Foundation - When a Book Finds You / The Stress of Her Regard
As the Mule's (Pilou Asbæk) influence on Kalgan continues to grow, something which Han Pritcher (Brandon P Bell) gets a glimpse of for himself, "When a Book Finds You" and "The Stress of Her Regard" develop the partnership between Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell) and Brother Dawn (Cassian Bilton). Flashbacks explore how their conversations began while the current crisis forces Dawn into a difficult decision heading into a cliffhanger with not one but two Cleons abandoning their posts as Demerzel's (Laura Birn) actions to end his his problematic romance to a woman who worships robots which in turn forces Brother Day (Lee Pace) to leave the palace as well. As one heads to the stars to a future he can't fathom, the other dives deep into the planet in search of something lost.
We're pretty far off course from the original novels at this point (especially with the focus still on Trantor), but I will say I'm glad for some movement, any movement, in the Brother Day story which was going nowhere fast other than deeper into his drug-induced fantasies. Balancing both Cleons abandoning their posts on the same night allows for some nice symmetry to end the episode while also putting the future of the Empire in the hands of Brother Dusk (Terrence Mann) and his terrible machine. Is this the start of the end or just the beginning of a way through the latest crisis? Time will tell.
