We’ve reached the finale for season one of Apple TV’s Foundation and guys – it’s epic. This entire season has been building up to these final moments that we won’t even risk spoiling in the opening paragraph. In episode ten, the season finale, The Leap, sees Salvor (Leah Harvey) get some help from an unexpected source and The Brother’s confrontation leads to some unthinkable consequences. Let’s dive in!
DISCLAIMER: This is a recap and, by definition, will be full of spoilers for Apple TV’s Foundation. I highly suggest going and watching it first and then coming back!
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The Leap opens as we watch Hari Seldon’s (Jared Harris) body getting sent into the sun. But he drifts past it and as the heat interacts with the coffin, we see it become the Vault they found on Terminus. On Terminus, Hari proves that the Thespians and Anacreons were pitted against each other by the clones. It seems that this might have been Hari’s plan all along. All three groups can come together and challenge The Empire.
However, Hari doesn’t find Gaal (Lou Llobell) in the crowd. It seems this one doesn’t know that she never made it to Terminus. Salvor updates him on how she was the one responsible for opening the Vault and getting the Invictus back. This strengthens my theory that Gaal and Salvor are connected in some way. It should have been Gaal saving the Foundation on Terminus, but it was Salvor instead.
On Trantor, Brother Day (Lee Pace) and Brother Dusk (Terrance Mann) discuss the recent events. We can see that even those two have some animosity, which dates back to how Brother Dusk handled the Seldon trial. They have Brother Dawn (Cassian Bilton) locked away while he waits for his judgment. Brother Day meets with him and we learn that while Brother Dawn may look like them, he is nothing like them and has known this for a long time.
Dawn wants to know what they are going to do to him and Day can’t ignore that he conspired with their enemies. Or did he? Dawn makes a compelling argument that because of the way they are raised, no family but the other two brothers is what caused his connection with Azura (Amy Tyger) to be so strong. Why is he to blame for being duped? It makes you wonder if the first Cleon had decided not to have perfect clones if they had handled things much differently. Sought out different ways to learn and govern—just some food for thought.
The Leap jumps back to Terminus, where Hari explains to Mari (Sasha Behar) and the others what they are doing on Terminus. It seems like Hari has everything planned out and Hugo (Daniel MacPherson) agrees that this might be the only way for them to be genuinely free of The Empire. The kids have other questions (that we agree are more important) about is Hari is a ghost and how he got there. We learn that Hari took a pill shortly before he died that broke down his body and rebuilt it using space stuff. But he isn’t here to stay. He is leaving everything in their hands for the time being.
But Salvor wants more answers. She wants to understand why he is reaching out to her and putting thoughts into her head. But these messages weren’t from him and he doesn’t know who they could be coming from. A tad bit frustrating for Salvor (and us) as she is now back at square one on what makes her so different. Without any more thought to her question, Hari heads back into the Vault and it shifts back to his tomb.
Back on Trantor, Brother Day meets with Azura and tries to get her to understand the burden of The Empire and what it means to think about their legacy. But he also cares very much about Brother Dawn’s legacy and the things he wants for him. So why does all this matter? Well, Papa Day isn’t happy with how Azura broke Dawn’s heart and is here to make her pay. And she will pay by watching all of her family, friends and anyone who has ever had the displeasure of having known her (1,551 people in total) be killed in the wave of Day’s wrist. Azura will spend the rest of her life sensory shrouded for the rest of her life and be fully aware of what is going on.
We shift back to Terminus, where Sasha and Salvor discuss what to do next. Sasha seems to feel the same way about Hari as Gaal did. He is a liar who refuses to tell all of them what is really going on. And now he shows back and up expects them to just go on with his plan and then leave like nothing ever happened. And with Salvor, it’s worse that he doesn’t even know who she is or why she is different. Just leaves her hanging on this idea that she thought it was him all along and that she was special. But now, it is time for everyone to decide what happens next.
