10 So-Called Happy Endings That Absolutely Aren't
9. Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace
With this one, the clue is in the music.
When watching The Phantom Menace, the ending is heart-warming on the surface. Naboo has been freed from the Trade Federation, the humans and Gungans have formed a new friendship, and a more competent man has just become Supreme Chancellor. The joyful tone is buoyed by John Williams' exuberant score, but again, there's a hidden detail in there.
This score is actually the Emperor's theme from the Original Trilogy, just in a different key. That symbolizes what's really going on here. The freedom of Naboo is merely a temporary victory, as the real villain - new chancellor Sheev Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) - has just taken control of the Republic and is sowing the seeds of the downfall of the democracy and the Jedi Order.
Another neat little detail is in Qui-Gon Jinn's (Liam Neeson) funeral scene. Yoda and Mace Windu (Frank Oz and Samuel L. Jackson) acknowledge that Qui-Gon was killed by a Sith Lord and remember that there are always two, a master and an apprentice. As they ponder which one was destroyed, the camera slowly pans to Palpatine. Very clever indeed.