Salvor Hardin has spent most of Foundation season 2 as a supporting character, so it’s about time she gets her moment to shine. Fortunately, it appears that one of the finest sci-fi shows has finally realised how awesome she is. The Foundation season 2 release schedule’s inclusion this week doesn’t always work, but it does offer Salvor a chance to shine.
The chess pieces are moving, and the Apple TV Plus second season’s final stretch has the board ready. The conclusion of Foundation season 2 episode 6 last week saw Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) perish once more as Tellem Bond (Rachel House) and the Mentalics carried out their plot.
One of the top TV shows on Apple TV and one of the greatest shows we’re currently watching is Foundation. Let’s talk about this fairly uneven episode and all that happens in it despite the fact that there will be spoilers ahead.
Foundation Season 2 Episode 7 Recap
On Ignis, Salvor (Leah Harvey) is growing more anxious as a result of her cloudy visions while Gaal (Lou Llobell) is loving discovering her Mental abilities. Gaal addresses the gathered Mentalics during a feast and advises them to expand their planetary outreach in order to recruit more Sighted to their cause before The Mule and his war show there.
Salvor checks a fishing boat that Loron (Michael Akinsulire) had attempted to keep from her earlier in the day, in spite of Gaal’s warnings. By using the boat’s journey history, Salvor is able to transport it to the location of Seldon’s last known whereabouts while it is still dark.
When Tellem comes, she tells Salvor that “sometimes a little death is necessary” and uses extremely Cleon-like finger twists to make Salvor collapse. The episode finishes with her lifeless body floating close to Seldon’s. This programme has a remarkable knack for cliffhangers, and this one is particularly intense.
Salvor is certain that Gaal shouldn’t trust her own hype, which has caused their relationship to grow more tense. Salvor can tell that something more sinister is afoot, and she now knows for sure. It appears that Gaal is being lured by the devotion of the Mentalics. We are eager to see what happens because we are aware that Salvor’s story cannot finish here because she appears in Gaal’s depiction of the coming conflict.
Queen Sareth’s (Ella-Rae Smith) and Demerzel’s (Laura Birn) conflict is becoming worse. Sareth admits she is aware that Demerzel is a robot during an odd reproductive visit when Imperial doctors want to take Sareth’s eggs for fertilisation. Demerzel then essentially confirms that the Empire ordered the murder of Sareth’s family.
However, this scene is fascinating since it talks about how Demerzel feels she is no longer constrained by the Laws of Robotics and solely lives by the maxim “I serve Empire.” She makes it quite obvious that serving the Empire is considerably different from serving Brother Day (Lee Pace) or Sareth, which implies that she could take drastic measures if she doesn’t like this union. We are aware that she is not hesitant to murder Cleon.
Later, during a difficult conversation between Sareth and Day, she describes her family’s history and each member’s unique traits while subtly telling him that she knows what happened to them. They parted on, should we say, somewhat chilly terms.
In a covert meeting with Brother Dawn (Cassian Bilton), she expresses her belief in his “kind” eyes and makes the implication that her children could have similar eyes. Sareth declares that she will through with the marriage to Day but asks Dawn to step forward and be the father of her children in order to protect him from being ejected by Day. Then Sareth calls it “a bloodless fucking coup” and they kiss to seal it.
We’re the main group of the Queen Sareth fan club, and we loved watching her assert her authority over the Cleons. We’re completely on board if she manages to bring down the Genetic Dynasty in a different manner than Day anticipates.
Look, we have given up on figuring out what Seldon is doing. While the Cleons have imprisoned Brother Constant (Isabella Laughland) and Poly Verisof (Kulvinder Ghir), Hober Mallow’s (Dimitri Leonidas) attempt to persuade the Spacers to support the Foundation’s cause goes exactly as you’d expect — i.e., they reject the offer right away and sell Hober to Bel Riose (Ben Daniels).
With the aid of his companion Bishop’s Claw, Hober ultimately manages to break free of prison, demonstrating to Bel Riose that his “whisper-ship” is capable of completing leaps even inside a small hangar. Brother Day receives word from him that the Foundation possesses technology that surpasses that of the Empire. The potential for the Foundation to overthrow the Empire intrigues Bel Curr’s spouse Glawen Curr (Dino Fetscher), but Bel has been coerced into acquiescence by the Empire’s threats.
Constant and Poly are on trial before the Cleons; Poly is requesting foundational autonomy in return for refraining from waging war against the Empire. Day is haughty until Constant manifests as a changed version of Seldon. Oh, you’ve got to stop trying to keep him dead.
Brother Day is forewarned by Seldon that “the Foundation is not toothless” and that he is mathematically convinced that the Foundation would prevail in a battle. Day doesn’t let this get to him; he informs Seldon of the demise of the Genetic Dynasty and commands Bel Riose to encircle Terminus and catalogue any important Foundation technology. Constant and Poly are once more imprisoned.
With too many players engaged and Seldon’s overarching purpose left even more ambiguous and unknowable than usual, these chapters are more than a touch slow. It seriously detracts from the episode.
Our favourite parts of this week’s Foundation episode included Sareth manipulating Dawn and Salvor and Gaal’s nuanced connection, but there were also numerous parts that made the episode drag.
But with three episodes left, everything is balanced, and we just have the little issue of the Second Crisis to deal with. We know that the Empire now has a cause to dread the Foundation, and we may very possibly see The Mule again. This may get explosive.