Foundation on Apple TV

[ctg]

Spoiler: S02E03 - King and Commander

I have no expectation, just bad feelings since you guys have hammered those thoughts in my head. I try my best to not be biased. So let's see how this one rolls...

As another note, the title seems to be renewed for each episode, mainly showing the progression of Hari's Crises.

Gaal wondered why anyone would build upon a desert planet, a foundation for their society. It is a strange note, but it's also a logical one as the life, as we know it, requires water to support itself.

Warden however wasn't faced by the prospect of having hard times of surviving, when she knew that it's not her time to die. Not at least for 150 years. But at the same time, she's not thinking that the girls are already trying to diverge the timeline.

Hari added that the Warden could get in a cryopod, go back to the Terminus and still end up dying in the same battlefield, as if the time itself cannot be changed and the destiny is set in the stone. Which in itself is a strange note, because the three of them are trying to set the timeline in Seldon's own prediction and not go down the endless crisis line.

The only problem for the girls was that Hari had not taken to Ignis to meet the mysterious psychics, instead he'd landed them in "Oona's world, an imperial mining site." His argument was that the Prime Radiant had set the mission, because there was "a place in the mountains" that they needed to visit. Him included.

"They are called the Monuments of Industry," Hari stated. By the looks, they are really the monuments of forgotten industry. It's just the Imperium doesn't need them.

A small note, as they walked towards the complex, Hari left no footprints in the sand, but he knew that the Emperor's had no soul. He knew that the task in hand was important because it had been given by the Prime Radiant as a point that needed investigating, and not as some weird footnote that had come out from the device reading the time shifting.

According to him, Hari's Plan makes small adjustments in the history while Gaal tries to undo a major change down the line.

As they entered the ruins, it was an interesting mix of different technologies, with some bits built by using bricks, while the others looked like massive concrete pours. All that had quite remarkably survived the test of time.

Deep within the Monument, they came across a door that had no hinges or nobs. Almost as if she'd never seen a sliding door in her lifetime. Given a nod, it took less than a minute for Gaal to figure out how to open it. But when the pair entered the room behind it, they were met with another digital ghost, Kalle, which claimed that they were going to meet in real father down the line.

Then Kalle took Hari and left Gaal alone with loads of questions. Six hours later Warden told her mum that they should leave. Gaal agreed, but as they tried to leave the mechanoids on the planet came alive and tried to get them. The girls barely escaped the trap but once they were in the air, the ship sensors picked up a life form. Gaal deduced that it was Hari, and went down to collect the man from the palm of the Emperor statue.

Terminus. It's quite frankly surprising that the Foundation would put an armed platoon to keep the people from going to the Vault after the Warden was rendered to ash. The Foundation Director was shocked. He couldn't imagine that Hari's things would do such a thing.

Brother Claric claimed that the Vault judged the Warden and found the changes they'd made to the Foundation unwanted. But it could not explain the Vault's need to meet Hober Mallow. What I don't get is why they are so ignorant on Hari's Ultra Tech?

In one hand they've formed a religion around it, and then in the other hand, they seem to be on bar with the Imperium tech, but yet, they cannot comprehend how things work for being advanced species of human race.

One of the most interesting things about Hober is that he used to be part of the Terminus colony, but the priests turned him away for him selling the faux stories and fake relics. In other words he's conman, and he'd made his current location at Korell.

Not that his prospect on the planet were going well as his con ended him in the death row and there was nothing the priest could do to save him. So the man saved himself by using the teleport tech and then stealing claric's jumpship.

Why would the Vault need a conman?

Bel Riose AKA convict 713 that Lady Demerzel came to collect from Lepsis Penal Colony. A hero and commander of the Imperium's 20th fleet. By the looks of it, the colony guards had been starving him and all the other men. His teeth mostly rotten, and God only know all the strange things that might be going on with his health.

Although the android made the offer, Bel wasn't interested in being a hero unless the men go with him, and that was only to start the negotiation. But Demerzel wasn't willing to let prisoners go. Instead, she wanted to keep them in colony by applying privileges, like food and medical care.

Yet, even then, Bel told the Empire to go ef themselves, because he wasn't ready to lay down his life for another adventure. So Demerzel pulled a rabbit out her proverbial hat and claimed that Bel's husband was still alive.

So the Commander followed her only to face Brother Day alone in order to tell him how he despises him for being a widower for six years. That there was nothing the Empire could do because he'd already been in hell. But when he saw husband, alive and well, Bel broke in tears and the tough man image shattered in seconds.

The problem here as it was noted in the previous posts is that Bel's husband should a wife, because Asimov didn't write gay characters. The grandmaster was an old school man and not a modern woke.

So the Emperor got his Commander, a broken man that he claimed to be a strong one. One commander that got saluted when he arrived at his flagship. So it is true that his men loves him and that's a great thing.

IMDB score: 7.4 Runtime: 52 minutes

 

[chornedsnorkack]

Hari, Gaal, and Salvor discover

A manifest absurdity.
It is pretty clearly established in "Foundation" that Hari Seldon was dying when Foundation was founded - died in a few months, at most a couple of years after. And in "Bridle and Saddle" establishes that Salvor was 32 during "Foundation", so born 18 years after Foundation was founded - over 15 years after Hari had died.
As for Gaal, he never met Salvor. Again in "Foundation", Salvor points out as a remarkable, and suspicious, fact that only one of Salvor´s disciples travelled to Terminus, and that was Bor Alurin.
Since Gaal Dornick met Hari shortly before his death, they were not together for long.

 

[BAYLOR]

I think the most telling thing about the Foundation series is that I just got a notice that there is a new episode available and I had completely forgotten it was even on.

They planed an eight season run . It sounds like its not going to make it that far,

This series lost me when they changed the 'gender' of Daneel Olivaw.

They realy need stop the whole " letsremming everything mantra."

 

[JimC]

From the actress who plays Demerzel,
"Demerzel serves the Emperor with absolute loyalty, and her centuries-old bond with the lineage of Cleons in perpetuity takes intimate turns as she starts to understand her own autonomy."

Since "she" is Daneel, he is bound to have understood his own autonomy many thousands of years before this series took place. Jeez....

I would think that Lije Baley would be the only person he might defer to.

 

[Elckerlyc]

I would imagine it was his/her/its own autonomy that made the choice to be and stay loyal to the Cleon clones. With becoming intimate you risk compromising your autonomy.

 

[JimC]

Daneel wasn't loyal to the Emperors; he was steering them.

 

[Parson]

Daneel wasn't loyal to the Emperors; he was steering them.

Indeed

 

[chornedsnorkack]

Daneel wasn't loyal to the Emperors; he was steering them.

Which means that the idea to promote a specific dynasty and entrench a specific order of succession must have been his own idea, or if suggested to him by others, at least an idea he approved, subscribed to and backed.

 

[ctg]

Spoiler: S02E04 - Where the Stars are Scattered Thin

Four episodes in and we are edging towards the clash between the Foundation and the Empire.

Let's see how it develops...

It's kind of strange that Brother Constant narrated at the beginning about the existential crisis and then telling that psychohistory doesn't care about them at all. It might be that is a belief on how the Prime Radiant works without actually having the knowledge. Thing is it has to track things in order to keep on with the times, and if it's limited, it cannot see everything.

