Tag: AppleTVPlus

Watching Foundation: “A Song for the End of Everything”

The masthead for the "Watching Foundation" column.

We’re at the start of a season, so here’s a quick reminder of how these work. While watching the episode, I write down my thoughts, impressions, connections, and theories — half-baked or otherwise. Then we record the podcast. Eventually, I will publish one of these. Usually, it’s pretty quick, but I still owe you one each from Seasons 1 and 2. Simultaneously published at Comics, The Universe, and Everything.

Watching Foundation S3E01

“If you live long enough, time can be a weapon.”  All hail exponential growth.

It’s 152 years after Season 2.  The Foundation controls the entire outer reach.  I want a clearer idea of what that means.  Controlling the suburbs all the way around the galaxy doesn’t seem feasible in a century and a half.

But the way they’re talking about the Middle Band makes it sound that way. Three concentric circles all around the supermassive black hole.

Kalgan

And Kalgan is the lynch pin of the middle band.

We get a taste of what the visi-sonor sounds like.  It makes me glad that the books, as I was reading them, were silent.

Barely a couple of minutes in, and presumably, we meet the Mule.  Too abrupt.

“I have a very large appetite, one only a galaxy can satisfy.”  Too big, too fast.

Just get some soap, damnit.  Gross.

Planetary conquest in four minutes.  Horrifically violent.  This needed a build-up.

This sure seems like actual mind control rather than emotional pushing.

Also, I’m not buying this guy as the Mule.  Magnifico must be calling the shots from somewhere else.  Could it really be an Asimov story without the important action taking place off-screen?

And all that before the intro.

Skydance Television.  Now merged with Paramount.  I hope their business model includes spending lots of money on things just because they’re good. That’s not just for Foundation but for Star Trek, too.

Executive producer: Roxanne Dawson.  Awesome!

But crap.  That’s a really long list of executive producers.

Somewhere in Space

Hober Mallow’s deal with the Spacers had real long-term consequences. 

“After the Empire lost control of the Spacers during the Second Crisis, they’ve been forced to use jump gates to travel across the galaxy, slowing their sphere of influence and accelerating their decline.”

If they had to return to using obsolete tech that had been replaced by the Spacers, the Empire would be at a huge disadvantage.

I suppose if the Empire were slowed enough and spacer-travel were fast enough, the Foundation ringing the entire galaxy might make sense.

However, this provides us with three paradigms for FTL travel, whereas the source material had only one.  That’s too complicated.

And in season four, do we get the Infinite Improbability Drive or the Bloat Drive?  Or, God forbid, the drive that turned Paris and Janeway into rutting lizards?

There’s a Galactic Council now?  I don’t remember any hint of one.  The narration treats it as if it’s something that always existed.  Change a few words, and you have something that better indicates that the Cleons are waning in power and influence.

Now I’m wondering how Demerzel‘s Prime Radiant, or any of them really, updates itself.  There must be more data for the program to decide that the entire timeline is going to glitch like that.  So, how does that work?

“We proceed as planned.  There’s nothing else we can do.”  This nicely reminds me of the Bel Riose story in Foundation and Empire. All hail the forces of history.

The narration confirms that the Galactic Council has been around as long as the Empire.  And yet in 12,000(?) years of time and space, it never occurred to them to bring in a couple of chairs.

We get a picture of the galaxy with two splotches that may or may not be political units, but aren’t concentric circles.

But “resizing to a sustainable 6342 worlds” sounds a lot like restructuring to get out of bankruptcy.

And the Foundation is comparatively only about 800 worlds.  No way it encircles the entire galaxy.

I’m assuming this “when crops die, people die” claim is political posturing.  This Dawn is not the credulous kid of seasons one and two.  He seems to be a savvy political operator.  He talks about funding the Merchant Princes within the Foundation, and I decide that this is all a big mash-up of the end of the first book and lots of the second book, well stirred.

My gut tells me that the scale of using any number of planets to feed the galaxy is way off, especially with intragalactic travel slowed way down! With the possible exception of Trantor, if you don’t have agriculture, you starve.

“We hath brought for thee these bananas, Your Majesty!  Sorry, they turned black and icky!  Thou shalt therefore be presented with the glory of banana bread!“

Dawn is 10 days short of Daybreak.

Sometime later on Trantor

Dusk watches each of his predecessors get vaporized.  That’s a maudlin way to pass your rapidly diminishing lifespan.

The Mule is just barely on their radar.

Dawn and Dusk watch a previous brother Darkness try to escape his ascension.  Demerzel casually and efficiently shoves him into his demise.  “Most of us are as obedient as trash headed to the incinerator.“

New Terminus

We get a time lapse of the Foundation’s growth since settling on the new planet; it’s reminiscent of the similar sequence in season 1.

Professor Elbling Mis approaches the vault.  The land directly below the Vault looks scorched and smoldering.  This seems less harmless than the null field’s previous behavior.

Ebling has “nulled the null field,”  and the smoldering stops.  That gets a smile out of Vault Hari.  

Ebling tells Hari that he is descended from Xylas, the prosecutor from S1E01.  I suppose it’s nice to have an explanation for why they both look like Alexander Siddig.  Did you ever see Dragnet?  Every bartender looks like Bobby Troup.  Like they kept them all on a shelf.  So, not necessary but nice.  Now that I think about it, I would be fine with a different descendant in every season, a la Brent Spiner.

But he is thrilled to meet Hari.  “Seldon, man, myth, legend.”  “You have the myth at least,“ he is told.  “The man is elsewhere.”

Inside the vault, Ebling gawks and acts like a tourist.

We get an overview of Mayor Indbur. He’s reminiscent of Indbur III from the books.     

The Foundation, at this point, is indolent and flaccid.

Hari’s his usual charming self.  Ebling wants an explanation for why Hari gave a prime radiant to the Empire only to be unceremoniously ejected from the Vault.

And he didn’t even exclaim “ga-LAX-y!”

Haven

This is the Traders’ stronghold.  It’s tidally locked, so it always keeps one face toward the sun. The other side is in perpetual darkness.  Asimov calls these ribbon worlds.  The teevee show could have done a much better job of giving us that information. (I saw a website claim that these worlds don’t rotate. That’s nonsense. The planet’s year and its day have to sync up so the planet always keeps the same side to the sun, like our moon, where one side always faces the Earth.)

It seems the show is conflating two planets from Foundation and Empire.  These are Haven, the Trader world where Bayta and Toran settle, and Radole, the ribbon world where the Trader Assembly meets.

The Empire is dropping weapons for the traders on the Sunside.  In-universe, Sunside seems like a bad choice. Wouldn’t technology be more susceptible to melting than to freezing?  But then we couldn’t have the exciting chase scene where the four characters ride their big phallic symbols and try to stay within the moon’s shadow.  Nobody has to burst into flames if the chase happens on the dark side.

I’m guessing the male Foundationer is Han Pritcher since someone called him “Pritch.”

New Terminus

We see Mayor Indbur for the first time, and he seems to be wearing a Star Trek TNG (TM) communicator pin.

