Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Foundation Season 3 Episode 5.
If you thought last week’s episode of Foundation ratcheted multiple perilous, brewing situations up a notch, then buckle up: Season 3’s official halfway point introduces a dramatic point of no return. Episode 5, “Where Tyrants Spend Eternity,” written by Caitlin Parrish and Leigh Dana Jackson, with Christopher J. Byrne in the director’s chair, stretches the threads the previous four episodes established until they snap with the ferocity of a rubber band — with the added kick of introducing new complications for the series’ ensemble to address in the aftermath.
Immediately picking up with one-half of last week’s cliffhanger, a disguised Day (Lee Pace) speeds his motorcycle through the streets of Mycogen, Song’s (Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing) birthplace. Five strangers in black garments accuse him of trespassing — except the figure they injure isn’t Day, but an older man Day paid to wear his distinctive armor. From his hiding place, the real Day observes this exchange with satisfaction before moving on. Imperial officers on Trantor have equally poor luck once they retrieve Commander Mavon’s (Ibraheem Toure) corpse from the river. Demerzel (Laura Birn) diagnoses how Day diverted their pursuit — by transferring his nanites into Mavon’s body — but rejects the soldiers’ offers to retrieve the sitting Emperor. In her mind, there’s no doubt Day traveled to Mycogen, but Demerzel’s current estimations also suggest no issues if they leave the wayward Cleon to his own devices. However, the problem of Day’s fellow escapee, Brother Dawn (Cassian Bilton), still needs solving. At least Dawn’s intact nanites are tracking and transmitting his flight path: Clarion Station.
Cue Dawn stirring awake from his nap aboard Gaal Dornick’s (Lou Llobell) ship, since his first-ever space-jump took it out of him. He wastes no time before asking Gaal about the psychic abilities she demonstrated when the pair were cornered by Imperial guards. Since Dawn seems unfamiliar with Mentalics, Gaal simplifies the concept by comparing her “talents” with the Mule’s (Pilou Asbæk) infamous skill set. Unlike her pre-destined foe, Gaal avoids compelling individuals unless it’s necessary. That said, even though she hasn’t intentionally influenced Dawn throughout their alliance, she’s become comfortable enough in her own skin that “sometimes it’s hard to tell” where her positive intentions start and her subconscious instincts end. Away from Gaal’s hearing, Dawn records an apologetic holo message to an unknown recipient.
Emergency Complications Lead to a Diversion in ‘Foundation’ Season 3 Episode 5
Meanwhile, Han Pritcher (Brandon Bell) disembarks on New Terminus and immediately finds himself escorted to a contentious meeting with Mayor Indbur (Leo Bill). The latter man dislikes having his planetary authority challenged, especially since Han disobeyed a direct order and, adding fuel to the fire, absconded with Indbur’s personal vessel. The mayor also frets over the political optics of Han, a Foundation intelligence leader, having publicly credible ties to Toran (Cody Fern) and Bayta Mallow (Synnøve Karlsen), the intergalactic fugitives accused of “kidnapping” the Mule’s balladeer, Magnifico Giganticus (Tómas Lemarquis). On those grounds, Indbur tosses Han — literally stripped of everything, including his clothes — into a cell.
As for the controversial Mallows and their musician buddy, the trio’s successful escape encounters its first major hiccup. The damage their ship received while fleeing Kalgan catches up to them in the form of a damaged jump-drive; their destiny, New Terminus, is officially beyond their reach. Magnifico plays a mournful soundtrack that’s appropriate for the dire mood. Toran snaps at the noise, prompting Bayta to defend and comfort the balladeer. With New Terminus off the board, their closest viable option is Haven, the base of the Traders and their current leader, Toran’s uncle Randu (Darren Pettie). As the metaphorical black sheep of his family, Toran isn’t enthusiastic (to put it mildly) about venturing back home. Those concerns seem warranted, since their ship barely enters Haven’s atmosphere before the planet’s defense systems blast the intruding vessel into a crash landing upon a stretch of snowy tundra.
Thankfully, for the sake of their survival, if not their emotional comfort, Randu investigates the unidentified ship and rescues Toran, Bayta, and Magnifico from freezing to death. After several minutes’ worth of back-and-forth sniping between Randu, a dissident waging a “guerrilla war” against the Foundation in order to gain the Traders’ independence, and the prodigal nephew who wants nothing to do with their ancestral legacy, Toran’s tired of recycling their respective old grudges and biases. He leaves to find Magnifico on the roof, bundled up against the cold and concerned about his fate. After assuring the balladeer of his safety, Toran shares his backstory: when Toran was 10 years old, Randu survived a crash that claimed the lives of his son as well as Toran’s parents. Although Randu adopted his orphaned relative, Toran believes he never measured up to Randu’s deceased son, and asserts that Randu didn’t hide his resentment. So, Toran left in search of freer skies. Magnifico relates to Toran’s dilemma in his own way; separated from the Mule, he basks in the building’s wide, open rooms, gleefully dancing across their floors.
Back in Randu’s quarters, Bayta’s adeptness with repair tools challenges Randu’s assumptions about a wealthy and conventionally attractive woman. “I wasn’t always rich,” Bayta reveals. “I’m from one of the Foundation’s jump-past planets. I’m what’s known as a climber.” When Randu questions where Toran fits into her ambitious ascent, Bayta admits she wondered similarly before realizing the heart underneath his pretty face caught her by surprise: “So I held on, stopped climbing. And now we’ll rise or fall together.” Hoping to score an escort to New Terminus, she openly dangles Magnifico in front of Randu as bait – like Han, Bayta believes the balladeer’s music can influence the emotions of its listeners. Her affection for Magnifico seems genuine, but when it comes to tempting Randu, she posits the advantages of the Traders having a bargaining chip like him in their corner. Magnifico might just level out the power imbalance between the Traders and Foundation and help the former successfully secede. Randu recognizes the ploy as a ploy, but since neither character has — as far as we know — lied about their goals or their methods of achieving them, her tactic seems to work. Either way, Bayta and Toran’s respective pasts confirm this power couple as more intelligent and devious than their vapid introduction suggested.
