The eighth episode of the third season of Foundation, “Skin in the Game,” starts with the Vault version of Hari Seldon, which is by far the meanest version of them all. And it’s also, incidentally, the only one capable of laying dome damage down on the Mule, since we see Hari weaponizing the null field to leave him completely dazed before retreating back into the Vault.
Besides this, though, the opening dialogue between Seldon and the Mule serves to emphasize the weaknesses of both. Hari is limited in his knowledge, of course, since he’s only a hologram of the real Seldon, and history has moved on without him, especially when it comes to the Second Foundation and Gaal’s work there.
And the Mule has proven not to be invincible, other than genuinely obsessed with Gaal—something that makes him dangerous, yes, but that might also make him too eager and careless when he finally faces her down in person.
I have just one note to add—nobody destroy the Vault, please, because that would mean no more Jared Harris, and I think I simply have to see his face at least a couple of minutes every week. For my mental health, you know.
What happens in Foundation Season 3, Episode 8
We return to New Terminus two more times throughout the course of the episode. One is to discover that Dawn isn’t really dead, which we could have all guessed since we never saw the body, and it’s a truth universally acknowledged in all of filmmaking that a character is not dead until you see a body. And maybe not even then. So Dawn has survived a week in space with some truly gruesome injuries caused by his spacesuit trying to keep him alive before being rescued by a Foundation ship.
Now, he finds himself in what seems like a hospital wing on New Terminus with another character that is not dead—Bayta, my actual favorite, whom I can’t decide whether she’s under some form of mind control from the Mule or just deeply traumatized at having been left behind and again, held as a prisoner by a psychotic space pirate.
So overall, a win for us with Dawn and Bayta being alive and a loss for us for them being at the mercy of the Mule. Also, we learn that Dawn might just have a touch of feelings for Gaal, which, again, is kind of predictable but still very nice. I love me a good romantic subplot, even if it’s unrequited; it always adds the most delicious of stakes.
We also conclude the episode on New Terminus, where Gaal and a team of mentalists from Ignis—whom I’m afraid are all ended for some tragic, heroic deaths—land on the planet and lead a strike assault on the Mule. Something that will undoubtedly take up most of the next episode, which is the second to last of the season, even though I hope we do find some space in there for a confrontation between Gaal and the Seldon in the Vault. I just love them together, what can I say?
Gaal arrives on New Terminus after hastily making new plans on Ignis to keep the Second Foundation safe, telling them to leave the planet, go somewhere even she doesn’t know, so the Mule won’t get to them even if she became his prisoner.
It’s a truly big sci-fi hero moment for her, which I adored, with all the noble sense of sacrifice and terrible ruthlessness one would expect. She’s fully prepared to die, and at the same time, she’s willing to sacrifice even Pritchett to keep her Second Foundation safe. Those are the high stakes we all love to see.
And still, her original plan—diverting the Mule’s attention to Trantor—seems to work in a way, even though no one would have expected the fall of New Terminus. But on the central planet of the Empire, a delegation of dignitaries informs Dusk that they plan to give Trantor to the Mule. Just surrender it to him, a sacrifice that hopefully will stop him from spreading his destruction to other areas of the galaxy.
Brother Dusk is, predictably, not particularly happy about this development, even though the dignitaries tell him their proposal is not a negotiation but merely a statement of what they plan to do. And does what every single very powerful and generally low on morality ruler does in a situation like this—whips out his massive, planet-ending weapon he had constructed in secret “as a deterrent.” We all knew that thing was Cechov’s black hole-fueled bomb the second it appeared at the beginning of the season, after all.
Still, once more, the real scene-stealer of the entire episode is Day’s storyline, and by extension, Demerzel, who is really becoming the central character of this entire season and one of my absolute favorites. Everything about her is just endlessly fascinating, her forced love of the Cleons, her surprisingly human feelings, her resolve borne of her programming—and her absolute ruthlessness.
When she named herself “the Emperor’s Pale Reaper,” I had to take a two-minute break to do a tour around my living room just to take in the sheer rawness of that line.
And she’s still connected to Day, in a way, because deep in the bowels of Trantor, as he stands trial in front of the Inheritance—whose members are sporting some truly impressive headdresses, it has to be said. The whole trial sequence is equal parts fascinating and terrifying, from the recreation of the cult’s history to the absolute unhingedness of its leader, Sunmaster, but it leads to some incredibly juicy revelations plot-wise.
Namely, that the Inheritance has been waiting for centuries for a messianic-like robot savior by the name of Daneel. And that Daneel is one of the names Demerzel had before being enslaved by the first Cleon. Meaning that Demerzel is officially Foundation’s Lisan al-Gaib—and if there’s one thing Dune has taught us, it is that there are few things as powerful as religious fundamentalism when a prophesied savior finally does appear.
Now, Sunmaster doesn’t seem all that eager to give up his power, even if he believes Day to be speaking the truth, but the fact that the Inheritance’s leader and hero is, in fact, alive and well on Trantor will surely be a major plot point in the final episodes.
One last note to mention the little robot handshake tune, which Day activates with the robot skull on Sunmaster’s staff by singing the lullaby Demerzel used to sing to him as a boy—that very same handshake signal, something that is quietly heartbreaking if one really thinks about it. It was her seeking connection, a connection with other robots, even when she knew it was impossible to find. Let me just say again that she’s such an incredible character.
Episode grade: B+