A Song for the End of Everything

As a fan of Asimov's Foundation series, I have to state from the outset that this show gave up any pretence of caring about the source material from the very first episode. In this regard, it suffers from the same narcissistic writer brain rot that so many Hollywood products do today: talentless nepo babies who think they can write better than Tolkien and Asimov. Of course they can't. Not even close. This show has been mired by strange casting decisions, awful dialog, terrible acting, bad pacing, and some odd set design.

That said, this episode is surprisingly fun science fiction. Very creative. Great CGI. They leaned into the Emperor plot line, which is easily the one redeeming character arc in this series. One might be so hopeful as to believe they listened to viewer feedback. Let us hope we see as little of Lou Llobell's atrocious acting as possible.

Still truly a pointless, nonsensical mess. Just why? I understand one will redo original source material to better fit different times and different medium than originally intended, and original books while entertaining also had a bunch of shortcomings, but this show, while looks good, really does not make any sense, is just dumb, the characters are heavily overdramatizing weak story, the interesting threads from the books have been utterly lost and season three seems to desperately try to jam the poor choices of the earlier seasons into a new cgi fueled mess that will convince no one that those responsible for this show have ever been in the same room as one of the books much less read as much the back cover, just why?

I understand why some may reel at the inflection incurred, but, there's no denying this is good Sci-Fi.

From the stunning visuals, solid acting and galaxy spanning opera this is the kinda story I dream about.

This opening episodes purpose was to set the stage, and it achieved that - I'm hopeful this talented team can continue their success and deliver another phenomenal season.

Despite the well-known challenges of adapting Asimov's Foundation for the screen, this episode feels hampered by a lack of effort to translate the story's core concepts into a visual language suited for film and television. Narration can be a powerful storytelling tool, but here it feels like a crutch, as if the writers struggled to convey the narrative through the medium's visual strengths and leaned too heavily on exposition.

The portrayal of the Mule, a pivotal character, also misses the mark. By a country mile. Rather than capturing the sophisticated and nuanced figure from Asimov's novels, this version comes across as a sadistic thug. In the source material, the Mule is a complex antagonist whose power lies in psychological manipulation and emotional control, not a placeholder for willy-nilly violence or gore. His depiction here is a major departure from the original, and I dare say a great vulgarisation as well. That being said, I am sure that there are ways to bring the thread back to the true importance of this character as the outlier that messes up the otherwise perfect system of psychohistory and the vindication of the latter, albeit after some rough patches for the entire Foundation project.

The Best Sci-Fi show of my lifetime continues to impress! I have been waiting years for this season and almost thought it might not happen .They didn't open with the most climactic theatrics you might expect, but enough foreshadowing to leave counting the days until the next episode. I admit I am biased, but this Sci-Fi Epic appeals to die hard nerds and action buffs alike without doubt. I do think the first 2 Seasons are very hard to beat, but with this being Apple's Most well made and successful show anything is possible. If you want to know what happens you'll have to watch it yourself, but I expect this to end up being the lowest rated of the season (hopefully).