RECAP: ‘Foundation’ Season 3 Episode 2 — “Shadows of the Math”

Foundation Season 3 Episode 2, “Shadows in the Math,” opens itself up to some theorizing. The less voiceover we get during an episode, the better that episode is. Bonus points if that episode opens without any voiceover at all and just operates like a normal episode of television. I don’t have enough data to confirm this theory yet, but if Foundation Season 3 Episode 2 is anything to go by, it’s got some juice to back it up.

This is a better episode compared to the previous one, but it’s still somewhat bogged down by the amount of time it spends covering each part of the galaxy, which leaves little time for the characters. However, things are progressing.

Foundation Season 3 Episode 2 starts on Ignis, with the Mentalics waking Gaal (Lou Llobell) and Hari (Jared Harris) up from a cryopod nap. Notably, this is not the nap that Gaal wakes up from at the end of the last episode, when she ominously announced that the Mule (Pilou Asbæk) was here.

This is 151 years before that. Hari and Gaal are trying to get the Plan back on course, spending all but a few weeks a year in cryosleep. When they’re not nappin’ in a big tube, Hari teaches them about psychohistory, and Gaal shows them how to use their powers to fight the Mule. Foundation grows in strength; Empire weakens.

Foundation Season 3 Episode 2 features less narrative voice over and that makes it better than the last.

The issue, as always, is time. They’re not catching up fast enough. Hari isn’t worried so much about the Mule as he is about the Third Crisis, which will hit right afterwards. Gaal realizes that they need to stay awake longer, but Hari says that only one of them needs to stay awake. He’ll age, she won’t, but there’s no helping it, and Foundation Season 3 Episode 2 isn’t really interested in litigating it beyond both of them being sad about it.

So Gaal goes back into the cryopod, and Hari doesn’t. It’s a major plot point that Foundation Season 3 Episode 2 sets up and then doesn’t spend a lot of time paying off, at least immediately, which is kind of a bummer. But then, like I said last time, Asimov’s work has never really been about characters, and Foundation is an Asimov joint through and through.

The next time Gaal wakes up, things are very different. There’s a new First Speaker (think the Mentalics head honcho) in Preem Palver (Troy Kotsur) who uses sign language, which is a neat touch, and it’s been 148 years since her first wake cycle. Given that the last time she went to sleep, we’re about 50 years out from the Mule, and we’re told that we’re 4 years from the present as she wakes, it’s been about 46 years based on some back-of-the-napkin math. “Shadows of the Math” never really says exactly. And I thought Ellen Ripley took long naps.

Naturally, the first thing Gaal does is find Hari, now an old man. He notes that she’s mad at him and she tells him he’s earned it. There’s some genuine tenderness here, which works given everything they’ve been through together. Hari’s been carving statues of Salvor, Yanna, and Raych to help him remember them. Hari tells Gaal that she wasn’t supposed to be here, but that she’s at the center of whatever’s happening, and he knows she’ll be okay without him.

But what he really wants to show Gaal is something else. He pulls out a new Prime Radiant (with a fancy new series of steps to activate it) and shows her everything he has on the Eight Crises. The most important is something related to the Invictus (remember that ship?), and one assumes, given their earlier conversation, the Third Crisis. Then, he tells her he’ll see her the next day. He’s an old man, and he’s tired.

When he gets back to his house, he’s confronted by the Prime Radiant, once again in the form of Kalle (Rowena King), who accuses him of lying to Gaal. Hari admits to being unable to look her in the face and say goodbye. Kalle asks him if he’s sure about something, and that there would be no shame in dying here. Hari asks her to take him back to Oon’s planet and grant him another reprieve. But she tells him he’s already had it, and he did all he could with it.

This episode of Foundation expands the world, lore, and people.

It’s a great little moment; Hari knows his time is up, but like anyone, he doesn’t want to die. But after Kalle gently tells him that it’s not possible, and that he did well with what he had, Hari tells her he’s certain of doing… whatever it is they’re hinting at. Kalle opens a portal to… somewhere. No Spacers, no whisper drive, no jumpgate, just a portal in Hari’s house. That’s neat. He’s baffled, but Kalle promises to show him how it’s possible.

As they step through, Hari asks Kalle one last question. Salvor once noted that someone wanted him to have some skin in the game. He asks why. “Because we can’t,” Kalle answers. This whole scene nails what Foundation is at its best: a hint of mystery, more time with the characters, and some humanity, rather than everyone focusing on the math equation. We don’t see this version of Hari or Kalle again in Foundation Season 3 Episode 2, but it’d be shocking if this is the end of our time with them.

The next day, Gaal walks into Hari’s abode to find it empty and the Prime Radiant waiting for her, and she immediately understands what’s happened. We find her next in the courtyard with the cryopods, mourning the absence of her friend. It’s hard not to feel for Gaal here; Hari was the last stabilizing force in her life.

