This is it, the moment the entirety of Foundation has been building to. Not only do we learn that Demerzel is essentially a messiah for an entire religion thousands of years old, but we also get Brother Dude having an epiphany that may forever change the Genetic Dynasty and the face of the Galactic Empire.
Brother Dude stands trial for the crimes Cleon I committed against the Inheritance, but there are no witnesses or lawyers. Instead, we get Anatomy of a Murder if it were made by theater kids, with the entire trial being just a cool interpretative dance telling the entire history of robots and humanity. Essentially, it was robots that helped humanity reach the stars and expand beyond Earth’s borders. Robots built Trantor and the Galactic Empire, and then humans took those gifts and turned on their creation, hunting down and exterminating all robots. Except, there is one last surviving robot, one that the Inheritance believes will come back to remove all cruelty and misery — Daneel, their savior, their inheritance.
It is significant that the one Cleon to learn this story is Brother Day, the version of Cleon that usually goes from treating Demerzel like a mother when he’s young to treating her as an object. For Day, for every Cleon, Demerzel has been a Swiss Army knife — a tool to be used however they please. Now, after realizing in last week’s episode that Demerzel was always just a prisoner forced into loving them and gaining empathy toward her, Brother Dude takes one step further in his journey of discovery. He recognizes the futility of the Genetic Dynasty and how insignificantly small the Cleons really are compared to the robot that’s always been by their side. Really, the entire dynasty, the cloning, and the appearance of being never-ending, as an unmovable entity in the galaxy’s history, was but a poor attempt at being like Demerzel, the one truly constant in the galaxy’s history.
In an instant, Brother Dude sheds his non-caring and chill attitude and becomes an emperor in all his authority and confidence. Addressing the crowd, he says he wants to atone for the sins committed by him and his predecessors. The Cleons turned Demerzel into the monster they know themselves to be, even as she was the only one to ever love and believe in them. Cleon XXIV comes to terms with how minuscule a piece in Demerzel’s magnificently large story he’s played, and this directionless and careless man suddenly gains new purpose. He knows he probably can’t ever atone for his sins, but he can dedicate his life to help free Demerzel before she continues to play her role with the next Cleon as the galaxy descends into chaos. He may not be the hero of this story, but he can help Demerzel become it.
As Brother Dude finishes his speech, the crowd starts humming a tone, which the Emperor recognizes as the same melody Demerzel used to hum when he was a kid. Suddenly, the eyes on the robot skull on the staff held by Sunmaster start glowing, and the skull speaks, saying, “Initiating communication.” It is calling out for its kind. Unfortunately, Brother Dude doesn’t really get a chance to do anything, because Sunmaster decides it’s more important to hold on to his power than bring God back. He saw Song’s memories; he knows of Demerzel, but he doesn’t care. With that, Day is sentenced to death. A trap door opens under him, and the Emperor disappears into darkness.
In the meantime, Demerzel is having a crisis, as her three children are either dead, missing, or about to die. Upon hearing the news of Dawn’s demise, Dusk seems genuinely upset, but they’ll have to grieve later, because representatives from the Galactic Council, Cloud Dominion, and the church of Luminism are all in Trantor to finally discuss the threat of the Mule. Turns out, the possibility of the pirate using the Foundation’s whisper-ships is what finally convinces them to start listening. They come up with a solution — offer Trantor to the Mule, shut down the planet’s defenses, and lure him to sack the planet while they enclose him from outside. This is exactly what Gaal said would happen, what she counted on. The Empire is giving up on its capital and on its emperor, as Dusk tells them this would effectively end the Galactic Empire.
Though Demerzel and Dusk kick out the representatives, they tell them they were not asking for council but simply conveying a message. Well, even if they are about to give up, Dusk won’t. Dusk, who we’ll call Brother Palpatine from now on, shows Demerzel his last resort, the Death Star he spent decades and trillions of man-hours building — apparently, he came up with the idea when he realized Brother Dude would not be an effective dictator. What was once a deterrent is now the last hope for the Empire to stop the Mule and also Foundation in a single blow.
Hopefully, there might be one person who can stop the Mule before he brings obliteration to the galaxy: Gaal Dornick. Aware that Pritcher’s capture or his conversion would be catastrophic for the Second Foundation, she recognizes the end is near. She had over a century to plan for the Mule, and here he is ruining everything in a single move — taking Foundation after Gaal had served him Empire on a silver platter. She orders First Speaker Preem to evacuate the planet and take the Second Foundation somewhere secret, but he convinces her that the fight isn’t over. The Mule may have a stronger power, but he is but one Mentallic; she has many. And so, Gaal assembles her Suicide Squad and arrives on New Terminus with a new mission: kill the Mule once and for all.
The Prime Radiant
• The show doesn’t explicitly say it, but the people of Mycogen are definitely descendants of Aurorans like in the books, right? This is another case of the show doing something interesting with the adaptation, taking Mycogen (originally a part of Hari Seldon’s story) and moving it to a new story line while still serving the same function of connecting the history of robots to the history of the Foundation.
• Seldon talks to the Mule, who tries to ask about Gaal Dornick, but Seldon doesn’t know anything about her. Remember, this is the Seldon that is aware he’s a pawn in someone else’s plan but doesn’t fully know about the Second Foundation. He can’t be exploited by the Mule, but he can hurt him with the Vault’s powers. Surprisingly, Seldon lets the Mule live, because he has a secret that Seldon wants to learn.
• How is Demerzel unaware of the Novacula, given the reach of her knowledge and surveillance? Did she choose to ignore it?
• Demerzel gets mad at the Zephyr from the Luminism church that she’s been confessing to because she agrees with the plan to sacrifice Trantor to the Mule — like Demerzel did with the Star Bridge. Never make a robot mad, because they might do like Demerzel and just erase your memories.
• Dawn lives! Sure, his legs are a bloody mess, but he’s alive, and he’s now a captive of the Mule alongside Bayta. Turns out, Dawn’s nanites kept him alive just long enough as he drifted in space until a ship happened to pick him up.
