I had read over 200 of Asimov's short stories novellas and novels as a kid of the 70s and early 80s and they formed the core mythos of how I perceived the distant future would become. Not exactly a dystopia and not the utopic Star Trek to be sure but at least a future where science and technology would be respected and relied upon to deliver the ... ahem.. foundations on which all society should rely.
So when this long considered unfilmable series was aired, I watched with much trepidation and bating of breath.
And ngl the first season raised my hackles somewhat... The stupid, stupid decisions of people in power and the predictable, pedestrian plot and cliche layered upon cliche actually made me quit my Apple TV+ subscription, I sh!t you not! Seriously. What were they playing at.
But when Severance S2 released I was forced to renew my Apple TV+ sub and in the days between Severance episode releases I figured I'd rewatch Foundation from S1E01
Yeah, S1 sucked as much as I remembered but having heard whispers on the grapevine that S2 was a marked improvement, I grinned and bared it.
Lee Price and Jared Harris were the frame upon which the entire show was allowed to shine... Wow. It's like they just said fk it to all the risks they DIDN'T take in S1 and pushed the whole show into deep water.
Gone were the Mary Sue interpretations of Gaal and Salvor and they were replaced with a nuanced and sympathetic roles...
Moreover the so called "comic relief" aspect turned out to be as poignant as the the rest of the show.
For me, the key was that every character was human (even the robot) and given a believable motivation and and premise that one could rally behind and feel real sympathy for.
Moreover, the IQ of the characters and plot in S2 suddenly returned to 3 digits signifying a showrunner that has gained confidence.
Let's hope Foundation outlives the original Trilogy and pushes into the whole ASIMOVERSE!!!
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