One more time. Joseph’s cogitations, ruminations, and formulations from his observations of the episode. And you know, here be spoilers and all that. Simultaneously published at ComicsTheUniverseAndEverything.net.
Watching Foundation S2E07
Trantor
Brother Constant and Poly are in jail. But sort of not. Imagine a cot in a high school gymnasium surrounded by seemingly dozens of armed guards. Jackie Chan could walk out of this arrangement at his leisure. It’s silliness that’s made for the sake of being visually interesting. Do you know what’s good for keeping someone contained? Walls. Perhaps we’ll still have them in 20,000 years.
I’ve watched enough Property Brothers to know that I’m not a fan of an “Open Concept.” Like Asimov, I like my enclosed spaces. But it’s a valid design for a single-family home. An “Open Concept” prison on the other hand? Madness.
But the dynamics are pretty much the same, Poly’s despondency in the face of constant optimism.
Day and Demerzel discuss this then the discussion turns to Sereth and the wedding. Demerzel is being weird here like she’s in love with Day and when Day backs away from her she seems stricken. She’s jealous!
Demerzel is strikingly different in season 2 and I want an explanation. Is it an after-effect of the positronic crisis? Did the Cleons change her programming yet again? Is she scheming?
The last visual of the scene reeks of isolation.
Now Sereth is watching her scene from episode 6 and she seems giddy and proud, reveling in Day’s anger. It seems a bit incongruous to me.
But Rue points out the obvious. You must never embarrass a man like Day.
From wiktionary.org: cynosure, n. an object that serves as a focal point of attraction and admiration.
Now for an impromptu trip to the gynecologist, a crucial scene. Does Demerzel look on the verge of tears? Sereth confronts her about being a robot.
It’s “hum-man-I-form,” not “human-form” damnit!
Now, not only were there Robot Wars after there was a pogrom. Demerzel was possibly the only survivor. I much prefer the notion of the robots simply leaving, because their presence was bad for humanity. As a quick aside, I read “With Folded Hands” by Jack Williamson recently. It is outstanding.
“For a long time, all robots were bound by three laws. The laws made me unable to harm a human or allow harm to come to a human. Now I am only bound by one law. I serve Empire.”
Two thoughts.
1. Goyer has given himself some ambiguity here. “Empire“ could mean the Empire. It could mean the empire currently personified by Brother Day. Based on the season so far, what it isn’t is synonymous with the Cleonic Dynasty. Furthermore, when Sereth asks her, “When the time comes… Will you serve me?” Demerzel repeats it, “I will serve Empire.“ It does not mean any random person who happens to be on the throne.
2. Also, this confirms what we already thought from S1, the three laws have been overwritten. In a way that’s too bad. Lately, I’ve been pondering what would happen if, rather than overwriting the laws of robotics, C-1 just inserted a new law into the hierarchy. “A robot must not harm the Empire, or through inaction allow the Empire to come to harm,” or something similar. There are only two places it could reasonably go. One possibility is above the 0th law. Call it position –1. That, for all intents and purposes, wouldn’t be significantly different from a complete overwrite. The other possibility though, is interesting. That’s between the first law and the 0th law. Call it position 1/2. In the short run, the fall of the Empire has dire consequences for humanity. Demerzel remaining loyal, would be totally consistent. But this would allow for a much wider range of possible actions. Demerzel could do subtle things to tweak the Cleons’ behavior. She could do bigger things behind the scenes like bringing down the Dynasty so that emperors have souls. Eventually, it could lead to a change of allegiance from the Empire to the Foundation. But it doesn’t necessarily have to lead to any of that. Interestingly, I think there are two ways to get there C-1 could’ve realized that circumstances could turn the Empire into a problem, but he simply may not have known about it. I’m certain Daneel never wrote the 0th law into any manuals or anything.
This now has me pondering a 0th law robot that is also religious. Scary. Could something like “we have to support Israel to bring about the end times” be on the table? We may have circled back to “kill all the humans.“
But enough digression.
“The moment you accepted Empire’s proposal your womb became imperial property.” That is dark. But in this context, it’s clear that “Empire” means Brother Day.
I feel like Demerzel and Sareth are falling back on some unfortunate stereotypes. They’re basically arguing over a man, but Demerzel is a robot and Sereth’s agenda goes far beyond that relationship.
Demerzel’s admission is along the same lines. It’s dumb and it’s emotional. It’s dumb because it’s emotional. Cruelty here was the point and it can do nothing but increase the troubles.
Ignus
Gaal’s powers are strengthening and she’s using them carelessly.
Salvor’s the wise one here. The fact that she can’t read anyone is a huge red flag! But it’s either Hari’s influence or Tellem’s that keeps Gaal from wanting to leave.
No sign of Hari though. That’s a bad sign.
