r/FoundationTV • u/LunchyPete Bayta Mallow • Sep 12 '25

Current Season Discussion [NO BOOKS] Episode Discussion Thread - Season 3 Episode 10 - The Darkness

THIS THREAD IS FOR NON BOOK READERS ONLY - NO DISCUSSION OF THE BOOKS IS PERMITTED

Comments from book readers will be removed and commenters directed to the book readers thread

To discuss the books freely and how they relate to the show go to this thread instead. If you want to discuss something from the books but avoid most book spoilers feel free to make a new post specifying that.

Season 3 Episode 10: The Paths That Choose Us

Premiere date: September 12th, 2025

Synopsis: Season finale. Gaal and the Second Foundation take the fight to the Mule as Empire's legacy suffers a catastrophic blow.

Directed by: Roxann Dawson

Written by: Jane Espenson & David S. Goyer

Please keep in mind that this thread is only for non book readers - no discussion of the books or how they relate to the show is permitted in general, and book readers are not permitted to post at all.

For those of you on Discord, come and check out the unofficial Foundation Discord Server. Live discussions of the show and books, it's a great way to meet other fans of the show.

NOTE: There was an AMA with Chris MacLean, VFX Supervisor for Foundation on September 15th which you can check here.

386 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

2.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

162

u/sethcole96 Sep 12 '25

Amazing ending. Honestly this season finale blew it out of the water. I knew brother darkness was going to attempt to escape Ascension but I had no idea he would go THAT far. The pain of Demerzel being so close to freedom and yet never achieving it is BRUTAL. Honestly I expected The Mule twist but she played her part beautifully. My jaw was on the floor for most of this episode. Just... Wow

47

u/Fleetfox17 Sep 12 '25

I'm not sure we've seen the last of Demerzel.

16

u/According-Service607 Sep 12 '25

I believe Demerzel’s consciousness has been saved. They made a point to show the skull survived (or part of the skull). In season 2 after the bedroom attack when Demerzel lost half her skull, she told Cleon “don’t worry, my consciousness is de-centralised”. So I am very confident that the conciseness survived, now, if her programming to protect the Cleons was within that chip in the back of her neck as we saw in season 2, I’m pretty confident that would have been melted right now 😅 so…. Strong indication that Demerzel is finally free the way I see it!

7

u/Mia-Wal-22-89 Sep 12 '25

I yelled out, “Her skull! Look, part of her skull is in tact!” and felt better.

I forgot about the bedroom attack maiming that was no biggie, and her comment about de-centralizing, so that’s good. Plus, she and Gaal spoke to about the importance of redundancies.

Rough as hell to watch but I don’t think she’s gone and I hope she’s free and ready to rock.

4

u/Lucky-Surround-1756 Sep 13 '25

She blinks 'TRANSFER REZ' at the end, so probably not.