RECAP: ‘Foundation’ Season 3 Episode 6 — “The Shape of Time”

Finally, some good food. Like anything else, TV is about setup and payoff. There’s been a ton of setup this season, but Foundation Season 3 Episode 6, titled “The Shape of Time,” is almost all payoff—in the best way. We’ve spent a long time moving pieces on the board, and now we’re finally beginning to see things take shape, and bringing together a number of key players for the first time. It’s one of the best episodes this season, and portends potentially huge changes for the status quo. Let’s get into it.

Foundation Season 3 Episode 6 opens with the Mule (Pilou Asbæk) waking up from a nightmare/vision. It’s about Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobel). Our good Mule is glad he’s finally getting a shot at her, and he’s heading out to do something about it. A little cliche to start with a dream, you may say, but the Mule wins so much that it’s good to remember that he can be scared, and that he knows Gaal is a threat. Plus, it gives Asbæk something to do other than be menacing and laugh evilly, which is a win for all of us.

Speaking of Gaal Dornick, she’s not having a good day. If you remember the end of our last episode, Demerzel (Laura Birn) is on board the Beggar’s, and she’s very upset about Brother Dawn’s (Cassian Bilton) death. Turns out explosive decompression kills you even with a space suit. We kinda figured that, but it’s nice to know for sure. Gaal doesn’t really believe Demerzel’s grief at Dawn’s death.

After all, she has another one in a tank somewhere, but Demerzel is a lot of things to the Cleons, including their mom, and this enrages her. Gaal tries to defend herself, but Demerzel is a robot, and she has Gaal by the neck and demands answers about why this happened in short order. Things are looking bad for the home team.

Tensions are rising in the wake of Dawn’s death in “The Shape of Time.”

Meanwhile, the Chaser and its passengers are heading to the Foundation. The first one, not the second. Magnifico “Maggie” Giganticus (Tómas Lemarquis) is worried that the Foundation will take him away from Bayta (Synnøve Karlsen), but she points out that both of them are good at getting folks to love them.

The Chaser is nearly shot down when they get to New Terminus, until Toran (Cody Fern) lets the Foundation know they’re there because of Captain Han Pritcher (Brandon P Bell), which makes them change their tune. Nobody knows, of course, that by doing this they’re essentially asking to be thrown in prison until they’re, you know, thrown in prison, with Pritcher.

Then it’s Randu Mallow (Darren Pettie) with a steel chair going after Pritcher until Bayta (Synnøve Karlsen) breaks it up and reminds Pritcher that all of this is on him. He dragged them into this, and all they’ve done is bring Maggie to the Foundation. God, Bayta rules. And you can tell Karlsen is having fun playing with her.

Pritcher realizes that Maggie is here, as is his instrument, and asks if he’d be willing to work against the Mule, and yeah, of course. The guy was basically a slave. Indbur (Leo Bill) overhears this and walks in to discuss things with Maggie, but our boy is loyal, and he’s not going without Randu, Toran, and Bayta. Indbur agrees, and Pritcher, well… Pritcher gets to stay in his cell.

Because we like to move around, Foundation Season 3 Episode 6 gives us our first look at Mycogen proper, and Stoner Brother Day (Lee Pace) is enjoying the hustle and bustle of a night market. There’s a tattoo artist, street vendors, food stands, the works. He’s never seen anything like it, and you can tell he’s impressed. It’s also how he learns about what happened to the Imperial fleet in the last episode.

Foundation Season 3 Episode 6 takes viewers to the night market.

He buys some sweets from the micro-farms (everyone tastes different) from a maybe too-friendly stall, and then heads off to see Song (Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing), who is shocked (and more than a little scared) to see Empire showing up at her door. Or maybe she’s just baffled by Stoner Day’s fashion choices. Hard to say. Either way, we’re gonna get some drama.

