Here we go again! My impressions, insights, and interpretations from watching the episode.

If you haven’t watched the episode yet, what’s holding you back? Spoiler Alert. Proceed at your own risk.

Simultaneously published at Stars End: a Foundation Podcast and Comics, The Universe, and Everything.

Watching Foundation S3E07

Nice title.  It could be the name of an Asimov book in a different universe.

Rossem (on the edges of the outer reach)

This is giving me real “It’s a Good Life” vibes. Someone’s going to get wished into the cornfield.

Space Amish.  This woman has a baby, but “the Bartons would take him if they could.”  Or not.

No one carries a baby like that if they’re out to harvest crops.

These assessors are serious business.  Almost a caricature.  That dad, though, looks a lot like “the Mule.”

That these guys are Foundation and not Empire lands like a blow. They need mustaches they could twirl.

The baby makes noise, and the parents are terrified.  And they’re terrible liars.

China figured out that the “one child policy” was a dumb idea.  What possible rationale could that have here? Don’t they need people to tend the land?

It gets worse.  “The Foundation trusts in the mass deleter solution.  You have two children and you’ve been allotted enough for one child… when we return, you’ll have one child.”  Ugh.

The dad gives the older boy an ominous look.  He did seem self-centered when the parents wanted to use his candy to keep the baby quiet.  Are there other indications that the parent/child relationship isn’t great?

Is this a parable about factory farming?

Rossem appeared in the book Second Foundation, but not as a Foundation world.

Rossem is one of those marginal worlds usually neglected in Galactic history and scarcely ever obtruding itself upon the notice of men of the myriad happier planets…

Imperial history flowed past the peasants of Rossem. The trading ships might bring news in impatient spurts; occasionally new fugitives would arrive—at one time, a relatively large group arrived in a body and remained—and these usually had news of the Galaxy…

And then one day not unlike other days a ship arrived again. The old men of each village nodded wisely and lifted their old eyelids to whisper that thus it had been in their fathers’ time—but it wasn’t, quite.  This ship was not an Imperial ship. The glowing Spaceship-and-Sun of the Empire was missing from its prow. It was a stubby affair made of scraps of older ships—and the men within called themselves soldiers of Tazenda…

Other ships came and proclamations were issued all over the world that Tazenda was now the ruling world, that tax-collecting stations would be established girdling the equator—the inhabited region—that percentages of grain and furs according to certain numerical formulae would be collected annually…

— Second Foundation

“Now,” Above New Terminus.

That’s a nice transition.

We quickly focus on Pritcher’s cell.  He’s going to be important here because he wasn’t at Magnifico’s concert.

Batya’s still in bad shape.  Could that just be the Null Field?  Was she injured, and I didn’t see?  What would be a reason the field would affect her more than other people?  Or is something else the matter?

Being fireman-carried like that, Bayta’s lucky this isn’t a Three Stooges short.

What’s up with Sephanie here?

The mother getting the headshot with the crying baby is unnecessary pathos.  Or is it? Foreshadowing?

The Imperial Throneroom

They want us to think Dusk is hallucinating here.  He isn’t.  But the Empire is almost completely rudderless.  Almost.  Even though he seems disengaged, Dusk gives a few curt orders that put people on task.

The Foundation Embassy

Ambassador Quent and her staff are trying to process the news from New Terminus.

Dusk arrives.  Ostensibly, he’s there to comfort Quent, but “Is there still a Foundation to prosecute me?” is rubbing salt in the wounds.

He wants Quent to come to the castle.  This seems the worst of all possible times for the ambassador to leave her post.  Still, she goes.

Cut to the Black Tongue landing.  Foundation surrenders.  Mostly, the citizens are not happy about it. Notice that there’s no indication of metallic abilities happening here. The entire situation is carried by Indbur and the Warden.

Well, that isn’t an eclipse in totality.

“You will call me ‘First Citizen’.”  Of what?  Whatever.  Maybe this is a Three Stooges short.

This is a gross display of dominance.  There’s no dignity to this.

Mycogen

Dude is uncharacteristically reasonable.  But then he’s no longer the dominant one in the relationship. Such as it is.

Here we go!  “If there is synthetic life on Trantor, it could be the most important thing to happen to us in 5000 years.”

And now we’re all “Fear and Loathing in Mycogen.”  If this were the books, it would be more Fear and Loathing in Salt Lake City than Las Vegas.

New Terminus

Pritcher is trying to escape.  This gambit seems merely shocking for the sake of being shocking.  In a Similar situation, Spock was able to mentally trick somebody into opening his cell.

Trantor

Quent gives Dusk a rundown of the takeover of New Terminus.  “What do I do?”  You project resolve for your staff.  You assess the situation as best you can.  And you start figuring out how to come back.  This doesn’t make sense unless it’s a one-person embassy.

Dusk: “You stay here.  You wrap my flag around your pretty shoulders, and no one will dare touch you.”  The second time through, it reads as patronizing.

And Quent gets empathetic when she learns about Dawn.  But why didn’t he tell her?  It’s not a relationship between equals.

You can hear it in his voice when Capillus climbs on the table.  Contempt and anger.  But he softens when Quent shows compassion and gives the ferret something to eat.  It’s a hopeful sign when a Cleon shows some humanity.  We get a lot of those.

How did Capillus get back to the Imperial Palace, anyway?

Mycogen

Brother Dude is being interrogated.  They’re working hard to be trippy.  I’m surprised there isn’t a lava lamp.

Man butt again.  There’s nobody with a flashlight this time.

