When I reviewed the first season of AppleTV+’s big IP series Foundation back in 2021, my main criticism was that the series didn’t take the time to ground its narrative and develop its characters, choosing instead to churn through centuries of plot in at attempt to give us an understanding of this world but less of an understanding of the people who inhabit it. With the big budget series back for its second season, that criticism remains – although, this time around, the writing makes clear just who we need to care about but still rarely takes the time to get into the reasons why we do. Back for this season are the core characters from season one: Brothers Dawn (Cassian Bilton, given less to do this time around), Day (Lee Pace, an absolute force to be reckoned with this season, chewing through scenery left and right with aplomb), and Dusk (Terrence Mann, again the anchor for this section of storytelling), various forms of Hari Seldon (Jared Harris, who, like Pace, gets to dig deeper this time around), Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell, not given as much freedom with her character this season), Salvor Hardin (Leah Harvey, at her best when she’s allowed to be someone other than the stoic enforcer), and Demerzel (Laura Birn, absolutely sensational in a compelling arc). And with the action picking up immediately following the season one finale’s time jump of over a century, there are also a set of new characters joining the fray – along with new incarnations of Empire (albeit played by the same three actors mentioned above).
Season two is split into three arcs: the happenings on Trantor (detailing the newest incarnation of Empire and the growing pains that come along with that), Gaal and Salvor’s journey (which takes the story to different worlds and deeper into the mythology of the series – which remains the show’s Achilles heel, as it continues to be far too complex to really make a ton of sense to the casual viewer), and the Second Crisis on Terminus (which brings us the bulk of the new characters, as all the old guard – well, almost all the old guard – have passed on in the time jump). The Trantor arc is the most compelling, largely thanks to the combined talents of Pace and Birn, who are just so present and interesting to watch, even when the story starts to waver a bit in the middle of the season. The arc on Terminus has the heaviest lift of the three arcs in that the writing must introduce the new characters, make us care about them, and explain how Terminus’ place in the story has evolved over the time jump. Is it successful? Not fully. But there are enough interesting pieces to this arc that I found myself particularly intrigued with how this new version of Terminus would fit into future stories for the series, even if the characters introduced failed to get the necessary runway to fully develop over the course of the season.
And then there’s the Gaal and Salvor piece of the story. Crucial to what is to come – absolutely – but mired down so deeply in the mythology of the series that the writing often loses the character in service of pushing forward an arc that is confusing as can be. Harvey is much more comfortable in their role this season, and Salvor is much more engaging as a character when paired with Llobell’s Gaal. But each character is weighed down by the necessity of providing exposition to make us understand just what will happen – or what has been predicted to happen – that it becomes a slog to watch this section of the story. It’s such a shame that the show’s clear hero – that would be Gaal – gets bogged down in service of setting up hints at what is to come in a third season that the series fails to provide her with enough character development to sustain her in this season.
Foundation continues to be a gorgeous series – the sets are opulent, the costumes are gorgeous, the CGI looks pretty great (although the space side of things is a bit lacking when compared to other sci-fi offerings). But the story continues to be a case of more is less in the grand scheme of things. As I said in my season one review: If the writers would just take the time to let us sit with characters, understand their motivations, and understand how they are experiencing the various trials and tribulations they fall victim to, it would go a long way to making the story feel fully realized. Instead, the series allows the plot to dictate the characters’ actions and not the other way around. Sure, some of this is baked into the premise wherein a man has predicted the future, but as Seldon once again notes in season two, his predictions are of a mass scale – an individual’s actions cannot be predicted and thus can change the course of the larger prediction in ways the calculations cannot foretell. Letting us see how the characters drive the plot would go a long way to taking what seems to be an expansive and complex mythos and making it much more manageable. But as it stands, season two of Foundation truly works only when it allows its strong cast to shine – and puts the focus on character – rather than the large chess board of the show’s intricate plotting.
Foundation’s second season premieres on July 14 on AppleTV+. All ten episodes were provided for review.
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