Foundation<\/a><\/p>\nSkin in the Game<\/p>\n
\n Season 3<\/p>\n
Episode 8\n <\/p>\n
\n Editor\u2019s Rating<\/p>\n
5 stars<\/p>\n
*****\n <\/p>\n
\n Brother Dude has an epiphany that may forever change the Genetic Dynasty and the face of the Galactic Empire.
\n Photo: Apple TV+\n <\/p>\n
This is it, the moment the entirety of Foundation has been building to. Not only do we learn that Demerzel is essentially a messiah for an entire religion thousands of years old, but we also get Brother Dude having an epiphany that may forever change the Genetic Dynasty and the face of the Galactic Empire.<\/p>\n
Brother Dude stands trial for the crimes Cleon I committed against the Inheritance, but there are no witnesses or lawyers. Instead, we get Anatomy of a Murder if it were made by theater kids, with the entire trial being just a cool interpretative dance telling the entire history of robots and humanity. Essentially, it was robots that helped humanity reach the stars and expand beyond Earth\u2019s borders. Robots built Trantor and the Galactic Empire, and then humans took those gifts and turned on their creation, hunting down and exterminating all robots. Except, there is one last surviving robot, one that the Inheritance believes will come back to remove all cruelty and misery \u2014 Daneel, their savior, their inheritance.<\/p>\n
It is significant that the one Cleon to learn this story is Brother Day, the version of Cleon that usually goes from treating Demerzel like a mother when he\u2019s young to treating her as an object. For Day, for every Cleon, Demerzel has been a Swiss Army knife \u2014 a tool to be used however they please. Now, after realizing in last week\u2019s episode that Demerzel was always just a prisoner forced into loving them and gaining empathy toward her, Brother Dude takes one step further in his journey of discovery. He recognizes the futility of the Genetic Dynasty and how insignificantly small the Cleons really are compared to the robot that\u2019s always been by their side. Really, the entire dynasty, the cloning, and the appearance of being never-ending, as an unmovable entity in the galaxy\u2019s history, was but a poor attempt at being like Demerzel, the one truly constant in the galaxy\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
In an instant, Brother Dude sheds his non-caring and chill attitude and becomes an emperor in all his authority and confidence. Addressing the crowd, he says he wants to atone for the sins committed by him and his predecessors. The Cleons turned Demerzel into the monster they know themselves to be, even as she was the only one to ever love and believe in them. Cleon XXIV comes to terms with how minuscule a piece in Demerzel\u2019s magnificently large story he\u2019s played, and this directionless and careless man suddenly gains new purpose. He knows he probably can\u2019t ever atone for his sins, but he can dedicate his life to help free Demerzel before she continues to play her role with the next Cleon as the galaxy descends into chaos. He may not be the hero of this story, but he can help Demerzel become it.<\/p>\n
As Brother Dude finishes his speech, the crowd starts humming a tone, which the Emperor recognizes as the same melody Demerzel used to hum when he was a kid. Suddenly, the eyes on the robot skull on the staff held by Sunmaster start glowing, and the skull speaks, saying, \u201cInitiating communication.\u201d It is calling out for its kind. Unfortunately, Brother Dude doesn\u2019t really get a chance to do anything, because Sunmaster decides it\u2019s more important to hold on to his power than bring God back. He saw Song\u2019s memories; he knows of Demerzel, but he doesn\u2019t care. With that, Day is sentenced to death. A trap door opens under him, and the Emperor disappears into darkness.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Demerzel is having a crisis, as her three children are either dead, missing, or about to die. Upon hearing the news of Dawn\u2019s demise, Dusk seems genuinely upset, but they\u2019ll have to grieve later, because representatives from the Galactic Council, Cloud Dominion, and the church of Luminism are all in Trantor to finally discuss the threat of the Mule. Turns out, the possibility of the pirate using the Foundation\u2019s whisper-ships is what finally convinces them to start listening. They come up with a solution \u2014 offer Trantor to the Mule, shut down the planet\u2019s defenses, and lure him to sack the planet while they enclose him from outside. This is exactly what Gaal said would happen, what she counted on. The Empire is giving up on its capital and on its emperor, as Dusk tells them this would effectively end the Galactic Empire.<\/p>\n
Though Demerzel and Dusk kick out the representatives, they tell them they were not asking for council but simply conveying a message. Well, even if they are about to give up, Dusk won\u2019t. Dusk, who we\u2019ll call Brother Palpatine from now on, shows Demerzel his last resort, the Death Star he spent decades and trillions of man-hours building \u2014 apparently, he came up with the idea when he realized Brother Dude would not be an effective dictator. What was once a deterrent is now the last hope for the Empire to stop the Mule and also Foundation in a single blow.<\/p>\n
Hopefully, there might be one person who can stop the Mule before he brings obliteration to the galaxy: Gaal Dornick. Aware that Pritcher\u2019s capture or his conversion would be catastrophic for the Second Foundation, she recognizes the end is near. She had over a century to plan for the Mule, and here he is ruining everything in a single move \u2014 taking Foundation after Gaal had served him Empire on a silver platter. She orders First Speaker Preem to evacuate the planet and take the Second Foundation somewhere secret, but he convinces her that the fight isn\u2019t over. The Mule may have a stronger power, but he is but one Mentallic; she has many. And so, Gaal assembles her Suicide Squad and arrives on New Terminus with a new mission: kill the Mule once and for all.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The show doesn\u2019t explicitly say it, but the people of Mycogen are definitely descendants of Aurorans like in the books, right? This is another case of the show doing something interesting with the adaptation, taking Mycogen (originally a part of Hari Seldon\u2019s story) and moving it to a new story line while still serving the same function of connecting the history of robots to the history of the Foundation.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Seldon talks to the Mule, who tries to ask about Gaal Dornick, but Seldon doesn\u2019t know anything about her. Remember, this is the Seldon that is aware he\u2019s a pawn in someone else\u2019s plan but doesn\u2019t fully know about the Second Foundation. He can\u2019t be exploited by the Mule, but he can hurt him with the Vault\u2019s powers. Surprisingly, Seldon lets the Mule live, because he has a secret that Seldon wants to learn.<\/p>\n
\u2022 How is Demerzel unaware of the Novacula, given the reach of her knowledge and surveillance? Did she choose to ignore it?<\/p>\n
\u2022 Demerzel gets mad at the Zephyr from the Luminism church that she\u2019s been confessing to because she agrees with the plan to sacrifice Trantor to the Mule \u2014 like Demerzel did with the Star Bridge. Never make a robot mad, because they might do like Demerzel and just erase your memories.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Dawn lives! Sure, his legs are a bloody mess, but he\u2019s alive, and he\u2019s now a captive of the Mule alongside Bayta. Turns out, Dawn\u2019s nanites kept him alive just long enough as he drifted in space until a ship happened to pick him up.<\/p>\n
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