Speaker 1: Welcome to spacing out with BB and Jason this week
Speaker 1: covering Foundation season two episode four, where the Stars are
Speaker 1: Scattered thinly.
Speaker 2: You ready?
Speaker 3: Good for insertion?
Speaker 2: Welcome to spacing now.
Speaker 3: I'm Bb and I'm Jason, and we are discussing the
Speaker 3: Apple TV sci fi series Foundation, one episode at a time.
Speaker 3: Spoiler free. This is our first time watching through the series,
Speaker 3: so we're not watching ahead or anything. We won't have
Speaker 3: any spoilers at all. The show's Foundation season two episode four,
Speaker 3: where the Stars are Scattered Thinly. This originally aired on
Speaker 3: August fourth, twenty twenty three. Written by lay Danna Jackson
Speaker 3: and David Skoyer and directed by mark Ton Duray. In
Speaker 3: this episode, Sarah and Don bond over their mutual suspicions
Speaker 3: regarding the assassination attempts on their families. Rio's and Glewyn
Speaker 3: meet informant Duken Bar Swinna learning about the Magicians and
Speaker 3: their links to the Foundation before escaping an angry mob,
Speaker 3: with Bar poisoning himself to avoid capture. On Terminus, Polly
Speaker 3: Constant and Hober meet Harry Selden, who or does the
Speaker 3: clerics to seek peace with the Imperium while giving Malow
Speaker 3: a secret mission. Meanwhile, Sarah secretly investigates her family's desks
Speaker 3: with the help of a palace clavenger. I had to
Speaker 3: look up clavager. It's a key bear or custodian.
Speaker 1: Five check. Did we like the episode overall?
Speaker 3: So would you like it?
Speaker 2: Eh? It was all right. Stuff happened and it wasn't
Speaker 2: super duper confusing this time, so it was better than
Speaker 2: other episodes for sure.
Speaker 3: I thought it was enjoyable. It was fairly light. Yeah,
Speaker 3: the tone is definitely getting a little lighter in the show.
Speaker 3: We're finding a little more balance with that.
Speaker 2: And I liked that the action sequences with those guys
Speaker 2: on that one planet where they were fighting. That was
Speaker 2: really fun. Something happened.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we got some some fights and some new space travel.
Speaker 3: It's also very like flirty episode.
Speaker 2: I guess, yeah, you're right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I enjoyed it. I don't know that it's like
Speaker 3: going to be a standout episode or anything. But also,
Speaker 3: notably did not have our two main women in it. Yeah,
Speaker 3: that was minus a voiceover.
Speaker 2: I really missed them, and they're unenthusiastic tempistry.
Speaker 3: But just going off the screenshot that shows up for
Speaker 3: the next episode, it looked like it was going to feature.
Speaker 1: Them trivia time, What facts or news could we uncover
Speaker 1: for where the stars are scattered?
Speaker 3: Finlay trivia? Our director Mark Tanderai, someone who has a
Speaker 3: long radio career, but has also directed some horror films
Speaker 3: including Hush House, at the End of the Street and Spell.
Speaker 3: So when I read that, I wondered if we were
Speaker 3: going to be in for like a horror type episode,
Speaker 3: But not so much. It's a pretty bright episode. TV
Speaker 3: credits also include Gotham Man doctor who Oh. Then the
Speaker 3: book they pick up and open from the do some
Speaker 3: bars bookshelf is the streemad bag of a dad Gita,
Speaker 3: the Hindu religious scripture written in Sanskrit. That's all the
Speaker 3: trivia I had for this, So we can move on.
Speaker 1: Deep space dive. Let's break down some of our thoughts
Speaker 1: on the episode. You can share your thoughts with us
Speaker 1: through email or social media. We may use your comments
Speaker 1: on an upcoming episode.
Speaker 3: Where do you want to go first?
Speaker 2: I don't remember how the episode started.
Speaker 3: I'm pretty sure we started at the palace with the
Speaker 3: cloud Queen and the young Emperor, Is that right?
Speaker 2: I don't remember if it was with the spaceship and
Speaker 2: Marshmallow waking up, but either.
Speaker 3: That might Yeah, no, that is that is where we started.
Speaker 3: We started with the.
Speaker 2: I'm coming out of hyperdrive.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was confused. The first note I wrote just
Speaker 3: said flirtation and that wasn't specific enough because I was
Speaker 3: talking about hober Mallow and what's her name, not Polly,
Speaker 3: her name is Constant because she's really into him.
