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WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Foundation Season 1, Episode 4, “Barbarians at the Gate,” streaming now on AppleTV+.
Foundation’s fourth episode pulls no punches, as it opens with the now nineteen-year-old Brother Dawn from the previous hour attempting to jump to his death, as the voiceover tells us that “only the movements of masses can be predicted,” but that “the fate of one individual will always remain a mystery.”
Death is, of course, easier said than done for Brother Dawn, and yet, on this particular occasion he is spotted by someone who runs away horrified at the fact that he’s …perfectly fine? Either that or at the fact that he jumped in the first place, it’s hard to tell.
The voiceover goes on to examine the role of faith, something Seldon himself had predicted a few episodes ago might be the cataclysm to whatever was coming. There are no answers provided with Gaal’s voice, however, only one clear certainty. “Belief is a powerful weapon.”
We then follow some figures in white as they light a fire that consumes a pathway on the castle-like structure they’re standing on, and as we see flickers of light moving to the sky, we realize something big is happening. Far away, so does Demerzel, as she looks at a projection.
Meanwhile, Lee Pace is back to wearing no shirt while he discusses what he calls “the routine pleasures.” His companion, standing a few feet away, wonders if it’s true no one can touch him. The scene is meant to serve as an explanation for the earlier moment with Brother Dawn, as, when his companion attempts to touch him, we see Brother Day is protected by some sort of shield that repels kinetic energy. A soft touch, however, manages to penetrate the protection just fine. However, before much can happen, Demerzel interrupts.
The three Empires meet an ambassador who informs them Proxima Opal has passed. They assume the successor is all but assured, but there’s apparently another possibility, one that, of course, seeks to revolutionize a few things. Brother Day and Brother Dusk are not pleased, but Brother Dawn seems very out of sorts, as well as very much removed from the way Brothers Day and Dusk appear to be the same person.
Brother Dusk is ready to intervene personally, as he – if not Brother Dawn – clearly understands what’s at stake. Because Brother Dawn is as clueless as us, he asks the questions we need answers to. This is how we learn that the issue centers around this new possible Proxima favoring a doctrine that centers around a soul cleaving only to individual beings, which would mean, to her …the Cleon’s have no soul. It’s easy to see why the Brother Day isn’t happy about that.
The episode then returns to where last week’s cliffhanger left us, with Salvor facing a group of Anacreons. They want Salvor to take them into town and aren’t above threatening her with harming kids to get their way. Once they get to the fence, however, Salvor explains the fence won’t let anyone whose DNA isn’t entered in the system in. She might be able to bring in one person, if they go together, but that’s it.
It goes exactly like Salvor predicted, at least at first. As they drive into town Salvor is distracted by the same boy she’s seen a few times before, but the boy isn’t there. Her companion can’t see him. Salvor, who seems like the kind to always have a plan, turns the vehicle towards the Vault, which she knows won’t hurt her.
“The stories about Salvor Hardin? They usually begin here,” the voiceover tells us. Salvor then takes her captive back to town, where she once again has to have the same argument about the Empire not caring about them. “We have been following your lead from the moment you pulled yourself upright,” Salvor’s father tells her, and it seems they’re ready to continue doing just that.
Back on Trantor, Brother Dawn is inquiring about the woman who saw him jump from his window. The plot thickens.
Salvor, meanwhile, is getting people ready for battle – or as ready as possible. She can’t crack Phara, however, so she enlists Hugo to help her. Not that it seems Salvor really needs help, as she plays Phara like a fiddle, gets her to slip up. Neither she nor Hugo are sure of what she says in anger, but they get enough to divine that Phara is a descendant from the greatest hunter in Anacreon, the one whose bow was once gifted to the Empire.
Meanwhile, Brother Dawn is basically in the middle of a history lesson with Brother Dusk when Brother day interrupts to somehow blame everything that’s happening on …Hari Seldon. It’s awfully convenient to blame the man who told you this was coming instead of yourself for not doing anything, of course. And awfully convenient to place the blame on Brother Dusk’s shoulders alone, when he is not the one in charge now, hasn’t been for a while.
Seldon is long dead, Brother Dusk remarks. But Brother Day is clear that martyrs have a long life, and the movement isn’t.
On Terminus, Lewis is mad Salvor interrogated Phara without him, as if he would have been able to get her to talk. Salvor counters that Hari always posited the foundation would survive its first crisis, but Lewis explains that Salvor is an outlier, therefore unaccounted for. “I might be an outlier, but I’m not the one screwing up the plan,” Salvor responds, and she is right. Hugo looks proud in the background, and Salvor’s parents just look …resigned?
Phara’s plan seems to involve the Empire actually sending someone to investigate what’s going on in Terminus sooner rather than later. She makes a lot of good points, though, like “Trantor left us all here to die, your people and mine. We’re just dying at different speeds.” She also points out that a weapon is only as good as the man wielding it, and she doesn’t seem to think Lewis passes muster. We don’t’ disagree.
On Trantor, Brother Dawn is still very interested in the woman who saw him jump off his window. Once he finds her, however, it’s clear she won’t say a thing. She only sees what the Empire wants her to see. It’s also clear, however, that she’s more than a mindless follower, and Brother Dawn finds that interesting.
We go back to Terminus only for a moment, because as Salvor walks out of the main building to head towards the now advancing Anacreon forces she’s suddenly transported …to the Imperial Library, where she sees the boy once again. Whatever message the Vault, or the boy, is trying to send to her, Salvor can’t seem to make sense of it. Hugo, however, is clear. He has faith in her. Absolute faith in her. He also probably loves her, considering the way he’s looking at her, but that’s neither here nor there.
Brother Day meets up with the group Brother Dusk entrusted with checking Hari Seldon’s predictions thirty years ago. They don’t have a clear answer yet, but they do tell Brother Day they believe Seldon’s predictive methods to be counterfactual. It doesn’t seem like they actually know much, though, and Brother Day sees right through them. He doesn’t take it well.
The voiceover returns to ask questions like “do I matter?” and “are my choices my own?” right as Brother Dawn is on screen, because subtle this show is not. Later, Brother Dusk is set to leave, as discussed earlier in the episode, but Brother Day decides it will be him who leaves. He blames Brother Dusk for just about everything and is set on “saving their legacy,” even if that means he has to go himself.
Demerzel gets to point out that what he’s doing is the definition of impulsive, which is what he is so mad at Brother Dusk about, but she does so very subtly.
Meanwhile, Brother Dusk does indeed send someone to Terminus and Brother Dawn is infatuated, so things are perfectly well, no need to worry about anything. On Terminus, Phara insists she does want the navigation system so the survivors can go find themselves a new place to live.
“I’ve done a lot of foolish things in my life, Salvor Hardin. Sticking by your side is not one of them,” Hugo tells Salvor not long after that, as they stand by a barrier that looks like it cannot possibly hold. As Salvor worries about the fact that she might be an outlier, that she is the problem, Hugo asks the one question we have all been asking: “What if you are Seldon’s plan?”
“The fate of one individual will always remain a mystery,” the voiceover repeats, as the Anacreons get ready to fire on the barrier. “But the movements of masses, the rise and falls of cultures, causes and worlds, these were answers Hari Seldon had long since unriddled. And the beginning of the end, as befitting its name, took place on Terminus.”
To find out the fate of Terminus and the Galatic Empire, the first four episodes of Foundation are available on Apple TV+.
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