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Recap / Foundation S 1 E 10 The Leap

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Tropes in this episode:

  • All for Nothing: After the truth about Dawn/Cleon XIV is revealed, Dusk/Cleon XII wants him killed as an aberration and replaced, but Day/Cleon XIII, who has come to love him as a son and is haunted by both Seldon's and Zephyr Halima's warnings that they are destined for stagnation, decides to spare him. A furious argument erupts between the two, which is interrupted by Demerzel killing Dawn, as her programming compels her to maintain the purity of the clone dynasty, regardless of her own feelings on the matter. And then it turns out that the rebels didn't just sabotage Dawn's DNA — they did it to the original Cleon's preserved corpse, meaning it's now impossible to create a standard-model Cleon clone, and that Day and Dusk themselves may well be aberrants.
  • And I Must Scream:
    • Demerzel literally cannot act against her programming, even if she wants to — her body will act against her will if necessary. This is best exemplified by her killing Cleon XIV to uphold the purity of the genetic dynasty, despite her genuine love for him.
    • This is the fate of Azura — as punishment for corrupting his "son", Cleon XIII has her confined to a sensory deprivation pod for the rest of her life, and he makes it clear she'll be conscious for every second of it.
    • Seldon's digital copy says that he only becomes conscious during crises specifically to avoid this situation.
  • Enemy Mine: Seldon's digital copy convinces everyone to go with the idea Salvor proposed last episode, as this was something Empire has long feared, going back to Cleon II.
  • False Flag Operation: One of these was responsible for the centuries-long conflict between Anacreon and Thespis. Specifically, Cleon II had the Anacreon Grand Huntress murdered on the night of her wedding to the Thespian king and framed him for it, because a union between the two planets would threaten the Empire's power.
  • Fate Worse than Death: For her part in the rebellion, Brother Day has all of Azura's living relatives and friends executed, while she herself will serve a sentence being artificially kept alive and conscious in a sensory deprivation pod.
  • Hope Spot: Dawn's life seems to be saved when Brother Day, out of love for his brother and having taken some of the lessons of his pilgrimage to heart, decrees that perhaps a little deviation might actually be a good thing. However, things take a turn for the worse when Dusk furiously objects which quickly escalates to a full on brawl between the two older clones, forcing Demerzel to kill Dawn to preserve the empire's stability.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: A somewhat literal example. Brother Day has every single person — her extended family, friends, co-workers and all of their extended families — in Azura's personal orbit utterly wiped out so as to deny her the possibility of any kind of legacy, just as she has robbed him of his.
  • Late to the Tragedy: Gaal's cryo-pod eventually arrives on her homeworld, Synnax, only for her to find it completely flooded and all its denizens gone, just like she warned.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Salvor is actually Gaal and Raych's biological child, and her visions are inherited memories.
  • Nothing Is Scarier: Day executes 1,551 people at once - all of Azura's direct or indirect relatives, all of her friends, teachers, coworkers, etc. - with a simple twist of his hand to signal a particle beam targeting them all. We don't see any of them getting vaporized, but Azura's terrified gasp is enough.
  • Pummeling the Corpse: After learning that he and Dusk are also aberrations, making Dawn's death pointless, Day blows out a candlestick before using it to savage the original Cleon's coffin in a rage.
  • Pyrrhic Victory: The Empire wipes out Azura's rebel cell, but it turns out they already sabotaged Cleon I's genetic material, making it impossible to create any more "perfect" clones anyway.
  • SkeleBot 9000: After having killed Cleon XIV, Demerzel removes her artificial skin from her face, revealing the eerie skeletal innards of a robot.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: Hugo and Salvor's status is reinforced when Salvor makes a 138 year journey to find her mother. It's unknown if Hugo would go into cryo-sleep to wait for her return, but if not he died waiting for her to return.
  • Un-person: The stated goal of killing all of Azura's friends and relatives: Nobody shall remember that she ever existed.

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