Essentially, it would mean that it's flawed, and it cannot show the true extent of the Crisis time.

It didn't take long for the priest to bring Hober Mallow to the Foundation director and the head of their army by his side. All thanks to their sole jump ship. What would the Foundation be if they had more?

When Hober reached the painted vault, he couldn't believe his eyes. He claimed that it wasn't how it worked, and Claric agreed. None of it made sense, but ever since they had been in the presence of the Vault artefact, none of them have been able to study it because of the lethal field around it. Yet there they were, arguing about what had happened and Hober refusing to enter into a lethal trap before the Vault sucked him in.

Constant and Claric followed him, while the Director refused, because he needed to "govern." One thing he understood was the Vault wasn't going anywhere. It would still be there the day he would die.

Inside the structure it became clear that they'd entered into Prime Radiant, where the time moves different as Hober had lost two days by the time Constant and Claric met him. Then the Director joined the group, grumpy as ever but willing to get at the bottom of Hari Seldon's mystery.

Wandering around, they reached the place, where Hari's digital ghost met Kalle. Except she wasn't there, but that they didn't stop them from going further. And a short while later, farther away the reached Seldon's study, and met the "Prophet."

Hari admitted that he just didn't need the charlatan. He needed the priests and the director "to prevent a war."

Claric noticed a copy of the Prime Radiant on Hari's desk and asked how it was possible. The Prophet laughed and then explained that the thing was a quantum computer and therefore it could be in more places than one. All thanks to the Quantum Pairing, meaning that the small devices are just comports to the mainframe.

The mission was to go to Trantor and get followers without revealing that they already had jump ships. Constant accepted it gladly, while Claric stayed behind and asked why Hari had incinerated the new Warden. His explanation was a simple divine judgement.

Then he left for Hari to deliver mission parameters straight from the Prime Radiant to do a hit. His mission was to be the hidden blade behind the peace mission. A ninja op.

Queen Sareth of Cloud Dominion. According to her, she was the weakest member of their family when the heads got assassinated. Brother Dusk asked if she orchestrated Day's attempt as a revenge hit, but she denied, before she popped the question back and asked if Day had been behind the assassination ... as if she was a complete n00b.

Clever woman, but she didn't need to apply her sexuality to get the answers from the boy. Instead, all she wanted to know was the truth before she injected the idea of why they weren't marrying her to the young one as an alternate to the Soulless Man.

At the same time, her handmaid talked to Brother Dusk and revealed to him that they'd bonked back in the day. Like her queen, she was also in the fishing expedition, twisting Dusk's mind about the union that they were going to bring forward. In that one, Dusk would become a grandfather, which again is a strange notion because they cannot have children, and essentially the trio are all clones. Technically that would mean that they are all grandfathers and daddies at the same time.

Commander. Bel Riose seemed to be in his element after the flagship jumped to Sivenna without the fleet. I get that maybe they didn't want to show the true extent of their power to the "type zero civilization," but having the flagship run without escorts is a bit of risky manoeuvre when the Imperium is on a warpath.

Even stranger is that him and hubby made a drop in the pre-electronic civilization, when essentially he's an admiral, and he could have ordered people to do it, instead of committing themselves to a potentially risky move.

It got stranger once the pair had made to the ground and hubby told Bel that their extraction packet was moving. When they showed it was done by a tracked vehicle, it seemed that the Imperium sensors were malfunctioning. Then the robbers showed new types of weapons that also whined with electronics. And they knew everything about the Imperium.

Hubby wasn't happy that Commander led them to a fight, which they won and then lost, because one runner got away. "That is not how we work," he shouted at Bel, instead of accepting that they were already in a dirty mission or that the years in penal colony had changed the man he loved, instead of understanding that the imagination doesn't always match the reality.

Commander wasn't faced by any of it. He knew that they were on a mission. So when the tracked vehicle broke down, he ordered hubby to carry the extraction packet to a top of a mountain, where they didn't meet a muddy hut, but a polycarbonate house that could not have been create without electronics.

It was the home of their "informant," and his home had loads of electronics. All powered up, which the flagship didn't pick up. The Informant told them that he'd been watching the society for forty years and sending back updated on his mission without ever getting back a response.

He told the pair that "the magicians has visited twice." First one they killed, and then the second one he showed a clip of Brother Constant showing off a personal aura. One that the Foundation had fabricated from "the Imperial design."

Not long after giving out the information, the locals reached the informant place. It was strange that the informant asked the Commander to shoot him, instead of taking him with them out of the planet. Bel honoured the deed and then hubby led them to the extraction packet, which turned out to be another piece of ultratech. One that allowed the infiltrators to reach the orbit in their suits with a single stage.

The kit might be impossible for the locals to decipher. Thing is it's still valuable technology and since off-worlders come to the planet, the smart people could exchange it for more suitable technology.

IMDB score: 7.5 Runtime: 52 minutes

 

[JimC]

Most likely, yeah.

 

[ctg]

Spoiler: S02E05 - The Sighted and the Seen

Halfway through this season. It is also interesting that when I look online, I don't see many critics saying anything in the geek sites. There is mostly silence around this series, just like there was the same thing happening with the For the Mankind and I mostly believe that it's fruit company's fault.

They just don't put the episodes at the front of the review sites, and they don't commit to a large PR cycle with interviews and articles supporting the ongoing story. I get that the alterations have pissed off people, but the Foundation is high sci-fi, and it should get more attention that it has, but it hasn't. Unfortunately.

Well, anyway, I think it's both entertaining and engaging story. Se let's see how this episode evolves...

Very interesting beginning with the now human Hari dreaming about the murder he committed to himself. I cannot say it was a suicide, because it wasn't as in the small screen version he forced Raych to kill him and therefore cause the crisis incident with Gaal. But the fact that he felt the stabbing and the ghost pain woke him to see a phantom Raych.
"Raych," Hari said as he stared at his murderer. "I'm still dreaming, aren't I?"

The killer smiled. "This isn't a dream."

"How are you still alive?"

Without even sifting his mood, Raych answered, "I'm not. I died on the Deliverance. You got all of them fooled. They think you cared about them. But the truth is, you don't care about anyone. They're all just points on a graph." Ain't the right, eh? "It's why you're gonna fail. 'Cause you don't care who lives or dies."

"You weren't meant to die," Hari whispered with a shock spreading across his face.

"But you changed the plan. You implicated me 'cause you didn't trust me. If you had, I would've lived. As it was, they shot me out the air lock like garbage. Left me floating frozen for all eternity."

It's very rare that we witness any ghosts coming back and telling the truth. But Hari really needed to hear it, as he's as much flawed as the Genetic Dynasty. Nobody and nothing really mattered as he disrupted the peace and harmony with his theory that Hari then forced to become a reality.

To him there was nothing else that mattered, just like Raych said, "I was your son, and yo let me die."

As the ghost blinked out, Hari went to prove even further that he was still the same bonkers man as what he was when he died, as he stabbed his hand with the murder weapon just to know if was back in the reality.