Speaker 2: She really is. She's like thirsty for him. Yeah, in
Speaker 2: a way that's like uncouth.
Speaker 3: Even in that first scene, like he said something and
Speaker 3: just like did this loud giggle.
Speaker 2: Yeah, tone it down, girl, but also like respect because
Speaker 2: like sometimes, like I hate to do this, women tend
Speaker 2: to be very coy and indirect with their flirting and
Speaker 2: dudes don't get it. It goes over their head. The
Speaker 2: signals aren't matching up and they think, Oh, she's really
Speaker 2: nice and it's not like, oh, she likes me and
Speaker 2: wants my dep which is what the vibe she's giving
Speaker 2: off right now is very thirsty.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And at the end of the episode, he's very direct, like, oh,
Speaker 3: I thought we were going to go on this trip
Speaker 3: together and we were gonna consummate for.
Speaker 2: Her words, and I'm sure he was like, oh, Okay,
Speaker 2: she went there, but yeah, she's thirsty and the only
Speaker 2: thing that can satisfy her thirst this Marshmallow or herber Murru,
Speaker 2: I don't know his name. And then they like they
Speaker 2: take his ass to the triangle or whatever it is
Speaker 2: the vault and no resistance from him at all until
Speaker 2: they finally revealed that the last guy that approached it
Speaker 2: was turned into ash and then he's like what the fuck? Wait? Yeah,
Speaker 2: but then he still goes in.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think he didn't feel like he had
Speaker 3: a choice to get away.
Speaker 2: I feel like in the vault it was very basic
Speaker 2: and boring, Like the only part that was kind of
Speaker 2: interesting was when finally Celdic showed up. And I feel
Speaker 2: like when they came in after two days of being
Speaker 2: alone and freaked out, the energy from Hobermellow should have
Speaker 2: been like way more chaotic, way more desperate. Like if
Speaker 2: I haven't seen two people and I was stuck inside
Speaker 2: of it like an eternal abyss, I'd be freaked out.
Speaker 2: I'd be like, oh my god, what the fuck where
Speaker 2: have you been?
Speaker 3: Yeah, he gets over it really quickly. Yeah, he's.
Speaker 2: What did you think about the abyss or the vault?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I mean I didn't feel too much about the inside.
Speaker 3: It felt like a stage or something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I feel like this Feldar or whatever his
Speaker 2: name is, he seems more like evil, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's like sinister. Yeah, he's playing like the role
Speaker 3: of the god.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's really leaning in.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he's like trying. He's like doing things the
Speaker 3: maintain control. That's why he fried that guy.
Speaker 2: Creepy, creepy, creepy, creepy, creepy. I didn't like that at all.
Speaker 2: I felt like alarm bells should have gone off, but
Speaker 2: because the religious people were so religious, they didn't care.
Speaker 2: And then the one skeptic stayed back and got a
Speaker 2: separate mission that he was totally into because he got
Speaker 2: called the Blade.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it seems to be just going along with it,
Speaker 3: not trying to run away as far as we can tell.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like there's got to be like an
Speaker 2: angle here. There's gotta be one because this guy's a
Speaker 2: con man, not just because he wants to thrust. I
Speaker 2: could not get over that line.
Speaker 3: We got thrusting, we've got insertion.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, why was that the most homorotic interaction
Speaker 2: when we literally had two gay men in a scene
Speaker 2: together who were partners, so it's not like, oh, we
Speaker 2: don't know each other, we're going to be respectable weird.
Speaker 2: I really wish that there was a kiss before they
Speaker 2: went on their little AirPod mission, just a quick like
Speaker 2: good luck, babe peck or something. But I guess they're
Speaker 2: trying to show us how they're a little bit disjointed.
Speaker 3: Yeah they are. There's there's a lot of friction there.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Oh maybe they just they don't kiss in the workplace.
Speaker 2: I don't believe that. I really don't. I've seen coworkers
Speaker 2: hold hands and eat together and be very like canoodlely
Speaker 2: googly googly love. I've seen a lot. Okay, I used
Speaker 2: when I worked as a security guard. I even't seen
Speaker 2: them go to the parking lot and bang went out,
Speaker 2: so I'd be excited to go to work. I don't know,
Speaker 2: but I thought it was interesting that part of the
Speaker 2: lore is that people don't see books often.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so there's we've gotten definitely like pieces of this
Speaker 3: idea that they have restricted technology in this universe, and
Speaker 3: you would think that would mean like more books. We
Speaker 3: saw books on like the library, the Emperor's Library on Tranter,
Speaker 3: or Seldon's Library or something. Yeah, And then.
