The season two finale of "Foundation" resonates with an overpowering sense of impending doom. The state of affairs has deteriorated to unprecedented lows, yet the prevailing sentiment is not one of capitulation but of defiant resilience. The characters are acutely aware of their pivotal roles in propelling humanity forward, even if the fruits of their labor will forever remain beyond their mortal reach.
After laying waste to Terminus, Day succumbs to a bloodthirsty frenzy and commands the fleet to embark on a campaign of planetary annihilation, targeting every world aligned with the Foundation. Just as the ship's spacers initiate the jump sequence, however, Hober Mallow's wrist mark begins to glow, heralding the explosive demise of hundreds of imperial vessels. It transpires that this cataclysmic turn of events was meticulously orchestrated by Seldon. Mallow had indeed struck a deal with the spacers, and they technically triumphed over the Second Crisis without firing a single shot. The spacers exploit Mallow, whose capture was a necessary pretext to relay the encrypted jump sequence embedded in his wrist mark to an onboard comrade, executing a plan where each imperial ship leaps into the very space occupied by its neighbor. While every spacer aboard the fleet perishes, their ultimate sacrifice secures the survival of their entire species.
Seldon cunningly baits Cleon into a war, and he falls prey to his predictable nature, foolishly amassing his entire fleet. As expected, the mighty Emperor, the seemingly immortal ruler, descends into a physical altercation with Hober Mallow, only to be pummeled by Constant and subsequently by Riose. The brawl is brutal and unsightly, culminating in Day hurling Bel Riose out of an airlock into the cold vacuum of space. Yet, in a clever twist, Riose activates a mini-teleporter, switching places with the Emperor at the last moment. The sight of Day's smug visage vanishing as he drifts aimlessly into the expanse of space, doomed to a lonely, freezing death, is deeply gratifying. In a peculiar sense, Curr's wishes are granted; they rebelled against the Empire and emerged victorious.
Nonetheless, death looms over everyone aboard the fleet, as the lives of a few thousand are sacrificed to preserve the existence of billions. Rose and Hober Mallow guide Constant towards the solitary functional escape pod, recognizing that her infectious optimism holds greater importance for Foundation's future than any material possession. Resigned to their fates, Mallow and Riose indulge in the fancy wine Mallow had been hoarding for years—only to discover it tastes revolting due to improper storage. But hey, Riose can take solace in the fact that he had the satisfaction of ejecting Day into the void; surely, that must count for something.
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Of course, the harrowing news of Day’s demise and the fleet’s annihilation cast a dark shadow over Demerzel’s demeanor, far from elating her. To compound her woes, she still grappled with the daunting task of outwitting Rue and Dusk, who were inching closer to uncovering her well-guarded secret. Laura Birn, who portrayed the murderer robot with remarkable prowess throughout the season, excelled in this episode, bringing Demerzel’s deepest emotions and vulnerabilities to life.
Demerzel harbored a profound hatred for Cleon, resentment brewing for his distortion of their shared history, his contaminants of coercion wrapped in the guise of communion, and her enforced captivity born of love. She yearned for the tender boy she once knew, the passionate and noble man he evolved into, yet she couldn’t escape the suspicion that her affection was merely a programmed response, a thought that fueled her disdain for Cleon even further.
In a moment of confession, she admitted to orchestrating the assassination plot, meticulously framing Sareth for execution. Her internal coding prohibited her from endorsing Day’s marital union, yet she remained mute, her protests suffocated within her mechanical confines. Dusk, having accepted his fate, imparted a poignant truth to Demerzel – none of them had ever truly been free. As he forgave her and enveloped her in an embrace, Demerzel’s robotic exterior struggled to contain a torrent of emotions more intense than any human could fathom, tears streaming down her face. She was the master puppeteer, yet her strings were pulled by forces as potent as they were personal.
Later, Demerzel disclosed Sareth’s treasonous accusations to Dawn, who was initially skeptical but noticed the telltale green mark on her neck – Dusk’s final, vengeful gesture, mirroring the betrayal portrayed in the painting he had once described to Dawn. Realizing the imminent peril, Dawn fled Trantor with Sareth, who carried his unborn child within her. Perhaps displaying a flicker of genuine, unprogrammed sentiment, Demerzel’s robotic facade cracked, tears streaming as Dawn bid her farewell, hoping for her happiness and professing his eternal love for her as the mother he had never known. Despite her duty to hunt them down, Demerzel allowed them to escape, leaving them to face an uncertain future filled with potential perils for their child, but bound by an unwavering love.
Undeterred by this setback, Demerzel refused to let the Cleonic dynasty crumble. She defrosted three new Cleons simultaneously, an unprecedented move. Yet, she was not alone; she possessed the Prime Radiant, and its potential awaited her mastery. Was this the dawn of R. Daneel Olivaw? Or was it the harbinger of an even greater villain, a malevolent force beyond anyone’s darkest dreams? Time alone would unveil the answer.
On Ignus, Gaal's journey reached a new zenith as she unlocked the next tier of her psychic abilities. She wielded this power with devastating precision, controlling the guard who watched over Hari as he drowned, compelling him to take his own life, and then seamlessly switching places with him, duping the entire village into believing they witnessed the death of Hari Seldon. Despite the demise of Tellem Bond, their peril was far from over.
On the brink of death, the cult leader possessed Josiah, compelling him to aim his weapon at Gaal. But in a heart-wrenching act of selflessness, Salvor leaped into the line of fire, shielding her mother with her own body. Her dying words, a poignant plea to Gaal, echoed with profound meaning: "It means we're not trapped." She imparted hope that the future could still be salvaged and that Gaal could steer it back onto the right path.
Gaal, shattered by the loss, struggled to find purpose in Salvor's sacrifice. She clung to the need for it to hold significance. Seldon, seemingly wiser from their ordeal, imparted a lesson in the enduring value of loss. He emphasized that the lives we cannot save retain meaning if we honor their memories and allow them to inspire us. Yanna's impact on his own life was proof of this. As Erwin Smith once said in Attack on Titan, "Their lives have meaning because we, the living, refuse to forget them! As we march towards inevitable peril, we entrust our successors to uphold this same reverence."
With Gaal's persuasion, Seldon finally prioritized humanity over his equations. Instead of abandoning Gaal to sacrifice himself for the plan, they dedicated the next year to training the mentallics in psychohistory before entering cryosleep. They would awaken annually for the next century, preparing for their eventual confrontation with The Mule. The Second Foundation had officially embarked on its mission.
Meanwhile, Brother Constant was rescued not by a ship but by The Vault, which revealed that Terminus's sacrifice had been part of a grander scheme. Everyone on Terminus had survived, including Poly, Constant's father, and even Glawen Curr. This revelation was the culmination of Seldon's master plan, a twist both absurd and silly yet deeply satisfying and entertaining to witness. In a stroke of genius, the maniacs had pulled off the ultimate Seldon reveal, proving that everything had been meticulously orchestrated from the start.
