Death and the Maiden
Brother Day arrives in Maiden to find political intrigue and revolution on the rise. He is tasked with stopping the conflict before it becomes a full-blown war.
He visits Demerzel, a Hari Seldon-created android, and watches her get ready for her first mission. He’s been doubting his own abilities ever since the Hari Seldon confession. Given that the Dynasty are born with their own lives planned out, Demerzel explains that for others, they have to forge their own path. ..
Zephyr Halima greets Day alone when the convoy arrives. After Proxima’s passing, she decides a more subdued greeting is perhaps the more appropriate action. She offers him a drink, claiming it has been brewed from the womb of the mother to destroy any impurities. Day refuses to accept though, given he doesn’t accept gifts from strangers.
He decides to keep his wits about him for the time being in order to prevent Halima from achieving her goals.
Brother Day has decided to enact a new moon-wide desalination system to make sure no one grows thirsty again and that the Empire stays in power. To reinforce his role, Brother Day decides to put into place a new water filtration system that will purify the water supply for everyone in the empire.
Gia manages to slip away to safety though, thanks to Poly’s interjection. Thankfully these vents lead over to where Phara holds Salvor captive.
Phara refuses to kill her though, knowing that she’s the key to what’s going on in The Vault. She intends to use this to her advantage, but given Salvor is unconscious, interviewing the astronautics will do for now. With records on everyone aboard the ship, Phara exudes some exposition over who the different members are that will be joining her.
Phara has plans to use the brightest minds on Foundation to help patch up her starship. If they’re successful, the Anacreons agree to leave Terminus and leave Foundation in peace. ..
Gia and Poly work together to take out one of the guards and drag Salvor to safety. Their father, Abbas, is still alive but there’s bigger issues at play here. Salvor is convinced that this starship Phara wants fixed up is capable of destroying planets. If Phara and the Anacreons manage to get it fixed up, it could cause devastation for everyone.
Salvor regroups with Abbas and Hugo, enacting a plan to take out the Anacreons before they can strike first. With a sniper in hand, she skips down the side of a cliff to an exposed area, with the intent of hitting a few rounds off the explosive charges. However, Salvor winds up experiencing flashes to the past. Specifically that of Hari Seldon asking to be killed. ..
Salvor returns to the present and things go wrong as the Anacreons notice her and begin firing. Unfortunately, Abbas is shot in the ensuing skirmish, as he sacrifices himself to save the colony. ..
Salvor despairs, although Hugo does his best to keep her on track, pointing out that the only person abler to steer Foundation back on track is her. And part of that involves heading over to Foundation and reprogramming the ship to go by Salvor’s orders.
Salvor is brought aboard the ship as the Anacreons plan to leave. They keep troops behind as collateral, while Phara organizes traffic and prepares to take off. Salvor is in charge of the ship naturally, given its reprogramming efforts, as their destination is set for the Anthor belt. ..
Halima, the Maiden lead singer, decides to try and enact a nation-wide coup in order to create a more meaningful hierarchy. As all of the people kneel in prayer, Brother Day is the only one who stands tall. ..
The Episode Review
As the Foundation begins to lay the groundwork for an intriguing end to this season, another politically charged episode rolls around. But despite Foundation’s love of taking its sweet time getting to the good stuff, it seems like they’re not going to be able to hold back their excitement long.
There’s not a lot to get excited about here beyond a couple of flashes involving Hari Seldon presumably asking to be killed and Salvor now working with the Anacreons in a longer-game of revenge.
Brother Dawn’s hunting trip is inconsequential, beyond showing that he’s different to the others that have come before him. Yet, we know that. We’ve been shown that via him getting rid of the art off the walls.
Similarly, Day’s trip to Maiden doesn’t really do much beyond hint that the empire is on the cusp of losing its grip. Again, something we already know thanks to the terrorist attack during the premiere episode. ..
This chapter is a little under an hour, so there’s not much here to justify the long run-time. Hopefully the chapters to come will improve but based on this showing, Foundation seems to be happy to flirt its lavish sets and gorgeous visuals without backing that up with a punchy script.
The Anacreon attack on Terminus is not that consequential in the script. Where did the massive crowd of people come from at the end of the episode? ..
The rest of the season can only improve if we can pick things up. This has been a really disappointing performance.
