The Galactic Empire continues its long-expected decline. Thousands of star systems have declared independence or joined the Foundation. But the Foundation itself is divided, with the Traders demanding more and more autonomy and power, and faith in the Seldon Plan is not as absolute as it once was. The arrival of the Mule, a powerful warlord with mentalic abilities, triggers the awakening of Gaal Dornick from her long cryo-slumber, and pitches the galaxy into chaos.
The central conceit of the Foundation storyline is that it is about the impending fall of the Galactic Empire, with the Foundation carrying the hope of humanity across a potential millennia of decline and barbarism before civilised order returns. But the Empire, or at least a shadow of it, chugs along through the early part of the story. The actual "fall" doesn't happen until surprisingly near the end of Asimov's original Foundation Trilogy.
Apple TV's adaptation chronicles that fall in the third and (apparently) fourth seasons of its run. We're now adapting the latter part of the second novel in the trilogy, Foundation and Empire, and the early part of the third, Second Foundation. The Mule has arrived and upset the delicate balance of power between the Foundation and the Empire, enough for the two old rivals to consider joining forces against him. Hari Seldon and Gaal Dornick secretly established a Second Foundation to guide the first from behind the scenes and account for unpredictable variables in the Seldon Plan, but this can only succeed with absolute secrecy, which is compromised by the Mule and his formidable powers. Meanwhile, back on Trantor the Cleonic Dynastic is becoming more unstable; this particular Brother Dusk is very reluctant to cede power and go into the night; Brother Day has abrogated all sense of responsibility, content to live out live in a dissolute life of languid boredom; and Brother Dawn is ambitious, smart and fair-minded, but inexperienced, and whose eagerness to act is as much a weakness as it is boon.
Multiple storylines evolve, taking in New Terminus, Trantor, the Second Foundation, Demerzel, the backstory of the Robot Rebellion and more, anchored on the firmer foundations (ha) of the first two seasons, which had rocky moments but eventually evolved into a solid space opera series. Season 3 has all the ingredients to become the best season so far, simply because it's adapting the most compelling part of Asimov's saga: the struggle between the Foundation(s) and the Mule. Pilou Asbæk plays the Mule with scene-chewing relish, building on his form from shows like 1864 and Game of Thrones, but really the whole cast is on good form this season. Newcomers Synnøve Karlsen and Cody Fern have a tough job playing superficial socialite-influencers, but both show solid chops as their characters reluctantly become agents in the struggle between the Foundation and the Mule. Cassian Bilton also has a great time playing a more measured and competent version of Brother Dawn than we have seen previously.
There's also a whole lot more action. Planets are conquered, space fleets do battle, stars burn, and massive superweapons unleash destruction on a vast scale. The fall of the Empire takes place mostly off-page in Asimov's novels, but here it's shown in its full, terrible, technicolour expanse. Or at least partly, as this storyline is allowed to unfold across two seasons.
I'm not entirely sure that's a good idea. The pacing early in the season is very good but it drops off in the latter. Brother Day (an under-served Lee Pace) spends a lot of time wandering around Trantor's weird underworld of cults, and trying to make an amnesiac person remember something that they're clearly never going to. There seem to be excuses to tread water in a lot of storylines rather than get on with business. They could have easily wrapped up the Mule story here, but given the appeal of the saga, they decided to split it across two full seasons instead. I understand the commercial reasons why, but it doesn't help the pacing (recalling that the books in the original Foundation Trilogy are very slim volumes indeed). The writers do alleviate this as they have been given permission to use references to the Robots novels by Asimov (the rights to which are held by Warner Brothers, who are apparently planning a more faithful adaptation of that saga than the Will Smith movie) for the first time, so can discuss the Laws of Robotics, Daneel etc, allowing them to fill in some awkward blanks in the backstory.
As usual, fidelity to the source material is a constant source of discussion among watchers. Season 3 is much closer to the books than arguably any season before it, but also deviates in some big ways, including one late plot twist that feels like it's doing something different for the sake of being different to the books, rather than because it's logical. Season 4 will have to do the heavy lifting on making that plot twist make sense as I'm not sure this season does a good job of it.
Pacing issues and some questionable plot points undercut a terrific sense of action and good characterisation, meaning that Season 3 of Foundation (****) never quite fulfils its potential, and has to settle for merely being pretty decent rather than outstanding.
The season is available to watch on Apple TV+ now. A fourth season, with a different showrunner and a significant budget cut, has been greenlit to enter production early next year.
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