The Sighted and the Seen is the fifth episode of Foundation's second season on Apple TV+. It aired on August 11, 2023. The episode was written by Joelle Garfinkel & Jane Espenson based on the novels by Isaac Asimov. Alex Graves directed the episode.
Synopsis[]
Gaal, Salvor, and Hari arrive on Ignis and meet the source of the strange signal they've been tracking. Dawn and Dusk are suspicious of Day.
Plot[]
Hari dreams of the night that Raych stabbed and killed him aboard the Deliverance. Raych hating what Hari is making him do, but still loving him. Hari awakes with a start on the Beggar's Lament, and finds Raych on the ship. Hari thinks he is still dreaming, but Raych tells him that it is not a dream. Hari asks how Raych is alive, but he is not; Raych is dead and his body floating in the cold of space. Raych goes on to tell him that Hari does not care about people and has them all fooled. If he did care, he would not have let them kill Raych. He was his son, and he let him die - and reminds Hari that they both know it wasn't the first time. The Beggar's Lament jolts and Raych is gone. Hari contemplates what happened, picking up the knife that killed him and drawing blood on his hand, letting it drip into the wwater.
As the Beggar's Lament heads to Ignis, Gaal and Salvor ask Hari about his new body. Hari doesn't know how it happened, just that he was directed to Oona's World by Kalle, claiming to be a manifestation of the Prime Radiant. One minute he was in the cave with her in a non-corporeal form, and the next was when Gaal rescued him. Salvor believes that Hari was cloned, and the Genetic Dynasty now has a rival. The irony of that is not lost on Hari. Salvor then shows them information from transmissions she's collected; the Foundation is stretching across the Outer Reach, selling Psychohistory as magic and preaching the word of The Prophet. Hari is not surprised and expected this stage.
The Beggar's Lament breaches the atmosphere of Ignis, and is hit by negative ion particles in the atmosphere. The particles cause the Beggar's Lament to reboot mid-flight and stop responding to controls. Salvor manages to crash-land the Beggar's Lament and orders Hari and Gaal to run diagnostics and begin repairs. Collecting her weapon, Salvor says that their descent was being watched by someone in the jungle and she's going to check it out.
On Trantor, Queen Sareth I meets with Markley again in the secluded grove. He tells her that the assassination attempt on Cleon XVII was staged in the Emperor's bedchambers, so no recordings exist. On the matter of the deaths of Sareth's family, Markley also reports no information on that front either. Sareth thanks Markley and tells him that she will have another request soon. Sareth is determined to get inside Brother Day's bedchambers and look around herself; Rue Corintha is worried, but Sareth ensures her that she will not give up more than she is willing to.
In his bedchambers, Day tells Demerzel that Sareth wants to copulate. Demerzel is pleased, since that would help to seal their alliance, but Day admits to be used to Demerzel in the act of lovemaking. Demerzel reassures him that things will be fine, and leaves the bedchambers through the servant's entrance just as Sareth arrives. As Sareth and Day talk, she inspects his room, finding signs of it being repaired in the wake of the assassination attempt. As the pair try and be intimate, it becomes awkward, and Day says that he knows Sareth had a lover before, and that he was killed in the accident that claimed her family. Angry, Sareth asks why he knows so much about it. Day turns it back, saying he knows that Sareth is looking for information in his chambers about the assassination attempt and wonders if she paid them to try and kill him in revenge for her family. Sareth admits to looking for evidence, but only because she is trying to figure out if it is safe to actually live in the Imperial Palace and wonders if Day has ever considered another point of view in his life. Day says he is turning Trantor upside down to find the traitors and Sareth promises to wed him if he actually does and makes things safe. Sareth leaves, and Demerzel emerges from the servant's passage. Day relays what happened between them, saying he had to accuse her of trying to kill him after she brought up the accident. Demerzel assures him that she made sure that no evidence will ever link the accident to him.
Cleon XVI and Rue Corintha spend some intimate time in his quarters, watching recordings of their first meeting and night together from thirty years previously. Dusk asks if Rue is aware that her memories of that night are gone, and she replies no. Dusk thought that it would feel like something was missing. Rue asks if he has ever thought about editing their own memories; even if something were removed, it would be stored in the Memorium along with his normal memory audits. Rue says it must be reassuring to know he can trust his own memories.
Salvor treks through the forest on Ignis, hearing motion in the undergrowth and hides. A hooded figure with a knife emerges, but Salvor ambushes him and holds him at gunpoint. The prisoner takes off his mask, revealing himself as Hugo Crast. Salvor cannot believe it, since Hugo should be dead by now. Hugo tells her that while he turned over command of the Beggar's Lament to her, it is still coded to him. When it alerted him to Salvor going into cryosleep, he did the same and synched up to the Beggar's Lament and slept at the same time as Salvor. Hugo picked up their trail around Oona's World and arrived on Ignis about half a day before them. Salvor kisses him and they embrace.
Onboard the Beggar's Lament, Hari apologises to Gaal about telling her to stop letting the vision of the future influence her actions and judgment. Hari comes to realise that Salvor is essentially his granddaughter since she is Raych's child. Gaal reveals that when the embryo was taken out on the Deliverance, they had not made a decision about it. They both wanted the child, but she realises that Raych was hesitant because he knew he would not be around. Salvor and Hugo approach the Beggar's Lament; Hari sees them and immediately asks Gaal to hide the Prime Radiant and not tell him where it is. Hari refuses to let the two of them through the airlock, being very suspicious and not believing it is Hugo. Since Hugo is Thespin, he should be genetically coded to the ship and if so, Salvor should be able to transfer control back to him. Gaal registers multiple incoming contacts on sensors of the Beggar's Lament, and Hugo is revealed to not be Hugo, but someone else. He takes Salvor hostage in the airlock just as the ship is breached by an explosion and multiple white-clad assailants pour in. All three are taken captive, and the one who posed as Hugo orders the others to "unthink their minds" and render them unconscious.
