RECAP: ‘Foundation’ Season 3 Episode 1 “A Song for the End of Everything”

If you’re invested in this show, by the time Foundation Season 3 Episode 1 rolls around, odds are you’re not here for the characters ; you’re here for the plot. Created by David S. Goyer and  Josh Friedman, Apple TV+’s Foundation has never been a particularly faithful adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels, which are largely considered unfilmable — at least as they’re originally told. But you can still tell the whole thing is based on an Asimov joint, because it is about a bunch of dorks obsessed with really complex math.

Asimov was a great writer, but writing people was never his strong suit. Characters were little more than pieces on chessboards of varying sizes to be moved around so he could explore the concepts he was interested in. In that regard, Foundation, itself a good television show that has added and changed a lot of the original story’s characters to give us something human to latch on to, is still very much like the books.

And boy, nowhere is that more obvious than Foundation Season 3 Episode 1, “A Song for the End of Everything.” Once again, it starts with a bit of opening narration from Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell). It’s 152 years since the Second Crisis. The Empire is shrinking; the Foundation is growing.

It now controls the entire Outer Reach and is pushing into the Middle Band, which is home to a bunch of ex-Imperial planets. Apparently, the most important of these is Kalgan, the pleasure planet. You’d assume this is a place for wine, women, and song, among other delightful dalliances, but if it is, we don’t get to see it.

Instead, we’re dropped into the edge of a cliff where Archduke Bellarion (Ralph Ineson) is waiting with a small army and several warships. He’s waiting for someone, and that someone is late. “Oh boy,” I thought, internally clapping my hands like a seal. “Ralph Ineson is a good actor. I hope he sticks around.”

Soon after the Mule (Pilou Asbæk) shows up, he has Bellarion’s daughter, and wants to trade her life for all of Kalgan: ships, soldiers, coffers, the whole shebang. Bellarion scoffs at this. It’s ridiculous on its face, but Kalgan is a buffer planet. Any change in ownership would trigger a response from both the Empire and Foundation. Besides, the Mule is one dude. Bellarion has an army.

Foundation Season 3 Episode 1 is built by its actors more than its characters.

As it turns out, the Mule, as he so generously explains, doesn’t need one. Like seemingly everyone in Apple TV+’s Foundation these days, he’s psychic, and his whole deal is that he can make people do things. Remember when this show was about math?

The Mule has Bellarion’s ships and soldiers open fire on one another, and wipes everybody out. When Bellarion is all alone and the Mule can’t get his signet ring off his pinky (apparently, you need one of these to be Kalgan’s head honcho, because reasons), the Mule has Bellarion bite off his finger and then shoot himself in the head while he walks off.

This scene is emblematic of the problem with Foundation Season 3 Episode 1. I have no idea who Bellarion is or why I should care about him. Gaal has told me that Kalgan is important because it’s a pleasure planet, but all I’ve seen of it is a cliff face. And the only thing I’ve learned about the Mule is he has psychic powers and is bad news, which… We already knew last season. This meeting could have been an email. It was really stupid to expect Ralph Ineson to be in this show for any length of time.

Don’t get me wrong; Ralph Ineson kills it. This scene is meant to build up the Mule as this big, scary threat, but Ineson’s the guy you’re watching. Asbæk isn’t bad; the Mule just isn’t that interesting. But then again, you could say that about many of Foundation’s characters. This sure is based on an Asimov joint.

After more narration from Gaal about how the Empire has to use jumpgates now because they don’t control the Spacers, we’re jumped to space, where Demerzel (Laura Birn) and the current Dawn (Cassian Bilton) are headed to see the Galactic Council, which represents the worlds that are under Imperial control. Demerzel’s been looking at the Prime Radiant again, and there’s a Third Crisis on the horizon (as a DC Comics Enjoyer, I find this choice of words very amusing). Still, there’s nothing they can do about that right now, so off they go to meet with the Council. Apparently, Foundation has been levying heavy tariffs on its grain-exporting planets.

Dawn proposes helping the Merchant Princes, a faction of Foundation traders who want to break free of the Foundation’s control. Doing so, he believes, will help them claw some of those planets back. Technically, the Council isn’t allowed to vote since Dawn, who ascends in 10 days, is there and not Day.