I get that nobody comes back from the permanent death, but the thing is that he became a digital ghost that then was transformed by another one back to a living being. The whole circle is bonkers mad, when you think about it.

When the girls asked about it, Hari answered, "I told you, I don't know. I was directed towards Oona's World by Kalle."

"How?" Gaal asked. "You were trapped in the Prime Radiant."

He didn't give an answer, because he didn't know even though he'd also explained that all Prime Radiants are quantum paired consoles that only show the interface for the mainframe. In theory Kalle used that connection to bring him back to life. Most probably the ghost Ai also used the Imperium Cloning Technology to give him a full body and all at the end was just a mind transfer from the Ghost-in-the-box to a living, thinking, feeling human.

The warden seemed to think in my way as she said, "She cloned you."

Maybe the more intriguing detail was that the girls hand't just sit idly as the Warden had done a scan and found out that the First Foundation had spread all across the outer rim. "They are selling psychohistory as magic," Warden stated. "They are selling you. The prophet," Gaal added.

Hari didn't agree. "Not me. Him. The other Seldon." What other Seldon? The digital ghost in the Vault? If that is the one then it's ironic that he's opposite to what he created.

It was at the point when they arrived at Ignis. A former imperial planet that should not have human life, since the time Empire left it. Yet it did, and the Warden somehow saw it all the while they were crash landing in the trees.

I laughed so hard on Hari yelling "Trees," because it's a human reaction. There's nothing you can do about it when things are happening. And there was really nothing Warden could do but to try her best to keep them and the ship intact.

After the crash, she wasn't interested on fixing the damage or making sure that the ship was alright to get back on the orbit as she grabbed her rifle and ran into the forest after her mysterious hooded figure. The fact that she found him in the totally unknown place speaks volumes of her skill.

She's an amazing hunter who trusts her intuition more than anything, because it led her back to her lover. The offworld trader that she believed to be dead after the time. Hugo told her that he'd left Terminus soon after and because the ship was tuned to him, he knew when to go to sleep and when to wake up to be at the same time. The rest was just a hunt for the location.

Back in the ship, Hari told Gaal that the psychohistory is not set in the stone. She didn't believe it because all her visions had become true. Hari tried to dull it down by saying that there's nothing she can do because the time cannot be changed, even though he'd build the device that can predict it.

The twist in the story is that when Warden brought back the lover to his ship Hari didn't let him in because his weight was off by 3 kilograms. I was certain that the Mathematician was acting in his madness, but it turned out to be that he was right, as the Beggar was assaulted by psychics. Amazing ones as they were able to fool everyone.

The mystic put them down and when the trio awoke, the girls were lead by telepathic whispers to a temple that predated the Genetic Dynasty, even Cleon I. At there they met a young girl, who claimed to be seventh bodily incarnation of Pa'a. "The goddess of light, wisdom, flying creatures and the Second Chamber of Enternity."

Only it turned to be psychic projection, but the mystics were interested on the reasons of why they'd arrived. Gaall called it as "an instinct." The real leader revealed that they are the mentallics and the girls were able to hear them, because they are complete human beings, where as Hari is an artificial construct, just like the Genetic Dynasty.

Hari deduced that the leader was the one who visited after his dreams. And he was right. The leader then figured out that Hari needed the mystics to fulfil his plan. Then as a twist it was revealed that the bosslady was after the Prime Radiant, because she didn't want Second Foundation.

Back on Trantor the Queen of Cloud Dominion wasn't letting go anything. In fact, she was even more invested to find out what happened in Empire's bed chamber with the hit attempt. The only way to get there was by offering to have sex with Day.

Funny thing was that the Emperor was actually scared by the prospect, because he'd grown custom on bonking the nanny. Demerzel shushed the boy quiet and even stated that it didn't need to take long. As the last advice, she said, "Think of me."

The whole setup is so freakish because it was Brother Day who wanted the change in the family. To even have offspring, and then the fact is that he cannot take away his mind from nanny is tilting the scales towards a ruined wedding.

In fact, and even though I though there was going to be GoT like coitus, it didn't happen as the Soulless Man acted as if it was his first time and he knew nothing. Nothing apart from what the Android had taught him about the sex. And then somehow he turned to whole thing to argument over the assassinations, and the fact that the Queen had lost all her lover in that Dominion hit.

The Queen got so upset on Day's ravings that she snapped out the truth. "I wanted to know if it's safe to live here. Have you ever even tried to think about things from my point of view? Do you even know what other point of view is? How could you? The people closest to you are you!"

Day didn't get the point as he raged, "You think I can't make you safe? I am turning Trantor upside down. I will find the traitors--"

So the Queen hit back with the truth, "You've been searching for days, and you've found nothing." It's just she didn't know about the Android's investigation and tampering of the other Emperor's minds. Therefore, instead of the making love the pair ended up making threats as the Soulless Man tried to force his will and the Queen wasn't willing to sing her "death warrant."

That union is doomed even though it really hasn't started. Although, they got engaged because he forced his will instead of accepting that he needed to listen and do something about to make things right.

Demerzel assured him that the Queen would never find out that the Day had ordered the hit, as she'd silenced the witnesses and perpetrators. Then she shagged the man turning and I have to say that it twists my stomach, because it's so sick.

It's the android that is manipulating the whole thing by following her ages old programming. Almost as if she's in the core of the whole Crisis business, because her robot laws are violated and the chaos has replaced the harmony.

30 years earlier with the previous Day, things were different. The man knew how to treat a lady, and he did it well, instead of being twisted to a tyrannical maniac. Not that they've ever been so different, as they all have done horrible things in their time at the centre throne. But the thing is that Brother Dusknwas having second thoughts on the memory wipes and altering the psyche of their subjects.

Maybe the reason is that in his olden days he wants to be remembered. Thats' why he's so dedicated on the murals without even know how their dynasty is going to show in it. The courtesan said it best as she stated that she wanted to remember her regrets. Things that are awful, because they make her more human than what Cleon clones have ever been.

Thanks to concubine's efforts, Queen learned about the Memorium, and they got memory audits from that incident through a clever ruse. Then it was revealed by Demerzel to Dusk that it is only Day who can alter trio's memories. And that there are two backups from all the memories, one if the Memorium and another in her.

When the Queen saw the evidence from the hit, she was shocked by the android. The concubine claimed that all the mechanoids had been wiped out a thousand years earlier. Queen didn't believe because she'd touch her hand, it was warm. Maybe she doesn't really understand what is the state-of-the-art, because Demerzel is one of the kind.

At the palace Dusk and Dawn decided to speak to the original clone.

A hologram formed out from the corpse. It is the most amazing encounter. A chilling one, especially as the clones worshipped his power. When they asked about the memory audit power, "Is this accord with your design?" the Hologram Cleon stated, "You are one man. If you become devided, you dishonour me and what I devised. To be united is your natural state. To even Day is to envy yourself."

Dusk said, "Genetically we are identical. But in our temperatment we must account for variations. And this Day, he allows our domineering side to be o--"

"I am aware of my own temperament and their many sides," Cleon I stated. "They are accounted for."

"What do you mean?" Brother Dusk asked.