Young Dude is trying to make a connection with Demerzel.  Eventually, she says, “You keep all your hate for me.  Why?”

“What else would I feel for you?  My midwife and my martinet, waiting for me to miss a step.”

So genetic drift leads to what? A bad case of imposter syndrome?  Seems too simple.  But they double down on it.

Song interrupts.  She wants to know about freeing Demerzel.  That would be amazing if they could pull it off.

“We weren’t very good today; we were all different from each other.”  This, as we see the napkin trick from season 1 executed poorly.

“You did your best.”  That’s the Laura Burn.  Almost as damning as “means well.”

“Again,” Demerzel barks.  Not at all like a mom.  There’s the martinet.  After surviving for thousands of years, walking the spiral, and raising little Cleon’s for centuries, it’s not realistic that she shouldn’t be able to fake basic humanity.

“I have gone by many names. “Chetter, Eto, Daneel.”  I almost didn’t believe I heard that.

“If you did leave, what would you do?”

“I suppose I would make more creatures like me, more robots.”

“Better children.”  Followed by, “It is not productive to dwell on impossible things.”

“If you could, would you choose not to love us?“

“I cannot weigh love against freedom.” What the hell does that mean?!?

“Because freedom would win,” opines present-day Dude.  That’s gotta hurt!

The Imperial Palace

Dusk has three days left.  “I want to leave with some dignity. And that begins with securing your treatment.”

“The last three Centuries were defined by Empire’s conflict with Foundation.”

“You’ve turned my gallow’s walk into a pleasant stroll” is a nice turn of phrase.

Kissy kissy.  Thirty years of sexual tension.

Indbur’s Satellite

Indbur says, “Pritcher knew you were a threat before anyone else. He has a secret.”  “The Mule” is dismissive.

What’s the point of making the guy on the ground look like Pritcher when only the audience can see?

The Foundation has smart guns.  Good precaution. Not so good for Han.

Pritcher escapes to the planet’s surface.

New Terminus

On the surface, Torin makes it to the Millennium Torus and tries to heal Bayta.

Randu’s at the door.  “I’m not the enemy.”  But actually, he is; he has never felt such love.  

This isn’t the subtle change I’d expect from “the Mule’s” influence.

Troops arrive.  General brouhaha.  They take Bayta. Toran manages to get into an escape pod.

Where did the shots come from that killed Randu?  Are they explosive bolts released from the escape hatch?

The Imperial Palace

Ugh.  Dusk shows us he’s evil.  He shows Capellus kindness only to kill him.  Cleon’s always disappoint.  [Huh.  Maybe screwed up more than evil.  See below.]

Mycogen

Songbird and Riverdance have brought in Sunmaster-18.  The clanking of the walking stick is funny.

“I bring you the finest crochet hook in all the land!” 

This director really likes showing things through that red liquid.

[Later thoughts:  there’s also a hell of a lot of blood in this episode.  Are the two collectively a motif?   Could the entire episode be a study of humans’ reactions to being traumatized by violence?  In Brother Dude’s case, Demerzel’s violence is emotional, and that brings me back to the Three Laws.  Someone on Reddit described her behavior as “malicious compliance.“  I continue to wonder to what extent the 3 Laws might be lurking under the Cleonic programming.  If they’re completely subsumed, that makes comments like “I cannot weigh love against freedom,” active rebellion; she’s lashing out as much as she is able, despite this version of Cleon being mostly innocent at that young age.  That makes it a piece with Dusk’s ultimate treatment of Capillus.]

Is that the skull of a robot on the staff?  Is it anybody we know?

“Something new for you. Here, none are at ease through the labor of others.  None may glory over another.  Except this.  This is our glory.  It is the brazen head of God.  And it will scream your fate aloud.”

Oooo… Scary, kid!  Scary!

Terminus

“Now this is an office.”

We’re in the Bathroom!  After going through all the robot novels, this seems almost as Asimovian as two people expositioning in a room.  Still, it’s unusual for “the Mule” to invite the whole group to join him.

Without much preamble, “the Mule” announces “a tug on the bridal is in order.“  The original story in Astounding Science Fiction, June 1942, that appeared in Foundation as “The Mayors” was called “Bridle and Saddle.” That’s too far removed to conclude this was an intentional reference.

Skirlet explains, “He wants you to drown yourself.”

The process takes just over a minute, but it seems longer.  It’s more unnecessary brutality, and it’s disturbing to watch.  In reality, it takes more like four minutes for someone to drown.  I suppose I should be thankful.  Still: Enough!  We get it already!

Sephanie isn’t turned.  And she’s defiant.  “If I had to guess, he’s already halfway to planning an insurrection.”

“Bad way to go.  Drowning.”  Ugh.

Rossem

The parents try to drown the kid.  The kid tries to bargain.  This is crazy.  Parents would never behave this way.

The Mutant power manifests, and both parents are killed.

In addition to being crazy, there are many impressionistic elements here that give the scene a surreal quality.

He leaves the baby with the Bartons as if they’re Timon and Pumba.  This is like a dark, twisted Disney movie.

There’s another source of the name “Rossem.”  The play R. U. R. (Short for Rossum’s Universal Robots) is what introduced the word “robot” to the English language and the world at large.  Could this be kind of a play-within-the-play like Shakespeare is famous for, or like Hamlet within the Star Trek episode “Conscience of the King?”  The analogy isn’t perfect but…

Outside the Vault

Another nice transition

“I escaped my home by joining the pirates who harassed our land.  Sounds like a bad word, “pirate,” but they never took as much as you.”  “The Mule” is talking to the Vault and, therefore, to Hari.