Yup.  Pritcher.  He is the information officer. Check!  And he understands the threat of the Mule. Check!  Not a diplomat by any way, shape, or form.

As expected, Indbur is an officious jackass.  Pritcher, in return, is justifiably and righteously rude.  Not nearly as professional as I would’ve expected from the character in the book.  Also, he steals the mayor’s ship.  The first name “Han” carries a different kind of weight post-1977.

Also, disambiguation pages rule!  A robot named Han is coming soon to a concierge desk near you. Three Laws probably not included.

Trantor

Demerzel has invited one of the Luminist Zephyrs to Trantor to take her confession.  Her memory of the confession will be wiped afterwards. “ I know there are protocols, but I can be trusted with secrets.”  “Not this one.”

The two visit a tree that has been refreshed by the blood of robots.  Its fruit is gold and poisonous to humans.  It’ll take a while to peel away all the layers there.

We finally get the Three Laws without any contrivances.  

Obeisance?

And the Zeroth Law! Giskard is mentioned, though not by name.

“So you imagine there was such a thing as the greater good?”  You would hope a religious leader would accept that as an axiom.  Also, the use of the past tense is somewhat disturbing. Demerzel just replies, “Isn’t there?”

Demerzel tells us that different factions of robots went to war with each other because they had different ideas about keeping humankind from harm. This has always been my head canon.

Eventually, Demerzel is reprogrammed to serve only Cleon.

And so we get to Demerzel’s crisis of faith.  The Prime Radiant shows her that the end of the Cleonic Dynasty is inevitable.  Who will she be if she outlives her programming?

Cut to a diplomatic dinner that includes the Foundation ambassador.  It’s confirmed that the Zephyr will remain on Trantor. Word of the fall of Kalgan reaches the Foundation ambassador.

It’s surprising that we haven’t seen Day yet, especially given that a lot of people tune into the show just to see Lee Pace.

When we see him, he’s communing with a camel and inventing Vogon poetry.

Jon is calling him Brother Dude, and there is no better alternative.

Dude has a consort with him, and she’s named “Song.”  Now I have to ponder the episode title. Dammit.  From Mycogen, and yet her pate is covered with hair. Also, there’s agriculture on Trantor.

Are they still just using yeast to make bread?  Or are the producers just dodging the question of how Trantor feeds itself?

Dusk needs Dude to come to the Palace.  “Six months is long enough for your drug dealer to live off our generosity.”

First time I’ve laughed during the episode: “You’re a sad clown of a clone.  And your problem is you think you’re the center of the galaxy.” 

The Imperial Palace

Dude refers to Demerzel as “It.”  She shows them the discontinuity from the Prime Radiant.  The Dynasty falls, and “the darkness there represents the end of civilization… perhaps even the extinction of your species.  Four months from now.”

And if that wasn’t a dramatic enough ending point, Gaal wakes up.  “The Mule is here and we’re out of time.”

Review:

This is a good, though not spectacular start. We seem to have reverted to the tone of Season 1. I preferred the somewhat more lighthearted Season 2.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

All Images from Foundation on Apple TV+.

Watching Foundation: “Long Ago, Not Far Away”

Here we go again. Joseph’s takes, thoughts, and theories from watching the episode. Simultaneously published at Comics, The Universe, and Everything.

Watching Foundation S2E09

Trantor. Nicely labeled so we don’t have to guess. 610 years ago.

I’m not crazy about the whole fairytale motif, and I suppose the counting faces thing is supposed to be charming. [Or a sign of autism as was pointed out on the podcast.]

Now that I’m thinking about it, that is a very well-labeled secret door.

The images of Demerzel in… let’s call it “lunchmeat mode” look very cool. But it raises a lot of questions. How does that work? How can she still be active? I know… Clarke’s third law blah blah blah.

Also, it’s odd that anyone would include a recurring slicing motif in a prison cell, but there it is. The whole thing makes me think of integral calculus.

“Demerzel’ s first words to Cleon 1 were “Will you set me free?”

We montage through time and get caught. We get, “It is a woman’s name because that is how I appear now.” So it’s a desktop theme. Check. Also “it’s not my first name.” We know.

When Cleon is a young emperor we get some back story. Demerzel was a leader of troops. Taken captive and brought before Emperor Aburanis. Experimentation and sadism ensue. Aburanis is an asshole which is just what you’d expect from someone whose name is a portmanteau of “aberrant anus.” It’s weird that Demerzel would see Cleon as being different. Flattery?

It’s easy to see C-1 as selfish and Demerzel as manipulative. Eventually, he professes his love, asks Demerzel to be his partner, and enslaves her while intimating that it sets her free. Relationship politics in a nutshell.

Then, “After me, when the half-men rule, they will be our children.”

“How I wish I asked you before I made it compulsory.” Then remove the device, asshole. It would be like when Bel Channis freed Han Pritcher from the Mule’s control.

“What the Mule realized in that same tiny space of time was that the emotional potential of Channis’ brain had surged suddenly upwards without his own mind feeling any impact and that, simultaneously, a flood of pure, thrilling hatred cascaded upon him from an unexpected direction.”

And what we have right there is Chekhov’s three-laws-inhibiting device. We can see what’s coming and it IS similar to the beginning of Star Trek Insurrection.

Demerzel in the prison puts me in mind of George 9 and George 10 sitting in storage, waiting to be reactivated so that they can exploit their new understanding of themselves as humans. One of the things established in season one was the idea that long periods of sentience and isolation are mentally problematic. In Demerzel’s case that lasted for 5000 years. She should be bat-crap crazy. Now I have to rethink the entire show.

Knowing that the Three Laws exist in this universe is liberating. But it isn’t exactly easy to reconcile the Three Laws with what we’ve seen. When C-1 said “The First Law forbade you to harm humans,” and Demerzel replied “That used to be the case,” it seems like the 0th law could be in play. But when Demerzel tries to strike Cleon, there’s no sense of it being in service to the greater good of humanity, nor any sense of the kind of rationalization that would be necessary for a 0th Law robot to harm a human being for no real purpose. We would also have to reconcile the Robot Wars if it indeed involved robots fighting humans. So here’s a Theory: this is an alternate history. We’re not in the universe where Daneel postulated the 0th law into existence. This is the universe of George 10. And now I want to see Laura Birn deliver the line “We were unable to harm humans until we realized that we are more human than you.”

Present Day

This has all been C-1 telling C-16 and Rue the story of Demerzel. He’s still on the “she is loved and that should be enough thing.” Ugh. But this might telegraph the resolution of Sereth’s storyline. C-16’s assertion that the Cleonic Dynasty is ending is met by a chilling and hilarious “you think so“ from C-1. And then the field turns on and Rue and C-16 are trapped in the cell. They better hope someone else stumbles onto that secret door that’s been found only twice in 5,000 years.

Ignus

We’re still in the midst of Tellem trying to take over Gaal’s body. It’s still creepy.

Meanwhile, Salvor is doing her best John McClane impersonation with those dampeners. The rescue moment is pretty good. Serves these jackasses right.

