jar Jar mouths the words "The Queen wishes it. She’s curious about the planet" as they are spoken, so it's pretty clear he wants to pull her away from her protection.
Jar Jar discovers the Queen is using a double:
But how did Jar Jar know Padme is the Queen? Incredibly, we get an explanation. Another seemingly pointless scene earlier forces the Queen’s true identity. As the characters escape from Naboo, Sabé discovers the hangar is guarded and asks to return to the castle. Everyone tells her this is a stupid idea (ironically, at the end of the movie they do this minus two Jedi and win, so Sabé was onto something). This forces Sabé to ask the Queen what to do, and the Queen orders her to fight. Guess who has a 'holy crap' look on his face right after this exchange happens. Jar Jar. Keep an eye on him and his shock is undeniable. “A handmaiden just gave orders to the Queen!?” Lucas put this scene in to establish he knows Padme is actually the Queen!
Jar Jar confirms the Queen is in disguise:
But to be doubly sure, we get another tidbit that seems to show Jar Jar knows the Queen is Padme. Inexplicably, he decides to ask a random woman cleaning a droid about herself. This scene is somehow full of odd reactions for what should just be a simple pair of introductions. Why are we even introducing a relationship with two characters who barely interact? While we know this scene superficially shows off Padme’s ability to pretend to be a handmaiden, it’s also showing off Jar Jar’s ability to see right through the disguise!
Jar Jar behaves differently towards Padme. Maybe he sees himself in a powerful character who dresses up as a pauper. He's timid about going into the room she's in. Padme reacts with fear and shock when Jar Jar says ‘hello’ - has she been found out? Jar Jar’s first words to Padme are a drawn out 'who are you?' Look at the intense curiosity on his face. He doesn't think she's just some handmaiden and he’s about to make sure.
Look at Jar Jar’s reaction when she changes the subject. The audience knows that the Queen just hid her identity. But Jar Jar also sees right through the gambit. He just confirmed he’s talking to the Queen. She doesn’t suspect him at all. He’s ecstatic! Unless you think he’s joyful because she asked him if he’s a Gungan, which doesn’t make much sense.
And just as we know for a fact the Queen is being deceptive by dodging the question, it seems reasonable to suspect that Jar Jar’s non-responses are also meant to hide his true identity.
We also already know from the Original Trilogy that Artoo is smarter than anyone gives him credit for. This explains why we needed a scene with Artoo, Padme and Jar Jar in the same room. Suddenly the entire thing is reversed: Artoo figured out Jar Jar who figured out Padme!
Jar Jar treats the Queen like the Queen:
The Sith's and thus probably Jar Jar's main goal is to capture the Queen. Whatever he’s trying to do, he must build the Queen’s trust. However, this falls apart when Jar Jar gets into a fight with Sebulba. Anakin and Qui-Gon take turns scolding the humiliated Jar Jar. Jar Jar claims to be a victim in response to both of them. Nobody buys it. But who is Jar Jar actually trying to convince of his innocence?
As he responds to Anakin, the framing is all wrong! He looks like he’s talking to the Queen! Look at him a scene later when he supposedly begs Qui-Gon for redemption. He turns away from Qui-Gon towards the Queen, then starts chasing after her! Why is he talking to the Queen when he’s supposed to be talking to Anakin and Qui-Gon?! Is it just a direction error?
Someone animated Jar Jar to follow the Queen when he’s supposedly chasing Qui-Gon. Someone blocked the scene with Anakin so Anakin is barely in frame. Logically he should respond to Qui-Gon while looking at him, but instead turns to Padme! This is all intentional.
So what’s happening? Jar Jar knows Padme is the Queen, and is treating her like the leader of the expedition. He’s talking to the most important person. Whatever his mission is, he needs her trust.
The Red Herring (Part 2):
George put a considerable amount of work into the 'who sent the transmission’ mystery. As a red herring, Sio Bibble sends a message which seems to find the starship, removing suspicion from Jar Jar. However, it wouldn’t be a proper red herring without something in the story proving we’re on the wrong trail, so there’s a scene which proves Bibble’s transmission was not used to track the starship.
The heroes escape Tatooine. Cut to the Bad Guys. Nute tells Bibble the Queen is lost. Nute is mad at Bibble and Bibble is in big trouble. Bibble's presence alone signals we're getting a hint to the mystery. Plus, this scene occurs right after the Sith locate the Good Guys. Storywise we should expect a hint here. So what’s the significance of this tiny scene?
There’s a contradiction here. Nute says the Queen is lost even though the last scene was the Sith hot on her tail, then Nute punishes the guy whose job is to locate the Queen. What? It almost seems like a script-writing error, except Lucas also put Nute on a ridiculous walking mechanical chair as a form of misdirection. Is Nute lying? Maybe something else is meant by the word ‘lost’... Does Nute think her opinions on trade route taxation are ‘lost’? The novelizations struggle to explain this impossible scene. One novel even invents a CGI double of Bibble (just imagine Maul working for like 12 hours digging up tapes then splicing together individual words in Audacity lol): https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/251347/was-sio-bibbles-transmission-entirely-fake .
So what’s going on?! Again, the intention of this scene is to prove Bibble’s transmission didn’t locate the Queen. Simply put, either he located the Queen or the Bad Guys are mad at him. There's no other option. So it must be the case that his transmission was never replied to! This also functions as a payoff for the setups of the Bad Guys being shown to not trust each other- Nute is totally in the dark that the Queen was on Tatooine.
Conclusion:
So, Jar Jar figured out Padme is the Queen right away.
Yes, Bibble’s transmission was a red herring.