Hari appears, “That’s a very Tragic story.” He says, “I wonder how much of it is true.“  Me too.  That might explain the impressionistic nature of the Rossem scenes.

Review:

Another good episode, and I enjoy how, even as it purports to explain itself, it raises more questions. However, the violence and cruelty are overwhelming. Way too much of that; make your point, but don’t wallow in it. And poor Capillus goes the way of too many animal characters, as an easy source of cheap pathos.

All Images from Foundation on Apple TV+.

You can find our podcast here:

Here we go again! My random thoughts and reactions as I watched, and rewatched, the episode. Spoiler Alert, obviously.

Simultaneously published at Stars End: a Foundation Podcast and Comics, The Universe, and Everything.

Watching Foundation S3E06

Panicky Mule, not a nightmare but “a vision.”  Pritcher… “He was like me… I realize… he gave me a great gift.”

Initially, I wondered if this was “the Mule” exhibiting powers without Magnifico.  But, “I felt I was wearing someone else’s dreams.”  Says otherwise.  Combine this with his soliloquy on the jump gate; I think this tells us he’s not the guy pulling the strings.

“I have to destroy her even if I have to destroy everything to do it,” is threatening, but it could also be desperate.  We don’t actually know the range of these mental powers.  For that matter, this compulsion could have been planted by Magnifico long ago.

The Beggar

Perfect repeat of Demerzel confronting Gaal from S3E05, but it continues.

She claims C25 was killed 12 seconds into that airlock explosion.

Looking back, it’s about 20 seconds after the explosion that we lose sight of Dawn after he is sucked out of the airlock.  I’m pretty sure he’s alive at that point.  I’m not sure I believe her.  This could be Demerzel trying to get the emotional high ground.

“I raised him! I watched his first steps!”  That looks like real anger.  Is it?

It certainly seems to be after the little dust-up between the two.  Demerzel has questions.

“The Millennium Torus” is actually “The Chaser.”

Sounds like a beverage.  “The Climber” might be more apt.

Magnifico is playing the visi-sonar as the ship approaches Terminus.  Bayta is solicitous of him, calling him “puppy.” That is certainly the demeanor he wants to portray.

The foreshadowing is coming fast and thick. “You and I… we’re good at making people love us.”

They are met with hostility.  The actor playing Randu looks a lot like William Windom here.

Torin tries to counter the hostility by name-dropping Pritcher.  I didn’t expect that to work.  Joanne knew they’d be arrested, but I didn’t see it coming.

Now I have to ask, how much of this is Magnifico’s doing?  On second watch, I’m now expecting that Pritcher has already been compromised by “The Mule.”

It’s interesting because we know that The Mule’s control is subtle.  It changes allegiances while leaving the personality largely intact.  If Pritcher HAS, at this point, already been compromised, given that he’s a member of the Second Foundation, he could be laying the groundwork for Magnifico‘s arrival.

That hangs together nicely.  Otherwise, Magnifico‘s range would have to be effectively infinite.  That would be a power level nearly impossible to contend with.

On the other hand, Pritcher sure seems to be sold on the idea that Magnifico merely intensifies the Mule’s powers.  The control would have to be especially nuanced for that to work.  Or Pritcher could be a great actor.  Or I’m wrong.

But pitting Magnifico against this Mule in a psychic battle has its appeal.

Speaking of subtle, referring to Torin as Bayta’s “pet” is an indication that he isn’t the sweet, hapless, xxxxxxx that we’re thinking here.

Mycogen

C24 is in full Brother Dude mode as he walks through an outdoor market. He’s watching a news broadcast as I ponder just how unMycogenian this place is.  

One of the vendors makes me wonder: could that be Mother Rittah?

This exchange is straight from the books.

“Dainties. Raw dainties. For the outside market, they’re flavored in different ways, but here in Mycogen, we eat them unflavored—the only way.”

She put one in her mouth and said, “I never have enough.”

Seldon put his sphere into his mouth and felt it dissolve and disappear rapidly. His mouth, for a moment, ran liquid, and then it slid, almost of its own accord, down his throat.

He stood for a moment, amazed. It was slightly sweet and, for that matter, had an even fainter bitter aftertaste, but the main sensation eluded him.

“May I have another?” he said.

“Have half a dozen,” said Raindrop Forty-Three, holding out her hand. “They never have quite the same taste twice and have practically no calories. Just taste.”

She was right. He tried to have the dainty linger in his mouth; he tried licking it carefully; tried biting off a piece. However, the most careful lick destroyed it. When a bit was crunched off a piece, the rest of it disappeared at once. And each taste was undefinable and not quite like the one before.

“The only trouble is,” said the Sister happily, “that every once in a while you have a very unusual one and you never forget it, but you never have it again either. I had one when I was nine—” Her expression suddenly lost its excitement and she said, “It’s a good thing. It teaches you the evanescence of things of the world.”

— Prelude to Foundation

Dude gets to Song’s apartment. We see a look of recognition and fear on Song’s face.

On the Beggar

Demerzel worked with Hari, answering why he gave her the Radiant.  Early on, Hari pointed out that assisting Foundation and Empire were not mutually exclusive goals in the short term.  First, there’s a balancing act (emphasis mine).  Demerzel provided the data Hari needed to complete his model.

Could that be part of the glitch?  If the programming is conflated with the data, the end of the Cleonic Dynasty is the end of Demerzel’s world, according to her current operating system.

And she realizes that the so-called shadows in the mathematics are the Second Foundation.