Gaal Dornick and Brother Dawn Make Their Move Against the Mule in ‘Foundation’ Season 3 Episode 5
As Gaal and Dawn near Clarion Station, she confirms the continued survival of a zygote seed that previously belonged to her late daughter, Salvor Hardin (Leah Harvey). Dawn doesn’t comment on Salvor’s death, but he accepts Gaal’s humanizing details with a quietly empathetic expression. Gaal, back to business, activates a database capable of blackmailing anyone with a name and a money trail. If they want to get an Enclosure order through the Galactic Council, then they need a show of force strong enough to win the numbers to their side. Dawn suggests Councilor Vynod Tarisk (Sule Rimi), a friend who represents the sectors just outside Kalgan’s independent borders. When Gaal re-emphasizes that the Empire and the Foundation’s fates depend upon the Enclosure vote passing, Dawn assures her, “I won’t blink. I’m a Cleon. We aren’t raised to be kind.”
Once the pair dock at Clarion Station, Gaal and one of her secret Foundation agents, Zera (Victoria Wyant), sneak Dawn inside the Council chambers and deactivate the building’s surveillance scanners. Dawn starts by visiting Tarisk’s home, catching the councilor by surprise. Tarisk refuses to support Dawn’s upcoming Enclosure suggestion, citing how his wife and two daughters are trapped on Kalgan. That’s rather tragically inconvenient for Tarisk, since the councilor helped facilitate the Mule’s coup to the tune of quite a few credits. Dawn unleashes all of his instinctive cunning, forcing Tarisk into obedience through career blackmail and lethal intimidation — before using the gun Gaal gave him to execute the terrified, half-naked woman hiding in Tarisk’s closet. Dawn doesn’t break a sweat until he’s alone, eyeing the innocent blood staining his knuckles and tossing the gun. Once Dawn addresses the Council with some well-placed words, Tarisk upholds his end of their “bargain.” The vote passes.
The Mule Unleashes His Trap and Gaal Encounters a Shocking Visitor in ‘Foundation’ Season 3 Episode 5
Their path cleared, the Imperial Fleet approaches Kalgan. When their Enclosure efforts reach near-completion, Tarisk flees the chamber to call his family. Once the fleet fully surrounds Kalgan, the Mule beams his own holo-call directly onto the Council’s screen. He’s already escaped their grasp to parts unknown, while the snares of his trap snap shut around Empire: the Mule channels all the energy locked inside Kalgan’s nearby jump-gate into a blast that vaporizes both the planet (which he only commandeered for its jump-gate) and the entire Imperial armada. With that, Clarion Station crumbles in a flurry of blaring alarms. A group of clavigers trap a fleeing Dawn on the stairs, before he raises both hands and orders the officers to “sleep” — except Gaal has disguised herself as Dawn to lure them off his trail.
The real Dawn, running blind, is stuck on the opposite side of the station. If he stands a chance of rendezvousing with Gaal, he’ll need to shed his official robes for an EFA suit. Yet he pauses, demanding that Gaal admit how strongly she suspected the Mule’s trap. It wasn’t a guaranteed fact, but defeating the Mule requires a weaker Empire and a stronger Foundation. Foundation can’t afford to let the Mule gain access to their resources, and Empire not only made a “large target,” but the latter’s forces never had a hope of beating the Mule even on their best day. “The council will seize full power over the Imperium and the Cleonic age will end,” Gaal declares, leaving room for the Mule to seize Trantor. Once that happens, Foundation can surround him and starve him out. She apologizes for lying to Dawn, but Dawn, feeling betrayed and manipulated, rips out his earpiece. He has barely enough time to put on his EVA helmet before Tarisk corners him in the airlock at gunpoint. Blaming Dawn for his family’s deaths, he fires. Dawn ducks, avoiding direct damage, but the fire blasts open the unsealed airlock door, spiraling Dawn and Tarisk’s bodies — one protected, the other not — into the cold vacuum of space.
Approximately the same time as his youngest brother’s plans go up in smoke, Brother Dusk (Terrence Mann) receives Dawn’s apologetic message. Dawn explains how he’s “trying to do something worthwhile,” but regrets that pursuing this path means he won’t be present for Dusk’s upcoming death. Dawn praises his sibling-mentor as a man who won’t flee his fate, but dare to embrace whatever the galaxy demands of him — all while hoping they reunite “wherever we tyrants spend eternity.” Dusk stares ahead, his face a mixture of frightened, shocked, and grieving. An intruder alert at Gaal’s airlock interrupts her own grieving. She races to the airlock hatch — and her guest might be the last face Gaal wants to see. “Gaal Dornick,” Demerzel, the power behind Empire, greets Gaal, the power behind Foundation. “It has been more than 300 years. You are looking well.”
Foundation Season 3 is available to stream on Apple TV+.
Foundation
Foundation Season 3’s official halfway point introduces a dramatic point of no return
- Release Date
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September 23, 2021
- Network
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Apple TV+
- Every character has satisfying beats this week, but Toran and Bayta emerge as promising and nuanced characters.
- Focusing on less storylines strengthens their dramatic impact.
- Demerzel and Gaal’s long-awaited opens up a range of potential future conflicts.
