In the 5th episode of Foundation Season 3, Dawn blackmailed Vynod into pushing for an enclosure on Kalgan because Gaal had advised Dawn to do so. She told him that that’d limit the Mule’s movements, and once Kalgan’s resources started to dwindle, the Mule would be forced to give in. The Enclosure was imposed, but the Mule one-upped the Empire and the Galactic Council and destroyed the Imperial fleet as well as the entirety of Kalgan with the help of the Jump Gate and the sun. That’s when Dawn learned that this was actually Gaal’s plan all along; she wanted to hamstring the Empire and draw the Mule to Trantor. That’s where she will choke him out with the help of the Mentalics of the Second Foundation. Dawn felt betrayed, but Vynod felt even more betrayed, because he lost his entire family, who were on Kalgan, due to this intergalactic chess match. And in an attempt to kill Dawn, Vynod died as well. Over at New Terminus, Pritcher was apprehended for breaking protocol. Meanwhile on Haven, Bayta, Toran, and Magnifico convinced Randu to go to New Terminus to convince Indbur that the threat of the Mule was real. Did they succeed in this endeavor in the 6th episode of Foundation Season 3? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Demerzel Confronts Gaal
Gaal is understandably shocked to see that Demerzel has found her, but Demerzel says that she simply tracked Dawn’s nanites, and that brought her to Clarion. When Gaal asks her about Dawn’s whereabouts, Demerzel says plainly that he has died after the airlock from which Gaal was supposed to extract him suffered an explosive decompression. Last week, I optimistically predicted that Dawn would survive because he was wearing that space suit; I stand corrected. Demerzel asks Gaal why Dawn chose to go on this mission with her, and instead of answering her question, Gaal tries to kill Demerzel. That doesn’t go very well, and Demerzel proceeds to choke the life out of Gaal’s body until she agrees to cooperate and talk to her about not one but two things: firstly, why did Dawn collaborate with Gaal, and secondly, how long has Hari known that Demerzel is a robot? Demerzel reveals that, somehow, Hari always knew that Demerzel isn’t human. Due to that transparency, Demerzel was able to give him the data and information that was stored in her system so that he could form the basis of psychohistory. Upon learning that, Gaal says that if Demerzel believed in Hari’s plan before, then she must still believe in it. And if that is the case, then she has to believe that Gaal is an integral part of Hari’s efforts to chart a future for humanity beyond the crises. Dawn believed in that—until he didn’t—which is why he chose to side with Gaal in the first place. In addition to all that, Gaal reveals the existence of the Second Foundation just to prove that Hari has prepared Gaal well enough to liberate the human race from the fascist grip of the Empire and ward off a threat like the Mule. That’s what convinces Demerzel to finally let go of Gaal’s throat, because she has finally figured out that the “anomaly” in her math is the Second Foundation.
Demerzel Wants to Interrogate Gaal
The conversation between Demerzel and Gaal shifts to the topic of the supernatural powers that the Mentalics possess, how the Mule is a malignant version of the members of the Second Foundation, and how the failed Enclosure of Kalgan was a calculated risk to defeat him. Demerzel wonders why she couldn’t see that via the Prime Radiant. So, Gaal points out that the Mule and herself are “outliers” in this whole equation; hence, the Prime Radiant gets glitchy if either or both of them are treated as a part of humanity’s future. That brings up Gaal’s ability to actually look into the future, i.e., the vision of the Mule manhandling her in order to learn about the Second Foundation. Apparently, the reason why Gaal can “predict” the future is because, much like the Spacers, she has the ability to view time non-linearly. Now, that’s where Gaal sort of loses Demerzel, and she demands proof of Gaal’s soothsaying capabilities. Demerzel essentially wants to use a special kind of interrogation technique, which involves extracting filaments from the subject’s body through their sinuses and “otoacoustic nerves.” This is a completely fictional method, by the way, and based on my cursory research, while there’s no such thing as “otoacoustic nerves,” there is something called otoacoustic emission. It’s basically the sound that’s made from the innermost part of the human ear. It’s usually a measure of whether your hearing is fine or not. In rare cases, otoacoustic emission is or can be used for biometric identification. And I guess that last part is the basis for Demerzel’s mind-reading process.
