Foundation Season 2: Episode 1 Review

Season 2: Episode 1

The good: The big picture story. Large factions are making large decisions about the future of the Galaxy. Big things are happening or getting ready to happen and, quite simply, I want to know more. On a small scale, certain technological details, such as, particulate holo-projection are unique and enjoyable.

The bad: The show attempts to straddle the line between PG-13 and R and it seems pointless. I don't care about the individual journeys of the individual characters. I don't necessarily dislike them but when the show tries to focus on individual tension and personal growth it's half-hearted and gratuitous. The reason it is so, I assume, is because the aforementioned Big Picture has to remain the focus of the story. This goes back to my last Foundation post; the showrunners have taken on a very difficult task in trying to tell a thousand-year story, whilst still telling us about the individuals that come and go throughout that millennium. The show is not doing anything to make me care about its characters.

The meh: The world building consists of some impressive visuals, but it kind of stops at really cool eye-candy. We don't get a lot of background context; we just see technological things that feel more like stage-prop scenery, than a fully developed alternate universe. I enjoy watching it, but I don't feel drawn into the world. The costumes and attempts at representation of culture are fleeting flourishes with little to no background or context. For example, Queen Sareth’s procession is a bunch of ladies in pretty robes spinning and waving their arms around. We don't know why that's what they do, but that's what they do. It feels gratuitous; like they have to put something in there, so they just quickly fabricated a different culture that we're supposed to be intrigued by.

The clever: Next Episode has some clever moments.

The cringe: Salvor and Gaal’s emotional reaction to their reunion, pondering how and why they're supposed to feel something for each other. I get it but it was hard to watch. Lou Llobell is English, but she's forcing this really annoying South African accent. What's the point of forcing this superfluous extra level of depth?

Adherence to the books: On the biggest picture levels there are similarities. The books did absolutely feature Empire attacking the Foundation. Harry's tv show imprisonment in the prime radiant is somewhat interesting in that he meets his old wife Yanna. !Book spoiler alert! In the prequel novels Harry is married to a robot. If Yanna of the show was also a robot, then it is quite plausible that her consciousness could have been transferred into the radiant. By the same token, if Kalle’s consciousness is alive in the prime radiant then perhaps she too is an ancient robot whose consciousness transferred to the radiant. Furthermore, the concept of human-robot relationships is also quite clearly depicted at the beginning of the book.

Conclusion: Despite the many flaws, I enjoy watching this show. If you are not a sci-fi fan/space opera fan, then stay away; this show is unlikely to entertain. If, like me, you are a sucker for the aforementioned, then I recommend watching this episode and this series.