After so much anticipation and announcement, the premiere of Dune: Prophecy did not disappoint. Beautiful costumes, grandiose sets, political and religious intrigues, secrets, murders, and suspense, nothing was left out.

In terms of plot, the Dune franchise is extremely simple compared to its competitors. There are fewer families, there are two houses that hate each other and there is a religious order that manipulates everything. What confuses us the most is the time count: “10 thousand years” before what we see in the trilogy, which sounds bizarre if we count time within our notion on Earth. We would be leaving the Ice Age, but that’s okay, we’ll let it go (or stop humming Raul Seixas’ song I Was Born 10 Thousand Years Ago). The best part is that if you know the trilogy’s story, it’s ok, but following the series is unnecessary.

We embark on the story with the narration of Emily Watson, or rather, Valya Harkonnen, who gives her version of the facts to justify what she will do in the series. In the war against the machines, the Harkonnens were marked by cowardice and the Atreides rose through the ranks as heroes of the battle. Valya says that History didn’t understand what really happened and that the Atreides rose on the back of a lie.

The young Valya, as we see, is vengeful, focused, and dedicated to the Sisterhood, and her radicalism is not embraced by everyone, but she “wins” the competition for the position of Mother Superior using her powers and not measuring the consequences to achieve her goal.

Thirty years later, now leader of the Sisterhood (not yet called Bene Gesserit), she is acting on a plan to control all the houses and interplanetary politics: at the moment, she has all the men depending on the mentalists trained by Valya, who help them see the “truth” in each situation. Behind this, they manipulate everyone to create alliances and finally generate a genetically ideal woman to rule them all.

Everything seems to be going according to plan, especially because Emperor Javicco Corrino (Mark Strong) may hold the power of the galaxy, but his insecurity is clear, to the annoyance of his wife, Natalya (Jodhi May), and an opportunity for his rivals.

Everyone has their eyes on Princess Ynez (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina), the heir to the throne and who is about to get married. She will be trained by the Sisterhood, once again against Natalya, but before that, she is used for a political marriage with a boy of only 9 years old. That’s right. She has a very close relationship with her half-brother, Constantine (Josh Heuston), and a secret romance with her trainer, Kieran Atreides (Chris Mason), and she wants to learn from the Sisterhood the tricks that will make her a powerful Empress.

No one is counting on the ultra-timely arrival of Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel), a soldier who survived something transformative on Arrakis. Clearly sensing the Emperor’s vulnerability, he feeds Javicco’s paranoia by declaring that the ambush he survived was set up by insurgents from allied houses. Now he wants to be close to Power and the moment is opportune because if there’s one thing Javicco doesn’t know how to do is to say “no”. Out of nowhere, Desmond is at the wedding party, and has access to the Emperor, to the palace rooms… as if he’s always been there.

That’s because in the story there’s no time to waste: Desmond Hart is clear about everything, including his hatred for machines and the Sisterhood. He has faith and dark psychic powers, but the latter is not yet used openly. He tests Javicco, who complains about his dependence on the Sisterhood and wants to believe in something that will give him more power. Did he ask? He will be granted, but perhaps it would have been better to think more carefully about what and how he asked.

The vision that the unfortunate sister Kasha (Jihae) has – that of a cataclysm somehow related to the sandworms – is not deciphered in time. I immediately realized that it was referring to Desmond, but since he is still in disguise, the Sisterhood does not know what is happening. Yet.

The title of the episode – Hidden Hand – ended up being more about Desmond than Valya and her followers, and this clash promises to be great later on. By the end, we know Valya’s plan is to have a genetic share in a royal bloodline. What Desmond “really” wants is still uncertain, but he clearly wants to be the sole spiritual leader and advisor to the Emperor. The promised Rasputin references were clear and the soldier’s rise has barely begun.

Purists have already complained about the creative liberties of the story, but it worked perfectly for the larger, uninitiated audience. As Travis Fimmel has warned in interviews, everyone is after something and will stop at nothing to achieve it. We have a hint that, no matter how much Desmond Hart tries to stop it, Valya will somehow emerge victorious with the Bene Gesserit, this is a spoiler that every franchise knows. uia tem: we know how the story ends. Still, Dune: Prophecy has already fulfilled its mission. I want more!

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