Demerzel Sees Gaal’s Vision
Demerzel finally sees Gaal’s vision and realizes that the confrontation that Gaal keeps seeing is going to happen in the Imperial Library on Trantor. However, Demerzel thinks that there’s more to it, and she forces the horizons of the vision to see if there’s anything else in it that can be valuable to them. That causes Gaal to suffer a cardiac arrest and triggers a system reboot in Demerzel, which emits an EMP charge and temporarily fries the vessel they are in. Demerzel uses her hands like defibrillators and restarts Gaal’s heart. But did it yield any answers? As per Demerzel, in four months’ time, Gaal will “be orbiting the ergosphere of a black hole.” The only other place where I have heard “ergosphere” and “black hole” is when Dusk was observing the Invictus. As you may remember, Hari’s predictions showed that Gaal’s path will lead her to the Invictus, and what Demerzel has said now is merely confirmation of that fact. But how is that going to happen? Does Demerzel know that Dusk has been using the Invictus to make a Death Star? Will Demerzel take Gaal to Dusk and convince him to allow her to use the Invictus to probably defeat the Mule? Well, for now, she just allows Gaal to live while she goes back to Trantor to assess if her “hallucinations” and “visions” will benefit the Dynasty or bring harm upon it.
Day Reunites With Song
In the Mycogen district on Trantor, while walking through the bazaar and looking like a cross between Chris Pine from Poolman and Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski, Day learns about the incident on Kalgan. He seems pretty apathetic towards it as he buys some food from a local vendor and proceeds to Song’s apartment. Okay, so, I predicted that Demerzel lied about wiping Song’s memory because, after the fall of the Empire, she wants the Inheritance to rise, and for that to happen, she needs Song to tell her people about Demerzel’s existence. Well, again, I stand corrected because it’s evident that Song’s memories are actually gone. She recognizes that the man standing in front of her is Day because all of them have the same face, but she doesn’t remember the time that she spent with him. She remembers Day choosing her as his consort, and she remembers coming back to the Mycogen district; everything that happened in between these two moments has been erased. Day tries to ease her back into his life by “gifting” her the makeup tools that he stole from Demerzel’s kit. But that doesn’t quell Song’s fear that she has done something wrong during her time at the palace, which is why Day has shown up in person to punish her. Day briefly tries to remind her that they had a great bond and whatnot but quickly comes to the realization that the basis for said bond was solely physical attraction and the spores that they used to consume. So, he urges her to just reinstall her memories, which Day has stolen from the database where all the erased memories are stored—it’s called the Memorium.
Oceanglass Saves Song
Even though Song says she doesn’t want her memories back, and she is happy not remembering anything that happened in Day’s company, Day keeps insisting that she plug the portable memory bank into her system. That causes Song to finally lose her cool, and she essentially tells him she is a very different person in comparison to the version of her that Day “fell in love” with. She was paid a lot of money to stay there, and she is okay with keeping the time in the palace and in the Mycogen district separate from each other. Day obviously can’t accept that, and he grows more and more aggressive with each passing second. I am sure many will even empathize with Day in this situation, but if you look at it from Song’s perspective, I think you’ll understand how scary all this must be for her. She has a member of the Cleonic dynasty yelling at her that they used to be in love and he wants her back. It might sound like a lucrative offer, but the approach is completely wrong. Day doesn’t have Song’s consent to restore her memories, and he is unwilling to accept that because he is not used to rejection. As a final Hail Mary, Day tries to manipulate Song by telling her that she had met a robot when she was at the palace. He knows that she is a member of the Inheritance, and he hopes that religion will compel her to say “yes” to his proposal. Thankfully, all this nonsense is put to an end by Song’s soulmate, Oceanglass, who comes to her rescue by blasting Day in the face with a gun that shoots electric bolts. Oceanglass is part of the Mycogen district’s security forces and has been tracking Day’s movements ever since he set foot in that part of Trantor. We don’t see what Oceanglass and Song are going to do the next day. Will they use him to broker some kind of deal with the Cleonic Dynasty? Will they just kill him? Will they imprison him and make him endure a concentrated version of the atrocities that the people of the Mycogen district were subjected to by Day’s predecessor? Whatever the case may be, I think this Day’s chapter is over.
