Foundation Review

In a post-Game of Thrones world, every major network and streaming site has made a play for their own piece of beloved IP. HBO is continuing its Thrones universe with a prequel series. Amazon spent a ridiculous sum of money to buy the rights to the remaining Lord of the Rings stories. Netflix is sitting pretty with their expanding Witcher universe. Disney Plus has, well, everything Disney bought, from Marvel to Star Wars. And AppleTV+ spent its money on the rights to Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, adapting* the sci-fi book series for the screen.

*A bit of housekeeping before I delve into my review of the series: I have not read the Foundation books, so I will not be able to get into whether or not the 10-episode first season – all of which I have seen – accurately captures the story, characters, and breadth of the novels. Based on discussions with fans of the series, however, I can tell any book fans that this adaptation is exactly that: an adaptation. Characters are gender-swapped, the story doesn’t completely match the novels, and there was a definite use of artistic license when it came to how they brought certain characters and storylines to life. So, don’t go into this expecting a facsimile of the novels, but look at it as a series that takes the outline of the story and gets to play around with it a bit.

While the money Apple spent is clear in all the details within the show – the costumes are exquisite, the sets opulent, the CGI pretty darn impressive – Foundation lacks the narrative cohesion and character development necessary to allow the audience to grow to care about its characters. And considering this is a show that spends a great deal of time jumping back and forth throughout time – sometimes centuries of time in a single moment – this is a series that very much needs its audience to care deeply about its core cast of characters to make it work.

Foundation tells the story of Hari Selden (the excellent Jared Harris, finally getting his chance at a big budget starring role), a mathematician who is able to predict the future of the Galactic Empire (but not the future of an individual) through his calculations. He invites a young math genius, Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell, who more than holds her own in the role), to Trantor (the capital planet of the Galactic Empire) allegedly to study with him. Of course, all isn’t as it seems, and Selden is arrested alongside Gaal and brought before Empire*: Brother Dawn (Cassian Bilton, when the character is a teenager, and Cooper Carter when he is a child), Brother Day (Lee Pace, doing great work in a tricky part), and Brother Dusk (Terrence Mann, who is, for my money, the best actor in this strong cast of actors). You see, Selden predicted that the Empire would fall in his latest set of calculations, which, of course, angered Empire. Gaal is tasked with getting the pair out of this sketchy situation and getting Selden permission to create his Foundation – a repository of the Empire’s history and knowledge, so that should his prediction come true, they will have the ability to begin again.

*One of the biggest changes from the novels is that Empire (the ruling individual) is actually three separate clones of the original Empire – Cleon the First. The three clones effectively rule together, although Brother Day, the middle-aged clone, is the one who makes all final decisions. For the most part, this change works well, and adds an interesting air to the proceedings. However, it can become confusing when there are jumps in time and you need to recall the actions Brother Dusk took while he was Day or things Day saw while he was Dawn. If you can keep that straight, you’ll enjoy a great deal more of the series than if you begin to confuse the different characters. This trick also allows the show to recycle the same three actors throughout the time jumps, while allowing them to vary their performances depending on which version of their character (in that time) they are portraying.

If that basic plot summation (which really only covers the pilot) sounds a tad confusing, well, that’s because the show’s greatest weakness is its tendency to play fast and loose with narrative structure. Jumping through time isn’t, on paper, a bad idea. Jumping through time so that you don’t get enough time with characters to really get a handle as to what makes them tick? That’s a problem. Spending time actively hiding plot twists (or attempting to hide them – I figured out one of the “twists” in episode two and it wasn’t officially revealed until the end of the season) rather than taking the time to build up characters, deepen relationships, and explain just what is so important about their actions, only serves to create frustration when the twist arrives and you don’t particularly care about the character impacted.

Choosing to focus on slowly unspooling a complex story rather than the characters inhabiting it was a key mistake made with Foundation. I understand the novels span centuries, which means some characters we are introduced to in season one won’t be with us for the long haul, but much of this season had the feeling of watching the show churn through characters and plot without letting the audience understand who they were watching and why it was important. Seemingly minor plot points, which appear to build up a character who is gone from the story in a matter of episodes, turn out to be crucial linchpins to the overall arc – but they aren’t treated as such at the time. When you’re watching the episodes close together as I did, that doesn’t matter too much – the general plot is fresh in your mind. But for a series that will be released weekly, it’s a lot to ask of your audience – to recall what happened in episode one or two all the way in episode eight or nine.

So, what works in Foundation? The series is at its best when it dispenses with its sometimes confusing mythology and narrative machinations and lets its characters take center stage. The strongest moments of the season for me were the ones where two characters are in a room, talking. Whether it’s Gaal and Selden (Llobell and Harris have strong platonic chemistry that works great when the series lets them work one-on-one), Brothers Day and Dusk (another great pairing that we thankfully get a lot of – Pace and Mann play off each other exceptionally well), or, the most interesting moment in the entire season for me, T’Nia Miller’s priestess Halima and Laura Birn’s Demerzel, these character-driven moments within the series take advantage of the show’s greatest asset: its cast.*

*The series is much less successful when it comes to its romantic entanglements, with all of its key couples lacking romantic chemistry.

I’m unsure if the writers just didn’t trust their actors to imbue their characters with the necessary complexity, or if they were more concerned with pushing through plot to clear the table for an anticipated season two, but it was disappointing that so much time was spent on world building (only to tear down the work with a time jump time and again) and not on character development. Particularly under served was the character of Gaal – who also serves as our omniscient narrator in every episode, much like the character within the novels – who is set-up to be the fulcrum on which the story balances, only to disappear for long stretches at a time and become a pawn of various forces for much of the season. Without clear agency, we don’t get to truly understand who she is, what she wants, and how she will fit into the greater story until far too late in the season. It’s a real missed opportunity.

I will say that I was very impressed with the show’s commitment to presenting a racially and gender diverse cast – something I suspect wasn’t the case with the original novels. Two of the show’s central characters are women of color, and there are a host of people of color in other key roles throughout the series. And that diversity extended behind the scenes as well, with multiple episodes having been directed by female directors and a number of the episodes having been written by women. Considering how few women were involved in the writing and direction of a series like Game of Thrones, this was a welcome surprise.

All-in-all, Foundation is a disappointment. With the level of talent in front of the camera, and a beloved sci-fi epic as the skeleton for the series’ narrative, I certainly expected a series that was more focused and took more risks – and that cared about its characters enough to let us have time to spend with them. This could have been a Thrones-like success. Instead, it’s a disappointing attempt to bring AppleTV+ into the IP wars with a winner – something that the series fails to accomplish. If you’re looking for a great sci-fi adaptation, give Amazon’s The Expanse a look. There’s a chance Foundation might improve in its second season, but to do so, it will need to start focusing on character and less on narrative twists and turns.

Foundation premieres on AppleTV+ on Friday, September 24 with the first two episodes. Episodes will air weekly. All ten episodes of the show’s first season were provided for review.