We had seen in the previous episode of Foundation that the events of the world were not happening according to the calculations of Hari Seldon, and that bothered him way too much. Gaal had found out that there was a turning point that was going to happen 150 years later, but still there were also a lot of complications even then and they didn’t know what to do in the present time to make things come back on track. Gaal had seen the Mule in her vision, and it devastated her to know what he was capable of. So, let’s find out what kind of revelations are made in Foundation episode 3 and if Poly, Gaal, Salvor, and others are able to get a hang of things and understand what fate has in store for them.
Spoilers Alert
Did Poly Meet Hober Mallow?
The entire administration of the Terminus was not in favor of looking for a man just because his name had appeared on the vault, but Poly was adamant, and he was not ready to give up without meeting him once. Hober Mallow was a man of a dubious reputation, but he was known for his exceptional trading skills. Hober was not an honest man, and that is why almost everybody distrusted him. Poly considered the vault to not merely be an object but an embodiment of the prophet Hari Seldon himself. Poly knew that if the name of a person appeared on the vault, then it meant something and that Hober would have a crucial role to play in the war against the Empire. Poly was not exactly a believer, but he had trust in the psycho-historical calculations, and he believed that sooner or later, the downfall of the Empire would come.
Together with Constant, Poly went to Korell, which lay in the Whassalian rift to look for Hober. When Poly reached there, he saw that Hober was facing a death sentence, and the commander of Korell wanted to make an example out of him. Hober pretended to be a trader and tried to trick the commander and steal the eye of Korell, a precious diamond-like artifact that was mounted on the stick that the commander carried at all times. Hober tried running away, but he got caught. Just before he was going to be executed, he used the bracelet that he had come to sell, and changed positions with the commander, thereby once again deceiving him and making a fool out of him in front of the entire crowd. Poly, who was there witnessing all this, hurried back to the spaceship, knowing that Hober was going to try to run away in it. Poly and Constant got on the ship just in time and drugged Hober so that he would not cause any more inconvenience. They took him back to Terminus, and in the upcoming episode of Foundation, we will get to know what exactly happens when he goes inside the vault.
What Did Bel Rios Want To Do?
Demerzel at last convinced Brother Day to let her go to Lepsis penal colony, where Bel Rios was kept as a captive, and try talking to him about once again leading the 20th fleet to war. Demerzel reached there and gave Bel Rios, who was in pretty bad shape, an extremely lucrative offer. She said that if he agreed to work for the Empire and lead the battalion, then he would be set free. Demerzel knew very well that even after they offered him his freedom, it would be difficult to bring him on board, so she had a wildcard with her that she used when she saw her plans failing. She told Bel Rios that his husband, Glawen, was still alive and that he had been told otherwise so that he could be condemned to a life of misery and pain.
Bel Rios couldn’t understand, as for six long years, he had mourned his loss, and now he was being told that it was all a sham. There couldn’t be any greater punishment than what Bel had been given, and so he finally agreed to go meet Brother Day and find out if what Demerzel was saying was true or not. Bel Rios met Brother Day, and after talking to him in private, he realized that they really needed him and that he was in a position to ask them to do as he wanted, even if they were telling him otherwise. In Foundation episode 3, when Bel Rios finally saw Glawen in front of his eyes, it felt like the world had been freed of all the pain and grief. Bel felt alive after six years, and he knew what he wanted to do now. Bel Rios told Glawen that among the trillions of subjects that Brother Day had, only he was indispensable and that he was not going to waste that privilege. Bel Rios was well aware that Brother Day was scared of his popularity and that is why he was so skeptical to call him to lead the forces and Bel wanted to take full advantage of it.
He wanted to set things straight, but first, he wanted to assess the situation, get a hang of things, and then decide how he wanted to bring down the Empire. Bel Rios joined the 20th fleet, and he felt as if he could finally breathe. Bel Rios and his fleet are headed for Outer Reach, and in the upcoming episodes of Foundation, we will get to know what he makes out of the situation and how he uses it to his advantage.
Did Hari Seldon Come Back To Life?
Salvor and Gaal were in for a surprise in the third episode of Foundation. Hari had lied to them, and he hadn’t told them that they weren’t going to Ignis. We had seen earlier that when Hari was trapped inside his mind, he had met Yanna, his wife and Kalle, the great mathematician. Kalle had told her about a planet named Oona’s world, and that’s where Hari was going. After landing on the planet, Hari, in very cryptic terms, told the girls that they were not the only ones on the planet. He asked Gaal to accompany him on a 500-meter trek, as he had some important work to do there. Gaal didn’t agree with him at first as she had no clue what she was walking into, but after a heated argument, she finally agreed as Salvor told her to go once and for all and get done with it.
Hari and Gaal walked into the desert, and finally, they reached a cave where Hari said someone was waiting for him. They went inside, and to Gaal’s surprise, Kalle came out from behind a door that was hiding a secret passage. Hari told Gaal to go back to the spaceship and wait for him there. Hari said that if he didn’t return in 6 hours, then they should leave the planet and not risk their lives by coming to find him. Gaal was agitated, and she didn’t know what was happening there. She was sick and tired of Hari not revealing everything to her, and she didn’t like it at all when she was kept in the dark. Gaal came back on the ship and waited with Salvor.
After six hours expired, they lost hope that Hari was ever going to return. They were going to leave when the ground beneath them gave way, and their ship went below ground level. They saw a huge automaton-like structure rising, and they somehow managed to start their ship and escape from there. Near the cave, there was a giant stone structure of a man, on whose palm they saw Hari Seldon lying in an unconscious state. Gaal went down from the spaceship, and she couldn’t believe what she saw. Hari was alive. He was breathing, and he ceased to be just a digitized version of himself. Gaal picked him up and brought him on the ship.
We don’t know how Hari came back to life and if Kalle was also alive, or if it was some sort of magic that made Gaal feel so. But whatever happened in Oona’s World was very strange, and it has the potential to entirely change the narrative from hereon. In the upcoming episodes, there will be a lot of questions that Gaal and Salvor will have for Hari Seldon, and additionally, it will also have a huge impact on the scheme of things.