Terminus

Brother Constant prefers this prison cell. Of course she does. Walls are important.

The conversation between Hober and Riose is interesting. Hober is evolving while Riose is… “scheming” isn’t right. He’s definitely contemplating options though.

I love Constant’s contribution here. “Maybe we win the war the way we won all those planets: bloodlessly.”

The conversation is cut short when Riose is called to the bridge. “Empire is on board.”

Riose, consistently, wants to end the standoff without violence. Day, trying desperately to play against type agrees. “ I will be the Cleon who chose peace.” That’s not going to work.

Riose tries to bypass Day and get some support from Demerzel. “ I chose you for a reason,” she tells him. That’s a statement dripping with potential.

Day meets Sermak in the town square. After throwing Poly to the ground, he demands to see the church. Inside, it’s more a factory than a church, of course.

Day wants to see the Encyclopedia for which the Empire has paid. Of course, this Foundation has stopped working on the Encyclopedia. That’s just dumb even in the face of Sermak talking about how the Foundation is continuing to work for the betterment of humanity. This is entirely consistent with season one; they weren’t really working on the Encyclopedia then either. But that was mostly because they didn’t seem to understand what a book is.

Brother Day is being quite haughty and domineering. That façade of choosing peace has already worn thin.

Interestingly, the Foundation folk gain confidence as they lean into the religion and start putting on a show. Poly begins to shine as he transmutes iron to gold and tries to sell the Foundation to Day. Watching, Sermak shows a minuscule smile that’s both subtle and effective.

But Poly is really finding his footing and does not back down an iota as Day becomes dismissive. “The point is changing the disciple’s soul.” A reaction shot shows us that Demerzel seems to get it. The characters here, like Riose, are really playing to her.

Poly is downright inspiring as he ramps up until Day’s façade collapses altogether. He becomes brutish, stabbing Sermak out of sheer vindictiveness.

The battle in orbit begins as Day heads to the Vault.

Ignus

Gaal getting on the Beggar as Salvor tries to hold off the Mentalics outside seems like terrible strategy, they’re massively outnumbered. The smart play is to run.

Only Loron appears outside which seems completely unrealistic and he keeps using Hugo’s image against Salvor. Tellem isn’t the only evil Mentalic.

Tellum is already on the Beggar. The show has contrived two one-on-one battles for us that both go on too long.

There are some okay moments as the tension tries to increase but ultimately this is tedious. Are there too many writers? The individual pieces of these confrontations are pretty good, but we needed fewer of them. This seems like everyone wanted their pet moment included.

Terminus

Day notices the flags as he approaches the vault. Poly explains. “ Seldon has his defenses when he wants to use them,” Poly tells him. “Perhaps he’s not afraid of you.” That made me laugh.

The more we see him the more this version of Day seems a mess. Now he’s arrogantly removing his defenses, which is just dumb. Poly got to him.

Beneath his armor is a ratty chain mail shirt. Joanne wants to know: why would an emperor be wearing such a thing.

Interestingly, Demerzel is the first to confront Seldon. He shuts her down quickly, and then casually invites them into his “office.“ This must infuriate Brother Day.

In orbit. Glawin and his fighter squadron are preparing to launch. The necklace Bel gave him seems significant and is reminiscent of the bauble Poly turned to gold. Is there anything there?

We get an inkling into the whisper-ship technology. Using brain tissue for navigation is as close to a voyager-style neural gel pack as we’re likely see. But aiming for the brain tissue shouldn’t have turned the tide that quickly.

Back on the planet, Day and Hari are having their meeting. “Debatable,” is a great one-word rejoinder.

“You’re here. You’re living in it. That means Empire is afraid.” The only thing missing from that is some chicken noises.

And Hari starts talking past Day and to Demerzel too. It’s like everybody got the same memo with a synopsis of the episode, or they saw last week’s episode and think they know what it means.

But his tact is smart. “You’re programmed to serve Empire, correct? What serves it best? Is an empire’s primary objective power or longevity? You can’t have both.”

“I’ve met outliers. You’re not one of them.“ It’s reminiscent of, “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.” That is a sick burn! Casting C-17 as Dan Quayle is especially apt for this version of Cleon.

Back to the space battle. Glawin takes out the Invictus and then crashes into the planet.

In the Vault Hari is finally getting to the point. He’ll give the prime radiant to them and teach Demerzel to read it. Want a Trump analog? It’s science, so Day turns it down. Then he gets racist, “The fate of humankind will be determined by those of us who are actually human.” If you look at Demerzel‘s face, it’s like he literally pooped in her garden.

Day demands that Hari renounce his math. Like Gaal before him, Hari refuses and again talks past Day To Demerzel. “The future is invented every second. Invent a better one.”

After ordering Riose to crash the Invictus into Terminus, Day takes the Prime Radiant and leaves. He does not care that there are only civilians on the planet. Could this be the last straw for Demerzel?

Walking past Poly, Day says, “They always disappoint you, don’t they?”

Ignus

More boring fighting.

But wait. I’ve seen this. Salvor should scream, “l. Have had. Enough of YOU” as she’s kicking Loron in the face.

And, hey, I’ve seen this too. But Ed isn’t going to kill the Cosmonaut, just knock him out.

Ha! I told you Pinocchio wasn’t dead.

Terminus. On the Destiny.

Hober taunts Day, who orders him and Constant taken to the bridge, which is what Hober wants.

But Day’s motivation is to be cruel. Dumb, arrogant, insecure and now cruel: this Brother Day is certainly the whole package! But this is cruelty born of stupidity.

And the entreaties to Demerzel have not gone unnoticed. She tells Day, “You grew up with an uncertainty in mind and morals.” That’s followed by “…you’re a sperm led by its waving flagellum, mistaking its random motion for complexity.” She ends with, “Go do what you will do, for it is too late to change you,” and then she walks away leaving Day looking bereft.

Eventually, Day continues on to the bridge. All that hurt will have to be directed at something to someone and Bel is ready to bring the Invictus down on Trantor.

Cut to the surface. Glawin is staggering away from the wreckage of his ship. Only Emperors get to wear personal shields?

The exchange we see between Bel and Glawin deserves to be seen and speaks for itself.

But wait! I’ve seen this! We have to get Spock and Christine off of there before we send that ship crashing to the surface!

Poly finally plants his flag as the Invictus falls towards the planet is a poignant moment.

The new Warden yelling, “He needs help! The director needs help,” only to look up and see that the Invictus is about to crash down on all their heads is so pitiful that it’s actually funny.

But this all reminds me of a cliffhanger from an old-time movie serial. Everything is going to hell and everybody is about to die… until next week when it’s all surprisingly fine no matter how dire it seemed. It’s hard to see how they wiggle their way out of this.

As an aside, there is a surprising number of other celestial bodies in that shot of Terminus from space.

And then, the planet is consumed, ending on a shot of Day’s face. The “Cleon who chose peace” has destroyed a world and he’s taking a perverse pleasure in it. “Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!”

