Foundation: The First Crisis

 "And Sometimes emotions shout larger than logic..."

We're slimmed down to two plot threads in this penultimate episode- perhaps Gaal will appearat the climax, or more likely next season- but both the Cleon subplot and the Salvor Hardin one are full of revelations.

Things all come to a head with Brother FDawn, with plot and counter-plot. The implied suspicions of BrotherDusk force him to flee, but it turns out Azura was only manipulating him all along, for the benefit of her boyfriend, a random Cleon clone plotting to replace Brother Dawn as the cuckoo in the nest to destroy the Dynastry. And yet... even they are being manipulated by Dusk, who's been manipulating everyone.Wow.

It's an extraordinary sequence of events, and we end with Dawn waiting for the return of the absent Day, who will rule on his fate. And yet... Day's recent religious experiences, however empty and tinged with realpolitik, may perhaps have opened his mind to the concept of even clones needing to evolve and grow? We shall see.

More straightforward, and more faithful to the books, sort of, is the thread of Salvor on Terminus, where the Vault is the centre of everyone- Anacreon, Thespis, Terminus- converging, with the Huntress being suddenly out of the sapirit of the times.

Those of us who know the novels will not be surprised by the ending, but Hari Seldon makes quite the entrance. I'm still suspicious: psychohistory is about broad historical forces, yet there is a lot of "great man" history here, with individuals changing fate. But I can't deny that this is good telly.

Foundation: Death and the Maiden

 "Hari said an entire galaxy can pivot around the actions of an individual."

Hmm. Not sure he did, love. Psychohistory sees only multitudes, not individuals. That's sort of the point. But never mind. The episode, and the series, are awesome regardless.

I mean, we actuallly meet some Spacers; this is indeed the wider Asimov universe. They are clearly enhanced, spacefaring humans. We get a flashback to Hari persuading Raych to kill him, as part of a pre-ordained plan. He being happy with Gaal would destroy the future- individuals again- so the plan is to split them up. The escape pod is meant for Him. Gaal was never meant to be involved. This makes sense.

We're also meant to see Salvor as destinred by the Great Plan. She gets a lot of development and a lot of heroism here. She kicks arse. She bonds with, and loses, her father. Yet Hugo not only loves her but has total faith in her.

And yet the tale of the three Cleons takes precedence. Brother Day fails to stop a very fascinating religious heresy which verges on treason in nhinting that cloning is decadent stasis that cannot evolve. Yet more fascinatring is that Eto Demerzel- an ageless robot- is an adherent of this religion, a fascinating character point.

And then there's Brother Dawn, who continues and makes explicit his romance with ther gardener. And.. he's the first colour blind Cleon. In contrast to the religious adherents, it seems that even clones eventually mutate. What does this mean?

This is utterly fascinating and deep. Faithful to Asimov not in a banal, literal sense but with real conceptual though. It's superb.

Foundation: Upon Awakening

 "I was not afraid of the dark..."

We are, it must be said, diverting a little from Asimov here, not that we haven't already. Yet this is a path not at all trodden by the books, although of course the nature of television drama makes this necessary from time to time.

So we have Terminus in very serious trouble and seemingly in the procerss of being destroyed by Anacreonians, coded very much as terrorists, who blame Seldon for what happened to them. We have the imperial military being rigidly incompetent behind the bluster. Yet we have Salvor Hardin, creative and clever, thinking. We know she's going to save them all.

But, most of all, the story focuses on Gaal, freshly awoken from stasis after thirty-four years. The flashback to her upbringing on a world where catacysmic climate change gave rise to extreme religioius reaction against all learning, and how she was inspired to reject such idiocy at the cost of parental rejection. The metaphor of a black hole, and the event horizon from which there is no escape, works well here.

Gaal is brought up to speed. She sees she is suspected of taking part in Hari's murder. She sees Raych's execution, and how Hari's murderer's dying words are to trust in the plan. What is going on? For Gaal, who shows how bloody clever she is herself by working out where she is, there's the fear of going to Helicon, Hari's home, as his suspected murderer. And yet... is Hari seemingly right there? What? This is clever, intriguing telly, much though I hope it know's what it's doing with this.

Foundation: Barbarians at the Gate

 "Violence is the last refuge..."

"Of the incompetent. I know. That's an old man's doctrine."

As the above line shoews, this is a different Salvor Hardin in more than gender, while also similar in many ways. But Gaal's narration tells us that this is the tale of a legendary figure as a seriuous and huge Anacreonian assault threatens all Terminus stands for. Yet Hardin is an "outlier"- or is she? As Gaal tells us, Hari's plan accounts not for individuals. Is Salvor an exception to threaten the plan? Or is she its fulfilment?