In the secluded grove on Trantor, Sareth and Rue discuss the Queen's "engagement" and Rue reveals that all the Cleons have memory audits. Sareth wants Markley to obtain the audits about the assassination attempt, but he says that a Cleon's memories would not be accessible. Sareth realises that if Day's memories are not available, and he was injured, then someone else who tended his wounds might have a memory of it. Markley goes to the Memorium and speaks with Keeper Yartell, who downloads the requested files for him.
Dusk talks to Demerzel and learns that in the wake of the assassination attempt, Day has taken sole authority to edit memories for the Genetic Dynasty. Dusk says it should be a shared authority, and how would either he or Dawn know if their memories were altered. Demerzel assures him that the memories are backed up in the Memorium, as well as her own perfect memory. However, Dusk realises that he would not even know to ask if his memories are altered. Demerzel assures him that she would tell him if that happened because she serves Empire, not just Day. She tells him that she will always be there, as she always has been.
Markley returns to the secluded grove with the memory recordings. Sareth orders her Handman to play them, and they see the memories of one of the medical staff as Day is brought to them after the attack. In the memory, they see that Demerzel is a robot, missing half her head in the aftermath of the attack. They cannot believe it, Sareth having touched Demerzel and feeling the warmth of her skin, but the evidence is conclusive.
Dusk and Dawn meet at the Principium, with Dusk revealing Day's new authority. They plan to awaken the memory of Cleon I for advice. Dawn is worried that their genetic drifting might not be enough to activate the memory, but Dusk says if they are not identical, the ceiling will drop on them. A digitized form of Cleon I emerges from the Principium, and Dusk tells him about Day's hoarding of authority. Cleon I's responses are frustrating; saying they must be united and to be envious of Day is to be envious of themselves as they are one man. Cleon I says that Day's actions are not their concern, and that his temperament has been accounted for.
Still not satisfied, Dusk and Dawn head down to the Memorium and request metadata on their memory files, as well as for all the Cleons before them. As they wait for Keeper Yartell to retrieve the information, Dusk points out the Emperor Algren on the Mural of Souls, noting the green mark on his neck signifying him as a betrayer. Dusk wonders about his own legacy, and the way he did not handle many of the conflicts that arose during his rule and allowed Demerzel to pacify the galaxy for him. He notes that the current Day was embarrassed by his actions as a young boy. He tells Dawn that maybe Day is doing him a favor by taking away his chair, and releasing him to actually live a life. Yartell arrives with the memory data, and everything appears normal. Dusk has the same average memory data as other Cleons of his age, although one thing stands out; Cleon I's memory size is significantly larger. Dawn says that if makes sense for Cleon I to have more since he presumably had more life experience. Dusk agrees it could, or it could mean the subsequent clones had something removed.
On Ignis, Hari, Gaal and Salvor awaken. Believing that they are prisoners, they find the door unlocked and no guards posted. Gaal and Salvor hear voices and whispers directing them, but Hari hears nothing. The trio come upon a congregation of people surrounding a child who introduces herself as Tellem Bond, the seventh incarnation of the goddess Pa'a. Introductions are made, and Tellem seems capable of reading their minds. Hari realises that the little girl is not real, as she is casting no shadow despite the brilliant sunlight. The child disappears, and one of the attendents reveals herself as the true Tellem Bond. She explains that this is a refuge for telepaths, also known as mentalics or sighted. Tellem was the feeling Salvor has been having, as well as the manifestation of Raych on the Beggar's Lament. Tellem needed Hari to think about his death and resurrection so she could try and read him but admits that he is still "murky" to her. She does know that he has a plan, and that her Sighted are part of it. Hari, Gaal, and Salvor are escorted out. Loron approaches Tellem; he was the one posing as Hugo. They talk about the Prime Radiant and how he heard Hari say to hide it. Tellem intends to find it, break it, and make sure there is no Second Foundation.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Jared Harris as Hari Seldon (Raven)
- Lee Pace as Brother Day (Cleon XVI and Cleon XVII)
- Lou Llobell as Gaal Dornick
- Leah Harvey as Salvor Hardin
- Laura Birn as Demerzel
- Cassian Bilton as Brother Dawn (Cleon XVIII)
- Terrence Mann as Brother Dusk (Cleon XVI and Cleon I)
Guest Starring[]
- Alfred Enoch as Raych Foss
- Rachel House as Tellem Bond
- Ella-Rae Smith as Queen Sareth I
- Sandra Yi Sencindiver as Enjoiner Rue Corintha
- Daniel MacPherson as Hugo Crast
Co-Starring[]
- Haqi Ali as Handman Hahn
- Afolabi Alli as Claviger Markley
- Michael Akinsulire as Loron
- Amelia Minto as Tellem Bond - Age 10
- Kit Rakusen as Josiah
- Callina Liang as Young Rue Corintha
- Ed Birch as Keeper Yartell
- Sandra Guldberg Kampp as Thalis
Appearances[]
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