“When a Book Finds You” is the third episode of the third season of Foundation, and it’s almost all about the Cleons. And if there’s one thing I love about this show, it’s the relationship between these brother-clones in every single one of their iterations—that is to say that I really enjoyed this episode, even if it was conspicuously Hari Seldon-less. But I guess we can’t have everything we want all the time.
The episode opens with a small flashback of Brother Dawn—who I particularly like in this version, very Daylike in some things and still just like all the other Dawns that came before him in others—asking to consult a restricted book that was one of the foundational texts of psychohistory. And his interest in such a book is enough to trigger a chain of events that leads him to sit down with the hologram of Gaal Dornick.
The dialogue between Dawn and Gaal was one of my favorite moments from the episode—a reflection of sorts of the relationship Hari had with Day, Empire, and Foundation, more than three centuries later, and with a new threat that ultimately brings them together.
Gaal manages to recruit Dawn to her side, a sort of sleeper agent who should act only when the Mule steps onto the scene. I don’t know if it’s the chemistry between Lou Llobell and Cassian Bilton messing with my perception or the almost perennial shipper goggles I have on, but I felt like there was something there—and I am definitely interested in seeing where this relationship is going to go.
Once the flashback is over, the Brother Dawn in the present does indeed have to step up to the role he accepted to have, since the Mule is now here and ruling over Kalgan. Gaal suggests that he maneuver the Council to enforce a blockade on the planet to make sure the Mule can’t escape, which Dawn then brings to his brothers. But he’s still Dawn, and the power of the middle throne belongs to Day—who eventually refuses. He has his own plans, which include escaping the palace and living out what he believes is his very short future with his concubine Song in a blissful, drugged daze.
Except that he lets quite an important secret escape, and tells Song that Demerzel is a robot. Not the brightest move, maybe, when this is a world where robots are profoundly hated—something that, I have to admit, is one of my favorite sci-fi tropes out there. I just love it when masters of science fiction give us warnings about where our world may be headed, and we just refuse to listen to them!
Song’s attitude immediately changes as soon as she learns Demerzel’s true nature. She doesn’t want to leave the palace anymore; she’s careful around Day, it’s like she’s a completely different person. It’s a shift that’s impossible not to notice and that got me thinking. At first, I assumed she would have been revealed to be some sort of spy or a double agent. But we learn the truth in the very last sequence of the episode—she’s part of an outlaw cult that worships robots and believes they’ll return one day to bring order and justice to everyone.
And the one thing Demerzel is programmed to do is protect the Dynasty and protect her secret. So she erases Song’s memories and sends her back home, away from Day, who has quite the predictable fit of rage over it. I found the final shot of Lee Pace’s face particularly haunting—capable of capturing the despair of someone who tries to be different, tries to go outside what has been preordained for him, but somehow always finds himself dragged back to it all. A caged Day is something we haven’t had the chance to see, considering his attitude during the show’s previous two seasons.
Still, my favorite scene of the episode probably has to be the moment of levity between the brothers, which begins with a beautiful example of their synchronization—something that always makes me jump whenever we see it in all its glory—and devolves into a drinking session to celebrate Dawn’s robing ceremony.
I’m nothing if not someone who loves when complicated family relationships are at the heart of stories, and this scene was a testament to how Dawn, Day, and Dusk do consider themselves brothers as well as each other’s father figures. And so, like normal brothers, they sneak alcohol to one another after a very important day. A simple family moment to which we are party only for a while before the camera brings us away—almost as if it wants to leave the Cleons at least a little bit of privacy.
The only other planet we visit during “When a Book Finds You” is Kalgan, the center of all the conversations, both on the side of the Empire and on that of the Foundation. We arrive at a very capital city-style party with Toran, Bayta and Han, which very soon devolves into chaos that includes half a flayed hand—and here I am contractually obligated to make a joke about Pilou Asbaek played a Greyjoy in Game of Thrones but maybe he could have been a perfect Bolton as well, in the right circumstances—a stolen herald and cannons firing at a ship.
I don’t think Toran and Bayta are just there for some levity, and I’m sure they’ll have a considerable part to play as the season continues besides stealing servants from the Mule. What they have achieved this episode, though, is showing us just how chilling of a villain the Mule is. The kind of villain that is calm and psycho and terrifying, who wants to control everything, maybe just to see it burn. I really can’t wait for the day we see a true showdown between him and our main characters.
Episode grade: B+
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