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Foundation 3x03-06
This season continues to be definitely Something.
So Gaal got Dawn to work with her and trust her, to the point of dodging his guards and running off planet with her, all for the purpose of convincing him to send the entire imperial fleet to the Mule's planet ... so the Mule could wipe them all out (along with everyone who lived on the planet) because Hari Seldon's Plan Says So.
Great job. You know, Hari Seldon's plan also currently says that we're on track for humanity to be extinct in four months, which just got a lot more likely since Gaal intentionally destroyed the one fleet in the galaxy that was capable of taking the Mule on. (And also killed like, what, about a billion people along with betraying the Cleon who trusted her and getting him killed too ....)
While Gaal is off committing genocide on the population of that planet I guess we don't care about, meanwhile we're finding out that Vault!Hari Seldon literally doesn't even know the Mule exists - which was honestly kind of hilarious, it's entertaining to see Hari completely confused.
Everyone on New Terminus: The Vault is opening! Hari Seldon, tell us how to defeat the Mule!
Hari Seldon: .... the who?
Hari Seldon: *fucks off back into the Vault to think about this*
The Mule: *conquers New Terminus*
Everyone is literally making the worst possible choices at all times! Apparently the show's two brain cells died with Salvor Hardin and Corporeal Hari Seldon.
Also, the Mule is just not that compelling. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but nope, he really is that boring. His entire personality is Being Evil. Meanwhile, the Cleons are largely defanged - Shiny Armor Megalomaniac Lee Pace last season was a lot more fun to watch than Big Lebowski Lee Pace (I thought his whole journey of self-discovery was going somewhere, but it's mostly just going on and on and onnnnnn) and now Dawn is dead and Dusk is a few days from Demerzel terminating him. And the Foundation locked up the one somewhat competent person they have (spy dude). No wonder the Mule is conquering everything.
I was also thinking about how compelling the big fight between the imperial fleet and Terminus was at the end of last season, because there were characters we liked and cared about on both sides, and it really made you feel the deaths and the danger of the imperial fighter pilots as well as the civilians on the ground. Here in season three, this last couple of episodes just wiped out the whole fleet and the entire population of that planet and it doesn't really feel like anything - the only people we actually saw die were the wife and kids of that one guy we just met in that episode (and then he died anyway).
The show continues to be very pretty but as for everything else - GAWD.
So Gaal got Dawn to work with her and trust her, to the point of dodging his guards and running off planet with her, all for the purpose of convincing him to send the entire imperial fleet to the Mule's planet ... so the Mule could wipe them all out (along with everyone who lived on the planet) because Hari Seldon's Plan Says So.
Great job. You know, Hari Seldon's plan also currently says that we're on track for humanity to be extinct in four months, which just got a lot more likely since Gaal intentionally destroyed the one fleet in the galaxy that was capable of taking the Mule on. (And also killed like, what, about a billion people along with betraying the Cleon who trusted her and getting him killed too ....)
While Gaal is off committing genocide on the population of that planet I guess we don't care about, meanwhile we're finding out that Vault!Hari Seldon literally doesn't even know the Mule exists - which was honestly kind of hilarious, it's entertaining to see Hari completely confused.
Everyone on New Terminus: The Vault is opening! Hari Seldon, tell us how to defeat the Mule!
Hari Seldon: .... the who?
Hari Seldon: *fucks off back into the Vault to think about this*
The Mule: *conquers New Terminus*
Everyone is literally making the worst possible choices at all times! Apparently the show's two brain cells died with Salvor Hardin and Corporeal Hari Seldon.
Also, the Mule is just not that compelling. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but nope, he really is that boring. His entire personality is Being Evil. Meanwhile, the Cleons are largely defanged - Shiny Armor Megalomaniac Lee Pace last season was a lot more fun to watch than Big Lebowski Lee Pace (I thought his whole journey of self-discovery was going somewhere, but it's mostly just going on and on and onnnnnn) and now Dawn is dead and Dusk is a few days from Demerzel terminating him. And the Foundation locked up the one somewhat competent person they have (spy dude). No wonder the Mule is conquering everything.