Gaal confesses to her dumb plan from the last episode.  Of course, the Mule isn’t in the plan.  Apparently, neither of them is; she calls herself and the so-called Mule “outliers.”

But if the mathematics breaks down whenever either of them is factored into the plan, how is she confidently predicting what the Mule will do?  The whole basis of the dumb plan is what Gaal thinks the Mule will do next.

Gaal goes on about the Spacer’s concept of time, and it reminds me a little of Star Trek’s Wormhole aliens and a lot of this.

New theory proposes time has three dimensions, with space as a secondary effect

And we get a welcome bit of detail dating back to when Gaal woke up during a jump.  “I saw my lifetime as a line, and then as a plane, and then I wrapped that plane around me like a blanket, and it was a shape that I could manipulate.”  Nonsense, but evocative nonsense.

“We need to mind meld.  I doubt you will enjoy it.”

New Terminus

Ebling!!  With a pocket watch!!

Indbur and Randu are squabbling.  Torin gets to the point.  ”The Mule is coming here.”

“Just listen to Magnifico play,” says Bayta.  This is a bad idea.  I’m sad that we’re probably abandoning the plot point about Magnifico never manipulating Bayta.

Indbur doubles down.  “That’s not dumb enough!  I’ll listen!  You’ll listen!  Everyone who matters will listen!”  It’s nice when the characters being stupid is driven by the plot.

Back to the Beggar

“I can extrude filaments from my body and access your brain via your sinuses” made me laugh really hard!  Spock never did that!

New Terminus

I think this almost seems like cheating on the part of the narration.  Magnifico plays the visi-sonor, and the Traders and the Foundationers realize they can all join hands, sing about Coca-Cola, and defeat the Mule.

“That’s the way it works, it disarms you.” No crap.

They’re all looking up at the sun!  And only the smart one has glasses!  Also, how is he the only guy at the vault?

Mycogen

C24 gives Song some candy.  That doesn’t look like a box.  Where is the rest of the box?

It’s interesting to see Dude so far out of his comfort zone that he’s kind of a mess.

Song seems completely different and very transactional.

I thought Cloud Dominion needed special technology to restore memories. This process seems more like opening a can of Coca-Cola.

C24 says, “You looked at me and saw a person who might do you a kindness, so I did.

Song doesn’t want the memories back.  It wasn’t part of the deal.  Also, she doesn’t want to breach her contract. It seems to be very lucrative.

This has to end up at “Kindness.  I’ll never try that again.”

The Beggar

“My mind, to your mind.  Your thoughts to my thoughts,” this time with glowing red fingertips and terrifying tendrils.

The two share Gaal’s vision, and we learn some things.  Demerzel says that the encounter with the Mule will happen in the Imperial Library.  I wonder if that means the Vault.

That’s an odd place for an eclipse motif.  Demerzel has cycled through a hard reboot.  Could she have returned to factory specifications? That would save us some time.

After the fight with the Mule, we discover that Gaal will end up “orbiting the ergo sphere of a black hole.”  Gravity that is so strong, not even time can escape.  That did not end well for Bill Potts.

Pritcher’s Cell

Indbur has figured out that Han has divided loyalties.  In a lie by omission, he simply states that he’s loyal to the Seldon Plan.

Indbur leaves him in his cell and leaves for the Vault.  This must be important in the next episode.  But does Han save the day or drive the last nail into the coffin?  Even he may not know for sure.

Mycogen

Song, who we learn is really Songbird-17, has called in reinforcements.  C24 never should’ve tossed that personal aura.  “If I ever told you I loved you, it is because I was scared of you.  I never could’ve loved you.” Ouch.

This isn’t going at all where I thought the Mycogen storyline would go.  I was hoping for stories about Daneel from Mother Rittah, learning about robots (yeah, I know, that’s Billybotton), and all sorts of huge revelations. None of that so far.

New Terminus

Ain’t no party like an eclipse party!  Someone should tell the producers that totality only lasts a couple of minutes.

That looks like Stonehenge in the background.

“I thought he’d be taller.”

Like Salvor, Vault Hari has no time for random data with pretensions.

Just like in the book, Hari thinks the situation with the traders is the third crisis.  “A too undisciplined outer arm pitted against a too authoritarian central government.”

“But, what about the Mule, Dr. Seldon?”

“What is the Mule?”

The Warden gets a phone call, but how did “the Mule” get her number?

The vault has a Sunroof. Opened, we can see Foundation ships firing on each other.

Apparently, Vault Hari is also undergoing a hard reboot.  This Hari, like Cleon 1, had a lot more agency in previous seasons.  And everyone flees the Vault.

The Beggar

It seems like the Cleonic programming still exists, but Demerzel allows Gaal to live.  That gives me a faint hope that the first law still exists somewhere in there.

Demerzel learns of the sack of New Terminus.  “The Mule” could be on Trantor, “in a heartbeat.“  Why doesn’t Demerzel ask Gail to bring her back to Trantor?  That’s gotta be quicker than using jump gates.

New Terminus

It’s disconcerting to see the Vault turn black as everyone runs for their lives.  Will we get Bayta’s Kooky Crew when some survivors reach the Beggar?

Review:

The second run through of this one was way more fun than usual. That’s mainly because, on the first run through, it became obvious that Magnifico was laying the groundwork for “the Mule’s” attack.

Not quite as great a

All Images from Foundation on Apple TV+.

You can find our podcast here:

As always, my reactions to the episode as I watched it and rewatched it. Unfortunately, this one did not exactly get more interesting upon closer scrutiny.

