What a mess! Sorry but I'm not in the mind of the creators. Can't follow.
Strong start, and I say that acknowledging that Asimovian truism is obvs not their goal. I legit love where they’re taking the whole “prophecy” narrative, since that aspect of the OG story would be hard to convey as a TV show..
Making it a battle of rebellious, savant-tier genius vs a technologically elite Empire of forgotten dreams—whose ruler is a clone controlled by an actual robot—really makes it feel relevant to our experience: moneyed royalty building an algorithmically-powered, AI driven—chatGPT, Google Bard, etc)—but potentially distopian future… Pretty excellent.
Average season opener. The fight with the emperor was cringe. Hopefully the story gets better.
Crummy episode poor writing et al
What a confusing awful mess of a season opener
It might be true to most of the books and the cinematography is truly sublime, but this was really a weak episode. Its not the acting, but really just the pacing and writing which is really a bit weak. I hope we go up from here again.
Foundation is made to a different standard, if not to closely follow Asimov at least to properly honor his legacy. I was just commenting to a friend into SciFi how this is such a more cerebral series compared to almost everything else. Watching S02E01 made me want to go back and watch all of Season 1 because with the time that has passed since then I don’t remember it as well as I wish I did, and a refresher would help better understand the new season. No time for that unfortunately but I am thoroughly enjoying the new season.
The scene on Synnax with the two of them on the water was surreal, like a dream, a dream that has the potential to become a nightmare but doesn’t cross the line and just creates awe.
Fantastic!
I liked the first season better so far this is a jumbled mess hope it gets clearer as it goes along
Terrible. Is this a joke?
That was a confusing mess. Also the central "Hari is trapped in a hypercube" plot was terribly written and acted.
Honestly, this was quite a letdown.
I've already wondered in the final when exactly Gaal had time to stock the cryoship with her belongings, including a boat! And now she took the time to trap Seldon within that pyramid? A pyramid which Salvor brings to Synnax? And now Salvor who already opened it, doesn't know how to open it? WTH?
And then there's Empire who apparently decided that sleeping with Demerzel and getting married might solve the genetic deterioration-issue. How exactly should it do that? And that fight right in the middle of intercourse with Demerzel, naked... please... cringe-worthy.
Where season 1 was at least somewhat intellectual, this opener is a serious shift towards sex and violence... and non-sensical plotholes. There's only hope for improvement.
The relationship between the Cleons has changed so much post-dna-scramble. I can’t help but feel some satisfaction watching everything fall apart around them.
This was a pretty good premier. A bit slow, but a strong set-up for the rest of the season.
It felt a bit strange to start watching the show again after a break, I missed the characters though the episode itself was a bit disappointing. Apparently Gaal imprisoned Hari in the Prime Radiant, thanks to what we get some glances into his past. Salvor tells Gaal she's her daughter but obviously their relationship may be more of friends than mother and daughter, as they try to find connection but it is not easy for either of them. The scene in which they have to dive to recover Salvor's ship and are risking the lives was quite emotional, it was the first episode so perhaps one of them at least was supposed to survive but you may never know. They only have themselves now since everyone they knew and loved is long dead as they spent over a century in cryo-sleep, in the meantime the situation in the world has gone south and it looks like the future of mankind will turn out much worse than predicted by Hari (who escapes from the Prime Radiant at the end of the episode, obviously furious at Gaal).
The situation in the Empire is strange since Day apparently wants to get married, a plan not accepted by his bros, but at the same time he is sleeping with Demerzel, so it is quite complicated. The marriage plot wasn't mentioned in the previous season so it is not clear how it actually arose. I wonder whether he destroyed the original copy of the first Cleon as he was shown trying to break through the protective glass in the previous season. Maybe there will be no more Cleons and that's why he needs to marry? The Empire discovers that the Foundation survived after all and that the flare was just a fluke, but decide (on Demerzel's advice) not to show the Foundation that they know as yet.
It seemed like Hari would have to spend some time to get out to get his brain in order again. I figured they would show more flashbacks as he was piecing it all together but nope, suddenly he's just there. They probably cut those scenes.
Other than that, I dislike how the show is steering towards a focus on paranormal abilities over science/math. It's not that I dislike shows that have a focus on that but while watching the first season it felt like it would be more of a "realistic" scifi show (think expanse).
Overall I'm still invested though, the visuals are great and the whole Empire story is intriguing.
I don't know, depends on how you want to perceive this show... despite remaining confused a little here and there, I kinda dig this premier. Maybe I'm focusing more and enjoying the visuals rather than the metaphors.
Shout by alexnaderBlockedParent2023-07-14T03:44:59Z
Hard to follow when the entire show starts to get super metaphorical. Some parts of the show are still visually impressive, but the story's going to have to work overtime to hook me again.