"This is no concern to you," Cleon I answered.

"How can you say that?" Brother Dawn asked. "Didn't you create this interface so we could ask you for your help?"

"I am here to give you what you need. Nothing more. The dream lives on in you. Because you kept it alive in you..."

After the hologram blinked out the brotheres went back in the Memorium and ordered the cyborg to fetch metadata on the memory sizes in all of them. Then Dusk revealed to Dawn that in his time he'd refused to take part of the conflicts, and instead he'd ordered the Android to pacify the galaxy.

All I can say is that bot has too much power.

It was also intriguing to learn that Cleon I had three times as many memories as the clones and it lead Dusk to suspect that something were kept from them.

IMDB score: 7.8 Runtime: 47 minutes

Fantastic and very twisty episode. Important one.

 

[ctg]

Spoiler: S02E06 - Why the Gods made Wine?!?

I didn't feel I wanted to write about the Foundation or anything else last week as I had much better things to do. Not that there are any comments or likes that would entice me to write more. But let's see how this develops...

The sin of the Imperium, hating their people. I just don't get it and probably never will, because it doesn't make any sense for the government to hate its subjects. Not even when it's the dictatorship model, but more than often it is the rule. It happens, every day, in our world. Not just in the Foundation universe, but the trend is the same in many other genre productions.

Thing is, they showed Imperium's executioners killing kids, which for a long, long time was a capital sin in the creative industries. Maybe because it causes bad blood. In this case, the killing was shown in the telepatchic connection that Warden formed with a mentalic kid at the beach.

The little boy didn't get that projecting telepathic communication with a mundane person can be a freakish thing. Simple because to us, being a master of our own thoughts is the normal thing. Getting someone else in our mind is the freakish thing that we, like Warden, aren't so custom because it is invading our privacy.

Kid explained to Warden that to him it's the other way. There is no natural silence that he can listen to, because everyone in the community is always broadcasting and having a chatter with the others. To normal people it might appear as silence, but once you get into their circles, the world is never going to be silent again.

The 'god' matriarch, Tellum, explained to the trio that she had no other choice, but to go and save her people, because the Empire didn't care for them. Nobody did. "Now you know why we're forced to hide," Tellum said. "We know things. We know when the kings are full of sh*t or the husbands are cheating (it takes two to make hanky-banky miss god). So there are couple of ways we can go. We're treated as gods among men or wolves among sheep."

"The god thing gets old, trust you me, the wolves thing gets you killed. Mobs for quick. Call you 'devil,' call you 'space fiend.' And then they bleed you..."

Humans, we can't just live in peace, eh? The violene is part of our nature, and there's no betterment. No fix for it. Yet, Hari Seldon wanted them because he needed them for his Second Foundation. Not that it pleased the god mum, because deep within her, exposing her community to the Galactic Imperium meant putting crosshairs on their backs instead of living in peace in their homeworld.

So Hari explained, "In many years from now, a mentalic like you, raises in power. He'll be called the Mule. He will destroy everything that you've built here. Gaal has seen it!"

"Seen it?" Tellum asked. "The future?" Gaal nodded. "I mean, our kind are capable of many thing, but true precognition? No."

It is strange that the God Mum couldn't get it, even though she had crossed the stars and hand-picked the members of her community, often saving them from executions, couldn't understand the true extent of their 'powers.' Maybe the thing with clairvoyance is that it is an extremely rare mutation of their powers and Gaal's one is the purest form of it.

Why? Well, we have had sages for ages, and the true sight is the rarest form of the precognition. The same thing applies to the Asimov's Foundation Universe. Yet, the God Mum wasn't happy about it. She went on to explain to Gaal that her vision is the one that Hari has projected, and therefore it shouldn't be taken as the biblical word.

The thing with the time and what we've learned about the possibilities of the time travel is that the future is not set in the stone, but there are fixed points in time that has to happen and there's no fixing it. However, like Tellum told Gaal, there's no way of knowing is it the one or is it a projection that Hari somehow forced upon the girl?

Well, not without exploring the true extent of Gaal's powers. So while Hari explained to Warden that he knows that nobody trusts him, he still cares about the girls and wants them to prosper instead of being a messiah like him, the God Mum flirted with the protagonist.

She even told Gaal that there was no trust on Mr Seldon. All while she made Gaal to project telekinesis as she explained to the Math Girl that Hari would never see Gaal as better than him. It is a sick view, because it is a singular view, a racist view. And the only way for Gaal to save her daughter was to accept that the messiah wasn't part of it. Mentalics only.

Because of it Hari told Warden to look after her mum and be there for her, while he took the Beggar's Lament and left before the mentalics and their god mum purged him. Or so it looked to Warden's eyes, while the truth was that Tellum captured Hari and chained him in a tide pool. And the said it wasn't a murder because Hari wasn't one of them.

The problem is the Hari is as much seer as Gaal. He is a different mentalic as his gift is the mathematics and proving through them 'clairvoyance,' or 'psychohistory.' In his dying moment, he saw his life before his eyes. Meeting Yanna and two of them producing the Prime Radiant, with both equally putting in the work. And then they got married and she got pregnant. Only the baby didn't come out as the Empire snatched Yanna and accidentally killed her. So Hari did the revenge and became the Empire's Mathemacian.

I suspect he's going to be the Mule.

I don't know why it freaked me so hard to see the jump ship occupants lined up straight to the portholes. It's just when you think about the cosmic rays, muons, they can penetrate everything and that the triple glazed porthole doesn't offer much of protection from the high energy content. Yet, the priest didn't even think about it as all they could see was Trantor in its magnificence.

Yet, the capital planet was explained is the cradle of all the sins. The home of ultimate corruption. Still, seeing the jumpship docking with one of the rings and being dwarfed by the size of the construction told another story, because it expressed both the technological and scientific advancement of the humankind. In fact, the whole setup explains better the galactic civilization than Star Wars or Star Trek has ever done.

The only thing different is that Asimov's galaxy doesn't have aliens. Not that it matters as the wonders are still there as well as the corruption. Which was shown cleary as the passport control, when the system didn't recognize the occupants of the "barbarian worlds," as the subjects of the Imperium.

It was amazing to see Claric arriving to the hotel getting comfortable for him to ask for Brother Constant to flush away his secret stash. He was renewed on the sight of the endless city spreading over the horizon. Almost as if he didn't really believe in the mission Vault had given to them, because he is the child of Imperium instead of being born on Terminus.

Not that it mattered because the Genetic Dynasty captured them and subjecated them to prison life for the eternity.

Foundation jumpship vs Foundation jumpship at Hober Mallow's mission that the Vault gave to him. Maybe the thing here is like Hari explained to Warden is that he only gave part of the Plan to the Vault Hari, and the Prime Radiant Ai produced all the ultra tech on its own.

Not that it turned out to be the vault product, but instead a hive ship for the spacers.

IMDB rating: 8.1 Runtime: 58 minutes

 

[chornedsnorkack]

And Hober Mallow was in no contact with Vault at all. A point made by Ebling Mis in "Mule". Salvor Hardin had attended both of Seldon´s recordings in his time and, as he explained to a friend when waiting for the second recording, just in case used to visit the Vault yearly. Like Ebling Mis later concluded, Seldon had appeared in the recording during third crisis - but Mallow had not turned up, nor had anyone else, so Seldon spoke to an empty room.