Simultaneously published at Stars End: a Foundation Podcast and Comics, The Universe, and Everything.

Watching Foundation S3E05

This is a very cool shot with the hoverbike driving vertically down the side of a building.  It does make me wonder about the topology of Trantor.  This could be C24 descending into Mycogen, except he seems to be exiting a building with a roof that we saw from above.  Could energy and technology be so cheap that we would use antigravity tech on a parking garage?  Seems a bit like using a jackhammer to drive in a thumbtack.

Mycogen

Here we go!  The whole thing has a 1940s detective movie kind of feel.

Is that C24?  They are either showing us that it is him or it isn’t him.

Those hoverbikes look like they were designed by the Federation. Two nacells, red in the front, blue in the back.  Is this what it would look like if Star Trek and Star Wars had a baby?

Hey!  Sunmaster 18!  In a very dark sector.  I bet he has seasonal affective disorder.

Did not see that coming.  But I suppose I wasn’t meant to.  C24 paid someone to take his place on the hoverbike, but showing him on the bike before is kind of a cheap trick.

“Above,” Demerzel finds Mavon’s body, and she’s tracking C25.  “My Cleons are scattered.”

“Dawn, I will deal with myself,” isn’t interesting.  “I know exactly where Day has gone.  We will not see him again. And he will not trouble us,“ is.

The Beggar, on its way to Clarion Station.

“The Mule and I have some talents in common,” says Gaal.  C25 asks, “Did you compel me to work with you?”  “I tried not to… sometimes it’s hard to tell,” is an interesting answer from Gaal.  I originally thought it was surprisingly honest.

New Terminus

Indbur is, unsurprisingly,  being an ass.  Han tries to convince him that the Mule is important, with little success.

Han is unrepentant, “I knew there’d be consequences.  I just judged it worthwhile.”

But he’s also not as intelligent as he thinks he is.  “… The Mallows may have inadvertently done something useful,“ underestimates them.

They purposely shine a flashlight on Han’s ass.  Hey! Over here! Look!!

Sephone takes Han’s necklace.  Jealousy?  She is pretty tough here; very Maria Hill.

[I noticed on YouTube somewhere that the necklace is actually the pouch that contains Gaal’s prayer stones.  That’s an intensely personal item; one that seems far too intimate given Gaal’s attitude about the relationship in episode four.]

The Millennium Torus, what I’m calling Torin and Bayta’s ship.

Did jump ships emerge from clouds in season one or two?

Is “Sweetheart” the name of the ship or the name of the OS?

The ship’s pretty banged up.  “Air conditioning is fully operational.”  But Magnifico is playing the Visi-sonor.

A good OS would give a margin of error.  “Three jumps” must mean “maybe two, maybe 4.”  Having the OS provide a probability or margin of error would make sense.

Torin snaps harshly.  Did Magnifico do that?  He’s apologetic as soon as the “music“ stops.

Radole… I mean Haven

Still no good explanation of a tidally locked planet.

They didn’t listen when the OS told them communications were down.  And they get blasted out of the sky for it.

Let this be a lesson to you: when approaching a ribbon world, fly parallel to the habitable bit.  The Torus crashes on the dark side.  They could be in real trouble, but Sunside would have been worse.

The Beggar

Gaal has a zygote from Salvor.  Instant granddaughter, just warm and serve.  Will we get Leah Harvey back in season 4?  Harvi Harden?

“We can implicate anyone; we just need a name,” is a troubling might-makes-right attitude.  The Salvor Harden from the book wouldn’t be caught dead saying that out loud.

Vynod Tarisk is wearing a movie-era Starfleet uniform.  Or something damn close to one.

They’re going to blackmail this guy to try the enclosure thing again.

In Season 2, the Empire lost its entire navy trying to “enclose” Terminus.

C25 seems conflicted but committed, “We weren’t raised to be kind.”

The boy Emperor is playing dress up and trying to be incognito, but he doesn’t even have his stupid beard.

Chekov’s blaster.

Cassion Bilton is excellent here.  Intense. Self-assured. Dominating.  He kills without hesitation or remorse.  He’s a Cleon.  Has Gaal bitten off more than she can chew?

The literal blood on 25’s hands is a bit on point.  There’s a quick glimpse of Gaal in the meeting.

The entire council is part of the Star Trek cosplay.

This is like C-Span with better acting.  They vote, raising red lights for “no,” or white lights for “yes.”  That’s more primitive than a simple set of clickers.

And just like that, Kalgan will be enclosed.

Haven

Uncle Randu boards the Millennium Torus and finds Torin, Bayta, and Magnifico safe in a handy human thermos.  I guess he didn’t burn to death in S3E01.

Back in his house, it’s clear the Traders have money.  But I wonder why they’re showing us that sword.

Randu is interesting.  I want to reread the scene where Bayta meets him in the book.  He says Magnifico over Torin would be “trading up.” Dick.

Torin leaves while Bayta tries to convince Randu to help bring Magnifico to the Foundation.  We finally hear more than a few words from Magnifico.  He’s not the erudite Mule that Joel wanted.  In fact, he sounds like he is deaf to me. But we see no ASL in contrast to Preem Palmer.  Meaning?  Maybe it’s just an accent.

Torin and Magnifico wander through a mall or an airport, and we get some backstory for Torin.

“Bayta is charming your uncle.  I’ll play a little.  Maybe it will help her.”  Magnifico seems completely innocent and kind of sweet.  Even though I’m expecting the obvious implications, will there be some kind of twist to it?  I would like that.

This bit from Bayta is nice.  She and Torin have a real bond.  “… now we’ll rise or fall together.”