Everyone else she knew is dead. Preem shows up to sit with her, and while she can’t read sign language yet, she and Preem bond over Hari’s absence. Gaal tells him that she’d like to carve a statue for Harry like he did for the others, before she figures out that he’s Hari Seldon, and he’s already carved his own. Preem takes her to see it, and they enjoy a moment together.

After some voiceover explaining that she’s learned Preem’s language and Time Has Passed (and a flashback reminding us that The Mule is Coming and That’s Bad), we flashforward 4 years to Preem telling Gaal about how once the Mule took Kalgan, the Radiant’s timeline for the future just… stops, and kind of freaks out. Not great.

We already know this, but she doesn’t. After this very brief (and honestly kind of pointless) sequence, it’s off to Trantor, where Dawn (Cassian Bilton), Day (Lee Pace), Dusk (Terrence Mann), and Demerzel (Laura Birn) are also looking at the Prime Radiant and trying to figure out what to do about it.

Dawn, Dusk, and Demerzel are trying to figure out what to do about it (and Dawn correctly correctly guesses that it has to do with Kalgan), but Day is too busy getting high and figuring they more or less deserve this to care, and walks out after saying “If you need me, find a way not to.” Dawn tells Demerzel not to say anything to anyone about this until they can discuss it later and leaves, which leaves Dusk and Demerzel alone.

Dusk admits that he thinks he might know how Demerzel feels, given that he feels nothing in his life matters in the wake of this, and he’s only lived a short period of time compared to her. He also wonders if she might benefit from it. Without the Empire, she’d be free. When Demerzel turns to leave, Dusk sees an opportunity to bargain for his life, arguing it would be better for him to be here when this happens and not thrown out in a little over a week.

Dusk and Day take the spotlight in “Shadows in the Math.” 

We know that this particular Dusk is struggling with his mortality, and it’s nice to see that play out in moments of vulnerability like this. Demerzel turns him down flat, leaving Dusk wondering what to do next. I’ve said this before, but Terrence Mann is one of the best parts of this show, and it’s nice to see this subplot, which was teased in the last episode, getting more time.

Hey, speaking of Kalgan, the source of all modern problems in both the Empire and Foundation, we’re transported there for the first time in Foundation Season 3 Episode 2 next to see what’s going on with the Mule. This scene feels kinda pointless. We meet Skirlet (Alie Gie), the daughter of the late Archduke Bellarion (Ralph Ineson).

The Mule uses her to make the point to her staff and servants that he can compel anyone to do anything, including making a child put a gun to their head and pull the trigger, because if he wills it, they’ll want to do it “more than anything.”

Fortunately for Skirlet, the gun isn’t loaded (he removes the power source before giving it to Skirlet); this demonstration is more for everyone else, because the Mule admits controlling large groups is very difficult (which is a bit weird because we just saw him use it on an entire army last time without much of an issue). However, if he can find the right person, the rest will fall into place.

If there is one thing that we learn here, it’s that the Mule has a bit of difficulty getting someone to change their mind after he makes them want to do something. It takes some prodding to convince Skirlet to give him back the gun, and he ultimately has to promise that she can shoot herself later. It’s goofy, and the performances are good, and we get the idea that the Mule not only wants everyone to love him, but he needs it. Even with this development, I don’t know. It’s just kind of there.

Then it’s back to Trantor and Day, who is gambling away priceless sugar bowls (and also possibly cheating at cards, or maybe making his hands worse on purpose by pulling new cards out of the sleeve of his robes where he keeps his ferret?). Anyway, we learn that Day seems to be actually enjoying his soldiers (who seem to enjoy him back), and that one of his soldiers has a sick daughter with only a year to live.

We also learn that they’re cloning a new Dawn, which Day seems less than enthused about. When the soldier tells Day he can love himself, Day doesn’t respond, instead taking his ferret and going home. Character building, if nothing else (I believe Day when he says he wishes he could help that soldier’s daughter), and it’s fun to watch Lee Pace play Day as a stoner.

After some narration from Gaal explaining how the legend of Hober Mallow (Dmitri Leonidas) enabled his descendants to establish the Alliance of Traders. We’re then introduced to Toran Mallow (Cody Fern) and his wife, Bayta (Synnøve Karlsen). Marriage is a bit passé, but they’re trying to bring it back.

Foundation Season 3 Episode 2 thrives because of its performances. 

They’re rich and young and filming themselves for something called scatters (maybe the Kalgan version of Instagram? Or the robots who record them? It’s unclear; they’re rich and famous) and generally uninterested in being anything else (Toran’s uncle, who runs the Alliance of Traders, doesn’t seem to like him much) when Han Pritcher (Brandon P Bell) shows up to recruit them to spy on the Mule. Pritcher rightly clocks that they’re too rich, too callow, and too complicit to be really scared. Nothing that’s happening actually affects them.