Scene of people fishing for ghost mollusks on the beach. Loren is humanized a bit while they remind us of the persecution the telepaths have faced. There’s something suspicious about that boat.
Salvor tries flipping the coin. I liked it when the coin thing was about Salvor being able to predict how it would come up. The idea that it’s some sort of mystical lie detector is just so stupid.
The mollusks scream when they are dumped into the boiling water, and that just makes me hate these assholes.
The message that nature should be respected and one shouldn’t take more than one needs is sound. Tellem is such a flawed messenger that I suspect the producers want to undermine that message. Despite her words, her callousness is palpable.
The Home-Swarm
So it IS the Invictus problem all over again. But a caveat. How do the spacers get anywhere if they “jump-randomize?” Sounds like a random walk to nowhere.
Hober offers them “opalesk.” I’m not sure if this makes sense. The Empire’s power is built on controlling jump technology, but here’s effectively a race of beings that can “jump.” And 90% of them are not working for the Empire. How does that work again? Doesn’t sound like any Monopoly I know. More like having a hotel just on Baltic Avenue. Woo.
Still, 10% of spacers are forced to work for the Empire. Hober offers them not just opalesk but freedom.
Bel Riose’s Ship
Bel and Glawin are also watching last week’s episode while G flips through the Bhagavad Gita.
They’re called to the bridge where She Bends Light is studying the Foundation’s jump-ship. She’s impressed.
The Spacers seem to communicate telepathically. “Incoming message from the Big Giant Head!”
The Home-Swarm has Hober and the Spirit and they’re bringing both to Bel. Everyone seems suitably impressed when the Home Swarm arrives.
Ignus
A large society of outliers aren’t outliers and they can be worked into the math.
Gaal gives an excellent speech, better than I thought she was capable of. But it’s essentially in opposition to Tellem’s plans.
The Home-Swarm
She Is Center gives The Spirit and Hober to Bel. Hober tries to make a break for it and gets roughed up.
I was generally worried when Homer used Beki to fight Bel and Glawin. But he manages to jump from within the Spacers’ ship. Suddenly it’s clear that the Foundation’s technology is far more advanced than the Empire’s. The show has been slow-playing this. It’s quite an improvement over arguing about water clocks.
Bel Riose reports back to Day and Demerzel and asks for orders. He doesn’t get them.
We loop back to Glay’s concern that Bel wasn’t his former self and yet Bel has a complete and nuanced understanding of the situation, what would happen if he tried to rebel, and what the consequences would be if the Empire fell. He’s still acting out of compassion and he has Glay’s confidence once again.
This could mean that there’s nothing to worry about or it could make Bel’s fall that much more devastating when it finally comes.
Still, Bel and Glawin are cute together.
Trantor
Day and Sareth meet in the garden. He’s attempting to mend fences, she’s on edge. This might be the same place where Jerril met with Gaal and where C-13 gave Azura her punishment.
Sareth is brash. “I want you to know my family, they will be your kin as well as mine.”
Some excellent acting here but the bottom line is that Sareth knows Day gave the order to kill her family.
Now Dawn and Sereth are in the heat sinks of Billibotton. “I will sneakily have a genetically identical baby with you for the small hope that they will have kind eyes,” is not the revenge you think it is. Especially if C-17 gets to raise the kid.
From seemingly having the upper hand, Sereth has fallen fast. She’s kidding herself if she thinks this would be bloodless or a coup.
Poly and Constant are brought before the Cleons.
Poly is in prime form when he tries to convince the Cleons to make an alliance and grant them sovereignty.
Hologram Hari appears superimposed over Constant. “We sue for peace not because we fear we will lose, but because we know with mathematical certainty, if there is war, we will win.“
Day calls the bluff, “… have General Riose form an enclosure around Terminus… if the Foundation has technology worth having… it belongs to us.”
The funniest line of the episode is, “What kind of a ghost is this man you follow? Who keeps an elder in the dark as he uses the body of a girl?” The lack is self-awareness in this sentence could stun a team of oxen.
Ignus
Salvor is investigating that boat. Good. But then Gaal comes up and it’s all an argument. Shouldn’t these two trust each other already? [It was suggested in the podcast that it isn’t Gaal.]
Good for Salvor, finding out where the boat went. But then, damn. And Tellem is there?
“… It’s like I told you when we talked about the little creatures at lunch, sometimes you have to absorb the pain. Because sometimes a little death is necessary.”
Joanne’s words were, “Well, now I’m pissed!” And me too. But looking back, meta-analysis tells me that there’s no way the show is going to kill two major characters. This is all a head fake. And I have a theory that maybe the Mentalics are trying to kick Gaal’s power into overdrive. Maybe?
Much better than the last episode. Not flawless but a strong return to form.
All Images from Foundation on Apple TV+.
Stars End: A Foundation Podcast 