The Mule’s Vision
The Mule has a conversation with Vandagh about a recurring vision of his where he keeps seeing the face of a woman. But after peering into Pritcher’s mind, he finally knows that it’s Gaal, and he has to do everything in his power to destroy her before she destroys him. So, for his next move, as he needs the Blacktongue, he orders Vandagh to prepare for departure. Before talking about where he actually goes, I have to point out a couple of things. Firstly, does the Mule waking up from sleep while Vandagh is by his side confirm that they are in some kind of a romantic relationship, or is that a reach? Secondly, does the Mule talking about “wearing someone else’s dreams” confirm that he isn’t actually the Mule but the real Mule’s puppet? Yeah, book readers have pointed out that it’s possible that Magnifico is the real Mule while the character being played by Pilou Asbaek is actually his general, Bail Channis. I don’t know how exactly the Mule’s mind manipulation works, but there’s a good chance that the real Mule has convinced Bail to think he is the Mule so that he can override whatever humanity is left in him and be as ruthless as the real Mule. The vision of Gaal that Bail sees is probably the same vision that the real Mule sees, but maybe it has been heightened, put on a loop, and stored in his mind so that even when the real Mule is far, far away from Bail, his mind continues to be shaped by the real Mule’s thoughts. This is just a theory, though. We’ll have to wait to see if this is proven this season. Coming back to the topic of where the Mule is headed, his destination is his New Terminus, and the same can be said for Bayta, Randu, Toran, and Magnifico.
Indbur Listens To Magnifico
Much like his entry into Haven, Toran has some difficulty convincing the security of New Terminus to let him enter their airspace. But as soon as he brings up Pritcher, he and his co-passengers are granted entry. Well, by “granted entry” I mean they are thrown into the same cell that Pritcher is locked up in, and it doesn’t take too long for Pritcher and Randu to reach for each other’s throats in order to continue the fight that was started on Haven. It’s only after they agree on the fact that Indbur is out of his depth when it comes to dealing with the Mule and that they can use Magnifico to convince the Foundation and the Traders that they need to unite to defeat this greater threat that they all calm down. That said, convincing Indbur to believe in what they believe is an uphill task, and after a lot of bickering and back and forth, the mayor finally agrees to let Magnifico play the Visi-Sonor, that too in front of some of the most significant members of the Foundation, and see if the hoopla around him holds any water. Magnifico’s performance enthralls everyone, and they come to the realization that that instrument and its user will be important in their inevitable confrontation with the Mule. But before they can ponder anymore on that topic, the fabled eclipse happens, and Digital Seldon gets ready to appear out of the Vault. While all that’s happening, Indbur goes to Pritcher to interrogate him about his trip to Ignis. Well, Indbur doesn’t know that Pritcher has been to Ignis; he only suspects that he isn’t working for the Foundation and that his allegiance lies somewhere else. When Indbur asks for some clarity, Pritcher simply says that whatever he is doing, it’s in service of Seldon’s plan. Hence, Indbur taunts him by informing him that Seldon (his digital version) is emerging from the Vault, and even though Pritcher is dedicated to his cause, he won’t be able to meet him because he isn’t being open with Indbur. That annoys Pritcher, but, sadly, he isn’t in a position to do anything about it.
The Mule Attacks New Terminus
At the end of Foundation Season 3, episode 6, the important figures of New Terminus show up at the Vault to meet Digital Seldon, and it doesn’t turn out as eventful as they thought it’d be. Digital Seldon goes on a tangent about the history of the Foundation, the Empire, and the Traders as if the galaxy has achieved the utopian standards that he has been programmed to dream about. It’s only after Toran mentions the Mule that everyone realizes that Digital Seldon is out of his goddamn depth. To make matters worse, the Mule shows up in New Terminus’ orbit in the Blacktongue and manipulates the minds of the planet’s defense forces to attack each other. Seeing that, Digital Seldon disappears and reactivates the null field around the Vault, compelling everyone to exit the structure as soon as possible. A lot of people lose consciousness as a result of this move by Digital Seldon, and many others lose their lives because of the aerial battle that’s going on amongst New Terminus’ battleships. Gaal learns about this development from Demerzel, and she tries to establish contact with Pritcher. Toran, Bayta, Randu, Indbur, and the others barely survive the onslaught. Magnifico’s fate is a big fat question mark. And that brings us back to the topic of the real Mule. Eagle-eyed viewers have pointed out that large-scale mind manipulation only happens when Magnifico is around. When he isn’t available, the Mule has to resort to brute force to get the job done. Yes, we are supposed to think that the Mule worked his magic on the defense forces of New Terminus after his arrival. But wasn’t Magnifico playing his Visi-Sonor to a large audience way before the Mule reached New Terminus’ orbit? So, it’s possible that he is the real Mule. All the stuff that he said about not doing the Mule’s bidding and working for the Foundation might have been a lie. Magnifico might appear innocent, but is that enough to trust him? I don’t think so, and hopefully, we’ll learn more about the association between Magnifico and the Mule and how the latter plans to take on Trantor next week. Until then, if you have any thoughts on Foundation Season 3, episode 6, feel free to share them in the comments section below.
