TV Review – Foundation Season Two

Foundation Season Two (2023)
Written by David S. Goyer, Jane Espenson, Leigh Dana Jackson, Joelle Garfinkel, Eric Carrasco, David Kob, Liz Phang, Addie Manis, and Bob Oltra
Directed by Alex Graves, David S. Goyer, Mark Tonderai, and Roxann Dawson

I was a big fan of the first season of Foundation, but I saw that several critics and viewers found its structure confusing. There are definitely some time jumps that allow many changes to happen. I started to see the show as a mix of serialized storytelling and anthology. Each season would have some cast that would carry over because of cryosleep or cloning. The rest of the cast would rotate out at the end of each season as we jumped centuries ahead to see the Empire’s decline and the Foundation’s rise. Apparently, people liked season two even more, so we’ll have a third coming in the next few years. This second season focused on showing how flawed systems are where one figurehead is expected to lead millions or billions, or in the case of one locale, a few dozen.

Throughout this season, we’re shown how Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) created a digital self in the form of Vault Harry on Terminus but also as a backup. That second Hari is traveling with Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell) and Salvor Hardin (Leah Harvey). We learn very early on that Vault Hari is unaware of the other’s existence, which was part of the original Hari’s plan. The Foundation we followed in season one was never meant to be the singular, eternal Foundation. Gaal is expected to form a second Foundation that will grow in secret, the idea being that it’s harder for the Empire to squash something that isn’t entirely centralized yet. 

We get to see a very flawed side of Hari this season. He’s not the all-knowing sage of psychohistory; he’s one piece of a larger algorithm. From Hari’s perspective, he can see more than most, but not everything. In “Why the Gods Made Wine,” we get an extended flashback into Hari’s past, primarily his relationship with Yanna. We learn the circumstances of how they met and became a couple and how it all went wrong. That provides much insight into what drove Hari to develop psychohistory and attempt to save humanity from the wake of the Empire’s collapse. 

Gaal’s discovery of her ability to mathematically perceive the future is juxtaposed with Salvor’s ability to perceive genetic memory. This eventually leads them to a commune run by Tellem (Rachel House), the leader of a group of Mentalics, telepaths who can read & influence people’s minds. She proves to be a problematic antagonist because the characters are never quite sure if their notions are their own or planted there by Tellem to further her agenda. Their time in her commune proves to be a crucible of sorts, clarifying some things they were unsure about and setting up the next step in Hari’s Foundation plans.

The flipside of Hari, Gaal, and Salvor’s arc is the events happening in the life of the Empire. Brother Day (Lee Pace) announces marriage with Queen Sareth of Dominion (Ella-Rae Smith), effectively ending Cleon’s genetic dynasty. His counselor, Demerzel (Laura Birn), is not in favor, but her programming forces her to serve the Empire. That doesn’t mean she cannot manipulate events. Sareth’s arrival causes friction, and she finds she’s more attracted to Dawn (Cassian Bilton), which threatens to create a rift if Day discovers it. Dusk (Terrence Mann) also reignites flames between him and Rue (Sandra Yi Sencindiver), Sareth’s advisor and a former lover of the aging clone.

The Empire feels under threat as Terminus and other outer worlds grow in power. This leads Lady Demerzel to recruit Bel Riose (Ben Daniels), a former military hero exiled to a prison camp when the Cleons saw him as a threat to their power. Riose initially refuses, but his husband is leveraged against him, so he returns to duty aboard his Imperial warship. This adds a very slight dash of Star Trek to the show. I also noticed that all of the material with Tellem felt like the Jedi in Star Wars. Isaac Asimov was very influential on all science fiction that came after, so that is clearly happening, but the showrunners are clearly pivoting to make connections between their show, and these properties audiences are much more familiar with. I think the show handles it well, though there were moments where even Ariana said the humorous tone of certain scenes felt a little too reminiscent of the “well, that happened” style of Marvel movies.

The Foundation has its own acolytes fighting in its name. Poly Verisof (Kulvinder Ghir), a young boy present at the First Crisis in season one, is now a man of over a hundred years of age traveling the outer worlds and preaching the wisdom of Hari Seldon. He’s accompanied by fellow apostle Brother Constant (Isabella Laughland), and they use science and trickery to get the locals on board. Their mission takes a left turn when the Vault issues a message: Hari Seldon wants a man named Hober Mallow (Dimitri Leonidas). The Mallow character adds some Han Solo rogue-ish-ness to the season and becomes an endearing character. 

Once again, I found Foundation to be a very enjoyable science fiction show that walks that line of taking itself seriously enough. The most compelling story arc for me was the three clone Emperors and Demerzel especially. The arc the android advisor goes through is especially intriguing, and I expect she will prove to be an even bigger problem than the Cleons in the end. I also appreciated the fallibility introduced into Hari Seldon’s character. The last two episodes of the season reminded me of the best of something like Lost or The Game of Thrones, where several plot points intersect just in time to shake things up and set the table for the next season.