Foundation Season 3 Episode 5 recap: Gaal & Dawn's deadly strategy, Kalgan's future, and Mule emerges as the true mastermind

Apple TV's Foundation Season 3 Episode 5, titled 'Where Tyrants Spend Eternity,' was an intense hour of television that tested the loyalties between the Foundation and the Empire and reiterated that the Mule is the real mastermind in the game.

Demerzel learns about Day's brutal killing of Mavon outside the Mycogen district, following which she vows to regain control of her Cleons. However, unbeknownst to her, Dawn prepares to betray the Empire and team up with Gaal to defeat the Mule.

As they both strategize for the Council's votes in favour of Kalgan's Enclosure, Dawn learns the truth about Gaal's true intentions, which puts his life on the line in the episode's final moments.

Here is the complete Foundation Season 3 Episode 5 recap.

Foundation Season 3 Episode 5 recap: Dawn and Gaal team up to trap Mule

Foundation Season 3 Episode 5 saw an unlikely partnership between Dawn and Gaal, who were on their way to Clarion.

While Dawn initially doubts Gaal's intentions and questions her mentalic powers (which are similar to the Mule), he has no choice but to move forward with her. After recording an apology message for Dusk, he joins Gaal in blackmailing Vynod Tarisk, one of the members of the Galactic Council.

Gaal plans to falsely accuse Vynod of giving the Mule entry into Kalgan by planting evidence in his computer, which she intends to have carried out by Dawn. She plans on using this accusation to blackmail Vynod into voting for the Enclosure at the Council meeting. The Enclosure plan aims to give Kalgan's control back to the Empire, so that the Mule has no option but to accept defeat, after being 'starved' of resources.

The plan is for Dawn to enter Vynod's house and plant the evidence on his computer, but when he arrives at his house, Vynod is not only home, but he also has his mistress' company. This leads him to blackmail Vynod anyway and kill his mistress to clear his tracks.

Foundation Season 3 Episode 5 recap: The Mule outshines Gaal and Dawn's strategy

At the council meeting in Foundation Season 3 Episode 5, Dawn proposes Kalgan's Enclosure, which will weaken the Mule, but all Council members are against it. However, Vynod (blackmailed by Dawn) agrees and manages to tip the votes in favour of the Enclosure, following which Imperial ships surround the planet.

While Dawn, Gaal, and the Galactic Council believe that they have defeated the Mule, he gets on a video call and reveals that he is not on Kalagn. Instead, he was waiting for the Council and Empire for the planet's Enclosure, so that his master plan could be put into motion.

Back in Foundation Season 3 Episode 3, Mule's henchmen attacked somebody. The latest episode revealed that they were the staff who operated the Jump Gate. Mule's men beat up the staff and planted a 'cobalt spike' at the Jump Gate between Kalgan and the Sun, which would shoot a powerful beam into the Sun, causing a solar flare.

This solar flare (amplified by the Jump Gate on Kalgan) would scorch up the planet, turning every living and non-living entity into ash.

Foundation Season 3 Episode 5 recap: Dawn learns about Gaal's betrayal

The Mule's powerful plan against Kalgan would mean genocide, and the Council blames Dawn for the innocent lives that would be lost on the planet. Gaal and Dawn prepare to enter the aircraft, and she instructs Dawn to wear a spacesuit, which is when he realizes that Gaal knew about Mule's plans all along.

Since the Empire could never have defeated the Mule in the first place, Gaal planned to strip him of all resources and destroy the Council's trust in the Empire by making Dawn convince them about the Enclosure. In a way, she allowed the genocide at Kalgan to kill two birds with one stone.

As Dawn wraps his head around Gaal's betrayal, he prepares for the airlock and Gaal's ship's arrival. However, before that, Vynod arrives with a gun and shoots Dawn. While Vynod is thrown into outer space and subsequently killed, Dawn's fate remains unknown. Foundation Season 3 Episode 5's final moments saw Demerzel entering Gaal's airship, suggesting that she might team up with her and destroy Mule, or kill her and restore the Empire.

Foundation Season 3 Episode 6 will premiere on Apple TV+ on August 15, 2025.

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