The first episode of Foundation season 2 thrust us 100 years into the future of Apple TV Plus' sci-fi epic, and now episode 2 is here to raise lots of questions about this darkening future.
Loosely based on the works of Isaac Asimov, Foundation is about a colony that sets up at the edge of the galaxy in order to weather the collapse of a galactic empire, with different characters playing different roles in the creation and survival of this Foundation faction.
After a century jump at the end of season 1, this second season of Foundation follows the second crisis that'll threaten the existence of the faction, as well as the continuing decline of the empire.
You'll need to have read our Foundation season 2 episode 1 recap for any of this to make sense, though you can use our guide on how to watch Foundation or our list to all the best Apple TV Plus free trials to catch up for yourself.
So here's our Foundation season 2 episode 2 recap, so you can find out what happens in the second episode ominously titled 'A Glimpse of Darkness'.
Trouble in galactic paradise
On Trantor, home of the galactic empire, Brother Day (Lee Pace) is informed by Demerzel (Laura Birn) that she's completed her mind audit of his fellow Brothers, and none of them ordered the assassination from the first episode. She's also going to wipe the minds of the servants who saw the Brother and his Android assistant... compromised.
We also hear their early plans for war against Foundation, with Demerzel saying that she's called up Bel Rios to lead the charge. Day isn't happy; evidently, Rios isn't good at following orders, even if he is beloved by his own men.
At dinner, the three Brothers are being taught lessons in how to copy each other's mannerisms, so that the incoming queen (Ella-Rae Smith) for Day's arranged marriage doesn't figure out that they're not genetically identical. When the queen arrives she's more interested in questioning Brother Dawn about whether he's worried that he'll lose his purpose once she and Day have children. He's not.
Afterward, Day tells the queen that he's run tests and knows they'll have genetically perfect babies, which she doesn't quite find romantic. Instead, she taunts him with the rumors she's heard about the empire's slow demise.
How far the Foundation has fallen
We meet some new characters: two missionaries from the Foundation (Kulvinder Ghir and Isabella Laughland), visiting the remote planet of Sivenna to preach about the Foundation as though it's a religion. They even use flashy fireworks and other tricks to try and win over the gullible and antagonistic townspeople, appearing more like wandering tricksters than real religious missionaries.
However they're distracted from their mission by a message from Terminus: after 138 years, the Vault is re-opening. They return home, where we learn that one of the missionaries is the daughter of the leader of Foundation, while another is the head of the church who's the only surviving citizen who was alive when the Vault first opened.
At a council meeting, the latter points out that using flashy magic tricks to win over villagers is not what Hari Seldon's idea for Foundation was, and that he will be disappointed when he re-emerges from the Vault. In fact, he says that Foundation is becoming too much like the Empire that the Foundation seeks to outlast.
Later the Vault does open, and the Warden (Hardin's successor) asks it for pieces of knowledge. However his body is possessed by something and he keeps repeating the name 'Hober Mallow', before getting totally incinerated.
The second crisis, the Second Foundation, and Hober Mallow
After the cliffhanger at the end of episode 1, Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) is awake, and apparently, his consciousness stayed awake the entire century that Gaal (Lou Llobell) was in cryo sleep, so he's pretty grumpy. After some maintenance by Hardin (Leah Harvey) they blast off into space.
The trio discusses, and we find out that psychohistory is off because Gaal interrupted Hari's plan to make the Second Foundation (in season 1), and she admits that her reason for stopping the plan wasn't entirely rational. Now, though, she recognizes the need for this secret Foundation, to control the plan from the shadows.
Gaal decides to use her superpower of seeing the future to find out more about the second crisis, and finds that asphyxiation is the best way to get into her preminiscient state.
She has a vision of a war-torn city, where she's being chased by a man who's shooting at her. This is The Mule, and he's clearly not a very peaceful guy.
We get a lot of exposition here with The Mule turning out to be psychic, and he mentions someone called Hobor Mallow, warriors called Mentalics, the source of the second darkness, and him knowing that she's from the past.
Between this and the aforementioned events on Foundation, the main question we're asking after this episode is "who is Hober Mallow?" and hopefully episode three will answer it.
Gaal also finds out the location where they need to set up the Second Foundation: a nearby planet called Ignus, and the group set off in their spaceship upon her reawakening. In private, Gaal mentions to Hardin one part of her vision that she omitted previously: in the futuristic battlefield she sees the dead body of Hardin.