I was also thinking about how compelling the big fight between the imperial fleet and Terminus was at the end of last season, because there were characters we liked and cared about on both sides, and it really made you feel the deaths and the danger of the imperial fighter pilots as well as the civilians on the ground. Here in season three, this last couple of episodes just wiped out the whole fleet and the entire population of that planet and it doesn't really feel like anything - the only people we actually saw die were the wife and kids of that one guy we just met in that episode (and then he died anyway).
The show continues to be very pretty but as for everything else - GAWD.
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I am really saddened to hear this. I would wonder if it had to do with filming of this season being put on hold twice to the point of not knowing for a while if the show had been cancelled or not, but the first season had the onset of pandemic in the middle of production and it turned out fine!
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(I looked up a few things and apparently the third season had other production problems including the departure of the showrunner halfway through filming, which does not bode well. According to a reddit post, there is likely to be a season 4 showrunner whose main claim to fame is ruining other shows (see reddit comments). So maybe I'll exit at season three, assuming it doesn't completely self-destruct between now and the end.)
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I had not heard that! Shoot. I did not agree with the death of Salvor, but otherwise it was galactically obvious that David S. Goyer loved the source material. Who's . . . been running the show since?
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Agreed. In fact, one of the things that made the show so enjoyable is that there was always a strong sense of a vision behind it, even if I didn't always agree with where that vision went. I don't know if the differences are showing up this obviously in the third season due to Goyer's departure, or if this was still Goyer's baby and I just don't like the direction he took it, but it does feel different this season - meaner and less hopeful.
Who's . . . been running the show since?
According to this article, the executive producer finished out the season for him. (Also according to this, he left over budget conflicts. Who knows what that actually means.)
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That sounds to me like Goyer took a lot of the show's tone with him, because I would not have used either of those adjectives to describe the first two seasons at all. Feh.
According to this article, the executive producer finished out the season for him. (Also according to this, he left over budget conflicts. Who knows what that actually means.)
"Co-creator David S. Goyer is stepping back from his showrunner duties ahead of production resuming on the show's upcoming third season [. . .] In addition, line producer Laurie Borg is stepping down, with Doug Moreno taking his place [. . .] The show's crew was alerted to the changes earlier today.
"It was previously reported that Goyer would also be stepping back as a director for the remaining episodes (he previously directed three episodes from the show's first two seasons) and alternative directors for his episodes would be hired for season three. "
That is a whole lot of shake-up. Apple TV+, you had a hit on your hands, you did not need to screw with it!
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Re: Gaal betraying Dawn to expedite the end of Empire - when she did that, I understood why Corporeal Hari isn't around anymore, because she has well and truly internalized his inner ruthlessness. Re "the one fleet capable of dealing with the Mule" - I doubt that, because the season has made it very clear that the Mule is capable of dealing with fleets by turning enough of them against each other. However you contain him, it won't be by military force. So while what Gaal did is absolutely ruthless, I don't think she thought there would have been a genuine chance. Also, far from the audience not caring that the population of Kagan died, that's why we had scenes on the planet before, in several episodes,to underline quite how awful it is.
Dude!Day's journey not going anywhere: far from it. I had my suspicions before, but I would say 3.07 pretty much confirms where it is going, and it very much tied to one of the main subplots this season you didn't mention at all, which is Demerzel's. This is the season which not only really digs into her backstory but gives us more of her own personal journey and question who she was, is and could be than any of the previous ones. This is the season which finally ties up the opening s1 episode's mystery (speaking of getting millions killed to engineer the Seldon plan...), and which has some of the best scenes with Demerzel of the entire show, which gives her new characters to play off against. It's incredibly compelling to watch for me.
Re: Dawn - are you sure he is dead? Dermezel does say his nanites have stopped, but a) the season itself as previous seasons did tell the audience this happens in cases other than death, and b) we were shown Dawn in a space suit when he got sucked out of the air lock. If we were to assume he were truly dead, there would have be no need for the space suit. And Demerzel wasn't the only one in that part of space other than Gaal and the now wiped out fleet....
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