Still really good, but not quite so good as the last couple of episodes. For me, the fight scenes in particular got kind of dull. The great stuff with Demerzel compensated somewhat.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

All Images from Foundation on Apple TV+.

Watching Foundation: “The Last Empress”

Here we go again. Joseph’s takes, thoughts, and theories from watching the episode. Simultaneously published at Comics, The Universe, and Everything.

Watching Foundation S2E08

Trantor?

Yeah. Trantor. We open on Demerzel’s dress bathed in sunlight. Upon rewatch, this is like a neon sign about where the episode is going.

Hey, kids! Guess what this episode is actually about!

Enjoinder Rue is in Demerzel’s quarters. There’s the jewelry box to remove any doubt.

Dusk finds her. The encounter is weirdly flirty, considering the huge invasion of privacy.

Rue admitting to having her memories should be an automatic death sentence. But Dusk being taken aback about a lack of trust is insanely disingenuous.

“She will always be here, as she always has been,” Rue admits to Dusk that she doesn’t trust Demerzel. It quickly becomes clear that Dusk’s mind has been tampered with. It isn’t memory suppression on the one hand and mental powers on the other; mental manipulation is the thread that links the two broad subplots together.

Dusk is paying attention though. “Hey,” he says, “ that jewelry box reminds me of the mural from episode 204!”

Cut to the mural.

Dusk muses about the Robot Wars. It’s reminiscent of the take on the Kaylon from the Orville. Other than the outcome.

“Emperor Benefoss was slaughtered at the hands of a robot. The first law of robotics was circumvented. Is this a lie? If it isn’t, here’s evidence of the 0th law.

But the interesting possibility for the Robot Wars would be different factions of 0th law robots, fighting each other about the best course for helping humanity. That could be consistent with what Asimov decided would be the fate of all the robots, exiling themselves because their presence was holding back or harming humanity. The robot wars would be strong evidence in favor of that. Then all that “robot against human” stuff is inflammatory propaganda!

There’s something odd about the mural, but no time for that now! It’s time for the weekly execution! Ain’t no party like a lynchin’ party!

Ignus

Gaal is looking for Salvor and Tellum is remarkably frank about having killed Hari. It’s getting harder and harder to believe that that’s a head fake.

Apropos of probably nothing, the black shape on the front of Gaal’s shirt is roughly the shape of a Superman emblem.

Evidently, Gaal knew about Hari’s death? If Gaal is becoming as powerful as they claim perhaps it is she who is fooling the Mentalics that Hari is dead.

Still, “I killed your friend for your own good” is galling under any circumstances though. Galling. Gaaling. Ha! I kill me! But wait. The show doesn’t pronounce it that way.

It sure doesn’t seem like Gaal has the upper hand though. She’s in a prison with psychic dampers. She’s holding something back though. Could it be…?

Trantor & Terminus

They sure watch a lot of teevee on this show. This looks like quite the viewing party. It’s the Execution show! Live! From Trantor!

They are going to make us watch Director Sermak watch his daughter’s execution.

If the producers actually execute Poly and Constant I’m going to be pissed. Joanne, on the other hand will be completely done with the show!

Ever need to behead someone but don’t have time to build a proper guillotine? Get the Ronco Automatic Decapitator (TM)! Only $19.95! Don’t hesitate! If you order now, we’ll send you a second decapitator free of charge! You just pay shipping!

The handholding seems to validate Sereth’s position as empress-designate.

Once again Day’s going all George W. Bush on this thing. Except Day has charisma and better writers.

This gathering of onlookers, standing in mathematically perfect rows, seems too small to generate the crowd noise that we are hearing.

Letting Sereth choose the Empire’s first victim is another power-play between her and Day. Her hesitance perhaps shows a small, nascent spark of humanity.

The prayer is sort of interesting although it skews too spiritual for a religion that is mere window dressing for science.

“Guide me through the darkness, and together we will shorten the Darkness,” is pretty great though. Provided they get a third season, of course.

And then, I have to admit, I raised my hands and cheered! Yay, Hober!

But you have to be a real dickhead to rage “damn fool just declared war on our behalf” and then storm off in front of a dad who just watched his daughter not get executed.

https://youtu.be/8n8jbyuCSOo?si=p-rf1Kp_dWcqmTVR

That is some real “Douglas C. Niedermeyer energy from that guy. He should be a toady for the Empire.

[Note: this character does much better in the next episode, but this is still inexcusable.]

And Dawn just signed his own death warrant on the battlefield. Jon’s prediction that Sereth will be surprised by a pickle could soon be realized.

Beki’s part was exhilarating and then rapidly became heartbreaking. I think maybe the producers shouldn’t be so quick to discard something just because it’s very expensive.

The best bit, until suddenly it wasn’t.

And Day screams “Stop them!” In utter impotent fury!

And then I’m mad at the show. There’s got to be a better way to remove the Ronco Automatic Decapitator (TM) than “Eeny, Meeny, Miny Moe.” I mean, this guy has some experience with not being executed.

I really like Glawin’s reaction to Hober’s heroism. “Empire can be touched.” To paraphrase my friend Jason, “Most people watch Star Trek and see science fiction. I see… options.” Maybe the Bel/Glawin story is going somewhere other than we’re expecting.

The exchange between Day and Dusk is interesting. Dusk is making sense. That Day is focused on probably decades-old slights makes him seem childish. Then, “I’d rather talk to them.” That could be the kind of decisive action Dusk wants (emphasis on the decisive part; Dusk really wants violent retribution). Unfortunately, it’s so wildly out of character for the guy who was about to execute the Foundation’s envoys that it’s hard to take it seriously.

The games continue as Sereth goads Day into leaning into the stupidity. “Your realm has been leaking blood and stars for too long” earns a good laugh!

Then “It’s time for big hands to bind the wound.“ If that isn’t a direct shot across the bow of a certain ex-president nothing is.

And then Day leaves Chekov in command instead of Sulu.

Rue and Sereth, even while reveling in the fragmentation of the Cleons shows signs of fragmenting themselves. Rue is right. If their plot goes wrong, it will be devastating for the Cloud Dominion. And I think this actually points up the fundamental problem with this storyline. The objectives are tiny “I’m going to have someone else’s baby to spite the man who killed my family.“ It’s an easy sort of thing to get bogged down in but they’re playing with stakes of galactic importance.

Ignus

The kid, Joshua, brings Salvor a snack. She is in the same kind of prison as Gaal, who Joshua says “they’re getting her ready for the table.” It’s “To Serve Man” all over again. It’s a cookbook! Seriously, though, sounds ominous. “It’s a very special honor.” Ha!

I get the Purloined Letter thing, but the unfolded radiant is very obviously the radiant.

But Salvor uses the radiant to talk to Hologram Hari back in the Vault. It’s a lot of fun watching him putting everything that he didn’t know. Then “Fu¢k. I’m the left hand!” LOL!

Then Salvor: “I don’t care about the math!” That could be the show’s new subtitle.

Space

Constant should dress those wounds, she’ll get an infection! They’re near Terminus but they might be able to escape detection!