 

[Parson]

I c;ame within a whisker of turning off the latest episode it was nearly all talk. One person speaking passionately (in one form or the other) to another for about 50 minutes of the hour. This was DULL!!! I'll probably watch one more or I might just give up on this imposter Dune.

 

[Vince W]

I c;ame within a whisker of turning off the latest episode it was nearly all talk. One person speaking passionately (in one form or the other) to another for about 50 minutes of the hour. This was DULL!!! I'll probably watch one more or I might just give up on this imposter Dune.

I’ve actually cancelled my Apple+ subscription I care so little about any of their offerings.

 

[ctg]

Spoiler: S02E07 - A Necessary Death

So after or actually during writing the last one, I got a massive migraine and couldn't post this on that day or the following or in the Sunday, because that pain was so continuous that I could barely handle it. I get the same feeling from your comments, the Foundation has turned to a complicated costume drama with no much happening.

I am not saying that it is anything like Dancing with Wolves crazy, and it needs to be canned because of the majority of the audience is baffled like what happened with the WestWorld. Everyone knew from the beginning that the Foundation is a complicated production because the saga itself is a complicated and mostly unfilmable piece. A lot of that unfilmability can be put down the FX technology not being mature enough.

It is also not really bad SF like the recent outing of Nick Fury or going against the grain like they did with the Book of Boba Fett. And I most certainly haven't started becoming sarcastic for them doing stupid sh*t. Maybe that's coming, We'll see.

So let's see how this one develops...

Well that is a different take on seeing Trantor through the hotel window, but I don't get why to post all guards in there. Doesn't they have something better to do than trying not to watch over two inmate monks, who clearly doesn't represent harm?

Claric most certainly were regretting for ordering Brother Constant to flush down his secret stash, as he was virtually suicidal in "the Imperial Diplomatic Lounge." Day most certainly weren't that interested on visiting them. Although, he mentioned that it was interesting that they arrived at the same time as the Imperial response reached the Outer Rim. So at least he was curious about it, while the Android were focused on the continuation of the Empire.

It was days before the Empire called the couple to appear in the courtroom. Claric, the sober man put on a good show by talking down on the Outer Reach colonies and impressing the Genetic Dynasty as civilized men. All so that he could open a diplomatic outpost and be at peace with the Imperium.

When Day turned him down, Brother Constant stepped forward and allowed a projection of Hari Seldon to wash over her. He told Day to accept the peace because on the war the Foundation would turn out to be winners.

The Emperor wasn't faced as he laid down his will by claiming the Cloud Dominion Queen was warming his bed and General Rios would be forcing blockade around Terminus. Then he tried to eliminated Brother Constant with the courtroom guardians. The girl survived.

"I know what you are," the Queen said. "I know about your mechanical nature. I need to be read into the family secrets. I won't live at a disadvantage."

"You are well-informed," Demerzel replied. "I am a humaniform robot."

No sh*t, because out pours through the mannerism. She just isn't one of the normal, mundane humans. Never been. And she clearly isn't a classical Asimov robot. One of the kind, as she stated, "To my knowledge, I am the last one. I have served the dynasty since the reign of Cleon I," and then on to explain that she had no other masters and to expose that, "For a long time all robots were bound by three laws. The laws made me unable to harm a human or allow harm to come to a human. Now I'm bound by only one law, serving the Empire."

On Ai perspective, that is a far more complicated task than following Asimov's original rules. Yet, she has been able to do that ever since the First Cleon set up the game of Three Thrones.

This scene. The well-being of Royal Pussy and all the parties interested in the procedure. To my eyes this is a such a controversy because they could have done it less with the scanner technology without inserting the device in her vagina.

I laughed through the whole scene, while counting at least 30 people in the room, including the guards. The interesting bit was that the Empire weren't interested in the fun bits, only the eggs, which they wanted to harvest all before the wedding could actually happen. It is strange because of that massive amount of the cloning and genetech that has gone into making the Genetic Dynasty reality.

By their account and what we've witnessed, their technology is far superior to anything we've produced. So far. Yet, the hand in the Royal Pussy belong to the same doctor that overwatched Day's recovery from the lethal poisoning. Don't they have other consultants?

The strangest thing was that after the procedure, the Android threatened the upcoming Empress with a confession that she was the operator who killed her family. In the Queen shoes I'd have quit the wedding there and then and effed off back to the Cloud Dominion, before gathering allies and declaring a war.

Later on, when Day met with the Queen, he wasn't looking worried over her. Instead, he was feeling the weight of his decisions baring down on his shoulders. It was strange that the man wasn't happy to hear that offspring would be his, before the Queen recounted from the memories of how memorable her family had been. And that he'd been responsible for her not being able to tell them how much she loved them.

The dictator could only take it so far before he ordered the Queen to say that she was grateful before she ordered the bodyguard to arrange a secret and secure meeting with Dawn. The boy couldn't quite believe the tale of assassination and the fact their android had been the perpetrator in that scheme. Or the fact the Queen was having second thoughts on carrying the Monster Baby. Instead, she wanted the boy to be the father, just because he'd kind eyes.

I would feel the same way for coming up the mum and getting blasted with telekinetic energy and then being told that everything's wrong because Gaal has sucked Tellum's coolaid juice bone dry. She could not get why mum had become so quickly indoctrinated by the god mum's brainwash techniques?

Like every copper Warden claimed that she's able to read people, but in the psychic planet she's struggling on that aspect, especially as she's the only blonker who cannot read minds. To be honest, she was clearly feeling like an outsider, an outcast. Maybe the stranger thing is that everyone kept telling her that they'd been outcasts as well, and therefore they couldn't understand her position in god mum's community.

Tellum tried to explain that their community abided the laws of nature, and suffering is a great part of it, because it's part of the natural cycle. Just like their planet was once part of the Imperium who harvested fauna to produce Imperial bathing luxuries. And that somehow Warden is becoming "A sighted" person, even though all the she's able to hear and feel could be just a mental projection.

In the feast for (offing Hari Seldon) Gaal told to the Mentalics the tale about the Mule. And then that the slaughtered Mathematician had developed a scientific method to predict the future, instead of relying on seers. That their community had grown larger because the Imperium was causing suffering and therefore making the psychic screams louder than before.

All thanks to the Genetic Dynasty being a totalitarian government who cared nothing but the trio on top of the pyramid scheme. And thanks to the man they'd just killed they'd now technology to track futuristic events and under the Foundations they'd all fare better.

After the fest Warden nicked community fishing vessel and hacked its core so that she could find the way to the tide pool. And Hari still tied to it. All against her mum's wishes. She was armed when she arrived to the pale corpse, but she forgot her gun in the boat and therefore she was unable to even try to defend herself before god mum snuffed her life.

Dear Lord that Spacers Hive Ship is humongous. It's bigger than any vessels we've seen in the Star Wars, Hober Mallow tried to explain to angry Spacer mum that he was given the mission by Hari Seldon and he knew nuffin about the sacred jump coordinates like a proper conman, who never knows nothing about anything. In fact, they are always innocent.