Back to Stoner Day’s favorite person in the Empire: Demerzel, who still has Gaal by the throat. We get some interesting revelations here: one, Hari (Jared Harris) knew she was a robot. Two, Demerzel actively worked with him, providing her memories and the data she’d gathered over countless centuries to help make psychohistory an accurate model. Gaal did not know either of this, but she quickly pivots to the fact that Demerzel once agreed with his plan, and that she (Gaal) is the backup plan.

Demerzel realizes this explains the shadows in the math. After catching Demerzel up on Mentalics, her and the Mule’s place in the math, her abilities, and so on, Gaal reveals that she’s seen the fight between her and the Mule in a vision. Demerzel naturally wants proof, but she’s a robot, and Gaal isn’t sure she can. Demerzel, though, is. She doesn’t think Gaal will like how they’ll have to do it. Our girl is really not having a good day.

On New Terminus, Indbur and Randu are sparring over everything from smuggling to who gets to do what with Maggie when Toran, finally having had enough, makes an absolutely incredible argument about how the Mule is coming for everyone regardless of whether or not they like one another.

The Vault is opening today, and they are going to see Vault Hari. Do we think that these people, being here, in this room, all at the same time (sorry, Pritcher), is a coincidence? Bayta just asks Indbut to listen to Magnifico play, and he agrees.

Foundation Season 3 Episode 6 is about paying off everything that has been set up this season.

Then Foundation Season 3 Episode 6 pulls off a great magic trick: a juxtaposition of Magnifico playing and the moons reaching resonance (which will lead to the Vault opening). Gaal gives us some more absolutely unnecessary narration that we don’t need about everyone being united and that being good, opens as Professor Ebling Mis (Alexander Siddig) – man, remember him? – telling everyone that the Vault has opened. Time to go see the man with the plan (that’s Hari), and given Bayta’s interest, it seems like the whole gang is going.

So, big things ahead for the Foundation, but in Mycogen, things are getting weird. Stoner Day offers Song the sweets and awkwardly compliments her place, and Song (who is very confused) asks if this is normal. Day asks her why she thinks he kept her on so long, which leads to a great joke I probably can’t print, and Day offers Song her memories back.

Song doesn’t understand, and Day tries to explain why he let her keep her memories, and that he loved her, and that she loved him. Song pushes back, claiming they just had a business arrangement, but Day tries to convince her that by telling her that he knows what she believes, and that if she puts this on, she’ll remember meeting a robot. The plot thickens.

I’ve said this before, but Pace is routinely excellent in this show, and his performance in this scene is no exception. Watching him guide Day through vulnerability, anger at not being believed, tenderness, cajoling, and everything in between is a joy. He owns the scene, and much of its power is dependent on him. Moreover, he makes you believe how badly Day wants this, and how much Song meant to him.

Brother Day remains central in “The Shape of Time,” and Lee Pace excels.

Mention of a robot means it’s time to check in on Demerzel and Gaal, and Demerzel does her whole “I can use my really old robot interrogation techniques to see the vision you said you had” thing. Unlike Gaal, though, Demerzel immediately realizes where the battle happens: Trantor. More specifically, the Imperial Library. Demerzel asks to see beyond that moment, despite Gaal telling her that she can’t, that there’s nothing, and we get a really cool visual sequence of it, but the long and short of it is, yeah, that looks bad!

So bad that it hard reboots Demerzel, sends out an EMP that shuts down the Beggar’s, and stops Gaal’s heart. Demerzel revives her, but they did learn something that Gaal would never have found out on her own: gravitational waves emitting from a black hole, which is… not good news for Gaal, or where she’ll end up in four months.

Black hole. Eclipse. Great transition back to New Terminus. Indbur comes to visit Pritcher and asks Pritcher about where he’s been (they have Indbur’s ship’s fuel logs) and who he works for. Pritcher can’t reveal he’s Double Secret Foundation, so he just says he works for Seldon’s plan. That’s not good enough for ol’ Indbur, who throws the “I get to meet Hari Seldon and you’re going to be stuck in this cell while it happens” thing at him before leaving to meet Vault Hari. Rough day for our boy Pritcher, too. But that’s the problem with secrets.