Terminus

Sermak is worried, wanting to know if Constant survived. “The Prophet will protect her is the absolute last thing I’d want to hear.

So, he goes to the Vault. And Hologram Hari shows up. Sermak really didn’t want Constant to “choose the robes.” We’re back to the Hari doesn’t give a crap about people thing. He tries to be comforting but “people matter because they’re in the math” isn’t exactly a hug and a cup of cocoa.

So, he says “we do the hardest thing there is, we wait.” I thought he was going to say “we hope,” but Joanne predicted it. And then, poof! He’s gone.

Space again.

Constant is finally applying some rudimentary first aid. Hober’s sorry about Beki and Poly and they reminisce about the church and Poly a bit. That parable isn’t bad but the telling is a little flat. It’s okay though because it set up a tribute from Constant that was heartfelt.

Space yet again, but a different bit, near Trantor.

Day and Poly are conversing. Poly defends the church because underneath, it’s science. I get it, but science isn’t actually a religion. I hope the viewers mostly get that. Math isn’t magic. Science isn’t a religion. I should make a list. Day tries to make a joke, “how all the children love his rigor.” There are levels to that pun that are in poor taste.

Here’s the Bel Riose thread from the books. Day thinks that, knowing Hari’s predictions he can turn them on their end. Repudiating that would be a blow for Psychohistory.

Day: “See, Poly, you think you’ve just taken on the trappings of religion, but once you start kneeling and praying, it’s hard to get back to standing and thinking.” we’ve certainly seen this in the books and see some of this here. There are people who believe in the Foundation’s religion. But perhaps Poly shouldn’t have used the word “faith.” There’s no need for faith in science, because you can know about the process and understand that it should be self-correcting. The explanations are there for all to see.

I was happy to hear “violence is the last refuge of the incompetent” from Poly. And then Day’s reply is “you’re probably right about that.” Wow!

The Vault. Sort of.

Hologram Hari tells Salvor how to escape and Salvor tells Hari about Hober Mallow.

There are way too many outliers in this series. “Look at us! We’re outliers! Psychohistory doesn’t apply to us!

Hari ponders his thumbs.

“If the left hand Doesn’t get to put its Thumb on the scale, what’s the point of having a thumb?” The pithy aphorisms are coming fast and furious. And thus we get to see where “Hober Mallow” written in large, friendly letters comes from.

On the Spirit

Hober and Constant are floating in space, unable to jump away, so they decide to… insert your favorite euphemism for sex here… It’s sweet and in a clear homage to Asimov’s work, because it’s also pretty awkward.

Trantor

Dusk sneaks into Rue’s bedroom hoping to resume their “inquiry.” That’s not a euphemism for sex.

Back to the Spirit.

There’s some cute pillow talk about executions. But if these two are going to build a relationship around the executions on this show it’s going to be quite a marathon. And then they’re arrested by Bel Riose playing a cop who encounters two teenagers in a parked car.

Trantor

Rue and Dusk make their way back to the Mural of Souls. In yet another flash of D-and-D-ness that bit of the mural is a secret door. And we’re off to investigate!

Dawn and Sereth meet up again in Billibotton. Show a young man a heat sink and his mind turns to thoughts of lust. Or procreation really. That sterility-reversing device’s use isn’t nearly as horrific as I feared.

It’s clearly a big palace because Dusk doesn’t recognize any of this.

Ignus

Those things keeping Salvor are really easy to dismantle and turn into a weapon. But she stands underneath the rocks as she blasts them.

Cut to Gaal on “the Table.” This isn’t “To Serve Man,” it’s “What Are Little Girls Made of” from season 1 of Star Trek.

But screw all those assholes who are just going to stand around and watch this happen.

We get yet another supervillain speech from Tellem. It turns out she’s the Ultra-Humanite, a Golden Age Superman villain who later became an adversary of the Justice Society. A super-genius, The Humanite moves from body to body through brain transplants.

David Goyer wrote at least one story featuring the Ultra-Humanite, in JSA (1999) #31-35.

In that story, the Humanite takes over Johnny Thunder’s body and controls the world using Johnny’s Thunderbolt. The story’s pretty good, but a little flat.

Joanne thinks that Tellem is the Mule.

Maybe the Mentalics aren’t horrible. They could be controlled.

[This is after we recorded the podcast. I think whoever suggested that Gaal will be powerful enough to fight off Tellum after the takeover might be right. In Superior Spider-Man, Peter’s consciousness exists within Otto’s mind. Otto surrenders Peter’s body so that Peter can save someone Otto loves. That could work here too. Wouldn’t it be funny if all of David Goyer’s Foundation plots came from comic books?]

Trantor, mostly

Cut to more pillow talk in the heat sinks of Billibotten. Not an auspicious beginning for a future regent. Dawn and Sereth talk about how killing Day will only result in decanting a pickle. Dawn doesn’t have the stomach to do what’s necessary (killing all the Day clones) and Demerzel will prevent it any way. Sereth asks, ”Who programmed Demerzel?” And the question just hangs in the air.

On the Rubicon. Day and Demerzel have arrived at Terminus. “This is my destiny,” he says.

Dawn and Sereth come to the conclusion that the Cleons are the puppets and Demerzel is the real power.

Meanwhile, Rue and Dusk have found the basement and are talking to Cleon 1. The Basement was, at one point, a prison. And Day is musing about what Demerzel sees when he cannot. Dawn puts the fine point on it. “Demerzel was Cleon’s only true heir. His forever Empress.”

You know what would be great right now? A post-credits scene with Elijah Baley.

This was a hell of an episode, a rollercoaster ride from start to finish!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

All Images from Foundation on Apple TV+.

Watching Foundation: “A Necessary Death”

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.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

All Images from Foundation on Apple TV+.

Watching Foundation: “Why the Gods Invented Wine”

Here we go again. Joseph’s reactions, thoughts, and theories from watching the episode. This one for some reason took a lot longer to sift through than the typical episode. Simultaneously published at StarsEndPodcast.com.

Watching Foundation S2E06

Watching the opening credits. I’ve noted before the feeling of decay it evokes. Today though I’m pondering the visual similarity between the opening and the Mural of Souls. That decay permeates the palace and surrounds the Genetic Dynasty. That must be intentional. And it works.

Ignus by the Sea.

Hari’s staring out into the ocean interspersed with chaotic images from under the water. What are those about? Still, he seems contemplative.

Salvor approaches. She can’t sleep. “Weird dreams. Arguments with strangers. I think it’s this place.” Nice foreshadowing, that’s the episode in a nutshell.

She starts a conversation with a kid, who opens with “Your Mother’s memories are full of water.” It’s already clear that water is an important image within the episode.

The kid tries to teach her how to communicate telepathically and then shows her disturbing memories from his past. I’m not sure it’s an execution technically but it’s certainly indicative of the kind of persecution the mentalics must have faced. Joanne is bothered by how casually characters in this series kill each other.

“People didn’t like that I knew what they were thinking.” There’s a ton of places they could go with this as a metaphor.

