In Review: Foundation (S2 – EP2) – A Glimpse of Darkness

Synopsis: In A Glimpse of Darkness, Gaal has a disturbing vision. Day’s bond with Queen Sareth grows stronger. The Vault opens and reveals a cryptic message.

The Story

Picking up from where last week left off. The consciousness of Hari Seldon has managed to get out of the data prison in which Gaal had placed him and has a bone or two to pick with her about it. Gaal says the plan is failing, but Hari reminds her that the plan was predicated on two Foundations being created. One that would ultimately go to war with Empire and fail. The other is to learn from the mistakes of the first and hopefully succeed. However, because Hari was killed by Gaal’s lover. The creation of the second Foundation never got underway. With little time to debate this. Salvor and Gaal enlist Seldon’s help in getting off the planet that they had crashed on. After which the three set about looking into the future for a second branching-off point in which they can hopefully start a second Foundation Colony and right the course of Seldon’s plan. But when Gaal projects her consciousness into the future she learns of a very dark individual that is full of hatred and has wiped out Terminus and is looking for the second Foundation.

Meanwhile, on Trantor Day’s relationship with Queen Sareth is developing at a rapid pace. Sareth is naturally curious about the royal’s clones and how the three rulers of the Empire are all the same person. But just clones of that person at different stages in life. Day’s plan is to break the cycle of clones and procreate with Sareth to produce a more natural line of succession. But as Sareth points out. Even a natural line of Royals is going to be vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

Elsewhere, two Clarics are called back to Terminus for the opening of the vault and the second coming of Hari Seldon, but instead, the vault brings forth a cryptic message punctuated with a death.

The Acting

Jared Harris puts in a solid performance this week as Hari rightly or wrongly chastises Gaal (Lou Llobell) for her impulsive actions that led to his murder. The scenes where Gaal projects her consciousness into the future are truly harrowing and Llobell does a brilliant job of portraying the terror that Gaal is obviously feeling.

Lee Pace also puts in a great performance as Day and the scenes with him and Queen Sareth (Ella-Rae Smith) have a very playful vibe to them with a little bit of menace added to the mix by Sareth knowing that she kind of has Empire by the short and curly’s.

Overall

This was a solid episode that moved the story forward at a more speedy pace than we got used to in the show’s first season. I really enjoyed seeing Hari, Gaal, and Salvor working together and hope to see more of it as the plot develops.