But Dawn deftly handles the Council (and, we learn, made sure he was pelted by some sterile soil on the way in for a little bonus theater) and then it’s back to Trantor. Unlike the last scene, this one actually teaches us something. This Dawn is smart, and the stuff with the Merchant Princes is going to have an impact on things going forward..

“A Song for the End of Everything” is all about moving the pieces around the board.

Back on Trantor, Brother Dusk (Terrence Mann) is grappling with his impending death, watching videos of past Dusks walking into the machine that turns them to ash. Dawn shows up and the two of them talk about what’s going on in the world (and how Cleon XVII’s bad decisions at the end of last season put all of this into motion). Dusk muses about how freeing the life of a pirate like the Mule must be. When Dawn asks him if he could run, as some Dusks do, our Dusk says no. He doesn’t have it in him. He, like many others, is “as obedient as trash headed to the incinerator.”

This is purely a character-building moment, and I love that we got it. Terrence Mann has been one of the best parts of Foundation since its inception, and it’s nice to see a Cleon grapple with the idea of their mortality, who they are, and whether any of it — anything they do — matters at all. We need more scenes like this, please.

And yet, we gotta have more Gaal narration now instead. Now we’re on New Terminus and we’re told once again about the Traders leaving. Professor Ebling Mis (Alexander Siddig) is headed to the Vault to warn Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) about the upcoming crisis.

He manages to null the null field, impressing Hari. Basically, everyone associated with the Foundation, Mis is a massive Seldon fanboy (biographer, self-taught psychohistorian, and a distant relative of the guy who prosecuted the original Seldon back in the day), but Seldon brings him up to the Vault. And they talk for a bit about how the Empire is doing better than expected.

Seldon admits to giving the Empire the Prime Radiant and tells him not to worry about it. What will happen will happen (apparently, he’s going to pop out of the Vault in three days). When Mis asks him why on Earth he would do that, Seldon boots him out of the Vault and destroys his null field dampeners. This scene could also have been an email. All we learn is that the mayor of Foundation, an Indbur from a long line of Indburs, fancies himself a king. Maybe Mis will be important later. Maybe he won’t. Who can say? Thank you, next.

Then it’s off to Haven, where the Empire is secretly trying to arm the Traders. Haven’s unique in that the side facing its sun is extremely hot, and the side that isn’t is super cold. When the moon passes over the hot side, it’s bearable—otherwise, death. Stay in the shadows.

Once the traders pick up the guns, two unnamed Foundation operatives chase them down while trying to stay in the shadows on Legally Distinct Star Wars Speederbikes. It’s a fun little sequence after so much exposition, which is what most of Foundation Season 3 Episode 1 has been.

They manage to stop the Traders (named by a guy with the last name of Mallow, ironically), but they don’t secure the guns, and apparently, their word that they were there isn’t enough, so… no proof. The female operative (I refer to her by this name because her identity is not revealed in this episode) attempts to seduce the male operative after the mission, but he’s a Foundation Man. No time for silly dalliances.

Foundation Season 3 invests too much in narration instead of development.

On New Terminus, we meet Mayor Indbur, who is British (derogatory), pompous, and likes candy. Here, we learn our Foundation Man is named Pritcher (Brandon P. Bell), and he’s come to Indbur for permission to investigate the Mule. Somehow, Pritcher has deduced that the Mule is not only psychic, but The Real Problem.

When Indbur, understandably curious about how on earth he knows this, Pritcher hits him with the old “we have people everywhere.” We know he’s right but Indbur can’t possibly understand why, so when Indbur proposes what would be for everyone but the viewers and Pritcher, who somehow knows better, compromise (Traders first, then the Mule), Pritcher throws a temper tantrum, knocks over his candy dishes, and, when Indbur grounds him, steals his key fob and takes his ship.

I imagine we’re supposed to like this. Indbur is kind of a jackass, and he’s presented with all of the character traits we’re supposed to dislike (arrogance, gluttony, being British, and so on), but in this case it only works because we know Pritcher is right, something Indbur can’t possibly know and Pritcher refuses to tell him.

Instead, he just pulls the “I may not play by the rules, but I get results” card. That’s charming when a character is clearly fighting against a system that won’t let them do the right thing; it’s not charming when you refuse to say why it’s the right thing and then dump a dude’s candy on the floor.

The writing of this scene revolves around us knowing Pritcher is right, but without that context, something Indbur doesn’t have, he just looks like a brat. We don’t see either of them again in Foundation Season 3 Episode 1. They’ve been moved where they need to be on the board. Time to jet off somewhere else.