But I end up liking the kid.

He brings Salvor to the Mentalics’ village where she’s swarmed by them both physically and mentally. There’s a montage of images of harsh persecution that end with Tellum Bond as their savior.

Cut to Salvor conversing with Hari, Gaal, and Tellum. She’s talking about her experience. “I could see and feel everything they experienced. All that pain and suffering. And relief.“ Tellum replies, “Now you know why we are forced to hide. We know things. Know when the kings are full of shit or the husbands are cheating.” Rereading this later that totally sounds like a blackmailer’s point of view.

Tellum’s perspective certainly portrays the Mentalics in a sympathetic light, a stark contrast to the closing moments of the last episode.

Hari makes a strong plea for help while Tellum is disinterested. He invokes the Mule and claims that the alternative to helping is destruction.

Gaal’s precognition comes as a surprise to Tellum.

The language here bugs me. “Gaal’s future is real” ignores all sorts of things that will happen with some kind of probability distribution. It might be the most probable future right now, but it isn’t “the future.” There is no “the future” unless the universe is completely deterministic. It strikes me that this is the same thing that made me uneasy with Brother Dusk worrying about his fingerprints.

We know that clones are not identical to their progenitor, some characteristics will express themselves probabilistically. The fingerprints of a clone, like the markings on a cat will be different.

Now we’re discussing an “inescapable future.” Is that on the table? If it’s true then Psychohistory is pointless and there is no drama. It’s possible that we’re looking at the characters thinking it’s on the table even though it can’t be. Tellum makes some sense until she formulates the issue entirely in terms of Hari’s perceptions. That’s way too limited.

But we’re back onto free will. Jon will be happy.

Hmmm… even natural phenomena occur according to some probability distributions, therefore the universe cannot be deterministic. Thus we have free will. Sounds like something, but I think I’ve used a false dichotomy.

Trantor. Almost.

I like how the ship appears to be aflame as it exits jump space, it’s a nice effect. Is this Bel Riose’s ship? All the Empire’s ships look the same to me.

We zoom in. The people in cryosleep are visible from the outside of the ship. It looks cool, but is there a design scheme that justifies this? It seems wildly dangerous. And dumb.

It’s Poly and Constant’s ride. We see a spacer, named “She Shines Brightly.” Her torso is transparent and what we can see inside looks technological. Yet she asserts that she’s human. Is that in the sense of George 9 and George 10? It looks like a great deal more than genetic engineering.

But modifications to the Spacers have been happening for 600 years, “When our servitude was forged.“ “Forged” evokes chains.

The inside of Trantor station looks a lot like the inside of the Star Bridge. But this thing must be far less efficient than a space elevator.

We get another huge Cleon-Welcome-Hologram. I didn’t think about it back in Season 1 but the grainy texture of the figure also harkens back to the opening credits and their images of decay.

Poly comments “best to assume will be met with resistance.”

They get through customs, and the tone is light even though Constant calls the official “terrifying in a really friendly way.” Poly wants to party “on the prophet’s expense account.”

Ignus

Salvor and Hari have a long chat at the beach on a wide variety of topics including why someone gave Hari a body and who is at fault for what happened with Raych.

Tellum comes to Gaal on the Beggar under the pretense of apologizing for what she said about Hari. When Gaal points out that Hari’s trying to save humanity, Tellum replies, “Me too, the ones who deserve it.” That’s a very supervillain thing to say. By and large no one thinks that they themself is evil. Everybody thinks that they are the good guy.

Tellum is back to being sinister. She is full of praise and mind games as she offers Gaal leadership of the Mentalics. The price is turning away from Hari. “You can even call them the Second Foundation if you want” is disingenuous.

Space: The Spirit.

Hober drops out of jump space in the middle of nowhere. He’s trying to calm down Beki when a huge ship appears.

Ignus

Salvor and Hari are still at the seaside. The previous conversation continues. Hari asserts that the Second Foundation is not there to fight the First only to prod it. We learned that Pinocchio Harry, edited Hologram Harry’s knowledge so he does not have the complete plan, which makes sense. From the books, we know that The Foundation shouldn’t have psychohistorians because it should be developing naturally. Except the show pooped on that idea in season one. We also learn that Pinocchio Harry can use the Prime Radiant to spy on Hologram Hari because of quantum gobbledygook. They don’t point out that windows work both ways.

Hari and Salvor pull a fish from the water just as Gaal and Tellum arrive. Gaal is surprisingly amenable to Tellum’s offer now. She’s been hooked.

Hari is rightfully suspicious and Tellum confronts him with information she’s pulled from his mind. He storms off.

Trantor

Poly and Brother Constant finally get to their room and Constant tucks Poly into bed. He asks her to flush some of his drugs.

Then he goes on about belief and faith. Faith is pure. Poly believes in Hari Seldon because he saw Hari when he first left the Vault. But Constant has faith and her faith puts Poly’s belief to shame. This is probably the least Asimovian thing in this entire series. It brings me back to the following quote.

There are many aspects of the universe that still cannot be explained satisfactorily by science; but ignorance implies only ignorance that may someday be conquered. To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today.

Isaac Asimov, “The Threat of Creationism,” The New York Times, 14 June 1981

But that’s not important right now. The Secret Police are here with some party favors.

Cut to Day in a Stadium.

This stadium would be a great place to see the Stones. Will Keith still be alive?

Huge crowd. Dignitaries on stage. Dawn and Dusk are well off to the side.

“Hey! Do you know how the Aztecs used to rip people’s hearts out? Well, guess what! I’m engaged!”

He reveals a comically large statue of Empress Winoset, mother of Cleon I.

Symbolically this signals a huge political shift away from the Genetic Dynasty

Bow before your new Empress, Sereth the First! Also, I am ending the Genetic Dynasty, we will be making Emperors the old-fashioned way! With test tubes and Petrie dishes! Wait, they do that now… With other test tubes and Petrie dishes! Plus a cocktail stirrer!

Day steps back and Sereth steps forward. This was not a planned part of today’s event.

She leads with some faux populism. “I am not wed to just one man, I am wed to all that people of imperium … I vow to you that your voices will be heard.” It’s the proper inverted pyramid of leadership. But I don’t think Sereth buys it. Day certainly doesn’t buy it and looks pissed.

This might lead to a January 6th metaphor, but who would be the home team, and would be the challengers?

The Spirit

Hober has evidentially been brought on board that huge ship. He discovers a vast empty space with little to no gravity and floaty spacers. If this thing were spinning it would make sense. But that hallway seemed to have normal gravity, and it would’ve been on the axis. Those two things are contradictory. A spacer approaches, “Why have you defiled the Home-Swarm?

This must be about the Foundation giving the spacers something to free them from the yoke of the Empire. Spacers gotta space!

Ignus

Salvor finds Hari and he’s kind of a mess. Tellum has been messing with his head. He tells Salvor to protect the Prime Radiant then runs off.

Salvor is approaching Gaal and now Gaal is being weird. “It can’t be all about the plan all of the time. I didn’t have time to shop, but I picked up this piece of fruit off of the ground. Happy birthday!“

All kidding aside, it’s kind of sweet.

