Podcast Review of Foundation 1.3

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 193, in which I review the third episode of Foundation, just up today on Apple TV+

• earlier podcasts about Foundation: September 24, 2021:  Review of Foundation 1.1-2 .... July 17, 2021: Thinking about Asimov's Foundation Series on AppleTV+ ... March 12, 2009:  Asimov's Foundation and Herbert's Dune Trilogies as Sources of Philosophy
• written blog post review of Foundation 1.3
• postcard from Isaac Asimov to me in 1979 about the Foundation trilogy

Hari Seldon                           V. I. Lenin

Check out this episode!

Foundation 1.3: Clonal Science Fiction, Hari Seldon as V. I. Lenin

I said in my review of the first two episodes of the Foundation series on Apple TV+ last week that the relationship among the Cleon clone triumvirate -- Brothers Dawn, Day, and Dusk -- was fascinating, and "one of the best parts of the TV series not in the Asimov stories".  Tonight in episode 1.3 that relationship took up at least the first third of the narrative, and it was easily the best part of the episode.

It began at the beginning, with a revealing conversation between Cleon the First and Demerzel.  But it quickly pivoted to the day before Brother Dusk's death, or the day when he would become Brother Darkness and turned to dust by some kind of futuristic ray.  We see Brother Dawn from the previous episodes grown into a vibrant young Day, played of course Lee Pace. The former Day is now Brother Dusk, but more youthful than he was in the first two episodes.  And the clone baby Brother Dawn is held in Demerzel's arms.  All in all, a quite impressive and effective set piece of clonal science fiction.

The rest of the episode takes place on Terminus, and suffers from not being enough of the story.  It ended too quickly, and could have benefitted from the Vault being opened and Hari giving his holographic advice/appraisal of the situation.  Salvor Hardin's story seemed to stop in the middle.  Now, that might have worked if the 4th episode had been viewable, but it wasn't.

In fact, my favorite scene in the Terminus part of episode was the statue of Hari Seldon (left), which I noticed in one of the trailers for Foundation last month.  It's somehow reminiscent of the famous statue of V. I. Lenin (right), isn't it?  Which makes sense, given that Hari Seldon is to the Galactic Empire as Lenin was to the Russian empire.

Anyway, I'll be back with my audio podcast review of episode 3 later today, and of course a review of episode 4 next week.

See also Foundation 1.1-2: Mathematician, Man of the People, and Cleon's Clones ... Foundation 1.4: Slow Hand, Long Half-Life, Flipped Coin

Killing Eve 3.7: The Omelet

My favorite scene in Killing Eve 3.7 tonight was the omelet near the beginning - more specifically, the way Carilyn uses the omelet as a token of her approval or not, withdrawing it from Mo, then giving it to Eve, then withdrawing it from Eve, because she's so obsessed with Villanelle.  And the omelet is spoken of again, in close to Mo's last words, before he is killed.  The symbolism is good.  The writers/directors/producers of whoever came up with it have no eggs on their faces.

The killing of Villanelle's handler might have been my favorite scene, except she wasn't quite killed, and, sure enough, turns up later alive if not well in a hospital bed.  Right next to Konstantin, who also could have died of a heart attack on the train station, but didn't.  Make that a semi-major and a very major character who are villainous and could have died in this episode, almost died, but didn't.  And who does die?  Mo, who was a good guy, if not a major player.

Indeed, the only reason to kill Mo is that it's more reason to unhinge Carolyn, after what happened to Kenny.  And she more or less takes it in stride, upset, for sure, but only breaking some valuable vases or whatever they were to express her inner anguish after prodded by her daughter.   If the killings of Kenny and Mo were both for the purposes of testing Carolyn's cool, that strikes me as too high a price to pay.  On the other hand, wasn't it V. I. Lenin who said that if you want to make an omelet, you have to break some eggs?  Yeah, but I guess that's a metaphorical omelet.

And next week is the season finale.  Eve and Villanelle tonight were like ships passing in the night, once again, or ships passing on the train, or trains passing in the night, or strangers in the night, to quote Sinatra.  I have a feeling, the way this season is going, that not much more will be resolved between them in the finale.  But I do think that the brunette who killed poor Mo will play a role, or maybe a roll, if another omelet is involved.

See also Killing Eve 3.1: Whew! ... Killing Eve 3.2: Bringing It Into Focus ... Killing Eve 3.3: The Third Time's the Charm ... Killing Eve 3.4: Tip Toe Through the Tulips ... Killing Eve 3.5: The Darkness ... Killing Eve 3.6: Wounded

And see also Killing Eve 2.1: Libido and Thanatos ... Killing Eve 2.2: Villanelle as Victim ... Killing Eve 2.3 Lipstick ... Killing Eve 2.6: Billie ... Killing Eve 2.7: Death and Sex ... Killing Eve Season 2 Finale: Possibilities After the End

And see also Killing Eve: Highly Recommended (Season 1)

Watchmen Season 1 Finale: "So I Suppose the FBI's Gonna Arrest the President"

That was certainly the most relevant line in the Season 1 finale of Watchmen on HBO tonight - "So I suppose the FBI's gonna arrest the President?"  If somehow you don't know why, I suppose you might've been living on one of Jupiter's moons for the last number of years or so, too.

As it was, that line was spoken by Adrian Veidt, back on Earth, just before someone hit him over the head to shut him up, on grounds that he talked too much.  A dumb conclusion to what otherwise was the best night Veidt had on this series.  Also, although there was a cool picture in the newspaper of President Robert Redford, I'd have preferred to see the real Redford in the flesh, or maybe the digital pixels, or whatever they are, on this season finale.  Did they even offer him that part?

And yeah, the ending was good, but I'd much rather have heard John Lennon singing "I Am the Walrus," talking about originals.  But the egg scene was done very well done.  Starting with the literal eggs broken on the floor as an exemplification of the words of another Lenin - V. I. - who alas got no credit for those words in this alternate reality, maybe because Lenin, if he even existed, in this reality never said anything like if if you want to make an omelet, you have to break some eggs.  (Or maybe continuity was too lazy to check that out?)

But the ambiguity of the very very ending, with no indication of whether Angela actually walked on water or not, was the right way to go.  Because ... of course she walked on the water.  We didn't have to see it to know that's what happened.  Not only because why else would she have found that egg intact on the floor, after her husband had told her years earlier about eggs, and, we want to see a second season with Angela in super power form.

Which I'll likely watch.

See also Watchmen 1.1: Promising Alternate History ... [Watchmen 1.2: don't look for my review, I didn't feel like reviewing it] ... Watchmen 1.3: The Falling Car ... Watchmen 1.4: What We Learned ... Watchmen 1.5: Some Enchanted Evening ... Watchmen 1.6-7: Deaths and Liberations ... Watchmen 1.8: The Fault

more alternate reality - "flat-out fantastic" - Scifi and Scary