Not only is the scene a weird yet exciting way to start the second season of “Foundation,” but it hints at the best part of the adaptation — the Cleons. You see, Pace doesn’t only play Emperor Cleon, he specifically plays Brother Day, the middle of three clones of Cleon. In order to make his empire infinite, Cleon I decided to forego the traditional line of succession in favor of cloning himself. Except there’s not just one clone, but three: Dawn is a teenager, Day is an adult man, and Dusk is the retired emperor.
Though they are meant to be the same person — it can be occasionally creepy to see them act exactly the same — the difference in age and experiences provide subtle differences in the way each Cleon acts. This leads to fantastic dynamics, because Dawn considers himself vastly different from Day, but recognizes he might turn into him no matter what he does.
Making matters more complicated, Brother Day decides at the beginning of the season that he is ending the genetic dynasty by getting married and having heirs the old-fashioned way, which means there won’t be any more clones, and Dawn and Dusk will become useless and expendable. What that means for the rest of “Foundation” is best left to the actual episodes to explore.