Diksha Sundriyal
With only two more episodes left in Apple TV+’s ‘Foundation’ Season 3, the galaxy moves towards conflict as each character tries to focus on their next step, which could make or break them and their people. The previous episode focused on the Mule’s takeover of New Terminus, which caught everyone off guard. While Pritcher and Toran get lucky and run away before they can be held captive, the likes of Bayta are forced to stay back and watch the Mule unfold his plan of blood and mayhem. But before that, the villain decides to have a chat with the god of New Terminus: Hari Seldon. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Mule Meets Hari Seldon
The previous episode ended with the Mule coming face-to-face with Hari Seldon from the Vault. Having heard the villain’s tragic backstory about how he killed his own parents, Hari quickly deduces that he hails from the planet Rossem. He also shares the fact that he, too, comes from a planet that was exploited and sanctioned, leading Hari’s father to take out his frustration on the boy. So, much like the Mule, Hari Seldon, too, had a difficult childhood. Still, the Mule claims that his sob story is more tragic, to which he just smiles, because he still doesn’t believe the story to be entirely true. He also asks the conqueror of New Terminus to stop beating around the bush and get to the point.
The Mule complies by asking Hari where he fits in the grand plan and how much time it will take for him to rule the galaxy. Hari confesses that he didn’t factor in the Mule in his thousand-year plan for the galaxy, and sure enough, the villain’s ascension would be much quicker. The only problem the Mule has is Gaal Dornick. When he asks Hari about it, the man from the Vault seems clueless. This makes the Mule think that he has the upper hand on the great Hari Seldon. But Hari is quick to remind him who is in charge here by activating the null field. The Mule, much like everyone else, experiences great pain, but Hari decides not to kill him because he wants to know more about what is going on, and believes that the Mule can be of use to him yet. While the Mule is shocked by how things turned out, he convinces himself that he doesn’t need to go after Gaal. She will come looking for him, and if not by herself, she will be brought here by Han Pritcher. All he has to do is wait.
Meanwhile, it turns out that Dawn didn’t die after being chucked out of the spaceship. He floated around for days, but thanks to his spacesuit, he was kept alive, even if it meant getting his legs burned out to produce heat to keep his body alive. Just when he thought he was going to die, a ship showed up and took him in, and the ship turned out to be the Mule. Now, Dawn is his captive, along with Bayta, who welcomes him when he opens his eyes. She tries to soothe him while also trying to calm herself down, as her head is still aching from the effect of Hari Seldon’s null void. Then the Mule shows up, taunts Cleon, and pokes around his brain to find out more about Gaal. But it turns out that Dawn was also kept in the dark, which is proven to have been the right decision. Perhaps Dawn sees it too now, along with the fact that the Mule is scared of Gaal. The villain, however, says that he is more excited than scared. He hurts Dawn by pinching his injured leg, but backs off when Bayta tells him to.
Demerzel Returns to Trantor
Armed with the secrets that Gaal Dornick revealed to her in their last meeting, Demerzel returns to Trantor, and the moment she steps off from the ship, she tells Dusk that Dawn is dead. As Dusk processes this information, even though he already suspected it, he laments the loss of the great potential that Dawn showed. His thoughts are cut short when he is informed that the leaders of three planets have arrived at their doorstep, which includes Zephyr Vorellis. They are concerned that, having taken over New Terminus, the Mule will turn his eyes towards the Empire, and the only way to stop the bloodshed is to give him Trantor. Because this is the heart of the galaxy, conquering it will make the Mule feel as if he has won. When Dusk says that this will not stop the Mule from jumping to another planet, it is pointed out that Trantor is such a big and bountiful place that the Mule will be busy looting it for a long time.
Dusk is appalled by the idea of giving up Trantor, because that would also mean the end of the Cleon dynasty, something that Demerzel reiterates. The meeting ends with the Empire declaring that there will be no bowing down to the Mule, while the trio informs them that they didn’t come here to ask but to tell. Seeing that their own council is deserting them, Dusk approaches Demerzel with his secret. At the moment, she is about to start the process of decanting a new Dawn, but Dusk rightly points out that this new iteration will take a lot of time to catch up, and this will not help solve their problems. Dusk, on the other hand, has something quite useful. He had planned to gift the Novacula to Dawn, but since he is no more, he is putting it in the hands of Demerzel.
He is shocked to discover that she didn’t know anything about his secret Death Star project, and even she seems surprised by this, but is also in awe of what Dusk achieved in secret. She also tells the old man that Dawn died in Clarion and had been secretly working with Gaal Dornick and the Second Foundation. Now that she has the power to counter their enemies, Demerzel decides to take out the ones at home. She has a final meeting with Zephyr Vorellis, where the latter assures Demerzel that there will be a place for her with the Luminists. However, Demerzel reveals that she has walked this path before, and it didn’t end well for the last zephyr she connected with, just as it won’t end well for this one. When the meeting ends and Vorellis comes out of it with her memories removed, she feels the tears on her face and realizes what fate awaits her.