Spacer mum wanted to put him out of the airlock, before the conman produced a vial of Opalex and a claim that the First Foundation was able to produce it for the Spacer's Guild. Even though the Spacer claimed that synthesizing the compound was impossible. So it took the conman to speak the truth to the Guild representative that the Imperium was having them in a racket. And that they were expandable because the Foundation had already surpassed needing them to make the jump technology.

So he offered them a deal, if the Spacers turned their coats on the Imperium, the Foundation would provide them the "vitamins," and give them freedom. All they needed was to become allies to the Foundation.

Commander and hubby behaving badly. The hubby was flipping through the book, not even reading the pages while the Commander was focusing on the Imperial News, when he turned it off, claiming it was bollocks just before the ensign arrived to state that their Spacer had analysed the footage on the Foundation Jumpship. And then that the Spacer were turning it in because they were too scared about the power of the Imperium.

So the Spacer Mum turned in the conman and then hubby beat the sh*t out of Hober. All so that they could their hands on the Foundation vessel. What he didn't count in was the fact that they were about to get conned by Mr Mallow releasing Brother Constant's alien guard dog on the pair. In seconds doggy took down the Commander and then proceeded to nibble on the hubby before the conman called "Beki" off.

Saved by dog, chased by the tip of the Imperial Spear, job well done. The Crisis can carry on into the open conflict between the parties. Especially with the Commander telling the whole truth to the Genetic Dynasty and their murderous android.

Only the hubby wasn't happy as he suggested to the Commander to act on his will and turn coats to the might of the Imperium. The General wasn't happy about it because he'd already experienced too closely the lawlessness that comes with the chaos of the Imperium falling.

Hubby said, "Okay," and then told the Commander that his fears were rational because there were two of them.

IMDB score: 8.0 Runtime: 53 minutes

 

[Brian G Turner]

I’ve actually cancelled my Apple+ subscription I care so little about any of their offerings.

Try Silo if you're able to before you go. That's a proper TV series with excellent plot, character, and production values.

 

[BAYLOR]

Spoiler: S02E07 - A Necessary Death

So after or actually during writing the last one, I got a massive migraine and couldn't post this on that day or the following or in the Sunday, because that pain was so continuous that I could barely handle it. I get the same feeling from your comments, the Foundation has turned to a complicated costume drama with no much happening.

I am not saying that it is anything like Dancing with Wolves crazy, and it needs to be canned because of the majority of the audience is baffled like what happened with the WestWorld. Everyone knew from the beginning that the Foundation is a complicated production because the saga itself is a complicated and mostly unfilmable piece. A lot of that unfilmability can be put down the FX technology not being mature enough.

It is also not really bad SF like the recent outing of Nick Fury or going against the grain like they did with the Book of Boba Fett. And I most certainly haven't started becoming sarcastic for them doing stupid sh*t. Maybe that's coming, We'll see.

So let's see how this one develops...

Well that is a different take on seeing Trantor through the hotel window, but I don't get why to post all guards in there. Doesn't they have something better to do than trying not to watch over two inmate monks, who clearly doesn't represent harm?

Claric most certainly were regretting for ordering Brother Constant to flush down his secret stash, as he was virtually suicidal in "the Imperial Diplomatic Lounge." Day most certainly weren't that interested on visiting them. Although, he mentioned that it was interesting that they arrived at the same time as the Imperial response reached the Outer Rim. So at least he was curious about it, while the Android were focused on the continuation of the Empire.

It was days before the Empire called the couple to appear in the courtroom. Claric, the sober man put on a good show by talking down on the Outer Reach colonies and impressing the Genetic Dynasty as civilized men. All so that he could open a diplomatic outpost and be at peace with the Imperium.

When Day turned him down, Brother Constant stepped forward and allowed a projection of Hari Seldon to wash over her. He told Day to accept the peace because on the war the Foundation would turn out to be winners.

The Emperor wasn't faced as he laid down his will by claiming the Cloud Dominion Queen was warming his bed and General Rios would be forcing blockade around Terminus. Then he tried to eliminated Brother Constant with the courtroom guardians. The girl survived.

"I know what you are," the Queen said. "I know about your mechanical nature. I need to be read into the family secrets. I won't live at a disadvantage."

"You are well-informed," Demerzel replied. "I am a humaniform robot."

No sh*t, because out pours through the mannerism. She just isn't one of the normal, mundane humans. Never been. And she clearly isn't a classical Asimov robot. One of the kind, as she stated, "To my knowledge, I am the last one. I have served the dynasty since the reign of Cleon I," and then on to explain that she had no other masters and to expose that, "For a long time all robots were bound by three laws. The laws made me unable to harm a human or allow harm to come to a human. Now I'm bound by only one law, serving the Empire."

On Ai perspective, that is a far more complicated task than following Asimov's original rules. Yet, she has been able to do that ever since the First Cleon set up the game of Three Thrones.

This scene. The well-being of Royal Pussy and all the parties interested in the procedure. To my eyes this is a such a controversy because they could have done it less with the scanner technology without inserting the device in her vagina.

I laughed through the whole scene, while counting at least 30 people in the room, including the guards. The interesting bit was that the Empire weren't interested in the fun bits, only the eggs, which they wanted to harvest all before the wedding could actually happen. It is strange because of that massive amount of the cloning and genetech that has gone into making the Genetic Dynasty reality.

By their account and what we've witnessed, their technology is far superior to anything we've produced. So far. Yet, the hand in the Royal Pussy belong to the same doctor that overwatched Day's recovery from the lethal poisoning. Don't they have other consultants?

The strangest thing was that after the procedure, the Android threatened the upcoming Empress with a confession that she was the operator who killed her family. In the Queen shoes I'd have quit the wedding there and then and effed off back to the Cloud Dominion, before gathering allies and declaring a war.

Later on, when Day met with the Queen, he wasn't looking worried over her. Instead, he was feeling the weight of his decisions baring down on his shoulders. It was strange that the man wasn't happy to hear that offspring would be his, before the Queen recounted from the memories of how memorable her family had been. And that he'd been responsible for her not being able to tell them how much she loved them.

The dictator could only take it so far before he ordered the Queen to say that she was grateful before she ordered the bodyguard to arrange a secret and secure meeting with Dawn. The boy couldn't quite believe the tale of assassination and the fact their android had been the perpetrator in that scheme. Or the fact the Queen was having second thoughts on carrying the Monster Baby. Instead, she wanted the boy to be the father, just because he'd kind eyes.

I would feel the same way for coming up the mum and getting blasted with telekinetic energy and then being told that everything's wrong because Gaal has sucked Tellum's coolaid juice bone dry. She could not get why mum had become so quickly indoctrinated by the god mum's brainwash techniques?

Like every copper Warden claimed that she's able to read people, but in the psychic planet she's struggling on that aspect, especially as she's the only blonker who cannot read minds. To be honest, she was clearly feeling like an outsider, an outcast. Maybe the stranger thing is that everyone kept telling her that they'd been outcasts as well, and therefore they couldn't understand her position in god mum's community.

