Foundation 3.09
Sep. 5th, 2025 06:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which it's penultimate episode of the season time, which means things get very dark indeed, though not in all storylines.
I am amused that something I have been mentioning with disapproval in my review of the first episode this season as a possibility now looks likely to happen, only in a way that I will dig instead of dislike. Back then, I was a bit disgruntled about Hari Prime getting written out (at least for now) and speculated it might be because Gaal will inevitably meet Vault!Hari and have the same kind of relationship development with him, and despite loving it the first time around, I wouldn't upon repeat. Welll, now that Gaal HAS met Vault!Hari, discovered he begrudges Hari Prime having created him as a tool instead of a main event and that he wants a body like Hari Prime got (btw, are we sure Salvor mentioned this last bit when she visited in s2?), and promptly lies to him to get his help, we're going to see Vault!Hari as angry at Gaal as Hari Prime was back when she caused him to spent more than a 100 years in the Prime Radiant at full consciousness - and I'm greatly looking forward to it. Because they are different from the Hari and Gaal at the start of s2. Gaal by now has blood on her hands (in more than one way), and this version of Hari, previously defaultingt to smugness, with Gaal suddenly displays vulnerability. A man in a well indeed; it's an image recalling Hari Prime locked in the Prime Radiant, and that's not the only echo this episode. I look forward to more shared scenes between these two again,and I think I'll get them, because after this scene, I bet both Gaal and Vault!Hari will somehow end up too close to the black hole in the finale and won't get away before the next time jump between seasons, leaving them how ever many years locked with each other.
A man in a most unpleasant well is Brother Day, no longer Brother Dude since he now has a mission, to wit: Free Demerzel! And I was right about that glimpse he got of Song and Ocean in animated conversation was signalling they would rescue him, believing him over their Evil Cult Leader (TM). No longer laissez faire Cleon XXIV doesn't want to escape alone, though, he wants that robot skull to bring to Demerzel (who alas doesn't appear to have heard it), and while he gets it, he also dispatches Evil Cult Leader, for which much thanks (that guy was only good for providing Day with his cathartic moment of realisation re: Demerzel and no longer needs to be in the story).
The only Cleon currently not on a mission and dispatching violence in this episode is Dawn, still menaced by the Mule and having crippled legs (so these nanites really must be out of commission, explaining why Demerzel still doesn't know he's alive), and getting a shock along with many other people, including the Mule, when Dusk unveils his Planet Killer. By destroying the home planets of the three delegates who were planning to hand over Trantor (and himself) to the Mule. Or, as Demerzel put it to little Dawn all the way back in the second episode of season 1: You will always choose this. Dusk visibly enjoys himself and plays it as his big badass moment ("Don't fuck with Empire"), but the show while giving him that moment also makes sure of reminding us what he's really doing there via Quant, who goes from being horrified at the slaughter of millions to being coldly angry at a man she had a long friendship and brief romance with and whom she's now disgusted by, reclassifying his gesture as a petty (bloody) temper tantrum. (Personally, I think both is true - I mean, handing over Trantor to the Mule would have been wrong on every level, and Quant said as much herself before Dusk went on his planet killing spree, but Dusk didn't really do it to save Trantor, or even to save Empire, though that was the argument he used with Demerzel, he did it because that's what Cleons with incredibly power do when feeling threatened (see also: Cleon XIII in s1, Cleon XVII in s2.) Cleon deciding to have as his last meal a little lamb rather underlines that. And I fear he's not done yet. I think despite his insistence he has accepted his imminent demise, he hasn't and will try something drastic to prevent it, and that probably will involve an action against Demerzel.
(No Cleon - despite current Day's earlier anger and disdain - has truly tried to harm Demerzel, and not just because they all imprinted on her as their mother/sister and in some cases lover; she's far too essential for the maintaining of Empire to do that. But this Dusk is in "it's the end of the world as we know it and I don't care" mode, so....)
Demerzel herself, having come to the realisation that she no longer sees her decisions as inevitable but as multi possibility, connects with the Prime Radiant again and talks to the entity therein who for lack of a better term we call Kalle, after the mathematician who wrote the proof Gaal and Hari bonded over back in the series pilot. Demerzel, like some viewers who noticed (I hadn't) that Kalle's eyes were shown flashing red back when, as were Demerzel's after she rebooted), clearly hopes this Kalle is another robot or what remains of one, and Kalle doesn't say yes or no, though she indicates she is NOT the Prime Radiant (which is what Hari Prime believed she was). We get some more background info about the end of the Robot Wars, about the last robots hiding themselves in the library of Trantor. "Folding" themselves is the term Demerzel uses. This, btw, may indicate that the state Cleon I. found her in as a child wasn't all the work of his ancestor, but that Demerzel, when she was hiding, might have separated into many parts herself (only to have the bad luck to be discoverd and be kept in that state). It could also hint as to what Demerzel speculates, that the Prime Radiant in addition to her memories and Yanna's craft has a third mother, i.e. another robot/ A.I. hidden in the library Original Hari might have made contact with. Which in turn could explain how he came up with the incredible tech for the Vault, which is something Gaal wants to know as well in another storyline, with Vault!Hari point blank admitting he/Original Hari had help.
