This article contains spoilers for Foundation episode 7.
Foundation episode 7 hints Gaal has the power to predict the future. Adapted from Isaac Asimov's novels and short stories, Foundation is a vision of a future where humanity has expanded across the galaxy - but where galactic civilization has become stagnant, doomed to collapse. The story is inspired by the real-world collapse of the Roman Empire, but with one crucial difference - the presence of a mathematician named Hari Seldon, who is going to dramatic lengths to limit the coming Dark Ages.
Hari Seldon has mastered an arcane mathematical science called "psychohistory," which Asimov defined as as "that branch of mathematics which deals with the reactions of human conglomerates to fixed social and economic stimuli." Although psychohistory cannot be used to predict individual actions, it can predict the great flows of culture and society with a remarkable degree of accuracy. Using his knowledge of psychohistory, Hari Seldon has put together a complex plan that he believes will allow civilization to return at speed after the collapse of the Empire, which he views as inevitable. But Foundation episode 7 suggests Hari is not the only one to perceive the shape of the future - because it seems his protege Gaal Dornick possesses a remarkable power to feel the shape of the future.
Foundation has always presented Gaal Dornick as an unusually perceptive woman, and she frequently reacted to events just before they happened. This culminated in Foundation episode 2, in which her daily routine - to recite prime numbers while swimming lengths - was disrupted because she appeared to sense something was wrong. She stumbled upon Hari Seldon's murder, and in so doing ruined all Seldon's careful plans; he had intended Raych Foss to kill him and flee the Foundation in a cryo-tube, but Raych saved the woman he loved instead and was executed for his crime. In Foundation episode 7, Gaal remembers that fateful day and realizes she can predict the future.
It's important to note Gaal does not appear to "see" the future in precognitive visions; rather, she senses the shape of it. The precise mechanism is uncertain, but it's notable her most dramatic realization - that something was wrong on the Foundation vessel, leading her to seek out Raych and Hari - was driven by her using prime numbers to enter into a sort of meditative state. It's possible Gaal's intuitive grasp of mathematics means she has an instinctive connection to the future through her knowledge of psychohistory; if so, this power will only be limited at present, but can potentially be refined.
But Gaal's powers raise disturbing questions about Hari Seldon's plans. As seen in Foundation episode 2, she looked at his predictions of the future and sensed something was wrong with them. If she is indeed attuned to the flow of time through her knowledge of psychohistory, then it's quite likely she is right to believe the Foundation strategy is flawed. Hari would be wise to let Gaal use her powers to test his calculations.
Foundation has treated psychohistory as something almost mystical rather than scientific. As showrunner David Goyer explained in one interview, he deliberately asked psychohistory to be visually represented so it looked truly beautiful. "And, I know this is a funny idea," he recalled, "but they said, 'Well, what should it look like?' And I said, 'It should look like the language of angels.' Because I want it to feel like, when Hari and Gaal commune with the math, it's almost an ecstatic religious experience." In true fulfillment of this theme, Foundation episode 7 transforms Gaal Dornick into psychohistory's true prophet.
Foundation releases episodes weekly, on Fridays on Apple TV+.