In Review: Foundation (S2 – EP7) – A Necessary Death

Synopsis: In A Necessary Death, Salvor begins to question the Mentalics’ motives. Hober Mallow’s proposal to the Spacers meets resistance. Brothers Constant and Poly stand trial.

The Story

On Trantor Day continues with his planned marriage to Queen Sareth. However, Sareth continues to do some digging into the deaths of her family. This leads to a confrontation between Sareth and Demerzel in which Empire’s sole Android servant reveals the truth to a heartbroken Sareth. Having learned of her family’s murder. Sareth conspires with Dawn to have his child instead of Days. 

Meanwhile, Hober Mallow’s attempts to broker a deal with the Spacers lead to them attempting to hand him over to Bel Riose. This forces Mallow to execute a daring escape from Empire’s most decorated general, which in turn reveals how much more advanced the Foundation’s technology is when compared to the tech of the Empire. Back on Trantor. Having learned of Hober Mallow’s escape from Rios Day uses this information as a means of attacking Brothers Constant and Polly during their trial. After this Day realizes the threat that Hari Seldon and his Foundation is to Empire. 

Back on Ignus. Gaal is getting more and more invested in the lifestyle and beliefs of the Mentalic’s and is starting to take on a leadership role. However, Salvor isn’t as trusting and is determined to find out the truth that they are hiding. As she investigates she finds some hidden co-ordinates on one of the old fishing boats and follows them to their destination. As she arrives Salvor is horrified to discover the fate of Hari Seldon, which we all learned about in last week’s episode.

The Acting

Ella-Rae Smith gets a lot to do in this episode as Queen Sareth finally learns what actually happened to her family and who was behind it. Her scene with Laura Birn’s Demerzel is brilliantly performed and the moment where Demerzel remorselessly reveals that it was she who killed Sareth’s family is truly chilling. 

Overall

This was a fantastic episode that weaves together many of the threads that have been building over the last few weeks. Hobar Mallow’s escape was a lot of fun as was the aftermath of it, which saw an interesting conversation happen between General Rios and his partner about consequences that could happen should they ever attempt to take down the Empire. Obviously, when any empire collapses there is often a power vacuum left behind, which is something that Rios is genuinely concerned about.

The storyline concerning the Mentalic’s has been a lot of fun. But by the end of this episode, you are left wondering how much of an influence their role will have on the future of the story. Especially given that there have seemingly been a few deaths of characters that you’d not really see coming.

Overall. You have to wonder how much more the writers can show of this epic world as it seems there are many stories wrapped up within the whole.