TV Review: "Dune: Prophecy--The Hidden Hand"
The premiere of the new space opera is an exquisite combination of "House of the Dragon" and "Dune," with scheming and gossip galore.
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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode ahead.
Well, it’s finally here. The first episode of Dune: Prophecy, a prequel series to Denis Villeneuve’s sprawling epic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel, is now on our TV screens, and I know that I, for one, am already more than a little hooked. That probably goes without saying for anyone who’s read this newsletter with any kind of regularity, but I always like to be honest about such things. I mean, what’s not to love about a show that is all about backroom politics and scheming sorceresses?
Even before the series premiered we knew that it was going to be taking more than a few pages out of the Game of Thrones playbook. This is, clearly, going to be a series all about the conflicts and schemings among the Great Houses, and there are going to be more than a few bodies left behind once all is said and done. And, as one critic so pithily and cleverly put it, it’s also going to be a show about gossipy space divas.
That much is clear from the very beginning. The first part of the episode is narrated as a flashback by Emily Watson’s Valya Harkonnen who, in the present, is the Mother Superior of the Bene Gesserit. As her story reveals, however, her path to that pinnacle was paved with blood, as she essentially appointed herself as the one responsible for carrying on the Sisterhood’s breeding program. In this, she has been capably assisted by her less ambitious sister Tula (Olivia Williams). Together, they have high hopes of sculpting the young Princess Ynez Corrino (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina) to their specifications, whatever her father Javicco (Mark Strong), mother Natalya (Jodhi May), or sinister newcomer Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel) might have to say about it.
Though this was just the first episode of the series, we still see the vast scope of the story that it’s trying to tell. The Imperium is very much in its infancy, and as a result even a powerful family like Corrino is struggling to keep its hold on power which, as will be the case for the next several millennia, will depend on their control of spice and the planet of Arrakis. The Bene Gesserit, meanwhile, are loyal to no one other than themselves, even as their skills are viewed as indispensable by the various noble Houses trying to clutch as much power as they can. Though the series is admittedly a bit soapier in its plotting than Villeneuve’s films, it’s still interested in similar issues, including the weight of history, the potential of human agency in the face of vast forces and, of course, the ethics of breeding a superhuman without the knowledge of those involved in said breeding.
That being said, the series doesn’t lack for some human magic. I found both Princess Ynez and her paramour Keiran Atreides (Chris Mason) quite charming. Their little liaison in the club did feel a bit too much like the CW for my taste, but there are worse things than seeing two beautiful people going at it. Whether this illicit relationship will end up being something that the series explores with any nuance is very much an open question.
There’s no question, though, that the most important relationship in the series is that between Tula and Valya. Even though they have very different philosophies regarding how the Bene Gesserit should be run–particularly when it comes to choosing those that they take under their wing–their bond as sisters is clearly one that has been forged over long years. For the moment, it certainly seems as if Tula is content to be the junior partner in their bond, but I can’t help but wonder just how long this is going to last. She has her own thoughts and opinions, and I suspect that it won’t be long before she’s pushing up against what Valya believes to be best, particularly since it seems the entire Sisterhood seems to be at risk from a powerful scourge none of them yet understand.
And then there’s Travis Fimmel. The model-turned-actor has made quite a career out of playing crazy-eyed weirdos, and to that list we can now add Desmond Hart, a mysterious figure who clearly has some sort of supernatural abilities of his own, which he reveals when he burns the young Richese heir to death right in front of him, while poor Sister Kasha all the way on suffers a similar fate all the way on the Bene Gesserit home planet of Wallach IX. We don’t yet know what his game is, but it’s already clear that he may yet prove to be an existential threat to the Bene Gesserit and everything that they hope to accomplish with their breeding program and their manipulation of the Great Houses of the Imperium. For that matter, it’s not even clear that he’s a true ally to House Corrino, since he uses deception to gain access to the Emperor. Only time will tell!
The premiere of Dune: Prophecy nicely sets up some enigmas and mysteries that it’s clearly going to explore as the season goes on. Though I tend to not have much patience when it comes to the mystery box approach to storytelling, this show actually manages to pull it off without being too irritating. I actually find myself wondering just who Desmond is and just how far he’s going to be willing to go to destroy the Bene Gesserit’s hold (I mean, burning a child to death right of him is going a bit far, but if Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon taught us anything, it’s that this is a Rubicon that a lot of shows are now willing to cross).
While I very much enjoyed this first episode, I can’t help but feel a stirring of uncertainty about how well the season as a whole is going to be able to handle its various storylines, given the fact that it, like so many other epic series, has been kneecapped by only having eight episodes. As I’ve written before–and as I’ll continue to write–I cannot for the life of me understand why big production companies like HBO and Amazon desperately desire to produce epic stories yet lack the courage of their convictions to give them the number of episodes they obviously need in order to do justice to their stories. Let’s hope that if Prophecy gets a second season that they give it the time it needs to spread its wings.
As always when it comes to these things, I’m more than willing to keep an open mind, however. Given the fact that other women-led sci-fi series have been thin on the ground lately–one need only look at the dismal fate of The Acolyte to see what happens when one dares to have a show that focuses on women, particularly women of color–it’s always nice to see a show that really digs into the women behaving badly trope.
Here’s to five more fantastic episodes!