In Seldon's Shadow

I really understand the anger and hate from fans of the book series (that i also read all 7 novels from Asimov) as it is not as faithful, especially in the genetic dynasty part and very expanded roles fro characters who only screen by few chapters like Gall Dornick .

But it as a standalone series is great and I see it in the same way as they adapted for tv Handmaid tale from Margaret Atwood on Hulu Streaming. Both are adaptations that take the books and add a lot of new material and even modify them a lot without taking away their essence. And both are very good series as a standalone live action midia.

The first season was so well crafted, with well write dialogue and intriguing characters. It wasnt perfect but it had so much going for it that I was so excited for season 2. This season premiere felt like a completely different show. Everything has been dumbed down. Poor editing choices, why did we jump around so much in one episode? The action scene felt out of place. On the nose and strange dialogue. "Someone get me a blasted robe so my manhood isn't flapping around". This is cringe dialogue by the Emperor himself. People are just telling you what they did instead of us experiencing it with them. Feels like you could boil this episode down to 5-10mins and still fit in all the plot points. Potentially another show being driven into the ground by odd choices and poor writing. Hopefully I'm wrong but I'm not holding my breathe.

The first episode of the season had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. The first scenes are quite shocking. Overall, a setup episode.

The storylines felt more even in terms of quality, a big improvement compared to S1. I also see the attempt to emphasize the "bigger picture" instead of individual actions and personalities, more similar to the books. Some efforts were made to add some humor, something that I was missing in S1.

In terms of individual arcs: found the Empire one as always outstanding. We are learning something new about Demerzel, her arc is very intriguing. Other arcs improved a lot as well, I feel more curious about them.

Great space shots, overall visuals are very impressive.

It's not Foundation. I seriously doubt any of the writers could pass an elementary test on Asimov's style, much less the contents of Foundation the novel. I suppose along the way if so many have said that Asimov's masterpiece couldn't make it to the screen, that they decided not to try, and play off a handful of ideas and character names. That said, and despite the herky-jerky acid-trip storyline of this first episode of season 2, it at least tells a story, of sorts, which is a whole lot more than a lot of TV today. Still, after watching it, I feel in need of a mental shower and must grasp one of my copies of Foundation off the shelf and read for a while to cleans myself of this amateurish Apple TV nonsense. Hey, instead of watching this, go watch one of those car chase movies, you know the ones, at least they don't insult you by pretending to be cerebral. Get some nitrous for the writers.

Great first episode to the new season. This was pretty weird to begin with (poor Demerzel!) but by the end you could kinda see where it was going (if you squint hard enough!!!). Hopefully resolved a couple of the plot twists from season one. I can now almost imagine how the Second Foundation might end up on Trantor, as in the books, instead of Helicon. The first three books were so thin and prosaic, the writers here are doing a great job to make the story interesting! And Lee Pace! Those abs!!! My only real criticism here is that rescuing the sunken spaceship seemed too easy (flick a switch!). Could perhaps have used a little more of Salvor's nous, that she showed with the Invictus in season one!