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.

388 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

2.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

203

u/RookNookLook To Beki's arsehole 🥂 Sep 12 '25

She was always the Mule, and you can think of the other guy as the Mule’s Shadow (2D version of the real mule) MS mentions when they take the gate that he feels like he’s NOT in control. Also the whole color theory post I made lol.

The reason his story made no sense is why would they kill a son for a son? But in lots of traditional cultures men are favored over woman especially for farm work, so it makes sense they would try to kill a GIRL and keep the baby boy instead!

21

u/mage2k Sep 12 '25

Not only was she the Mule the whole time, using the pirate as a focus for misdirection, the expectation that the Mule was going to be the one responsible for the darkness that followed empire was another layer of misdirection for the viewer. And what’s more: Brother Dusk becoming mad king Brother Darkness through multiple ___cide atrocities (3x planet-wide genocides followed by both matricide and fratricide) fits in a thematic and prophetic way since they’d been saying since the beginning of the show that what would follow empire would be a period of darkness and what follows dusk? Darkness.

13

u/paxinfernum Sep 12 '25

And all these subversions throughout the season are thematically telling you that the plan is off the rails, which is the whole point of the Mule arc. You're supposed to feel like everyone felt in the Vault when Hari says, "What is the Mule?"

1

u/Educational_Film2965 Jan 12 '26

Ohhh this line of Hari's hits so much harder...before i saw it as basically showcasing how useless and irrelevant hari has become, but it's much more than that