Speaker 2: But he's like an elite, right, so he has access
Speaker 2: and privilege. So it was interesting to see a home library.
Speaker 2: And it's kind of sad because the guy died, so
Speaker 2: you don't know what's going to happen to those books
Speaker 2: with that Really like ignorant population, no offense. I think
Speaker 2: ignorant people are obviously capable of like learning and subcombing
Speaker 2: or nots upcombing to the ignorance, I guess, but persevering
Speaker 2: and advancing and all that. But it's hard to believe
Speaker 2: that the house was so nice too. Holy shit, I
Speaker 2: would love to live in that house. Yeah, it was
Speaker 2: so nice with those high ceilings and the adobe white walls,
Speaker 2: oh my god, and the plants and the books. It
Speaker 2: was like idyllic. And he was a fucking royalist wh
Speaker 2: would be sending messages to the Empire even though the
Speaker 2: Empire never responded, And like, you like this guy, but
Speaker 2: then you think, is he worth liking for being somebody
Speaker 2: who's kind of like a class trader, you know.
Speaker 3: I don't know. I mean, because he it's hard to
Speaker 3: get a read on him, like where obviously he has
Speaker 3: loyalties to the empire if he's sending him stuff, but
Speaker 3: he also seems to acknowledge that like the Empire harmed
Speaker 3: their world by leaving coming there and then harmed them
Speaker 3: by leaving.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's hard to say like where he stands
Speaker 2: with the Empire, even though he was like dedicated to
Speaker 2: informing them, so on some level he was aligning himself
Speaker 2: with them, and he died with them. So it's just
Speaker 2: very interesting. I don't know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was surprised that they were shocked by books.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was really interesting, and I think that's a
Speaker 2: like really good way to kind of understand life in
Speaker 2: the outreach or life even in this galaxy, in this area.
Speaker 2: Because the guy who said he'd never seen a book
Speaker 2: is somebody who you know, lived within the higher realm
Speaker 2: of the Empire. He was a military class, respected individual. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and you would have guessed that maybe semi educated, but
Speaker 2: never seen a book. So it's very interesting and the
Speaker 2: book he I love the gesture of giving him the book,
Speaker 2: letting him keep it, even though it's like you'll never
Speaker 2: learn how to read this and you'll probably just enjoy
Speaker 2: the pretty pictures.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Then also like they had to kill amount for that,
Speaker 3: so you take as many books as you want for real.
Speaker 2: I thought it was really cool that they could travel
Speaker 2: in their spacesuits. They didn't need to be in a
Speaker 2: ship or anything. They just like got zooted out. That
Speaker 2: was cool. I think the technology here is so interesting.
Speaker 2: On one part, you've never seen a book. On the
Speaker 2: other part, you're wearing this highly advanced mechanical suit that
Speaker 2: lets you be transported through space. Crazy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And then they talked about what did they say,
Speaker 3: like some sort of technology was banned centuries ago AI,
Speaker 3: something to do with Selden's.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, AI technology like uh least something about artificial intelligence, Yeah.
Speaker 3: Something along those lines. And then we also know that
Speaker 3: there used to be robots and those for the most
Speaker 3: part don't exist anymore.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Like Cloud Queen, I love her and I i'd.
Speaker 3: Have her back this time.
Speaker 2: I missed her pigments. Yeah that always that like elevates
Speaker 2: her look and makes her look so futuristic and like queenly.
Speaker 2: But today she's like, no, I'm gonna take it off.
Speaker 2: She like really beared it out, like she she explained
Speaker 2: it to us like we were fucking stupid, And part
Speaker 2: of me was like, why did you do that? Why
Speaker 2: did you explain it when we could have just seen it,
Speaker 2: but they were like, no, I'm taking off my makeup,
Speaker 2: so he feels like I'm being vulnerable and it's like, girl,
Speaker 2: you're giving away all our secrets.
Speaker 3: Don't you think they're listening.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but apparently they have like technology so that it
Speaker 2: muffles them or something, and then they were able to
Speaker 2: recuperate memory, which means that that concubine lady definitely remembered
Speaker 2: sleeping with that old man.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that was a weird thing because he's like,
Speaker 3: do you want to go watch the porn we made
Speaker 3: that you don't remember because I watch it all the time. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Back in my day, we used to memory wipe the concubines.