What Pritcher wants is to get into a party the Mule is throwing tonight, one that Toran and Bayta are invited to. Using them covers the Foundation, which they figure out, and they seem into it, so why not? This is another one of those scenes that sets up something later, though I do appreciate Pritcher coming in and immediately skewering our rich kids.

Hey, it’s time to head back to Trantor! We’re back with Day at the pleasure palace he’s carved out for himself with Song (Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing). Day’s telling her about psychohistory and how bad things are gonna get. He doesn’t wanna be there when everything goes down, so he suggests they head to Mycogen, her home planet. It’s very cute in a decadent kind of way. Then Dusk shows up.

Dusk claims to have come to apologize to Day about the Radiant. But it’s a ruse to try to convince Day to adjust the timing of his incoming “ascension.” A Day adjusted it the first time, and a Day, he reasons, can do it again. Day, however, recognizes what’s going on and that Dusk has already struck out with Demerzel.

Day thinks the whole Cleon clone thing is unnatural, and to prove it, he takes a knife to his arm and watches as the nanites repair him in real time. To Day, they’re rag dolls masquerading as kings. He ends the explanation by flicking the knife in a way that splatters his blood on Dusk and walks off. Dusk is 0-2 so far. Again, great performances from Pace and Mann (and the good sense to give us a Dusk deeply afraid of dying) do a lot to sell this.

We’ve been bouncing around a lot in Foundation Season 3 Episode 2, but the episode eventually settles in Trantor for a while. Things shift over to Dawn, who is getting ready to be robed into Day. He’s a little depressed because he knows Day isn’t going to do this for him, but Dusk is here, and he’s happy to stand and help Dawn take his place as the next Day.

You get the feeling that these two are quite close here, and it’s nice to see a new dynamic to the Cleons. Dusk also promises Dawn a present he’s kept secret even from Demerzel, and to help him win over Ambassador Quent (Cherry Jones).

Cut to the surprise: the Novacula, a black hole bomb. The scientist who explains it to him gives us a lot of jargon, and it’s all very poetic. Big rousing score, you know. But the result is the same: they fire it (it looks more like a laser than a bomb) at a planet, and that planet essentially evaporates. Dusk made his son a way scarier Death Star! How cute!

“Shadows in the Math”sets up questions for the rest of this season to answer.

When Dusk asks how much remains, the scientist assures him that nothing is destroyed. Just changed. I don’t know, man. There was a planet there, and then there wasn’t. But I also didn’t build the Novacula (this sounds like Dracula on Novacaine), so what do I know? The scientist is proud that people will know that he has given them death. But Dusk emphasizes that the Novacula is only intended as a deterrent. Yeah, man, sure, ask Oppenheimer how that worked out. This is Chekov’s Novacula. If you put it in Foundation, somebody’s gotta fire it.

All right, now that we’ve crossed the “planet-killing superweapon” off the list, it’s time for some after-dinner drinks with Quent and Dawn. Dusk and Quent spend a good amount of the time flirting (and it’s clear how Dusk knows some of the stuff he probably shouldn’t), but conversation naturally turns to Kalgan.

Dawn isn’t worried about who owns Kalgan, but he is worried about the Mule, because he’s beginning to think he has plans to give it up. He’s worried about being prepared, and Dusk assures him he will be. It’s worth noting that Quent seems to catch some of his meaning there, and the little look she gives him is a lovely bit of understated performance.

Dawn excuses himself (he’s not a drinker), but Quent corners him and asks him what’s bothering him about the Mule. Dawn explains that he doesn’t like that the man can make unlikely things happen and asks, rather insultingly, if that’s what Seldon teaches or whether or not Quent set that aside for Imperial smiles and Brandy.

Quent maintains remarkable poise here when she says that she lives here because she’s devoted her life to Seldon’s teachings. Dawn apologizes and excuses himself. He has a meeting. He steals away to his chambers and pulls out a secret communicator. Who’s on the other end? None other than Gaal Dornick, who tells him it’s time to make himself useful. The plot thickens. Roll credits.

Foundation Season 3 Episode 2 is a substantially better episode than its predecessor. We got more great character moments from Day and Dusk, we’re learning stuff about Day, and there are a lot of plates spinning that could fall in interesting ways. And all without that much voiceover!

Questions abound: How will the Novacaula be used? What’s gonna happen to Dusk and Day when Dawn takes over? What’s Pritcher planning? Where exactly did Kalle and Hari go? Good TV focuses on its characters while raising new questions as it answers old ones. “Shadows of the Math” did that, and the show is a much better place for it. Now we just need to see how they pay off.

Foundation Season 3 Episode 2 is available now on Apple TV+ with new episodes every Friday in July, August, and September.

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