Brien Allen
The following recap contains spoilers for Foundation S3E2, “Shadows in the Math” (written by Leigh Dana Jackson & Caitlin Parrish and directed by Tim Southam).
Welcome, dear reader, as we continue our review of the third season of the Apple TV+ series Foundation with Season 3 Episode 2: “Shadows in the Math.” This was a building episode. Not a lot happened, but the stage has certainly been set for events to come. Although some of those events might not come for several seasons into the future.
It seems like everybody’s got a secret in this episode. Hari is keeping secrets from Gaal, again. Day is planning to sneak off to Mycogen with Song, while Pritcher plans to sneak into The Mule’s soiree with the newlyweds. Dusk has a secret weapon parting gift for Dawn, and Dawn is a secret agent of the Second Foundation! OK, maybe not, but also…maybe.
Awaken Sleeper
As we predicted last week, this episode filled us in on what Gaal, human Hari, and the Second Foundation have been up to these past 152 years. For the first century, Gaal and Hari skip-jumped their way across time, waking for just a couple weeks every year to check in on the Plan and give a little training to the Second Foundation. The Second Foundation had established eyes and ears in every part of the galaxy, but it still wasn’t enough.
They decide Hari will stay awake for the next cycle and he sends Gaal off into cryosleep, promising to see her in a year. Turns out, that was a big fat lie. She is finally revived again four years before our present time in the show. A much-aged Hari shows Gaal a new way of opening the Prime Radiant, revealing everything he knows about the Eight Crises. All the raw data, his thoughts, and secrets.
Hari lies to Gaal once again, promising to see her tomorrow. Back in his quarters, Kalle is waiting for him. Surprise to us, but not to Hari. The lease on the physical body she gifted him with is up and he’s not getting a second one. Hari has decided to go with her back to Oona’s World instead of dying with grace on Ignis. We are reminded that whatever Kalle is, she has amazingly advanced technology (guess who built the Vault?) and she can’t “have skin in the game.” Another teaser for future seasons.
Kiss the Void, Gentlemen
We pick back up with Demerzel and the Cleon clones right where we left off with them last episode, staring up at that Lynchian dead end thread in the Prime Radiant’s predictions. Dawn and Dusk have pride enough to think they can fix the problem presented by the Prime Radiant, but Brother Day probably sums it up best: “We’re f***ed.”
That bit of wisdom delivered, he makes a grand exit, pounding poor Demerzel with a few more zingers on his way out. For whatever reason, Dusk is inspired to get in a dig on Demerzel himself, as well. Maybe Brother Day’s words got to him, or maybe he’s still feeling a little punchy from watching her shove his predecessors into the void in those Ascension vids.
He pivots from that to make an appeal to Demerzel that she can’t lose him right now. It’s to everyone’s advantage that he be with them to face the coming doom. Demerzel tells him in no uncertain terms that she has no autonomy in this decision. She is a clock and his time is up. So much for the great conciliator.
More Than Anything!
On Kalgan, The Mule is working on consolidating his power. Apparently, he does have limits, which is good to know. So, rather than mind controlling the entire population of the planet, he’s just going to give a little demonstration, and that will get everyone else to fall in line.
Enter the cutest and pluckiest little princess you ever could imagine, the former archduke’s daughter, Skirlet. She loves The Mule “more than anything,” and he walks her through almost blowing her head off. Like father, like daughter. But, in the end, he’s not a monster. The gun wasn’t actually charged. He promises she’ll get a chance to shoot herself another time, though.
Elsewhere on Kalgan, newlywed influencer couple Toran and Bayta Mallow are finding that the coup is the place to be seen in the galaxy. Minus the occasional shadow that crosses their sunbathing path, that is. They are visited on their ship by Captain Pritcher, who is looking to recruit them. He wants to be their plus-one at The Mule’s party, to do a little spying. Should be interesting.
The Rag Doll King
Brother Day continues to be the most entertaining of the triumvirate. After the mic drop with Demerzel and his brothers, he visits the palace guard at their quarters to do a little gambling and grousing. He appears to cheat in the card game in order to lose, yielding a precious family heirloom to one of the soldiers. The man has a daughter with some sort of life shortening condition, and though Day claims he cannot do anything for them, it looks like he might be at least supplementing the soldier’s paycheck with his surreptitious losses.
Back home, he snuggles up with Song and tells her of humanity’s impending doom. Soon, things are going to get very bad, and he doesn’t want to be there when it happens. He wants to go to Mycogen, and see the place that made Song. Last episode, it was stated that he cannot leave the palace, so this might take some doing.
He’s interrupted by a visit from Brother Dusk, come to send a little conciliation his way. Dusk suggests that if the thread of life were spooled out a few extra months, he could stick around to carry the weight of the impending doom on his shoulders. Now we understand Demerzel’s claim to have no autonomy in the matter. It was a Day who originally adjusted the timing, so to Dusk’s way of thinking, a Day could adjust it again.
