Foundation Episode 5 Review: Squeezing The Mysteries Of The Series and Ending Explained

Ratings: 4/5 (four star) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

The creators of Foundation (David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman, since 2021), the Apple TV + series that adapts the magnificent novels of Isaac Asimov, have decided that the best they could do is to extend the expectation a bit before the cliffhanger in Terminus for Salvor Hardin (Leah Harvey) and company that ends with “Barbarians at the Gate” (1×04). So the next chapter, “Upon Awakening” (1×05), begins with the last loose end of the previous one: Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell), which comes from the shocking scene with which “Preparing to Live” (1×02) ends.

To begin with, they bring them beautiful galactic images and a certain dark nature, dreamlike in reality, and a greater context on the planet from which this female character Synnax comes whose verbal customs inescapably remind us of those of the Gilead Republic in The Tale Of The Maid (Bruce Miller, since 2017). Because all religious fanatics look alike, which includes their crusade against the acquisition of knowledge; something that the rationalist Isaac Asimov had very clear, so it is appreciated that David S. Goyer (Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice) and Josh Friedman (The War of the Worlds) have not lost sight of it.

The Barbarism Of Religious Sectarianism

However, they do not offer us an explanation about what happened to Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell) after the terrible events of “Preparing to Live” in the first bars of “Upon Awakening”, but rather flashbacks about his life before face off with Raych Foss (Alfred Enoch), the enigmatic Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) or the fearsome Brother Day (Lee Pace) from among the clone emperors; without forgetting the circumstances that led to it.

The sadly obtuse thinking, intolerance, self-righteousness and barbarism of sectarian believers, very recognizable by our own history, to which Isaac Asimov paid special attention, is presented simply and eloquently, without artifice, and a quick montage of how he commits his outrages causes us to shiver. Like the scenes from the family drama related to this harrowing climate, supported by the evocative score by Bear McCreary (The Walking Dead).

But finally, David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman take pity on Foundation viewers and, with screenwriter Leigh Dana Jackson , who has scripts for other television series such as Alcatraz (Steven Lilien, Elizabeth Sarnoff and Bryan Wynbrandt, 2012), Sleepy Hollow (Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Phillip Iscove and Len Wiseman, 2013-2017) or 24: Legacy (Manny Coto and Evan Katz, 2016-2017), and once again, director Alex Graves (Game of Thrones), reveal to us what has become of Gaal Dornick.

The Dynamic Intrigue Of ‘Foundation’

To decide on the founding fate of this brilliant mathematician, they turn to some of the most astonishing possibilities in science fiction; and they hold up the mystery for a tense sequence until they can’t drag it out any longer, and you look at the screen almost without blinking. And they do not stop there, because there are other questions to answer about your situation, and you must win them over, prolonging the intrigue.

But they also satisfy us to discover what has happened to Raych Foss and Hari Seldon himself, and after the cliffhanger of “Barbarians at the Gate”, whose staging, planning and editing possess the same dramatic effervescence and identical concern for the audience. The action choreographies are not too spectacular and, when a new show of great destruction is consummated without the enormity of the one we saw in “The Emperor’s Peace” (1×01) , what remains is to turn off the lights with a fade in black to the guardian of Terminus and propose a strange swerve in the other narrative focus so that we do not want to miss the next episode of Foundation on Apple TV +.