Now it’s back to Trantor, where Demerzel has summoned Zephyr Vorellis (Rebecca Ineson) to unburden her (think Catholic confession, but for Luminists). The Zephyr will not be permitted to keep her memories between unburdenings because Demerzel is about to tell her the whole “I am a robot” thing.

Demerzel walks Vorellis through Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics. First, robots cannot cause harm or through inaction, allow humans to be harmed; second, robots must obey orders given by humans unless it conflicts with the First Law; and third, robots must protect themselves if doing so does not conflict with the First and Second Law. The problem, Demerzel explains, is that robots found it hard to know what would or would not harm human beings.

This led one to argue that robots needed a Zeroth Law that prioritized humanity over any single human being because, when left alone, human beings have this nasty habit of destroying themselves. So, the robots went to war over what to do about humanity, when one of them killed an important figure to follow the Zeroth Law; that was the beginning of the end.

Set up for this next leg in Foundation is focused on detailing circumstances, but not people.

Now, though, Demerzel is struggling with the Prime Radiant. She’s programmed to serve the Empire and loves the Cleons, but she also knows everything ends. Luminism is about rebirth, but she’s a robot. She’s not gonna die soon, and she is struggling with what would happen to her once the Empire falls.

This is one of the best scenes in Foundation Season 3 Episode 1, largely because it’s purely character-driven. Demerzel isn’t worried about what happens when the Empire ends; she’s worried about what that will do to her. We already know Demerzel struggles with many of the tasks she has to do. Watching her wonder what the collapse of the Empire might mean for her is a deeply needed character moment in an episode otherwise concerned with setup.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t last. Next, we’re moved to a dinner where we’re introduced to Foundation Ambassador Quent (Cherry Jones), who is great to watch in Foundation Season 3 Episode 1. It’s fun to watch her trade barbs with Dusk, but she has to leave when she learns of what’s happening on Kalgan, even though Dawn assures her he has no designs on the planet (sure, Jan). She also remarks on wanting to see Day, who hasn’t popped up at all yet in this premiere episode.

Lee Pace continues to be the highest point of Apple TV+’s Foundation.

But that changes on the next stop of our whirlwind tour. Turns out Day (Lee Pace) is in his hippie era. He’s getting high, looks like White Jesus, and is spending all his time cloning sheep, ferrets, and camels while hanging out with Song (Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing), one of the consorts.

When Dusk shows up to get him for Demerzel, Lee Pace delivers one of the best lines in Foundation Season 3 Episode 1: “Welcome to my filth.” Lee Pace is one of the best parts of Foundation, and he’s clearly having a blast here, and Day’s relationship with Dawn is cute. It’s nice to see a Cleon who’s over it all and just wants to vibe.

Day does come back to the palace, and Demrezel shows the Cleons the Third Crisis (back in my day, we called it Identity Crisis; these young’uns, man), which is, according to the Prime Radiant, happening checks notes about 4 months from now. Demerzel thinks it might be the end of the human race. What a downer. Then Gaal talks about how the Mule is here and he’s The Cause of All Bad Things. Foundation Season 3 Episode 1 ends with her waking up in her cryo pod.

I don’t know, y’all. Foundation Season 3 Episode 1 is a tough one. I like Foundation, but this felt like a bunch of table setting for a good meal. Yeah, there were some good character moments with Dusk and Demrezel, and we got to meet a lot of characters that will probably be important later, but there was also a lot of narration, jumping around, and table setting for next time, too, and in the grand scheme of things, not much actually happened.

I’m not a “Plot is King” critic; I like character moments, and I prefer it when characters drive stories. In Foundation, stories are driven by a math equation, and the characters move around like they’re numbers in a complex equation to be solved. In fairness, that’s kind of the point of Foundation, but it doesn’t always make for riveting television.

I think Foundation is probably too well-acted and produced to be really and truly bad, but this was a middling episode, which is hardly what you want from a season premiere. I’m still interested in where Foundation Season 3 is going; it’s earned that much goodwill. But everything around the Mule is just dull, so far. I hope he can become a better antagonist, or at least one as interesting as the math that set all of this up.

Foundation Season 3 Episode 1 is available now on Apple TV+ with new episodes every Friday in July, August, and September.