This Day is having nothing of it. In his mind, they are rag dolls dressed up as kings, and he cuts himself open to flick a little bit of his stuffing in Dusk’s face to prove his point. If it feels unnatural to die so soon, that’s good, because everything about them is unnatural. They’re monsters.
Dusk Gets Around
After the death of any lingering respect he had for Day, Dusk next calls on his younger brother. Dawn is being fitted for the Robing ceremony, when the reins of power are officially handed over. Normally, this would be performed by the current Brother Day, but Dusk promises to proudly stand in his place. Dawn deserves better. Dusk also hints that he has a gift for Dawn. Something that will keep him safe, no matter what comes. Perhaps even including Demerzel, since he has seen fit to keep it secret from her.
We cut to a scene (or perhaps a flashback?) aboard an imperial spaceship. Dusk’s gift is a new weapon, the Novacula. Basically, it’s a black hole powered Death Star. The chief engineer, moonlighting from his normal gig as the Galactic Empire’s poet laureate (man, this guy has a way with words), demonstrates the weapon, and Dusk is pleased. Mind you, it’s a deterrent, only to be used in the most extraordinary circumstances. Yeah, right.
Cut back to the palace later that evening, and Dusk is having drinks with Dawn and Ambassador Quent. They talk about Kalgan, and Dawn expresses concern that this pirate seems to be intending to keep his prize. Quent is worried that Empire knows more than they are letting on (they do), but Dawn only says that he is worried about individuals who can make unlikely things happen. In other words, someone whose actions psychohistory cannot account for.
Quick Takes
A couple of quick takes on the rest of the episode:
- They did a fantastic job with the makeup on the elderly Hari.
- I was convinced that when The Mule opened that dinner tray for Skirlet, it was going to be her father’s head on the platter.
- Hari tells Gaal that the most important thing in his Prime Radiant notes is something regarding the Invictus. “If the Mule is defeated, this is where everything is headed,” he tells her. Recall that way back in S1E8, when the derelict Invictus was first being explored, there was a message, “EXO,” written in blood on the bridge control globe. Speculation, based on an unexplored avenue in the novels, is that in its random jumps, the Invictus jumped outside the galaxy and the crew encountered something that drove them mad, causing them to turn on each other. In the final scene here before Hari turns off the Prime Radiant, we can see “Andromeda” and “Lifeforce Detected” in the AR popup windows.
- Toran confirms his uncle is Randu Mallow, leader of the Traders. This was the one-armed man we presume was killed in the Haven chase scene last episode with Pritcher. If that tidbit comes out, I wonder if Toran will be happy with the captain, or want revenge?
- On the FoundationTV reddit, one brilliant redditor made a video comparing the opening credits between Seasons 1, 2 and 3. It’s really interesting to see the tweaks from season to season.
- Last week I sent everyone to the Official Podcast from Apple TV+, but it turns out they are not doing one this season. (I’m trying not to find that a worrisome sign of Apple TV+’s divestment in the show.) However, Jason Concepcion, former host of the former podcast, has his own podcast, X-Ray Vision, and he’ll be reviewing this season there. It remains to be seen if he’ll get the same stellar line up of guests without the parent company’s involvement.
- The other podcast I would highly recommend is Stars End. These guys have been reviewing both the series and the novels, so they have a much deeper understanding of the source material and any insights to be gained there.
- There is a great article on ArtStation Magazine interviewing production designer Rory Cheyne about the new worlds designed for this season of Foundation. Tread carefully if you’re spoiler sensitive; there’s a lot in there we haven’t seen yet.
- Speaking of spoilers, Apple TV+ is giving us behind the scenes videos this season, and the first one is “The Chaos of the Mule.” It is very enticing.
Best lines of the episode:
- “You’re always so angry with me.” “You always earn it.”
- “For a century, this toy obeyed that toy. It made us servants to its readings, which it promised would help us preserve our own skin. Well, happy payday to us. We’re f***ed.”
- “(Whistles) Even emptier in there than I thought”
- “If there’s no genetic dynasty to maintain, you are just a girl with an open road before her.”
- “I am the clock for every Cleon’s life, and the time I keep is exact.”
- “Like father, like daughter.”
- “Oh, we prefer coup.”
- “I love you too, sweetheart.” “Thank you.”
- “Bayta, I believe the captain wants to be our plus-one.”
- “He said Empire was driving itself over a cliff. Well, we extended the cliff, but we also kept driving.”
- “If it works. Does it…work?”
- “It’s time to make yourself useful, Empire.”
Conclusion
Not a cliffhanger ending, but certainly a jaw-dropper. When Gaal told us the Second Foundation had eyes and ears in every part of the galaxy, it was inevitable that some of those would be within the confines of the palace. But Brother Dawn-to-be-Day himself. Wow.
That’s all for this week. Please let us know your thoughts and feelings about this week’s episode, and any theories you have on what’s to come, in the comments below. Remember that TV Obsessive will provide continuing coverage of Foundation throughout Season 3 and beyond.
All images courtesy of Apple TV+