Since Kalle is still cryptic, I am not sure anymore she is indeed another robot, or rather, not one of the ones who were hiding with Demerzel. She is definitely an A.I. of sorts, but since she did have the power of giving Hari Prime a new flesh and blood (not synthetic) body and no Asimovian robot ever had power like this, my current money is her being of non-human alien origin.
In conclusion: Hurry up, Brother Day! Demerzel needs you and the robot skull you are carrying NOW!
I am amused that something I have been mentioning with disapproval in my review of the first episode this season as a possibility now looks likely to happen, only in a way that I will dig instead of dislike. Back then, I was a bit disgruntled about Hari Prime getting written out (at least for now) and speculated it might be because Gaal will inevitably meet Vault!Hari and have the same kind of relationship development with him, and despite loving it the first time around, I wouldn't upon repeat. Welll, now that Gaal HAS met Vault!Hari, discovered he begrudges Hari Prime having created him as a tool instead of a main event and that he wants a body like Hari Prime got (btw, are we sure Salvor mentioned this last bit when she visited in s2?), and promptly lies to him to get his help, we're going to see Vault!Hari as angry at Gaal as Hari Prime was back when she caused him to spent more than a 100 years in the Prime Radiant at full consciousness - and I'm greatly looking forward to it. Because they are different from the Hari and Gaal at the start of s2. Gaal by now has blood on her hands (in more than one way), and this version of Hari, previously defaultingt to smugness, with Gaal suddenly displays vulnerability. A man in a well indeed; it's an image recalling Hari Prime locked in the Prime Radiant, and that's not the only echo this episode. I look forward to more shared scenes between these two again,and I think I'll get them, because after this scene, I bet both Gaal and Vault!Hari will somehow end up too close to the black hole in the finale and won't get away before the next time jump between seasons, leaving them how ever many years locked with each other.
A man in a most unpleasant well is Brother Day, no longer Brother Dude since he now has a mission, to wit: Free Demerzel! And I was right about that glimpse he got of Song and Ocean in animated conversation was signalling they would rescue him, believing him over their Evil Cult Leader (TM). No longer laissez faire Cleon XXIV doesn't want to escape alone, though, he wants that robot skull to bring to Demerzel (who alas doesn't appear to have heard it), and while he gets it, he also dispatches Evil Cult Leader, for which much thanks (that guy was only good for providing Day with his cathartic moment of realisation re: Demerzel and no longer needs to be in the story).
The only Cleon currently not on a mission and dispatching violence in this episode is Dawn, still menaced by the Mule and having crippled legs (so these nanites really must be out of commission, explaining why Demerzel still doesn't know he's alive), and getting a shock along with many other people, including the Mule, when Dusk unveils his Planet Killer. By destroying the home planets of the three delegates who were planning to hand over Trantor (and himself) to the Mule. Or, as Demerzel put it to little Dawn all the way back in the second episode of season 1: You will always choose this. Dusk visibly enjoys himself and plays it as his big badass moment ("Don't fuck with Empire"), but the show while giving him that moment also makes sure of reminding us what he's really doing there via Quant, who goes from being horrified at the slaughter of millions to being coldly angry at a man she had a long friendship and brief romance with and whom she's now disgusted by, reclassifying his gesture as a petty (bloody) temper tantrum. (Personally, I think both is true - I mean, handing over Trantor to the Mule would have been wrong on every level, and Quant said as much herself before Dusk went on his planet killing spree, but Dusk didn't really do it to save Trantor, or even to save Empire, though that was the argument he used with Demerzel, he did it because that's what Cleons with incredibly power do when feeling threatened (see also: Cleon XIII in s1, Cleon XVII in s2.) Cleon deciding to have as his last meal a little lamb rather underlines that. And I fear he's not done yet. I think despite his insistence he has accepted his imminent demise, he hasn't and will try something drastic to prevent it, and that probably will involve an action against Demerzel.