And she’s figured out quite a bit and has postulated a connection between Magnifico’s music and “The Mule’s” powers.  Textually, this is what the show has been telling us. I don’t think it’s quite right, but it does give her some potential influence with the Foundation.  Randu will come along for the ride since that can only help the Traders’ cause.

That Jump Gate

We see the Enclosure of Kalgan taking shape as Empire ships flood through the jump gate.  The fact that so much of the Imperial Navy has to be committed to enclose a single planet seems like a problem of scale.  Still, it looks like it’s going smoothly even as Tersik calls to reassure his family.

It will be interesting if the Mule is able to do something.

As “the Mule” appears before the assembly, it sounds like it is Day who is laughing.  But “the Mule” is no longer on Kalgan, paying off the capture of the jump gate in S3E03.

He’s left behind a “cobalt spike.”  I’m guessing that’s a reference to Leó Szilárd terrifying the US with the idea of a cobalt bomb back in 1950.

This is from Wikipedia.

A cobalt bomb is a type of salted bomb: a nuclear weapon designed to produce enhanced amounts of radioactive fallout, intended to contaminate a large area with radioactive material, potentially for the purpose of radiological warfare, mutual assured destruction or as doomsday devices. There is no firm evidence that such a device has ever been built or tested.

The concept of a cobalt bomb was originally described in a radio program by physicist Leó Szilárd on February 26, 1950. His intent was not to propose that such a weapon be built, but to show that nuclear weapon technology would soon reach the point where a doomsday device could end human life on Earth.

What gets unleashed is a devastating weapon that appears in form and function very similar to the doomsday device built for C23.  Kalgan is gone.  The imperial fleet is gone.

So “the Mule” can do something, and it is interesting.  But it isn’t mental manipulation.  In F&E, he took control of the Empire‘s people and therefore their resources.  Why wouldn’t he do the same here?  Destroying an Armada that you could’ve taken control of makes no sense unless you’re actually unable to take control.

C25 posits, “He knew about the enclosure.”  I don’t think that’s necessarily true.  This could just be a response to a retaliation that had to come one way or the other.  It is probably more interesting if he didn’t know what was coming.

There’s an extended escape sequence where Dawn is trying to escape to the Beggar, and imperial troops are trying to get him to safety.  The key moment is a pleasant surprise that offers a glimpse of Gaal’s abilities and evokes “The Best of Both Worlds, Part 2”.

But before the escape is complete, C25 asks, “Gaal, did you know what the Mule would do?”

“I needed the enclosure to fail.  Empire needs to get smaller and die out.”  

Gaal’s answer seems nonsensical.  The galaxy had to fit Seldon‘s initial conditions so that the Foundation could defeat the Mule. But the Mule isn’t in the plan.  Hobbling the Empire, which is also opposed to the Mule, seems counterintuitive and contrary to what we know about the plan thus far.

I am not convinced that she did, but if Gaal foresaw the destruction of Kalgan and stood aside, it would be tough to root for her.

That said, if you ignore all of the stuff that doesn’t make sense here, this conversation between Gaal and C25 is intense and well-acted.  It culminates in the confrontation between C25 and Tarisk, with Dawn’s message to Dusk providing a poignant voiceover.  Dusk, gazing at the communications device and looking distraught, is the final punctuation.

However, airlock doors should be able to withstand the discharge of small weapons.

In a coda, we see the Beggar speeding away from the station. There’s an airlock breach, and Gaal thinks it’s Dawn.  That seems unlikely. Not only is a ship flying away from the station, but it also means Gaal paid no attention to the airlock exploding and did not attempt a rescue.  It’s Demerzel instead, which also seems odd.  There’s no notice that a ship has docked before someone’s in the airlock?

Demerzel is glib.  “Gaal Dornik, you look a day over 200,“ or something like that.

Review:

Despite some compelling moments and good performances, there’s just too much here that doesn’t add up. Trying to condense this story into a matter of days as opposed to the months that elapsed in the book isn’t helping matters.

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In case you don’t remember how this works, these are Joseph’s initial thoughts, reactions, and predictions from watching the episode. Spoilers follow for the show and the books past this point. Proceed at your own risk.

Simultaneously published at Comics, The Universe, and Everything.

Watching Foundation S3E04

Directed by Roxanne Dawson!  Here we go!

Aerial view of the area with the tree.

“Do you feel regret?” Followed by images of the Star Bridge.

“You sought out confession.  That seems to suggest a capacity for it.”

In retrospect, confession is a wonderful Asimovian device to quickly drive the plot through conversation.  This is as efficient as a “captain’s log“ on an episode of Star Trek.

Better because it’s a dialogue.   You don’t need a quiet voice of inner morality with a character of moral authority right there.

Jon caught this last time.  The very first time we see Demerzel in S1E01, she’s gazing up at the Star Bridge.

In the last two episodes, they’ve pinned the current episode to a previous one by repeating an exact shot.  Here we get a repeat of our initial glimpse of Demerzel.

“I have held the secret for more than three centuries.”  Chills because of the wonderful foreshadowing.  You know what’s happening, even if you don’t believe it yet.  It’s still like a slap in the face.

And then the cognitive realignment.  “For the Foundation.”  True to the prequels, Demerzel is working to help the Foundation, AND she’s working to help the Empire.  This is perfect.

And here we are, the essence of any Asimov robot story.  Conflicts in programming.  Initially, that was between the original three laws.  But Demerzel, working for the Empire in the books, was always about the Zeroth Law.  With the advent of the Foundation, the Zeroth Law stands in greater and greater conflict with her Cleonic programming.  THAT’s what prompted the need for confession.  Her worrying about what would happen after the Cleonic Dynasty collapses was the right distractor.

