Foundation continues its string of best episodes of the entire series with yet another thrilling hour of TV. As if the new and not-really-improved Cleons weren’t enough to make this the best season of Foundation yet, The Mule proves why he’s the secret ingredient this show was missing. This batch of episodes is simply incredible, and what Foundation has been building toward from the start. Pilou Asbæk proves that Game of Thrones really wasted him in Euron Greyjoy by not giving him more time to devour the screen, because Asbæk is delightful as not just an unpredictable Joker-like agent of chaos, but a genuinely smart tactician (well, also like the Joker in certain comics) who outmaneuvers everyone. A pirate prince of crime, if you will.
Before The Mule makes his move, we start with Dawn, who is understandably freaked out about Gaal’s powers. How can he trust her when she can’t even be sure when she’s manipulating the minds of others with her powers? While heading to the Galactic Council, Dawn sends a message to Dusk to apologize for leaving abruptly and for not being there for his ascension. Though every season keeps making the Cleon storyline better than the last, this is a whole new level, with the most human we’ve seen the Empire, and the most human the Cleons have been since Cleon I. There is genuine care, concern, and love between the Cleons (at least Dawn and Dusk), which makes this goodbye kind of heartbreaking, with Dawn saying he hopes the two Cleons can meet wherever tyrants spend eternity.
Arriving at the still-stunningly-designed Clarion Station, Gaal’s plan involves them blackmailing a council member into gaining the votes to enclose Kalgan. Dawn, who sheds whatever pretense of kindness or decency the moment the blackmailing scheme is discovered by the council member walking in on him trying to steal some private documents, decides to just threaten the counselor into supporting the vote or risk his entire family being murdered by the Emperor. It’s kind of thrilling to get a brief moment of the ruthless Cleon we’ve known for so long, even if he’s being a monster. With this, Dawn calls for a vote, and the councilman supports the enclosure — even if it immediately raises flags from other council members, given that the man’s daughters would be trapped on Kalgan. Of course, the vote passes and the Imperial Fleet encircles the planet, all according to plan.
Except, this is actually The Mule’s plan. He’s laughing in the message he sends to the council. He was not on Kalgan to begin with, but managed to lure the Empire’s entire military power there. This is not some bloodthirsty pirate contempt with conquering a pleasure planet like everyone thought, but a calculative master manipulator and tactician who knew the value of Kalgan and used it to acquire a larger prize — incapacitating the Empire’s attack forces. He sabotages the jump gate that the Imperial Fleet used to approach Kalgan and blows up its accumulated energy, firing it into a nearby sun, which not only destroys the gate but causes a massive solar flare to literally burn up the entire surface of Kalgan. Turns out Dusk was not the only man with a planet-killing weapon. The Mule has won, all is lost.
Just as Gaal predicted. Yes, Gaal. Taking a page out of Empire’s book, she planned this with the specific outcome of the enclosure failing. Sure, she may not have known the entire planet of Kalgan would burn, but she needed the sacrifice of the enclosure. She was never in it for Empire to defeat The Mule, but to have both take each other out. More specifically, Gaal needed the Empire to lose its fleet, to get smaller and die down because — thanks to Demerzel’s interventions due to having the Prime Radiant — the Empire is bigger than the psychohistory calculations accounted for. In order to beat The Mule, she needs to make the entire galaxy fit Seldon’s initial conditions, to manipulate entire planets and the whole of Empire to fit the original variable.
With the huge failure of Dawn’s plan and the enclosure, the Galactic Council (which, remember, gained power thanks to the Second Foundation’s manipulations) will have no choice but to take control of the Empire’s politics away from the Cleons, effectively ending the entire Genetic Dynasty. Gaal knows that the council, desperate to avoid another catastrophe, will try to appeal to The Mule through diplomacy. She is counting on the council offering the pirate warlord a prize big enough to entice him, but small enough that The Mule decides it’s not enough and makes a move for Trantor and the entire Empire. Once The Mule takes the bait and conquers on Trantor, then the Foundation can pull the real enclosure and lay siege to the Imperial capital by controlling the rest of the middle band and finally destroy The Mule.
It is clear now why Hari Seldon needed to be out of the picture this season, because Foundation is not fully the story of two women — one of them a robot — playing chess with the entire galaxy. This is now the story of Demerzel desperately clinging onto the Cleons and her paradoxical programming on one hand by trying to keep the Empire alive against the Foundation, and of Gaal using the Empire to take down The Mule while the Empire implodes from within. Now, which of the two is the less human? Perhaps we’ll find out next week, because who shows up at Gaal’s ship but Demerzel herself! She is quite surprised to see Gaal not only alive, but looking mighty fine for a woman in her mid-300s.
Unfortunately, all these mind games and chess moves mean pawns are caught in the middle. In this case, Dawn pays the price, as he is forced to run away from the many dozens of council members and guards who hold him responsible for Kalgan. Though he nearly gets away, he is caught by Tarisk, the councilman whom Dawn coerced into supporting the enclosure. The man is, well, justifiably angry, given his daughters were just killed. He shoots at Dawn, accidentally blowing up an airlock, shooting both himself and Dawn out into space to a nasty death.
With this horrible tragedy, our only hope is the Foundation avoiding a civil war and coming together to stop The Mule, but it’s looking unlikely. Han is immediately arrested by Indbur the moment he lands in New Terminus, and all his warnings about The Mule go ignored. Meanwhile, the Mallows barely make it back to the traders’ planet, Haven. At the very least, Bayta manages to convince his uncle Randu to help them, recognizing the value in Magnifico as an asset to beat The Mule. She thinks his music is the key, that it is what helps The Mule use his powers to manipulate people. Magnifico’s music is the weapon the Foundation needs and doesn’t even know they already have.
The Prime Radiant
• The moment you see a Roxann Dawson directing credit, you know you’re in good hands.
• Brother Dude made it to Mycogen! But Demerzel is now fully giving up on him. Free of her oversight and grasp, how long can he stay alive?
• Every episode this season feels quite monumental, like the climax of the season, despite us being only halfway through!