Tellum tried to explain that their community abided the laws of nature, and suffering is a great part of it, because it's part of the natural cycle. Just like their planet was once part of the Imperium who harvested fauna to produce Imperial bathing luxuries. And that somehow Warden is becoming "A sighted" person, even though all the she's able to hear and feel could be just a mental projection.

In the feast for (offing Hari Seldon) Gaal told to the Mentalics the tale about the Mule. And then that the slaughtered Mathematician had developed a scientific method to predict the future, instead of relying on seers. That their community had grown larger because the Imperium was causing suffering and therefore making the psychic screams louder than before.

All thanks to the Genetic Dynasty being a totalitarian government who cared nothing but the trio on top of the pyramid scheme. And thanks to the man they'd just killed they'd now technology to track futuristic events and under the Foundations they'd all fare better.

After the fest Warden nicked community fishing vessel and hacked its core so that she could find the way to the tide pool. And Hari still tied to it. All against her mum's wishes. She was armed when she arrived to the pale corpse, but she forgot her gun in the boat and therefore she was unable to even try to defend herself before god mum snuffed her life.

Dear Lord that Spacers Hive Ship is humongous. It's bigger than any vessels we've seen in the Star Wars, Hober Mallow tried to explain to angry Spacer mum that he was given the mission by Hari Seldon and he knew nuffin about the sacred jump coordinates like a proper conman, who never knows nothing about anything. In fact, they are always innocent.

Spacer mum wanted to put him out of the airlock, before the conman produced a vial of Opalex and a claim that the First Foundation was able to produce it for the Spacer's Guild. Even though the Spacer claimed that synthesizing the compound was impossible. So it took the conman to speak the truth to the Guild representative that the Imperium was having them in a racket. And that they were expandable because the Foundation had already surpassed needing them to make the jump technology.

So he offered them a deal, if the Spacers turned their coats on the Imperium, the Foundation would provide them the "vitamins," and give them freedom. All they needed was to become allies to the Foundation.

Commander and hubby behaving badly. The hubby was flipping through the book, not even reading the pages while the Commander was focusing on the Imperial News, when he turned it off, claiming it was bollocks just before the ensign arrived to state that their Spacer had analysed the footage on the Foundation Jumpship. And then that the Spacer were turning it in because they were too scared about the power of the Imperium.

So the Spacer Mum turned in the conman and then hubby beat the sh*t out of Hober. All so that they could their hands on the Foundation vessel. What he didn't count in was the fact that they were about to get conned by Mr Mallow releasing Brother Constant's alien guard dog on the pair. In seconds doggy took down the Commander and then proceeded to nibble on the hubby before the conman called "Beki" off.

Saved by dog, chased by the tip of the Imperial Spear, job well done. The Crisis can carry on into the open conflict between the parties. Especially with the Commander telling the whole truth to the Genetic Dynasty and their murderous android.

Only the hubby wasn't happy as he suggested to the Commander to act on his will and turn coats to the might of the Imperium. The General wasn't happy about it because he'd already experienced too closely the lawlessness that comes with the chaos of the Imperium falling.

Hubby said, "Okay," and then told the Commander that his fears were rational because there were two of them.

IMDB score: 8.0 Runtime: 53 minutes

With seasons ? It's not going to make it.

 

[ctg]

Spoiler: S02E08 - The Last Empress

After killing Hari and Warden, I thought I was done with this series and yet, I'm still pulled in despite of my grumpiness. It also intrigues me that the Fruit Company is almost completely silent about the TV products. There is almost no PR push. Just like it has been with All for Mankind. Maybe Apple just like to shell money in these things and left to their own devices.

I don't what it really is, but let's see how this develops. We only have two episodes left after this one.

Dusk and Rue, Emperor and Concubine, or should I say Emperor and the Royal Spy. Although Brother Dusk did find it strange Rue were browsing around Demerzel's quarters with a dampening device in her hand, it was freakish when he confessed personally overseeing erasing the memories of his former lovers.

It's not like he was cheating and needed to cover the tracks. No it was a protocol erasure to maintain the secrecy around the Genetic Dynasty. Another layer of corruption that ultimately eats them alive. He went to even claim that the servant passageways were a state secret, but when Rue revealed that she has retained her memories, he was visibly shocked.

Bigger shock was Rue revealing that the Robot had threatened the Empress, because she's "a handmaiden for the Empire." It caused Dusk to go into the loop, ignoring everything else, because the clones are programmed, not grown for the responsibilities. They are nothing but puppets, but for whom and what for?

Coming out of his catatonic state, Dusk identified a symbol on Demerzel jewellery box, leading all the way back to the days when the Robots were alive. To time when, "The humans were cruel to them. And in the end, they were more human than we could ever have known."

"The robots grew to understand their station, and..." Dusk explained. "All they ever desired was the acknowledgement of full personhood."

"And when denied, they turned to murder," Rue added.

Brother Dusk pointed a mural and said, "Emperor Benefoss was slaughtered at the hands of a robot. The first law of robotics was circumvented, which should not have possible." 2+2=5, when you approach infinity. It is not just a statement from the 1984, because it is a mathematic joke on the fact. A nerdy joke that ultimately leads to breaking the fact laws, because nothing is a solid. Not even robot programming.

In the Foundation universe, the uprise lead to an event, where robots were against robots. Eventually humans claimed victory, but for some reason Demerzel remained.

Rue wanted to dig deeper and unravel the supressed memories, but they were interrupted by the official execution of Hari's priests.

It was so weird to see the whole dysfuctional royal family gathering to an execution, where Brother Day acted as the royal executioner instead of standing back and letting someone else to do it. He went on to claim that the act was in benevolence, because they had kicked Hari's people at Terminus and instead of dying at the outer rim, they'd allied with Thespis and Anacreon, the very "terrorist" who had created the Fall of Skybridge and ultimately were deemed to be participants on over "100 million deaths."

Although it might have clarified somethings, it only did so from the Imperium's point-of-view, without ever hinting the real reason for exiling their mathematician. So he wanted to use the Collar of Typhon to behead Hari's ambassadors. And his first victim was going to be Brother Constant, who to my surprised didn't piss her pant, but prayed guidance through the darkness.

Because the act was broadcasted throughout the galaxy, the First Foundation people joined Constant's prayer as it lead to the crucial moment. All that time Day was on high mood, even laughing at his victims, knowing that they could not escape the doom...

They were saved by a conman, doing an atmospheric jump, straight out to the execution platform. Hober Mallow even got out from the ship and picked up the drone cam to declare, "I'm sorry folks. Beheading's has been cancelled."

The people at the Foundation, including the Director understood that they were now in a war. There was no backing away from the clash. The snatch-and-crap were the last nail in coffin, instead of Imperium declaring a blockade on Terminus.

Commander on his flagship was impressed, but not as much as his hubby, who couldn't get his eyes off the screen. In fact, he was gaping at the display. Some could claim that he was having a hardon to the man, he'd tried to beat viciously in the last episode.

At the Trantor, despite his claim, the conman had not rescued anyone. Instead the air was clearing and the Imperium bodyguards were moving to find the perperator, while he was still searching. In the chaos, it was shown that Rue and Dusk survived and Dawn found Sareth's body laying on the ground.