Speaker 2: Now my grandson is a marrying one. But she's really
Speaker 2: determined to figure out whether or not her succession had
Speaker 2: anything to do with like some sort of planned attack,
Speaker 2: which I never even thought about because I didn't know
Speaker 2: the circumstances of her coming into power, which would have
Speaker 2: been interesting to see. It would have been cool to
Speaker 2: know this royal family in season one and then see
Speaker 2: them die in a horrible accident. That's how you build
Speaker 2: emotion and depth of character.
Speaker 3: I don't know well, yeah, she's he's on her own
Speaker 3: mission to figure this out. And then I'm not sure
Speaker 3: what she'll do, like if she finds out that brother
Speaker 3: Day did orchestrate the death of her family to manipulate
Speaker 3: her into being his wife, And I'm not sure if
Speaker 3: she might still go through with it, but be because
Speaker 3: she really implies like she's not the weak one that
Speaker 3: he thinks she is.
Speaker 2: I think what she wants to do is kill him. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And I think that's another reason why she's trying to
Speaker 2: find out how he wasn't assassinated successfully, so that she
Speaker 2: can learn from others' mistakes. So I think she might
Speaker 2: go through with it. It doesn't mean, if anything, that
Speaker 2: gets her closer to him. Yeah, And uh, I think
Speaker 2: we're on the cusp of her maybe finding out that
Speaker 2: Day's step mom girlfriend is a robot, because if they
Speaker 2: watch that footage, it's going to show her getting her
Speaker 2: head sliced open. And still, oh.
Speaker 3: Really, yeah, I didn't think about that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And then I don't know, I thought that was
Speaker 2: really clever that she's like, I don't know why we
Speaker 2: didn't get courted together. When she was talking to Dawn,
Speaker 2: She's like, it makes more sense. In my opinion, and
Speaker 2: I think she's like flirting with him and being very
Speaker 2: like Coquette.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this whole thing like plays out like Porno with
Speaker 3: all these like step family and like, oh, you guys
Speaker 3: are the same person.
Speaker 2: So it's it's not cheaty.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like.
Speaker 2: I don't know, very interesting. I like her arc. I'm
Speaker 2: really interested to see what she finds out and I
Speaker 2: hope she gets justice. I'm tired of Day. I'm really
Speaker 2: tired of Day. He wasn't even in the episode, I know,
Speaker 2: even implying like talking days like exhausting, such a like
Speaker 2: pompous asshole, Who are we all done? Do you want
Speaker 2: to talk about astro queen?
Speaker 3: See if I missed anything? Like there was like a
Speaker 3: lot more humor in the episode now, I think we
Speaker 3: can start to expect that now if they brought in
Speaker 3: more characters and more dynamics.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I will see. It's definitely lighter. Not that I
Speaker 2: don't like heavy things, I do, but I think there
Speaker 2: has to be a balance, and I feel like the
Speaker 2: show to me is still not there yet. It's like
Speaker 2: trying really well, like trying and showing like I think
Speaker 2: the world building is coming across a little bit more slowly.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm just curious to see what happens next, which is good.
Speaker 2: I think it's just like last season was so hard
Speaker 2: to follow.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like I'm keeping up with it now. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I don't have to feel as dumb.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I kind of wish they would bring some
Speaker 2: of the stuff up from last season into this season,
Speaker 2: like that Salt place. Yeah, that would be interesting to
Speaker 2: see what they're up to now, like get a check
Speaker 2: in with them and see what happened after Empire kind
Speaker 2: of turned the world around a little bit.
Speaker 3: Yeah. That's just one of the things that does not
Speaker 3: work well for this show, wouldn't it, Because that was
Speaker 3: such a meaningful experience for the brother day of last
Speaker 3: season to go through that and find like I basically
Speaker 3: don't have a.
Speaker 2: Soul, Yeah, and just leave it at that.
Speaker 3: Just like that really is like stripped him down and
Speaker 3: impacted him, and that place is also very meaningful for Demersal,
Speaker 3: and we kind of just leave all that behind. We
Speaker 3: have the characters are same but different.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's weird. I don't know how I feel about that.
Speaker 2: I wish we had a little bit of closure with that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, But I think as we've seen from what I've read,
Speaker 3: like there's a bit of course correction with this season
Speaker 3: that they don't jumped through time like they did all
Speaker 3: last season. And the show was also continued its tradition
Speaker 3: of showing us men's butts.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that was random, just in the garden. Yeah,
Speaker 2: like just a nude man. I wonder if it's one
Speaker 2: of the concubines for day Maybe it's really interesting.