(No Cleon - despite current Day's earlier anger and disdain - has truly tried to harm Demerzel, and not just because they all imprinted on her as their mother/sister and in some cases lover; she's far too essential for the maintaining of Empire to do that. But this Dusk is in "it's the end of the world as we know it and I don't care" mode, so....)
Demerzel herself, having come to the realisation that she no longer sees her decisions as inevitable but as multi possibility, connects with the Prime Radiant again and talks to the entity therein who for lack of a better term we call Kalle, after the mathematician who wrote the proof Gaal and Hari bonded over back in the series pilot. Demerzel, like some viewers who noticed (I hadn't) that Kalle's eyes were shown flashing red back when, as were Demerzel's after she rebooted), clearly hopes this Kalle is another robot or what remains of one, and Kalle doesn't say yes or no, though she indicates she is NOT the Prime Radiant (which is what Hari Prime believed she was). We get some more background info about the end of the Robot Wars, about the last robots hiding themselves in the library of Trantor. "Folding" themselves is the term Demerzel uses. This, btw, may indicate that the state Cleon I. found her in as a child wasn't all the work of his ancestor, but that Demerzel, when she was hiding, might have separated into many parts herself (only to have the bad luck to be discoverd and be kept in that state). It could also hint as to what Demerzel speculates, that the Prime Radiant in addition to her memories and Yanna's craft has a third mother, i.e. another robot/ A.I. hidden in the library Original Hari might have made contact with. Which in turn could explain how he came up with the incredible tech for the Vault, which is something Gaal wants to know as well in another storyline, with Vault!Hari point blank admitting he/Original Hari had help.
Since Kalle is still cryptic, I am not sure anymore she is indeed another robot, or rather, not one of the ones who were hiding with Demerzel. She is definitely an A.I. of sorts, but since she did have the power of giving Hari Prime a new flesh and blood (not synthetic) body and no Asimovian robot ever had power like this, my current money is her being of non-human alien origin.
In conclusion: Hurry up, Brother Day! Demerzel needs you and the robot skull you are carrying NOW!
no subject
Date: 2025-09-05 06:31 pm (UTC)I am FEELING the Day-Demerzel plot and I just love what Lee Pace has done with Brother Dude's subplot this whole season. His change of heart is totally convincing and moving.
I was thinking Maggie would be revealed as an evil puppeteer! But no??
no subject
Date: 2025-09-06 11:33 am (UTC)(If he’s not a pupeteer, it might also be that his affection for the Mule isn’t the product of mental powers but naturally grown, and that’s why he still has free will, and can act against him. But I’m still waiting for the reveal.)
no subject
Date: 2025-09-06 12:52 pm (UTC)OOH excellent point, which maybe supports her being a mentalist or member of Second Foundation as well, possibly. Altho I like her being her scrappy charming self. And Pritchard may still be a wild card. It's such good plotting!
no subject
Date: 2025-09-07 09:49 am (UTC)The Cleons Strike Back? Revenge of the Cleons? Master and Apprentice?
Well, there's no such thing as a planet destroying super weapon, isn't there? *veg* My brain came up with same connection as well, and now I'm wondering which empire to award more points to. Team Krennic/Vader/Palpatine for greater versatility and ultimate long distance reach, or team Cleon XXIII for originality and building the whole damn thing almost single-handedly and completely in secret?
On a more serious note:
Otoh, Vault!Hari warned Gaal that something about the Mule’s (back)story doesn’t add up, so that reveal might stll be coming. After all, Gaal simply saw the Mule and Magnifico intertwined, and naturally interpreted that as the former dominating the later. But note NONE of the other converted love anyone else but the Mule. Magnifico, otoh, says (and I don’t think he’s lying) that he loves Bayla as well.
One rather intriguing theory regarding the matter that I've read somewhere online and which, while not 100% perfect, all in all holds up surprisingly well and would explain quite a few things: It's not Magnifcico who is secretly exerting control, but Bayta.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-08 07:08 am (UTC)Death Star vs Novacular: actually, the Death Star has to be in the vicinity of the planet it destroys, doesnt it? (See also Tarkin, after Leia gave him the fake location of the rebel base, saying they’ll get around to that one but have to make a point here and now and Alderaan is close whereas fake location is not?) Whereas the Novacular might not be able to destroy New Terminus which is supposedly on the other “end” of the Galaxy but can destroy three very different targets within the Empire, none of which are next door to Trantor.
Otoh: the Novacular operates with a black hole, and that’s insane and asking for an accident consuming everything around it. The Death Star has an in-built deliberate design flaw courtesy of Galen Erso, but otherwise is much safer to operate. :)
Also: yay, you’ve caught up!
no subject
Date: 2025-09-07 08:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-09-08 07:09 am (UTC)