The robot saved Day and then pinned him down on the ground, preventing him from escaping because his 'aura' had been damaged by the gravitational pulse. He ignored the robot, pushed up and then ventured into the chaos all on his own. It wasn't long after that the conman found Constant and then Claric, who had been recaptured.

Without him giving an order, or Constant really understanding what was going on, Beki charged out from the ship and went to save the sober priest. Except it also happened to be the same location, where Day wandered in. So the dog did all of a great favour as he ran after now screaming Emperor and snatched him in his jaws.

Soulless man vs Beki, the beast. Man, that is such a satisfying sight. A d*ck about the get chomped. This series has done a great deal of work to portray the middle throne holder as the ultimate a-hole. A sadistic, ruthless dictator who only cares about himself.

Yet I knew that his time hadn't come, but he wasn't saved by the robot, but by his Imperial bodyguards, who shot the dog. Beki going down, went over the edge, where he had pinned the Emperor. But he didn't take the prey with him.

Right after the beast fell to his death, conman dragged Constant in the ship, while the bodyguards secured Claric and the Emperor shouted, "Stop them." He too late as the conman spun up the engines and flew away the whisper-ship.

Hober didn't stop until they were outside the rings, then he picked Constant's collar and forced them to jump again.

The amazing thing is that Commander, at the flagship bridge said to the hubby, "I found your revolutionary," with a smile. Hubby was indeed excited as he declared, "Hober proved one thing. Empire can be touched."

Oh, that is such revolutionary speech, man. To be honest, he should be a bit worried about where he opens his mouth, as it has been proven time and again that the walls have ears. Yet, he was honestly having an erection, because of that act.

At the palace the brotherhood was cracking. They were all hurting. Some more than others as Dusk asked Demerzel, "When these effing nanobot are starting to work," before he confronted Day and claimed that they were in a war.

"War? What war?" Day said, still visibly reeling from the encounter. "If it comes to violence, we will destroy them utterly. No. I think I would rather talk to them."

"What?" Dawn opened his mouth.

"I'm going to Terminus," Day answered.

Demerzel opposed the idea. "Better you stay here, so the people can see nothing has changed."

"And follow my brother's example? No," Day threw back. "I do not fear change," he shouted. "Those whisper-ships belongs to us. That planet belongs to us. I'm going!"

Dusk wasn't happy. He called it "child's fantasy." Empress however dropped the hammer, as she opened her mouth and silenced the game. Her 'man' was going so she could spend more time with her lover and maybe get that baby going, while the Emperor was in war.

Oh, how marvellously classical that theme is and how well it sits in Trantor's Royal Court. The whole deal was sealed by her kisses as if that was what she wanted. Especially when Day declared the Dawn would rule in his absence.

Rue sussed out that plan, and went to codamn it at, when they were alone. She even said that it was because the Empress was shagging the boy. Sareth threw back at her Dusk's saucy relationship and then went to say that she was doing it to drive a wedge in the family and placing her correctly. She knew was she was doing and yet, the Royal concubine opposed her plan instead of supporting it.

So the Queen put down her shoe and that was the end of it. It was her plan or nothing.

Godmum confessed to Gaal that she had offed Hari, because she felt Hari was excess package on their "accelerated timeline." She told it to her face, and then marvelled that Gaal had felt Hari's death ... from a distance. To Godmum it was as if Gaal was a godly gift. Maybe she even thought Gaal was her avatar.

Yet, the girl wasn't taking any sh*t as she demanded to see Warden. "I'm afraid that's isn't possible," God mum replied. "Because you are not really here." Then it was revealed that Gaal had been put in a ground hole with no exits. There was no way for her to reach the daughter.

Godmum went to reveal that they'd added disks that would rip apart Gaal's defences. She wanted to break the Seer. Maybe the strangest thing was that the little boy saw the act, felt it through the connection and acted on his instinct, where he located Warden prison cell and dropped her a parcel in the dungeon.

It amazes me that godmum didn't snuff Warden when she had a chance. But Josiah, the kid, didn't even think about it in his innocence. He was acting on his will, when he revealed to the Warden that she was in the mental prison similar to Gaal's. It might have been frustration as Warden vented to the boy that they had foolishly killed the Mathemacian, before she figured out what Hari would have done in her shoes.

So she remembered the conversation Warden had with Hari on beach before the killings. And she found out that the Mathemacian had hid another Prime Radiant in her jacket. She pulled it out, assembled it from origami piece and then used quantum tunneling to reach the Vault.

The Vault Hari figured out the whole plot and then went to tell Warden, "I'm not the only copy doing this," as he figured out that the Vault also was just another portal to their mainframe quantum computer. Just like the Radiant.

He eventually figured out that there was second foundation and that his thing was to be a control group, because they were all in one big experiment.

Outside the Vault, the Foundation Director drank to his misery and spoke alone, not believing the Vault Hari would come. He was about the leave, when the "prophet" appeared. Director blead his heart, his belief to the hologram. He didn't understood that he was talking to an Ai.

So the Ai talked back at him, talked to him about the truth and what they need to do, because all they had was time and no plan. Then he went back to Gaal and ordered Warden to take him to the prison.

Quantum tunneling and pairing can appear as magic, but it's all science that allows unbelievable things. Like for example instant communication over thousands of lightyears in distance.

So Vault Hari saw the 'disk' and marvelled the construction. He told Warden how to adjust the frequency to break the locks and then ultimately on how to use them to break rock. Then he transferred back to the Vault and amused itself on how he still had thumps, even though he was the left, a leader of the control group as he took the destiny in his hands and called for Hober Mallow to appear.

Only the conman wasn't on Terminus, instead he was still in whisper-ship, hiding amongst imperial fleet and having sex with the priestess. Just as the boy was to celebrate to occasion by popping open his precious wine, the Commander located the ship and ordered them to stand down, because they were coming onboard.

Back at the Mentalics planet Warden ripped the disks and attached them all to a sling that she threw over her shoulder and went to save her mum. Godmum has paralysed Gaal on the altar, where she told the story behind her long life. She had switched bodies in order to survive and Gaal was going to be her next vessel.

With Day offplanet, Dusk and Rue continued the earlier investigation and approached the mural Dusk had identified as "not moving" and also being part of "the robotic revolution." Dusk dipped his fingers in the ink and and applied it to the mural.

The mural started to live, and then revealing to be a secret door to a hidden complex and a stairwell that was shaped like an eye. At the end of the stairs, they came across a room, where Cleon I hologram repeared, "You wanted answers about Demerzel's origins," he said. "This chamber has been considered many things. But at first it was a prison. Welcome Cleon XIV."

"A prison for whom?" Dusk approached the hologram.

Outside the chamber it was Dawn who figured out that Demerzel is the true heir. She is Cleon's Forever Empress. Mind blown!

IMDB rating: 9.0 Runtime: 60 minutes

 

[Parson]

Yeah, The Last Empress is an episode which makes my head hurt. There are so many strings and so many things going on, on so many levels that it makes me want to yell: "Please tell one story at a time!!" But at least this episode did not lack for action.