2023-01-04 - Heartbroken by the end of Dawn
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**Spoiler Alert for the Season Finale of Foundation**
I am genuinely still upset by the fate of Brother Dawn in AppleTV's
"Foundation".
As I mentioned elsewhere, this is almost personal for me, my oldest
and Cassian Bilton look incredibly alike, my oldest is colour
blind, and left-handed, so as the season went on I probably over
invested in the character.
It doesn’t help that Bilton, along with Lee Pace, Terrence Mann
and Laura Birn are *such* good actors…
I always want what’s best for my kid, and I desperately wanted
Dawn to escape, to find a new self, a new identity, even though
i was properly sus even before the reveal. That he had managed
to escape one terrible existence, only to find that his new one
would be even worse, then was rescued from his error, only to face
imminent destruction for who he was, I was upset, to put it mildly.
After his confrontation with Day (_we are echoes_) I stupidly
allowed myself to hope that he could still accomplish that, and
escape the cage fate had given him. Hearing Day refer to Dawn as
“my son” in his (awful) talk with Azura just increased my
anxiety.
So seeing Demerzel touch his lower back as he went to face his
brothers cut me deep, as I recognised the call back to the death
of Brother Darkness in episode three. When his brothers fell
to fighting and he desperately turned to her for comfort and
safety, the tears began. and now, a day later, they still haven’t
stopped.
I truly don't understand people hating on this show because
it somehow sullies Asimov's Foundation, as if girl-cooties or
something detract from the show. Asimov's story is just that, a
story, one written in a different era, with all the baggage and
all the societal damage from that era present on every page.
This adaptation isn't always perfect, but it is just that, an
_adaptation_, one designed with the baggage and damage of _this_
era.
The quality of the Empire storyline, which has been the story of
Brothers Dawn and Day, is by far the best thing about the show. I
just wish it hadn't broken my heart in the process.