Certainly things are breaking down in the galactic periphery, as well as unrest on Trantor and religious strife, with an heretical doctrine being promulgated that may indicate that clones do not have souls. Whatever the spin of imperial mathematicians, all is not well in the empire. Nor are things well between the imperial brothers. (Day, it seems, sits on the "middle throne" and is in charge). But were they ever? It appears that the empire is, unsurprisingly, too complex for a single monarch, or even three, echoing Rome after Diocletian- no doubt with intent.

All seems grim.Yet there is plenty to hint that Salvor will bring salvation. Also, those of us who have read the novels suspect what is likely within the Vault...

Foundation: The Mathematician's Ghost

 "It's just that you always leave me..."

Time passes. We see nothing of Gaal (though she narrates; we shall see her again)  or Raych, as decades have passed and a tenuous settement is set up on Terminus. Hari Seldon, statues aside, is not in this episode, yet his legend permeates everything.

We begin, though, with a fascinating examination of Cleons I through to XIV, all with Eto Demerzel and all very much knowing what she is. We see the life cycle of an emperor, from an embryo grown in a vat to the final "ascension", a kind of dignified execution. For each birth, there must be a ritualised death. Only three brothers may exist at once.

It's just as fasciniating to see Terminus, its frontier existence with its Encyclopaedia as contrast.There is a mysterious artifact, the Vault, which only Salvor Hardin can approach. Wde get to know Salvor, her active, thinking mind in a society of ossified fatalists who see no need to act as the Seldon Plan will save them. So when Anacreon seems to be invading they know not what to do.

There are so many nice little touches, too... Salvor's lover is pushing seventy but seems half that age from spending decades on "cryo-ships". No one on Terminus now understands the mathematics of Psychohistory; they're acting blind. And it's fascinating to see the dynamic between Salvor and her parents. This is absolutely brilliant.

Foundation: Preparing to Live

 "The more human I act, the more human I am."

Here we begin to branch out from the original novel. There are divergences, the four or five year trip to Terminus beuing the most obvious, a good way of establishing characters and the dynamics amongst the proto-Foundation. Yet there are also elements from later retcons in the novels- I now remember who Raych is, for a start. And it's startling to hear Hari mention the "Robot Wars" and, all the more so, to have it revealed- not only to us but Brother Dawn- that Eto Demerzel is a robot, apparently the only one. Why, then, does the share this knowledge with Dawn?

There is utter horror in this episode. The Cleons, or certainly Dusk, know the two ambassadors and their worlds are innocent... but their entire retinues are judicially killed anyway, by slow, tortuous hanging. And their worlds are bombed to bits. All for the sake of a scapegoat for the satisfaction of the masses. Such is the Empire.

We see the Foundation develop and grow, with Hari Seldon revered. We also see Gaal and Raych grow closer and plan life together, yet Raych and Hari seem to grow apart. And the end is seemingly shocking. With the maths of psychohistory seemingly unfinished, Raych stabs Seldon and forces Gaal into an escape pod, ejecting her into space after, er, telling her he loves her. Why? What happens next?

The dynamics between the three clone emperors are fascinating too. This is superb, deep telly.

Jessica Jones: AKA 1,000 Cuts

"I'm a man of my word. If I feel like it."

Now that changes everything.

The whole series up to now has been based around the central plotline of Jessica having to provide evidence against Kilgrave so that Hope, an innocent young woman, doesn't spend her life locked away for something she didn't do. There are, of course, as a drugged up Simpson points out, a few problems with this, not the least of which is how can Kilgrave ever plausibly be imprisoned? If he can get Hope freed on a whim then the answer is surely "never". But the dramatic final scene removes this imperative. Jessica, both freed of her obligations to Hope and freed of Kilgrave's control, can now set out to kill him.

So much happens, though. A crazed Simpson suddenly murders Detective Clemons. Robin tries to kill Hogarth and is accidentally herself killed by Pam, who ends up disgusted with her (former?) fiancee. We learn that Killgrave has no power over Jessica any more, and that his power is a virus that can potentially be cured. Most horrifyingly, like any abuser, Kilgrave still has no conception of having done wrong, and continues to believe that it is Jessica who has wronged him.

Mostly, though, it's an episode about character, in spite of the sidelining of Simpson's no longer nuanced character, with some first class acting from both Ritter and Tennant as the series disposes of a fair bit of ballast so it can move towards its end. Bloody good telly, yet again.

