“In Seldon’s Shadow”
“As waters rise, territories shrink. That’s what happened on Synnax, and that’s what happened with Empire,” Gaal narrates as the action shifts to Trantor. “Day by day, decade by decade, the first Foundation nibbled away planets from edges of Empire, and Empire steadily contracted.” We enter Brother Day’s palace bedchamber where he is having a vigorous roll in the hay with… Demerzel, his robot majordomo. Their tryst is interrupted when would-be assassins burst in, slicing off a piece of Demerzel’s skull and giving Foundation viewers eye candy in the form of a sweaty, naked (tastefully shadowed) Lee Pace battling a bunch of dudes in hand-to-hand combat. The injuries Demerzel and Day (whose high-tech royal “aura” mysteriously fails to shield him) receive are grave but the stakes aren’t exactly high; she’s a robot, and he’s a clone who can be easily replaced. The most concerning part of the incident is the question of who sent the assassins. Who would dare? It’s the first big question of season two.