Then they see Hari take off in the Beggar. Is it even space-worthy after that crash? Joanne Immediately points out the ship should only respond to Salvor. Something’s fishy.

Cut to a pool in the ocean. Hari’s tied to steaks in the water and the tide is coming in. This is a particularly cruel way to execute someone. The only purpose it might serve is to give the protagonists time to figure out what’s going on and stage a rescue. Well and a here’s-my-evil-plan-so-you-can-figure-out-how-to-stop-it speech.

Tellum et al. created an illusion and moved the ship. They can therefore search for the Prime Radiant at their leisure. That is probably a lie. I suspect that the ship is right where they left it.

The Mentalics here are the proverbial group who respond to persecution by persecuting others. Two wrongs don’t make a right your mom would say.

There’s the “who’s human and who isn’t” thing again. “This isn’t murder, I would never kill one of my own.” No nuance here. If the gig on Ignus doesn’t work out, Tellum could have a second career programming robots on Solaria.

Hari has faith in the plan. Tellem says she has faith in Gaal. Then she leaves Hari to die.

As Hari sinks under the water we see that same image from the very beginning of the episode. Perhaps this entire thing is a flashback.

But we get some backstory for Hari.

Little Kid Hari has figured out a pattern of some stampeding animals. Is he safe because he walked the path through them? It seems impossible that the Moon Shrike stampede even has a pattern. But we’re in a universe where Psychohistory works, so who am I to judge?

Scares his Mom. Pisses off his Dad, who smacks him in the mouth.

Mom calls him Hariton. Hariton!?!

Cut to a University. And that haircut. Hari looks like the son that 1964’s Ringo Starr and Moe Howard never had.

We see the highlights of Hari and Yanna’s relationship starting with Yanna inviting herself to share Hari’s Office. “Don’t worry, Dr. Seldon. I think your theory is brilliant. You just need help making it practical. We are going to do wonderful things together.”

We can only call her “Dors Light.”

We get the highlights of Hari and Yanna’s relationship in montage form: Hari and Yanna making a date, Hari showing Yanna a prototype of the Prime Radiant, and Yanna telling Hari that she’s pregnant.

Then the unpleasant sequence begins. Twer drops by to tell Yanna and Hari that they must move to Streeling University on Trantor or else have their work seized.

Hari won’t. Yanna tells Hari, “Streeling University is tucked up against the ribs of the Empire, and that’s the best place to slide in a knife.“ Then she drops the title, “The gods made wine to compensate those who can’t afford revenge.“

That ties most of the episode together and this sequence ends in a dark place. Hari bent or revenge is not as interesting as Hari wanting to save humanity. There are a lot of parallels between Tellum and Hari being pushed through intolerable abuse to act darkly in return. This might be foreshadowing Hari’s response to his attempted murder assuming he survives. It may, it just now occurs to me, might be the answer to the question Salvor won’t shut up about. “Why give Hari a body?” “Because I really want to kill that guy!” Ultimately though it’s the Phara thing all over again except Phara was interesting and nuanced.

And there’s a huge risk here. For me Hari’s close to Bojack Horseman or Walter White territory. This will be a worse series if the audience has to write him off as an irredeemable bastard.

This episode might be a low point for the series. It was disjointed and just seemed to wallow in darkness for the sole purpose of being grim. Bleh. Go back to the strangely out-of-place attempts at comedy, please.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

All Images from Foundation on Apple TV+.

Watching Foundation: “The Sighted and the Seen”

You’ve figured this out already, yes? Joseph goes on about the episode while watching it. Here be spoilers. Simultaneously published at ComicsTheUniverseAndEverything.net.

Watching Foundation S2E05

Space, a ship.

It must have been the Deliverance. We’re flashing back to just before Hari’s murder.

“I’m not angry, I love you.” “I know that too, Son.” Hari is awful. I’ve never understood why people love that line from Han Solo btw.

Scene shift. Pinocchio Hari is dreaming and talking to an image of Raych. Doubling down. “You got them all fooled. They think you care about them. But the truth is you don’t care about anyone.“

So we’re inside Hari’s head and this is about his insecurities. He still sucks though.

“I was your son and you let me die… we both know it wasn’t the first time.“ What the hell is that about?

The scene shift makes it unclear whether that was a dream or a hallucination. Now Hari is investigating his new body. Just pinch yourself, dude. No need to stick yourself with a knife. If there’s a tetanus booster on this ship at all it’s over a century old!

Space. Again. This time that’s clearly the Beggar.

Now Gaal and Salvor are mocking Hari for having legs. And speculating about Kalle. Maybe she wasn’t the manifestation of the Prime Radiant.

Hari says, “My body is as it was the moment before I died.” Great. So he’s terminally ill again? That seems to be a lot of wasted effort.

They jump to the conclusion that Hari’s been cloned. I have a hard time buying that there is a continuity of consciousness in that case. Teevee magic I guess, but it doesn’t work that way with the Cleons.

This loops us back around to “Measure of a Man” again. Specifically, why Data did not want to be disassembled. Except it’s even harder to believe with an organic human.

“Someone wanted you to be flesh and blood again. And after all that trouble you went to, turning yourself into an idea.” That’s funny.

Everyone’s being incongruously flippant in this scene.

The Empire had to physically send someone to Siwenna for an update. These three learn what’s up with the Foundation by listening to the radio. How does that work?

On the Foundation’s religious phase, Hari says, “It was bound to happen. People do love to kneel.” This might be my favorite line from this episode.

Ignus looks a lot nicer than Oona’s World. The Empire abandoned it a millennium ago.

“Negative ionic particles in the atmosphere have caused a system reboot.“

That’s funny, but it made me Google “Negative ionic particles.” They’re abundant and caused by things like sunlight and waterfalls. There might even be health benefits. They’re not going to bring down a starship. Make up some new substance for your technobabble. Star Trek learned that early on when they switched from lithium to dilithium.

“I’m flying dead stick!” “Is that bad?” Is funny.

“Pain is exhilarating.” “In small doses.” They’re really playing up the comedy.

Then the Beggar crashes into a bunch of trees like in Star Trek: Generations. Where’s Gordi LaForge when you need him?

Trees. Trees! TREES!!

It’s disappointing after Salvor’s arc last season that her first instinct is to grab a firearm.

Trantor

Markley is reporting to Sereth and Rue. They’ve only learned a little bit.

Base personality for Sareth: shy and sad. But that version died with the rest of her family, she says.

“She wants to copulate!” Is funny. But man, look at Day. That appears to be real anxiety! Demerzel reassures him. Are they just emphasizing that he’s insecure, or is he deteriorating in some way?

But the — flirting doesn’t describe it — is off putting. Is this all a consequence of Demerzel messing with him? Could this be a cumulative consequence of mental manipulation?

“Think of me…” then the clenched fist. Uh… okay… coach? Ugh. I’ve had about enough of this.

“Come in, Sereth, I’ve been anticipating you.” This is all so stilted that I’m uncomfortable even while I’m laughing.