Salvor meets with Rowan (Pravessh Rana) and the two form a sort of peace by planting an Anacreon tree into Terminus soil. And then we watch as time passes and the tree grows while the Foundation expands around it. On the Invictus, we see Hugo become captain and the others working together to get it back online. Hugo followed Hari’s recommendation and used the Invictus to trick The Empire into believing that everyone on Terminus was dead. I hope that during all of this, he adjusted how the ship handled its jumps so that no one will need to be hardwired into the system anymore.
Thankfully for Salvor, it doesn’t look like Hugo is spending all his time on the Invictus and often comes back. While it seems like everything is going well, Salvor still has her visions of Gaal’s past and hasn’t found an explanation for it just yet. While out on patrol, she sees a young girl who looks a lot like Gaal dive into a pool of water near the Vault. Salvor visits her mom to try and get answers about who the girl was from the water planet. Sasha opens up about the ship’s seed bank, and I won’t say that I was right. But I was.
Salvor learns that she is also the daughter of Gaal and Raych (Alfred Enoch), which is why she is seeing their past. She starts to piece together her specialness and that Gaal might be the one reaching out to her. Salvor knows that she needs to head out and find her. And that she can’t wait. She takes the bow, the ghost whistle and the cube on her journey to find Gaal. Before she can set off, Hugo finds her. They have a tearful goodbye and Salvor heads off. Please go on, grab some tissues; it’s okay.
The Leap returns to Trantor, where Demerzel (Laura Birn) takes Dawn to his trial. This is such an impactful scene and has been a long time coming. Brother Dusk stands by his belief that they need to do away with Dawn and keep the perfect clone train going. But after Day’s trip to Maiden and what he learned about how the world perceives them and what Hari had spoken about, he believes that it is time for a change. Clearly, these two don’t see eye to eye.
While Brother Day and Dusk are fighting, Demerzel kills Dawn, proving her loyalty to the dynasty. Dusk and Demerzel then leave Day to mourn Dawn all on his own. But it seems that the lines have already been drawn between the Brothers. But, it doesn’t seem like the troubles stop with Dawn’s death. Shadow Master Obrect (Mido Hamada) informs Day that changes weren’t just made to Dawn but to the source itself, which means that all clones are not perfect and could include Day. Talk about making a stressful situation worse.
Alone in her room, Demerzel removes her face, which is still weird to say, even for an AI. I don’t know if the stress of everything is finally getting to her or if something else is going on entirely. But she doesn’t seem to be handling her stress well at all. Maybe, she feels like she is partly to blame for what has happened. She is responsible for ensuring that nothing happens to The Empire, which clearly happened under her watch.
Out in a part of space called The Blue Drift 138 years later, we see Gaal’s pod. She awakens as she drifts closer to Synnax. The pod enters the atmosphere and as she prepares to land, we can hear Gaal counting out primes. She finds herself surrounded by water and it seems her predictions from earlier in the series were correct. Leaving the pod behind, she prepares for her journey to find someone – anyone.
The Leap draws to a close as she discovers that below the watery deep of Synnax lies the remains of Salvor’s ship, with Salvor inside a pod. And Foundation’s first season comes to a close as Gaal and Salvor come face to face.
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What an episode. Seriously, Foundation has done nothing but shock me from beginning to end. I am beyond thankful that we are getting a second season. They have set up so many story plots in this final episode that are begging for answers. First, what is happening on Terminus and with the Foundation? Are they following through with Hari’s plan, or have they gone down a different path? Second, what is happening with The Empire? Will we learn that Day is not a perfect clone and thus draw an even great line between him and Dusk? And finally, what will happen between Salvor and Gaal now that they are together?
There are so many questions and only time to spend theorizing about them. Hopefully, we will learn soon that Apple TV has begun production on season two. But until then, we just have to wait. We want to know what you thought about this final episode? What are your theories for the second season? Let us know in the comments below and on social media! Until next time folks!
https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/arcane-part-two-review/
Who I Am: A nerd by the strictest definition. I enjoy diving straight into my favorite fandoms without a care in the world. I live on video/board games, fantasy movies and TV, and all things geeky.