Gaal Prepares to Face the Mule
Having fulfilled her plan of destroying the Empire’s armada and weakening them to the point that they are easy prey for the Mule, Gaal believed that the villain would turn towards Trantor. What she didn’t anticipate was that he would come to New Terminus instead, and this change has completely thrown her and Seldon’s plan off its path. The Foundation was supposed to counter the Mule once he was in Trantor and easier to attack. But now, the Foundation, all thanks to Indbur, has bowed down to him, and the only one who can now fight him is the Second Foundation, which is why it is even more important to save them now. Gaal shares all this with Preem Palver when she returns to Ignis. She asks him to take all the Mentallics somewhere safe. This place has to be so unpredictable that Pritcher won’t think of it.
Since he has gone AWOL, there is no way to know if he has been compromised by the Mule. If that’s the case, then the Mule will know precisely where and how powerful the Second Foundation is. While Gaal’s mind is on protecting the rest of the Mentallics, she is prepared to fight the Mule herself. When Preem Palver disapproves of the plan, Gaal promises that she will kill the Mule before he kills her. Interestingly, the First Speaker also points out that this is what Pritcher had been talking about. Gaal has a pattern of throwing herself into a storm to separate herself from others, but she doesn’t need to do that. Of course, Gaal doesn’t pay any heed to his words. Before leaving for New Terminus, she visits Hari’s statue, where she talks about how much she misses Salvor Hardin and wishes she had told her daughter how much he loved her. She expresses her love for Hari as well.
Just then, Preem Palver shows up and starts talking about how the Mentallics are connected. Unlike the Mule, whose powers are limited to his mind, no matter how powerful he is, the Mentallics work as a hive mind. When they share their thoughts, it’s as if they have lived the whole thing themselves. He asks Gaal to rely on this strength because this is the one thing that the Mule doesn’t have and will not understand. To make it clear that he is not letting her leave alone, he tells her that three other Mentallics will join her. Gaal is happy and also relieved at this because it turns out she didn’t want to face her worst nightmare alone after all. The quartet sneaks into New Terminus, and just as Gaal walks into the woods, she turns to look back at the Vault where she knows Hari’s digital form resides. Perhaps they will meet again after all.
Day’s Trial in Mycogen Leads to New Revelations
In the last episode, Day went on a mushroom trip and met Sunmaster-18, the leader of the Inheritance, who is also the decider of his fate now. To decide what to do with him, Day is put in chains, and his trial in front of the entire community of the Inheritors begins. Oceanglass is given the task to be the executioner, while Song is asked to sit beside Day because she is the reason he came here in the first place. At first, Day doesn’t take them seriously, mainly because he believes that they are worshipping dead gods and the skull on Sunmaster’s staff is nothing but metal junk. But then, a group of Inheritors creates a sound that activates the skull, and now they have Day’s attention. The group enacts the story of humans and robots, and how robots were killed off one by one. The last one to remain was Daneel, and that’s the god they worship. The name doesn’t slip Day’s notice, and he tells Song that this used to be one of Demerzel’s many names.
Day is also captivated by the tone that the Brazen Head emits on repeat, as it is incredibly familiar to him. While he tries to place it, Sunmaster levies the charges against him, particularly focusing on how one of his ancestors, who looked exactly like him, almost wiped out all the Inheritors. Despite all the shouting and demands of execution around him, Day finally places the tone and realizes that it is the one that Demerzel used to sing to him as a lullaby. When he sings it back, the head is activated. It says, “Initiate communication. Handshake signal.” Clearly, the head has never really spoken before, so everyone is stumped. Day explains that the robots have a hive mind, and this is their way of calling out to their kind. The Brazen Head is doing the same.
This revelation seems to turn the tide in his favor as the Inheritors stop to listen. Sunmaster picks up on this and calls Day a liar. He claims that Demerzel is just another clone, while Day tries to tell them that Demerzel is Daneel, and even if they try to storm the palace and free her, they won’t be able to do so. Instead, she will butcher all of them because her primary directive is to save the Empire at all costs. However, if Day goes with them, there is a chance to save everyone. He also points out that the galaxy is at risk of being destroyed, and Demerzel is the only one who can stop it. It turns out that after hearing the story, Day has become sympathetic to his robot, whom he confesses he mistreated all this time.
He now knows, thanks to his drug trip, that she wants freedom, and if nothing is done about it now, she will continue to be tied to the Cleons and play lullabies to them till the end of time. Day’s words fall on deaf ears as Sunmaster declares him guilty and is ready to execute him. What’s worse is that Sunmaster has looked into Song’s memories, and he knows that Day is telling the truth. But he doesn’t want this truth to come out because it would make him lose his power over the people, which is what he doesn’t want. So, he dooms Day to a fate where he is thrown into the depths of Mycogen, to be buried under the soil where he will meet a slow and painful death among the spores, and eventually, his body will become mulch and fertilizer for spores.
Read More: Who is Sunmaster-18? Who Plays Him in Foundation?