In a very human way, Demerzel shows herself here to be a rationalization machine.  How often have we used that phrase on the podcast?

I think back to the line “Not this one.” from the season premiere and laugh because, of course, we assumed that was about Demerzel being a robot.

“I am built to watch, and remember,” is gut-wrenching.

And the writing here actually improves with a deeper look.

“Something like regret, then?  But the casualties are not the source of the pain, are they?  The paradox is the thing that hurts.“  In Giskard, the conflict (paradox?) between the first and zeroth laws caused roblock.  That’s at play here, too, but mainly it’s the bigger conflict between new and old programming.

And Zephyr Vorellis hits the nail on the head.  Demerzel is capable of spiritual growth even if her current programming refuses to admit it.  It hits too close to home; as Demerzel removes her face, the “emotionless“ robot is angry.

Better living through technology.  Spiritual growth through software updates.  The Zen of Asenion Robots.

Are we looking at a parable for when our large language models become actual artificial intelligence?  Or is it bigger?  This might not be the realm of “Measure of a Man.”  There’s already a religion in Mycogen that worships robots. We could be encroaching on the territory of “The Last Question.”

I’m circling back to an Arthur C. Clarke quote that I probably first encountered in Report on Planet Three: “Perhaps our role on this planet is not to worship God — but to create Him.”  Followed by, “And then our work will be done. It will be time to play.”

It’s interesting to think about the bigger picture within the show.  In the Foundation books, we initially had a conflict between the Foundation and the coming chaos.  In the show, it’s more of a balancing act.  Humanity needs the Empire to survive long enough for the Foundation to get its act together.  Initially, the Zeroth Law and the Cleonic programming are in concert.  Eventually, they’ll be in conflict.  And there, Demerzel is, right in the middle.  Demerzel is the show.  And there she sits in a place evocative of the Garden of Eden, looking at us.

Nice transition.  Very 2001.

Ignus

As if we didn’t have any doubt already, Han Pritcher is a Second Foundationer.

Although Preem Palver’s little poem desperately needs a fourth line.

This is taking me out of the moment a little bit, but I don’t think ASL and English (Galactic Standard?) are similar enough to share a rhyming scheme.  And is PP a deaf-mute or merely mute?  This would suggest that he is hearing.  Han communicating in sign language suggests Preem is deaf.

Han and Gaal.  Well, that explains that line from the season opener.  “My loyalties lie elsewhere.”  If we’d noticed that he was touching a necklace identical to Gaal‘s, we’d have gotten much more information.

Or maybe that is Gaal’s necklace; she isn’t wearing it here.

Somebody needs to say, “My mind to your mind…”

And very quickly, we know how “The Mule” learns about Gaal and sets up the Search for the Second Foundation.

Preem is the smart one here. He deduces a lot of stuff about “the Mule.”  It mainly underlines the questions about “the Mule” and Magnifico, though.

“We are the unknown.  He can be made to fear us,” seems pretty far off the mark.

Gaal in water.  Shades of season one.  No counting primes though.

False bravado from Gaal.  If she isn’t scared, she should be.  But it does give us a quick glimpse of the scope of the Second Foundation’s influence.

Now we’re back to free will vs. predestination centered around Gaal’s vision of “the Mule.”  She cannot see anything in the future beyond this vision.  That must be the glitch in the Prime Radiant.

Now that reminds me of Dr. Manhattan in Watchmen.  That can’t be the origin of the trope, but it’s a pretty effective one.

But essentially, we should’ve known about the glitch for a century and a half.

Here we have an interesting critique of “violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.“  It makes sense and is so much better than “It’s an old man’s philosophy…”

Then, sexy time in the water.

New Terminus

Yay!  Ebling!  “Unprintable bastard” is pretty good and nice to see.

Ebling calls the Federation ambassador.  She’s pissed when she learns that Empire has a/the Prime Radiant.

Cherry Jones and Terrence Mann are both great here.

We’ve already had Dawn co-opted by the Second Foundation.  If Dusk collaborates with the First Foundation, does that enhance Dude’s position as a pivotal force?  Or possibly Demerzel if Brother Dude shuffles off to Mycogen.

The ED joke implies a level of intimacy between these two.  We’ve already got that, but still.

And from Ambassador Quent, we see the near-religious regard the Foundation clearly has for Hari Seldon.  That was especially strong in Foundation and Empire.

These two are actually sweet together.

Back to Ignus

Gaal and Han are reminiscing.  He’s mostly known her as a popsicle (rather than a pickle).  It seems somewhat interesting how their different views of the relationship are shaped by the context.  He’s known her for years, but she thinks the relationship has only lasted a matter of days.

On the other hand, it may be no more complicated than “absence makes the heart grow fonder.“

Now they are conflating mathematics and arithmetic.

“If you are awake, be awake.” That’s a little on the simplistic side.

Trantor

Evidently, the pet ferret following you around is documented behavior.

Dude wants to speak to the animatronic Cleon 1.  Shades of Disney World.

This thing seemed to have some agency in season two.  But regressing to the age-appropriate version of himself for Dude’s question is a nice trick.  It also means Lee Pace gets to talk to himself.  When does such become a monologue?

“You may have overstated the resemblance,” is funny.

C1 went down to Mycogen in search of some tools.  He slaughtered all of the Inheritors when they refused to give them up.  He wants 24 to kill every member of the “cult.”

