Summary
The second season of Foundation is just as awe-inspiring as the first, with special effects work and world-building that will surely blow you away. The script can’t quite reach the same heights as these unparalleled visuals, though, as the writers over-complicate and overwork the source material.
Here is our review of the Apple TV+ series Foundation Season 2, which does not contain significant spoilers.
Thanks to vast improvements in CGI and streaming platforms’ willingness to spend millions on big-budget productions, unadaptable masterpieces such as Isaac Asimov’s Foundation can now be binge-watched from the comfort of your own home for a reasonable fee.
These drastic changes in the industry have led to some truly breathtaking TV shows with stunning visuals and unmatched world-building. Yet with all the money in the world, the success of a series still comes down to the quality of its script. So, has season two of Foundation solved this age-old dilemma?
Foundation Season 2 Review and Plot Summary
The second season of Foundation is set over a century after the first season’s finale, but surprisingly, the majority of the cast returns, and the creators continue to follow the show’s many intertwining subplots as if no time has elapsed at all.
We are first reunited with Hari’s protege, Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell). She is still having frightening premonitions of humanity’s doomed future and now predicts a second crisis will lead to mankind’s end.
Gaal is joined by her daughter Salvor Hardin (Leah Harvey), who has also awoken in this new age of darkness. Together they plan to warn the Galaxy of this impending Armageddon. And the mad mathematician who instigated it all, Hari Seldon (Jared Harris), is never too far away either.
The cloned Brothers are also back. The latest version of Brother Day, who now goes by the title of Empire (Lee Pace), grows weary of Hari and his burgeoning religious following. Brother Day sees Hari as a threat and decides to start a war with the Foundation in retaliation.
While Brother Day looks to the Outer Reaches and prepares for battle, inside his own home, there is a far deadlier opponent. The devious Queen Sareth (Ella-Rae Smith) is out for revenge, and she has positioned herself within the Brothers’ very own palace to do her bidding. All these many subplots converge as the fate of humanity hangs in the balance.
Is Foundation Season 2 good or bad?
Foundation is a true spectacle. There is no denying that. The visuals and the world-building are on another level. This is a sci-fi fanatic’s dream come true.
Channeling the likes of the Star Wars franchise, Dune, and even The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Foundation stands out as a behemoth in the genre.
It is just a shame that the action and the dialogue can’t live up to the same hype. Foundation can be bogged down by its own dense mythology and the complex nature of its source material. Viewers will eventually get into the rhythm and flow of the series, but the hefty jargon can be hard to follow at times.
Is Foundation Season 2 worth watching?
The second season also tries to inject some comedy into this dark and daunting world, bringing a touch of blockbuster magic to the small screen. While, in contrast, there are moments of gruesome horror scattered throughout the series that will chill you to the bone.
This mixing of genres and juggling of storylines can make Foundation feel overstuffed at times when a simpler, more streamlined narrative would have been more effective. And as with most TV shows of this ilk, some subplots work better than others. Yet overall, this is a cinematic epic that has the potential for greatness.
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