Jessica Jones: AKA Sin Bin

"Killgrave? Think about obvious! Was 'Murdercorpse' already taken?"

Jessica is playing for high stakes with Hope's freedom, not her own this time. She may have Kilgrave where she wants him, but does she have enough evidence for a conviction? It’s a high tension episode as a desperate Jessica cuts all sorts of corners for Hope, but may just make the situation worse.

I have to say I think the whole concept of plea bargaining is just awful. It isn’t justice, and I hope we never bring it to this country. But it certainly provides a good dramatic device. We also get to see a resilient Kilgrave where he isn’t in control, and he’s quite the match for Jessica. It also seems that Simpson survived the explosion, and has a part still to play.

Most ominously, though, Jessica isn’t the only one who is desperate. Hogarth faces ruin from her vengeful ex, and seems tempted by the prospect of Kilgrave making her problems go away.

Jessica shows us her true skill as a detective by tracking down Kilgrave’s parents, showing us that beneath the alcoholism and PTSD is a brilliant mind. They turn out to be much closer than expected, and it seems that Kilgrave’s side of the story isn’t exactly correct.

The family reunion is as grimly compelling as you might expect, and ends in chaos as an angry Kilgrave makes his mother stab herself to death and nearly does the same to his father, escaping in the confusion. But does Jessica have the evidence she needs? It’s an extraordinary episode, at once fast-paced enough to be exciting and slow enough to give the characters real time to breathe.

Jessica Jones: AKA Top Shelf Perverts

"We both know you don't own a vacuum cleaner...”

Wow. Jessica has really hit rock bottom after last week; Luke’s stinging rejection has really affected her. We know that, narratively speaking, there’s no way she’s going to get locked up in Superman for the rest of her life for a trumped up crime of her own devising in the middle episode of the season is dark, dark, dark. Jessica is a very damaged person.

And the reason for that damage is as foregrounded as ever as we finally get a personal confrontation between Jessica and Kilgrave in which both Ritter and Tennant are magnificent. Kilgrave is the textbook abuser her, entitled to have Jessica just because he thinks he loves her. She’s the object of his “aff futons” and thus an object, to be allowed no agency at all. He’s refusing to use his powers directly on her but that doesn’t mean this is about anything other than a disturbing need to control. All this is every bit as disturbing as his murder of Ruben.

We also see Trish’s mother, and apparently Jessica’s adoptive stepmother, as we begin to get some backstory regarding Jessica’s childhood. And Will is going off the rails, tracking Kilgrave without being honest to Trish about what he’s doing. Here’s my prediction; he’s going to get himself killed.

Hogarth’s ex blackmails her for 75% of her assets; this means war, and brings this plot thread from
The background to the fore. I’m sure something will snap soon. It’s a decisively eventful middle episode, ending with Jessica seemingly helpless in Kilgrave’s orbit.  This is brutally good telly.

Jessica Jones: AKA Crush Syndrome

"You should kill yourself."

"Probably. But I'm the only one who knows you're innocent."

The quality doesn't let up in the second episode as Jessica, spurred on by the need to prove Hope's innocence, resolves to go after Killgrave in spite of her extreme fear. Pausing only to impatiently suffer an interview by a cop played by Clarke Peters from The Wire, she spends most of the episode investig... er, blagging her way to some initial answers, which is compelling viewing in itself.

But it's the characterisation that really keeps you hooked, with the subtext that Jessica is a domestic abuse survivor never far from the surface. We start out with awkwardness, though, as Jessica has to tell Luke Cage that she was only ever interested in him for business reasons as a client thought his wife was sleeping with Luke. He understandably feels used and disgusted. But, after this inauspicious beginning, Jessica spends most of the episode being quietly awesome piecing together how Killgrave survived, forcing a doctor to perform the surgery as a random bloke is forced to donate both kidneys and ultimately spend the rest of his life as a vegetable in thrall to his overbearing and religiously in-your-face mother. Ouch. That's dark. But Kilgrave has a weakness; anaesthetic.

Meanwhile, we get introduced to Jessica's twin neighbours, who seem to be yet another abusive relationship. And we get our first, horrifying glimpse of Kilgrave as he simply knocks on the door of a random home and orders the family to let him stay and do as they are told; it's horrible to see him sending both kids to the closet. But we end on an interesting cliffhanger as the super-strong Jessica and the invulnerable Luke both "out" themselves to one another by accident. Now that they have something in common will the awkwardness last?

Another impressive bit of telly and a very promising series.