Simon The Hunter
Explorer
Yeah, it did leave a lot of questions... Bayta in the books does have a bond with the Mule but even though I she was a happy surprise for me, there are a lot of "yeah but..." hanging questions.
Spoilers Foundation Season 02 (Apple TV+) - SPOILERS
- Thread starter Mustrum_Ridcully
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Simon The Hunter
Explorer
I must admit when we saw her space jump, we laughed pretty loudly at how unreal it seemed.
TheHand
Hero
Ok … hmm… I think I’m still going to stick to my theory that Bayta is another decoy Mule and the real one is Magnifico, at least for now. I think after Gaal started winning against Mule1, Magnifico sacrificed him and made a new avatar with Baata. I’ll admit imy theory is probably far fetched, but Baata being the real Mule the whole time doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for the reasons you gave.
Willie the Duck
Legend
It is possible that they waited to decide who the Mule would be until later on (either to be topical, to avoid leeks, to make it impossible to accurately guess, or just because they wanted not to be able to telegraph it). In that case, contradicting information would be natural and is just ignored.
I suspect that they didn't want it to be Magnifico because 1) no surprise to those who read the book (and moreso than, say, GoT, I think they think a big part of their audience will have done so), and 2) the original reveal has the rather squicky 'Magnifico implies he would have mind-controlled Bayta into being his love-slave to get an heir, but alas, he is a mule in all too many ways' stinger that would have hit like a freight train nowadays. For that reason, I don't think it's a double-fakeout and he's really still the Mule.
What's really surprising about it being Bayta is that she was really the audience surrogate in the book, and so for those of us who read the books, it's making your favorite character the villain.
Its possible (and if the Mule is capable of such quick switches that would be the smart move).
That said, I do think if the Mule was able to just create a "psychic clone" that quickly...not just someone who thinks they are the mule but actually has a fraction of the power... that creates some narrative issues of how you ever stop such a person. Now again there is no reason to think the Mule is a strategic genius, and might pop up to see thigns close and personal and that's how you get them....but it does lose narrative payout if you do that again.
Narratively, far more likely is that creating the psychic clone was a major endeavor. It took a lot of the mule's time and energy to make one, and is not something they could just whip up again willy nilly. And so in that case, Bayta is the real deal.
Its one of those I would probably have to watch the season again to see if the narrative all makes since with Bayta as the mule.
Off the cuff, the biggest "WTF" question is....why does Gail see pirate mule in her visions and not Bayta? If Bayta has that much control over Gail that she can literally insert things she wants her to see.....well Gail is screwed, she cannot trust anything as she is completely compromised. My crazy theory there is....the pirate mule comes back. They resurrect him with super nanites...eh his mind might be gone but thats fine, Bayta just slaps her own psychic impression back in. And so the final fight is between Pirate Mule and Gail....perhaps Bayta is killed and shifts into her psychic clone for the final confrontation so it is still "full mule" but it is the Pirate Mule's body, and the vision still holds true.
The second big question....did the null field REALLY hit Bayta? Was she faking (and manipulating people around her to keep her safe), or was she actually completely taken out and just by luck and circumstance survived? If she was faking, still a hell of a risk to take, but maaaaaybe.
Paul Farquhar
Legend
As per the book, he is. It’s a significant element of his motivation. Without the possibility of generic decedents he feels he has no stake in the future.
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It’s not just that there would have been no surprise for those that read the books, but also that it would have been easy to spoil the surprise for those who haven’t, given that the books have been out since the ‘50s-‘60s.
There’s an interview with the showrunner where he goes into some details about their reasoning and plans:
Foundation Showrunner On Those Finale Twists And A Lesson Learned From The Dark Knight Films [Exclusive Interview] - SlashFilm
We had a long talk with Foundation showrunner David S. Goyer about the twists in the season 3 finale, the lesson he learned working with Chris Nolan, and more.
www.slashfilm.com
one of the key takeaways from the interview that I had forgotten about, was that Salvo was in the original vision of the future. That when she died in the present it concretely showed that Gail's vision of the future is not absolute and is malleable.It’s not just that there would have been no surprise for those that read the books, but also that it would have been easy to spoil the surprise for those who haven’t, given that the books have been out since the ‘50s-‘60s.
There’s an interview with the showrunner where he goes into some details about their reasoning and plans:
Foundation Showrunner On Those Finale Twists And A Lesson Learned From The Dark Knight Films [Exclusive Interview] - SlashFilm
We had a long talk with Foundation showrunner David S. Goyer about the twists in the season 3 finale, the lesson he learned working with Chris Nolan, and more.
And so...it suggests that Gail's vision of the future (of her and the pirate mule going mano a womano) is no longer accurate. That her killing the pirate mule was not in the original script, and by killing him, we are on a new path. But....will Gail get new visions of this updated path?....time will tell.