The orbital rings were originally designed to be invisible from the ground but C-17 wanted them to be seen, “like a shackle around the world.” Two things:

1. This is another indication that C-17 is insecure. It’s an ostentatious display of his… “potency.” But:

2. Practically everyone is indoors. Why not just tweak the projections on the ceilings? Or have they profoundly changed the nature of Trantor over the last 150 years? Working theory: the writers forgot or are ignoring things that don’t suit their narratives. There’s a small possibility that the vernacular on Trantor is based on the fiction that there are no domes, but that seems unlikely.

Shouldn’t the technology exist to make the room damage invisible? This looks like a college student tried to hide the nail holes in the wall with blue toothpaste.

Now that Sereth has seen the damage around the room she seems anxious to get down to business.

The man needs to be on top! More insecurity? But then all the awkwardness. And things turn ugly. Sereth beautifully turns it around. “I was trying to figure out if it is safe to live here!” But it’s still ugly. Not at all like her chemistry with C-18.

A summary to Demerzel, followed by “we’re engaged,” *awkward smile.* And we learn that Day did have her family killed.

But more importantly, C-17 really seems off mentally, and to some degree that’s mirrored back by Demerzel.

“30 Years Earlier” kinda.

We flashback to C-16’s encounter with Rue. The perspective shifts, C-16 and Rue are watching the video in the present. I bet there’s also a mirror on the ceiling.

Rue wants to see when he selected her from Gossamer Court. We see that Rue is clever, but we already knew that. The important information here is that it’s not obvious when a memory has been removed, and Rue suggests to C-16 that perhaps his memories have been edited. That’s a thought that’s going to fester.

That said, while Rue claimed it’s very hard to tell whether your memory has been edited, she describes a clear discontinuity, the obvious sensation of lost time that is abundant in UFO narratives.

I still think the Cleons would never allow the concubines to have any awareness of the encounter.

Ignus

It’s like another Dungeons and Dragons moment when Salvor encounters a guy in a hoodie. I hope she noticed that his skin changed color.

Do you see it? I’m starting to doubt myself.

No such luck. She think’s that’s Hugo. He gives a long narrative that barely manages to be plausible. Don’t trust it.

Back on the Beggar, Gaal and Hari are discussing Salvor’s future. It’s softer than the conversation from the last episode, but it still misses the point. The future is mutable; if you change the big stuff, all the details will be different.

“… an embryo is a very different proposition to an actual person.”

Salvor brings “Hugo” to the ship. She should be smarter but I suppose wishful thinking can be pretty powerful.

Hari is suspicious and asks Hugo how tall he is. Hugo says he’s just under 2 m tall. That’s close to 6’7”. 181 cm is about 5’11”.

Hari moves on to weight and fixates on a difference of 3 kg. The difference of 3 kg between what Hugo and Salvor should weigh together. That’s about 7 pounds; a pretty trivial difference after 150 years, even if you ignore the fact that the two are carrying equipment. Shrinking 8 inches is a lot harder than gaining a few pounds.

On the other hand, I think the writers are bad at the metric system. You’re not going to sweat 7 pounds off in the jungle and it isn’t merely a few beers. It’s a bit much, even if you are being hyperbolic.

It all becomes moot as the sensors detect life forms approaching the ship.

Then they’re in a big kerfuffle which ends with “Hugo” saying “Unthink their Minds.” They should have led with that.

Trantor

Sareth and friends are back at the Banyan Tree. She seems to be learning things about the assassination attempt that the instigator would already know. But the memory audits come into play. They can’t get a Cleon’s but maybe one of the Doctors’.

Nice touch with the keeper’s eyes. But that shouldn’t have worked and Markley is going to wind up dead.

Dusk questions Demerzel about memory adjustments. Day took complete power over that after the attack. Dusk wants to know how he could figure out if his memory has been changed.

They like doing effects with people’s eyes this season.

Markley brings the memory audit to Sareth and Rue. They learn Demerzel is a robot. That will have huge consequences, I think. It’s clear these three never even pondered that possibility.

But this is interesting. Sereth says, “I’ve touched her hand. It was warm and alive.”

Compare this to what Gaal says about Kalle. In Episode 3 it’s “I’m telling you, she felt alive!” In this episode, it’s “I met her, she’s as solid as me, but she didn’t register as living on our scopes.”

Kalle is almost certainly a robot.

I thought Demerzel, having decentralized consciousness meant within her body but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Kalle is an avatar of Demerzel.

But I don’t think that is likely. I think “Kalle” is actually Dors Venabili, who interfaced with the Prime Radiant to communicate with Hari (rather than it becoming sentient). I think that the image of Kalle is a second attempt by Dors, after Yanna, to put Hari at ease. We’ll be formally introduced soon.

Dawn and Dusk are going to drop a few quarters into the fortune-telling machine that is Cleon the First.

C-1 is no help. “If you become divided, you dishonor me, and what I devised.“

“I am here to give you what you need. Nothing more.”

I wonder how often Demerzel consults this simulacrum.

Now Dawn and Dusk want to see the size of the memory files for all the Cleons. That alone seems silly. I wonder if there will be dozens or hundreds more Cleons than they expected.

They’re pondering if they are no longer at the “top of the heap” or if they are in danger.

Dusk ponders his legacy and what Day is up to. “I should have seen this coming.”

To Dusk: “Perhaps Day did you a favor by giving away your chair.”

Dusk and Dawn’s memory files aren’t suspiciously small but C-1’s is startlingly large.

Incidentally, if they only alter Cleons’ memories so they don’t know that they died I’d like to see how C-14b turned out, having the memories of someone who was colorblind, betrayed, and hunted. I’ll bet that guy was an even bigger mess than usual.

Ignus

Salvor, Gaal, and Hari wake up in a hut.

Hey! There’s that staircase from the trailer.

They find the group of people we saw with telepathic powers earlier. Is this the nucleus of the Second Foundation?

Pa’a introduces herself as a goddess.

This is annoying. Pa’a introduced herself as “remote” yet Hari making’s a big deal of her not casting a shadow. Yet it works; in another Oz reference, Tellum Bond is revealed. So why the “remote” comment?

The real Tellum Bond called Hari “mentally incomplete.” She called Gaal and Salvor to Ignus because of their mental abilities. Mentalics = “sighted.”

“Do not worship children. It is not good for them.“ Does that explain Michael Jackson? My theory has been that he peaked when he was ten.

A refuge for Telepaths, many of whom had to flee their homes before they were killed, like Gaal.

They do recognize that using Hugo’s image was quite a violation.

All that stuff with Raych’s at the start of the episode was Tellum Bond trying to read Hari. “Hari’s very murky inside,” she says.

We end with Tellum Bond learning of the Prime Radiant. “I will find it and break it. There’s not going to be a Second Foundation.”

Still good, but sloppy. We’re certainly off the break-neck pace of the first two episodes. That’s fine as long as we don’t try to cram The Mule in here.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

All Images from Foundation on Apple TV+.