Speaker 1: Astral Queen, who was the standout character in the.
Speaker 3: Episode, Astral Queen.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna give it to the general. The general, Yeah
Speaker 2: for what for getting back on the horse? No, wait,
Speaker 2: to his girlfriend, I mean boyfriend, to his boyfriend, for
Speaker 2: not just standing by his man, but also correcting him
Speaker 2: and saying to be wise enough to question it. Like
Speaker 2: going into war. You don't go in blind. You question
Speaker 2: the sority.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and keep yappuff, communicate, give me a glance.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah I like that. Yeah. So him, I don't
Speaker 2: know his name, his name.
Speaker 3: I don't know how to say it. Well, delaywin.
Speaker 2: What is he in the Lord of the Rings? No,
Speaker 2: but he he was, you know, he was with his partner.
Speaker 2: He's he's like, hey, you got to warn me. You
Speaker 2: gotta give me like a signal if you're going to
Speaker 2: start knocking bitches out, and you know he's tending to
Speaker 2: his wounds. He's still on board with the plan. But
Speaker 2: he's a question authority bro. And he got a free
Speaker 2: book and he'd never seen one before. So hats off
Speaker 2: to seeing your first book and then getting it. Wow,
Speaker 2: what a treat you.
Speaker 3: Think he'll get in trouble for having it?
Speaker 2: I don't know. Is it that kind of place?
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Is it a thing that like they just don't exist
Speaker 2: because they're like an archaic technology, or they don't exist
Speaker 2: because they're banned right, like it's and plus it's in sanscript.
Speaker 2: Who reads sanscript in this world? I barely know anybody
Speaker 2: in like, you know, my circle that knows sanscript like that,
Speaker 2: especially ancient Sanskri. Yeah, what about you? Who's your standout character?
Speaker 3: I'm trying to choose between Queen Sarah and Constant.
Speaker 2: Do you like a thirsty, like forward bitch or do
Speaker 2: you like a bitch that's being thirsted after who's manipulative?
Speaker 3: She was good at manipulating? Yeah, I Constant? Yeah, that
Speaker 3: guy really Like I think the Queen is really in
Speaker 3: control of this episode.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and her shoulder blades were sharp today in that
Speaker 2: backless dress, and the woods look good. She's a skinny legend.
Speaker 3: Yeah, she's She's definitely among the strongest characters in the show.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're is saying a lot considering how many fucking
Speaker 2: characters there are.
Speaker 3: Right, they can't even get them all in one episode anymore.
Speaker 3: We got to like trade off storylines. Yeah, so next
Speaker 3: time we'll have probably a brother day and then and
Speaker 3: Salvor the mother daughter team and Harry who's a human.
Speaker 3: I forgot about that.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, he's human.
Speaker 3: So yeah, those are astral queens. They will receive their
Speaker 3: rewards as soon as we can figure out where they
Speaker 3: are or when they are or when they are.
Speaker 2: Oh, we should include a packet of pigments for their pleasure.
Speaker 2: What is with seven pigments? Man, it's like there's a
Speaker 2: whole pigment story arc because it's happening through all the seasons.
Speaker 3: They love that stuff.
Speaker 2: Oh, speaking of pigments, remember that guy, that monk who
Speaker 2: snorted that stuff when they right right before they landed.
Speaker 2: Do they have cocaine in this world? What was that Rhinohorn?
Speaker 3: I mean, I think we're led to believe it's at
Speaker 3: least something like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then when he meets Selden, he's like, I'm
Speaker 2: not drinking wine. I'm cool. So he's like turning no,
Speaker 2: were a new leave for something? What's up with that
Speaker 2: quickness for quitters?
Speaker 3: And they're also like, you better hide that fancy old
Speaker 3: line from him.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: All right. That wraps up our coverage for this episode.
Speaker 3: The next one is called The Sighted and the Scene.
Speaker 3: We will be back to cover that. Thank you for
Speaker 3: spacing out with us. I remember, by the time you
Speaker 3: recognize an atrocity, you may have been complicit in one already.
Speaker 1: Facts. Thank you for spacing out with BB and Jason.
Speaker 1: You can help us out by subscribing and leaving a
Speaker 1: positive rating or review. Remember you can contact us through
Speaker 1: email or social media. Next time, we will cover Foundation
Speaker 1: season two, episode five, Decided and the Scene