To be honest I never liked the novel Foundation. I preferred Foundation and Empire much more. So unlike the people giving low scores for the parts not in the book, I actually loved the new stuff in this particular episode. I think the frustration is that this episode did not advance the plot of the story from the perspective of the novel. But I think a key character was greatly developed in this episode and the show is planting the seeds for payoff in a future episode. To me Foundation is a book of concepts/ideas, it is not character driven and a direct translation would not work on TV today. Therefore episodes like this are important for establishing the world/plot of this new material. It's too soon to judge if this new material will work out or not, but if it's too painful for you to watch due to your closeness with this material maybe it's best for you to drop the show and come back to it after it's over or a season has passed. You are judging a large painting with eyes a centimeter away instead of a few steps/feet away.
Review of The Mathematician's Ghost
