TL;DR – A calamity of events comes crashing together like a wave hitting a cliff wall.

Disclosure – I paid for the Apple TV+ service that used to view this episode.

Foundation Introduction –

When I first started watching the third season of Foundation with A Song for the End of Everything, I was concerned they would be trying to force all of The Mule’s story into this one season. I still have those concerns, but as the season leans into a more schlocky vibe, I have been more intrigued to see where they go.  

So, to set the scene, calamity is erupting across the galaxy, much stemming from the work of The Mule (Pilou Asbæk). He has put the plans of the Foundation, Second Foundation, Traders, and Empire into chaos, and could have put the human race on the path to its extinction. But the one person that The Mule is obsessed with is now in sight, which is not good news for that person, Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell). Even worse news for Gaal is that she has picked up an unwanted visitor on her ship, Demerzel (Laura Birn), the last robot left in the galaxy, and she is not happy. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

Plot Summary

It feels like this week, it is very much at the tipping point of the season, with calamity and destruction falling in the wake of every character. It is also where the disparate threads of the season start coalescing as characters start meeting up and storylines start crashing into each other. Much of the story was also pulling on threads planted all the way back in season one. It is interesting watching all those moments come together; however, it starts feeling like a clip show in parts, with callbacks that feel more like reminders than revelations. All of this leads to the end where Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) is unable to predict The Mule, and then all hell breaks loose. It was a fun moment, even if its arrival was telegraphed well in advance.

One of the core parts of the story is the confrontation between Gaal and Demerzel. While these two characters never really met in the original novels, they have come to be the pillars of the two competing narratives in the show. Whose voice will win out in the end? Foundation and psychohistory or the Empire and its genetic dynasty. With all the myriad players, they are the only two that have a hope to defeat The Mule, at this point, but that is looking more and more like a lost cause as the season progresses. They had the more interesting dynamic, because more than any other character in the show at this stage, it felt like they had the most skin in the game. It also had you wonder for a moment if the show would commit to doing something wild and kill one of them off. I mean, they didn’t, but the thought was there for a second.

Characterisation

There was a lot of interesting character work happening this episode as the stories coalesced. A good example of this is the couple Mallow, Bayta (Synnøve Karlsen) and Toran (Cody Fern). Now it is clear that you were meant to interpret the characters in a very stereotypical way when we first met them. At best, Toran was a himbo, but more likely just a rich fool who does not understand his wealth and power. But in this episode, as well as those building up to it, we see a real humanity from them, a compassion that might be missing elsewhere in the galaxy. This makes a good juxtaposition with a lot of the other self-centred characters like Brother Day (Lee Pace), who could not believe that someone might pretend to love him because the choice is pretend or die.

Adaptation

The Foundation TV Series has always played fast and loose when it comes to adapting the works of Isaac Asimov, which I do kind of get, given the original works were written in a very different style from the Science Fiction stories that we are used to in the modern age. Some of these have been inspired choices, like the three Cleons. However, we have also had a significant diversion from the stories, see for example in the fact that Empire is still around and kicking at this point in the narrative, and they destroyed Kalgan for some reason, even though it is important for the plot future novels in the series. However, in today’s episode, there is almost a beat-for-beat recreation of the fall of Terminus and the Foundation to the forces of The Mule. I did enjoy seeing that play out, and them committing to the idea that Hari Seldon might not be the omniscient figure he’s often portrayed as, which the show has amped up even more.   

Conclusion

In the end, do we recommend Foundation: The Shape of Time? Yes, we would. I won’t deny that this season has been a bit rockier than what has come before. However, it did feel like the show was coalescing this week, and I was happy to see that come to pass. Have you seen Foundation yet? Let us know what you thought in the comments below.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Foundation
Directed by – Christopher J. Byrne
Written by – Eric Carrasco & David S. Goyer
Created by – David S. Goyer & Josh Friedman
Based On – Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Production/Distribution Companies – Skydance TV & Apple+
Starring – Jared Harris, Lee Pace, Lou Llobell, Laura Birn, Cassian Bilton, Terrence Mann, Brandon P. Bell, Synnøve Karlsen, Cody Fern, Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing, Alexander Siddig, Tómas Lemarquis & Pilou Asbæk with Leo Bill, Darren Pettie, Krista Kosonen & Iðunn Ösp Hlynsdóttir and Marcus Fraser, Laura Berlin & Tavia Pereira