Ooh, secrets are another good transition, so we’re back to Mycogen. Man, the thematic and visual jumps have been on point in Foundation Season 3 Episode 6. Day is still making his case to Song when he realizes she’s called someone, and another lady with a zappy gun, who comes to save her.

Her name is Oceanglass-49. Turns out that Song’s (real name: Songbird-17, which is appropriate for folks who worship robots) life mate. She tells Day that she never could have loved him, and if she ever said otherwise, it’s because she was afraid of him. The devastation on Day’s face is heartbreaking. Poor guy just wants something real. He’s never had that as a Cleon, and he gave up everything he had believing Song was that person.

In Foundation Season 6 Episode 3, sometimes, there just isn’t anything real.

Speaking of the real but not real, it’s time to head into the Vault and meet Vault Hari, who is deeply unimpressed by Indbur, who thinks he’s somebody. Hari is impressed by Randu, though. Hari reveals that the Empire has been cut nearly in half, and that the Trader’s rebellion was inevitable, but something better, something Hari calls the Union of Worlds, lies on the other side of it.

What he doesn’t mention is the Mule (remember, Vault Hari, being part of the original Foundation, has pretty big knowledge gaps), and when Toran asks about him, Vault Hari reveals he doesn’t know who the Mule is. Whoops.

Which prompts the Mule, always a step ahead, to call in and announce that hey, he’s here! Surprise! And he’s turned the Foundations ships on one another. Bad day for the good guys. He plans to hit Foundation with the Foundation’s ships. When Mis asks Sheldon for help, Hari disappears and puts the null field back out, which means it’s time for everyone to make like a tree and get the hell out of Dodge.

But it’s not just Hari and co. that need to escape bad situations. Demerzel isn’t sure that she believes Gaal’s visions are visions (or that they won’t harm the Foundation), but she’s going to let her live, something she initially hadn’t planned to do. That’s a win for Gaal. But as she leaves, Demerzel realizes what’s happening on New Terminus, and tells Gaal, who immediately calls Pritcher. It’s a nice human moment in a very plot-heavy episode, and another reminder of how much Gaal has lost doing this.

Despite being a plot-heavy episode, Foundation Season 3 Episode 6 lands significant character moments.

Pritcher, ironically, is probably in the best place anyone on New Terminus could be because the rest of our heroes (and Indbur) are running for their lives. Indbur leaves Mis and Maggie behind after he jumps onto a little speeder with plenty of room for other people (he, of course, claims there is no more room), while Toran carries an unconscious Bayta away from the fighting.

Randu also manages to get away, but the last time we see Maggie, he trips and falls face down into some tall grass. If the Mule discovers he’s there, it might be game over. As Toran tries to revive Bayta, we see the Vault turning black once again to defend itself. Roll credits.

What a cliffhanger, huh? Sometimes Foundation ends, and I want to wait a few days before I watch the next episode, but this time I’m ready to jump straight there. It’s great to see all the complex plotting the series is good at finally paying off by putting interesting people in space together, and we’re seeing the result of several characters’ choices, sometimes made a very long time ago, play out.

It isn’t looking good for the home team, but it’s looking great if you’re a fan of good TV. I think Foundation has taken a while to find its feet and stay on them this season. I wish Gaal would narrate less (Please, y’all, it’s giving Blade Runner vibes, and that’s bad), but this was a strong episode carried by some great plotting, several excellent performances, primarily—Lee Pace, Synnøve Karlsen, Laura Birn, and Lou Llobe—land touching character moments. And, surprisingly enough, it’s one of the shorter episodes this season. Hats off to the Foundation crew. They nailed it. And I don’t know about you, but I’m stoked for next week.

Foundation Season 3 Episode 6 is streaming now on Apple TV+ with new episodes every Friday.

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