The huge-scale galactic destruction that we saw earlier in Foundation season 3 continues in its fifth episode, called ‘Where Tyrants Spend Eternity’, which debuted on Apple TV Plus on Friday, August 8.
Foundation‘s third season sees the galactic Empire continue its decline as the Foundation endures its third crisis: the psychic warlord The Mule who wants to destroy it.
We’ve already met all of the important characters of the season, both returning and new ones, and seen a lot of action and drama already. S3E5, ‘Where Tyrants Spend Eternity’, continues that with that in ways that I won’t mention before the spoiler alert:
This article will contain plenty of spoilers, not just for this episode but for past seasons, so you’ve been warned. No spoilers for future episodes though!
So here’s our recap of Foundation season 3 episode five, ‘Where Tyrants Spend Eternity’. And just so you know, I’ve ordered the events by plot thread which means it’s not all chronological, or in the order it occurs in the episode.
Undercover operations
Brother Day (Lee Pace) arrives on Mycogen to find Song. He gets cornered by soldiers who shoot him off his bike, but when they remove his helmet, they discover that it’s another man whom Day put into the armor to trick them. He’s hidden away, watching the confrontation.
On Trantor, the body of Day’s former friend and soldier is found, which is how Demerzel (Laura Birn) learns that Day has gone to Mycogen. However before she can pursue, she learns that Brother Dawn (Cassian Bilton) is docking at Clarion Station, home of the council, unbeknownst to her. She tells soldiers to leave Day as he’s no longer a problem.
Dawn wakes up on the Beggars’ Lament, the ship of Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell), and he’s groggy after his first jump. Dornick tells Dawn more about her psychic powers and when he asks whether she used it to convince him to help, she says she doesn’t think so. Before the ship arrives at Clarion Station, Dawn records a message for someone.
Now to New Terminus: Han Pritcher (Brandon P. Bell) returns and is confronted by the mayor for his renegade actions. Pritcher insists that they should capture Magnifico to get intel on The Mule but the mayor just throws him in prison. The jailer is the agent whom Pritcher worked with on Haven in the first episode, and she warns him not to try to escape.
A plot against The Mule
Dawn and Dornick’s plan is to blackmail Tarisk, a council member, into supporting his motion to create a military blockade of Kalgan. With his Dornick’s oversight Dawn sneaks onto his estate and plants the information, but the council member catches him. Dawn tells him to support the blockade but Tarisk seems more inclined to come clean to the council about the blackmail attempt.
However it emerges that the married Tarisk also has another woman around, who heard the whole conversation but is discovered by Dawn. He shoots her dead and leaves, instilling terror in the council member.
At the vote, Tarisk speaks up to back Dawn and so the military blockade is triggered and the imperial armada approaches Kalgan. As it happens, Tarisk hurries home to speak to his family, who are trapped on Kalgan.
Once the blockade gets into place, the council (and Dawn, who’s with them) receive a message from The Mule. It reveals that he and his fleet are no longer on Kalgan, and he’d left a trap: he triggers a bomb that creates a solar flare which destroys both Kalgan’s local jump gate, stopping the fleet from returning, and totally destroying Kalgan too. Tarisk witnesses this on the call with his family as they’re totally annihilated.
On the station, a lockdown is called, and soldiers try to apprehend Dawn who tries to escape. They corner him but it turns out to be Dornick, who’s using her powers to make the soldiers see her as him, and the Cleon clone escapes.
Dawn escapes to an airlock and as he prepares to leave, he asks Dornick whether she knew Kalgan would be destroyed… and she says it was likely. She admits that her plan wasn’t just about The Mule, but that Empire needs to fall so that Foundation could take its territory and be strong enough to beat the warlord.
A betrayed Dawn rips out his communication and prepares to leave the airlock but is confronted by Tarisk, with a gun. Tarisk tries to shoot Dawn for the death of his family but misses, hitting the airlock which blows it wide open. Tarisk is sucked out of it and Dawn survives, but upon summoning his courage, Dawn jumps out.
We also see who Dawn sent a message to earlier: Brother Dusk. He apologizes for not being at Dusk’s ascension (ie, vaporizing) much to the elder’s chagrin.
On the Beggar’s Lament, someone comes through the airlock, which Dornick presumes to be Dusk. However when she goes to investigate, she finds it to instead be Demerzel.
Finding a safe Haven
The ship containing Bayta, Toran and Magnifico jumps out of hyperspace early, due to damage sustained from the escape. They don’t have much fuel left so Toran decides they have to go to trader planet Haven, his homeworld which he left after being estranged from his famous uncle.
However when the ship arrives there, they discover that their communications have been damaged too, and so they can’t identify themselves with the surface. They’re shot down and crash, and when some traders come to investigate, Toran discovers that their discoverer is said uncle: Randu Mallow.
Later Randu criticizes Toran for thinking that he abandoned his trader roots for Foundation. Toran leaves and shows Magnifico around Haven, and the clown enjoys his new freedom.
Randu tells Bayta that she should return Magnifico to The Mule, but she refuses. Instead she wants to bring him to Foundation as his music, which can affect the mood of listeners, could help them defend against The Mule’s powers… and could be traded for lots of profits including leverage for the traders’ bid for independence from Foundation.