Foundation S1 And S2 Review: Mixed Feelings
So I discovered this show a week ago and have been binging it. After watching s1 and watching 8 episodes of s2, I wanted to share my thoughts.
Season 1
Plot: The plot is great for all stories and everything neatly comes together at the end. The world building is amazing and the three emperors are a very creative concept of how a future humanity could potentially organise itself.
People also speak in a specific way and there is slang and lingo used which makes the world feel more alive.
The concept of the foundation is also quite unique and it is satisfying watching them grow and struggle in their mission to save the galaxy.
Characters: Most characters are likable and interesting. The notable exception being the huntress lady.
By far, though, the big standout character must be Day. I have no idea who the actor playing Day is, but he does a tremendous job and singlehandedly carries the show on his back.
Every scene with him is compelling and you really feel his presence. It is also extremely interesting watching the different cycles of emperor's change and grown in their own ways.
Scenery: Another thing that absolutely must be mentioned is the way this show looks. I am not sure what its budget is, but this show looks incredible. The spaceships, environments, costumes etc. are all top notch. Much of this show looks better than big name TV shows like disney star wars shows and rings of power.
Complaints: There definitely are some negatives here. The acting of the dawn actor is a bit questionable at times. Ironically the child actor they had for dawn at the start of the show did a much better job and it would have been nice keeping him around for a longer while.
Furthermore, another issue I had was with the very much extended sex scenes which overstayed their welcome. At some point I am pretty sure there was a 15 minute sex scene for no reason.
Lastly, I hate the idea of magic existing in this universe. Everything seemed so grounded and I appreciated that Hari had found out about the Empires fall through math and not some magical means. There are some signs that magic will play a bigger role in the future, with the visions and everything but I am sure it won't go that direction (this is foreshadowing).
9/10
Season 2
What a disaster. I am not sure where to start. I don't really have any positives to say about this season other than one or two, so let's start with those.
Positives: I like the assasination scene at the start. It really catches you off guard and watching Day getting his shit smacked in, is satisfying after witnessing him absolutely dominate last season.
I also enjoy how they developed the foundation and the fact that they have become a religious movement of sort. It is very funny when they meet Hari again and he says "Oh so you are in your religion phase" after seeing the red robes.
In addition, the idea of the Foundation losing themselves and becoming like Trantor makes sense and the second Foundation seems very logical.
Negatives: I don't really like anything else, though. The emperor trio have become sub 80IQ children. In s1 all of them played their roles and even though they might not always get along, you get the sense that in the end they always come up on top and stay united. You can definitely see why their genetic dynasty has lasted so long.
In season two, though, the genetic dynasty is a complete joke. They are extremely disunited like never before, they are stupid and make dumb decisions constantly and Day makes the inexplicable decision to just stop the Dynasty out of nowhere. Now on episode 8 you have the supposed big reveal that the robot lady was the secret empress all along. It is like the show is spitting on season 1 on purpose at this point. Add insult to injury and you have recycled plotlines like "what would happen if dawn fell in love with someone they shouldn't?", let's just do that all over again.
Then we have the magic. In s2 it is confirmed that magic exists and that for thousands of years the empire hasn't figured this out for some reason. Like, what?
You are telling me this authoritarian dictatorship who is obsessed with "keeping the peace" at all costs, hasn't discovered that psychics exist? Also remember how Hari's plan was math? Well now it seems like it has a lot less to do with math and rather it has a lot more to do with the psychic duo, Gaal and her daughter, saving the universe through visions or something.
The psychics have insane powers by the way. They have star wars force powers (including jedi mind tricks which they can use on anyone regardless of how smart they are, which is more powerful than in sw), mind reading, shapeshifting, naruto genjutsu and more. Again you are telling me the empire didn't notice any of this for thousands of years??
6/10
I could write a lot more about all my issues with season two, but I thinj this is enough. I really want to get the opinions of people on this sub and what your impressions were of the two seasons.
Also should I continue? Is episode 9 and 10 going to fix things?