Foundation
Season 3
Between my viewing of seasons 2 and 3 of this Apple TV show, I managed to read the entire series of Isaac Asimov’s novels. I think that my experience with the books became a double-edged sword, because the constant comparison that my brain couldn’t help making was, on the one hand, entertaining for me, but on the other hand, highlighted some of the weaknesses of the show.
It was fun for me to pick out plot points and ideas as I watched, and to try to remember how it played out in the books. The show deviates a lot from the novels, so some of the references amount to simple name-dropping of a character who plays a completely different role in the story.
This season employs the Mule as the main antagonist, a character which was one of my favourite elements of Foundation and Empire. In the novel, the Mule’s psychic powers are an aberration that throws off the predictions of psychohistory, but in the show, they added an element of predestination, in which the Second Foundation have foreseen the Mule’s coming and have been preparing to fight him. It feels like the show is trying to play it both ways, i.e. the Mule is both an unpredictable disruptor, but also, he’s the inevitable fulfillment of a dreaded prophecy. It really muddies the basic themes of the story.
I think the original sin of the show, and why it struggles to be effective, is that they’re trying to maintain a core group of characters, even though the story is about how societies evolve over centuries. The writers really twist themselves in knots to justify how a person could exist for hundreds of years. Cloning, cryosleep, holographic recordings, AI: all of these devices are thrown in haphazardly. It may have been worth it if the characters themselves were compelling, but most of the time, they’re just delivering exposition or running around in action scenes. Maybe this was done so that they could keep the same cast of actors, because that’s just how Hollywood contracts work.
I’ll leave this one a positive note, by listing some elements that I did enjoy:
- the Oscar-winning actor Troy Kotsur (CODA) plays a Foundation leader. We don’t get to see sign language depicted very often on screen, and I enjoyed watching his performance.
- the show subverts some expectations that a reader of the books might have. E.g., spoiler: in the book, the identity of the Mule is a pretty major plot twist, and the show layers another twist by having it be a different person.
- Laura Birn’s performance as the robot character Demerzel continues to be a highlight. Asimov’s famous Laws of Robotics are stated explicitly this season, and her struggle with the contradictions embedded in those laws seem to wear her down emotionally.
The show really is a mixed bag but I’m oddly compelled by it. It sets up some big plot threads leading into the next season, and I’m looking forward to it.