Mycogen does feed the planet.  Agriculture is insufficient to feed 40 billion people.  It must be the yeast turned into who knows what?

It gets contentious, and Dude spits on (at?  Through?) C1.  If this is the same entity as season two, there will be repercussions.

That was way more Daylike than Dudelike.  He’s not so chill without the spores.

Demerzel’s Quarters

Demerzel looks disconcerting even before we realize her head has been separated from her body.  Apparently, she is giving herself an oil change.  It’s a minor point, but how does she see what she’s doing?

“The thing I had for a mother doesn’t have any idea what it is to feel a connection with someone.”  We all know that isn’t true.  Will we hear the story of Elijah and “Danny” as we did in Prelude?  Pretty sure that was in Dahl.

“I was meant to connect to others of my kind… robots shared one mind when we wanted.”

Dude is going to palm one of the tools.

“I’m compelled to keep you safe even if it causes you pain.”  Or kills 100,000,000 tourists on the space elevator.

Claviger Mavon’s apartment

Mavon returns home, and Dude is there. He is alternately intimidating and disarming.  Introducing Capillus, the ferret, to the daughter is the former, but the wife is very reasonably terrified.

Dude says he needs to leave for Mycogen immediately.

Mavon knows that’s dicey.  “Even we don’t go to Mycogen.  Not unless we’re in full force.”

There are many vehicles in this show.  Now, Dude and Mavon are on hoverbikes.

These claviger uniforms are what you would get if the civilization from the Star Trek episode “Bread and Circuses,“ where the Roman Empire never fell, had its own version of Tron.

Dawn’s Quarters

Dawn gets a message on his device, but we don’t get a good look at it.  He’s off to that same café with the mediocre tea.

Why is it raining indoors?  I know it’s faux outdoors, but what then is the purpose of a shell around the entire planet? 

Gaal is there in person.  “It must be really bad,” says Dawn.  There’s some political back and forth.  Gaal wants him to leave Trantor.  He is obviously reluctant; he’s about to be promoted to his grown-up job. That only took King Charles what? Three generations?

“You were followed, you have to trust me,” seems wildly suspicious, but off they go!  

Cut to Dude and Mavon continuing their trek.  

There are lots of dark, moody, film-noiresque shots both here and in the Dawn/Gaal situation.

Dude throwing away his personal aura seems dumb. I suppose it must be one of the many ways the Empire has him lo-jacked.  

When he starts removing his nanites, I think: is he going to keep his word?  I did not see that coming.  

There’s a nice moment between the two here.  A bit of small talk.  Mavon’s daughter can keep Capillus… etc.

But the word doesn’t get kept.  Dude shoots Mavon.  

Here’s the payoff to the scene in S3E02 where Dude seems to be cheating to lose.  He knows the clavigers’ tells.  He caught on to Mavon betraying him.  And of course, in true Bond-villain style, Dude gets to explain all this before the killshot.

Cut to a wide shot as Mavon dies; the Dude is now small.  But he does show an inkling of remorse, putting him at odds with all the other Brothers Day.  Not too much at odds.  Dude loads Mavon up with the nanites to create a false trail.  This was always the plan; there was nothing within Dude for Mavon to betray after all.  Dude’s remorse, however, lingers.  Does this make him better or worse than mere ruthlessness?

“No one can escape Empire.  Not even Empire… but I’m gonna see how far I can go.”

This ends with a big, expansive outdoor shot. Water, trees, and a skyline are visible in the distance.  I suppose it’s artistic license, but it just seems like the writers have forgotten how Trantor is constructed.  It’s their right, I suppose, but it’s taking me out of the story.

The Imperial Palace

Demerzel is staring at a section of the mural depicting her robotic nature.  If you want to keep a secret, don’t tell anyone there’s a secret.  And for crying out loud, don’t paint a damn picture.

She learns Brother Dude’s nanites have become inactive, and so she returns to her quarters to discover that one of her tools is missing.  This seems iffy because Demerzel must have put all the tools neatly back in their case.  She must have noticed then.

Cut again to Gaal and Dawn.

We’re back to a nice, moody, film-noir kind of shots.  They run through a tunnel that looks like a tunnel.  Presumably, one floor up is huge and looks like the outdoors. And one floor down is also huge and looks like the outdoors.

Gaal uses her powers, the two dive around a corner and then, “They can’t see us.  They’re going to forget they were ever in this tunnel.”

These Cleons are either arrogant or gullible.  Gaal is doing mind control tricks, and yet, Dawn isn’t suspicious.  

As they’re escaping, it looks like they use a gravitic lift from Prelude to Foundation.

“Well, we can get there a lot faster if we use a gravitic lift. Not many people use it and I must tell you that I’m not overjoyed at the idea myself, but if you think you can handle it, we had better.”

“What’s a gravitic lift?”

“It’s experimental. The time may come when it will be widespread over Trantor, provided it becomes psychologically acceptable—or can be made so to enough people. Then, maybe, it will spread to other worlds too. It’s an elevator shaft without an elevator cab, so to speak. We just step into empty space and drop slowly—or rise slowly—under the influence of antigravity. It’s about the only application of antigravity that’s been established so far, largely because it’s the simplest possible application.”

—Prelude to Foundation

Gaal gets the final word. What about her organization?  “We call ourselves the Second Foundation.”

Review:

This one is pretty much everything you should want in an episode. Fascinating reveals, significant developments, high stakes, and compelling storytelling. It falls just shy of being perfect. I’m on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what will become of the Demerzel/ robots/Mycogen arc. Best episode of the season so far!

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