There is a paradox of a well-made flashback in series and films: we are left wanting much more. And the proof is once again the return to the past of Dune: Prophecy. The premise here is to tell the beginning of the Bene Gesserit, but we still want more of the Butlerian Jihad than the current drama, even with an attractive and interesting Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel).

That’s right, we’re 10 thousand years away (I can’t say this without thinking of Ruy Seixas) from what cinema has been telling with the Dune films. Still, there are at least two timelines in Dune: Prophecy: the “current” one, with Valya Harkonnen (Emily Watson) in command of the Bene Gesserit, and about 30 years earlier, when the young Valya (Jessica Barden) is still angry about the Harkonnens’ situation and thinks about taking revenge 24 hours a day. And that’s exactly what frustrates me because, according to Valya, the fall of the Harkonnens was a misinterpretation of what happened in the War with Atreides, making the humanitarian gesture of saving lives seem like cowardice. She sees this as the purest truth, but it’s strange that no one else sees History the way she does. In other words, why not show us?

This is a feeling that Game of Thrones knew how to work well, in comparison. The series begins after Robert’s Rebellion and the fall of the Targaryens, but the flashbacks brilliantly show the “small” differences in the narrative. We feel like going back in time and finding out more, but the little bits we’ve seen resolve themselves. Not here. The entire series is one big flashback (like House of the Dragon, following the parallels), but inserting a flashback within a flashback seems unnecessary to me. That’s why we want more from the young girls than from the adults. I, at least, want it. Wanting is not being able to, so let’s review what happened in the third episode and anticipate the next steps?

Valya’s plan

In the back and forth of the timeline, Desmond Hart’s dismissal from the court demands that Valya immediately review her strategy and triggers a past where she began her revenge against the Atreides. Accompanied by her protégé, Sister Theodosia (Jade Anouka), she outlines the plan: for now, they will stay with the noble houses that have them and continue their work, so as not to lose them. Returning to Corrino House will require more time and cunning.

Valya is informed that Lila (Chloe Lea) did not survive the Agony, and shows no empathy, only frustration at not having made contact with Mother Superior Raquella Berto-Anirul (Cathy Tyson), and is relieved that there is indeed a message (“the key to settling the score is someone who was born twice; once in blood, once in spice”), but here there are two things to pay attention to: 1) although the message is vague, without blinking Valya determines that it is about Desmond Hart. Of course, it makes sense, after all, he survived the “giant desert worm” and therefore was born of “blood” (because he is human) and of “spice” because he survived Arrakis. My theory is different*. But 2) Valya did not even mourn Lila’s death. Before my theory, following in Valya’s footsteps, she decides to take another trip “home”, which we will see at the end of the episode.

In the past, the roots of the prophecy

We go back in time to the ice planet of Lankiveil, which is where House Harkonnen survives in simple conditions. Young Valya hates her life, her conditions, and the passivity of her family. Her parents, Sonia (Polly Walker) and Vergyl (David Bark-Jones) complain but want to move on with their lives. Only her siblings, Griffin (Earl Cave) and Tula (Emma Canning) share Valya’s anguish, largely because they are influenced by her. Uncle Evgeny (Mark Addy) mentions that Vorian Atreides is mysteriously back and this awakens in his niece the desire to immediately confront him about “the lies he told about House Harkonnen”. For Valya, her great-grandfather, Abulurd Harkonnen, was a hero who prevented genocide, not a coward, and History needs to correct its mistakes.

Not even her passionate defense convinces her elders, which makes her even more angry. Griffin, who was once saved from drowning by his sister (who “called” him, signaling that she used her voice) agrees to help her. He agrees to track down Vorian Atreides and confront him, but as time goes by we see that Griffin is killed. Once again, Valya screams that it is the Atreides’ fault (those who have read the book know that it was not exactly Vorian who killed him, but the series leaves it open) and once again, she wants revenge. It seems a bit like Star Trek’s Wrath of Khan, but it’s the same vibe. She can’t take care of herself because her parents have sent her to join the Sisterhood on Wallach IX, and she tells a docile Tula, who argues that there’s no such thing as an eye for an eye, to find a way out of Lankiveil.

“Sisters” Above All

Valya’s astral hell never stops. Joining the Sisterhood is a bit like Arya meets the Faceless Men: she has to be nobody, but Valya who is Power and Revenge, she is and always will be a Harkonnen, as Raquella acknowledges. Still, the hatred in her heart is welcome and Valya is adopted by the Mother Superior, already planting the seed of jealousy with her sister Dorotea (Camilla Beeput).

The rivalry between the two is reflected in the antagonistic way they see what they are learning. For Dorotea, it is about helping to guide the best nature of humanity, but Valya sees their gift as a tool that must be used to serve a purpose. And that is what Raquella also thinks, under the dubious plan of ensuring the advancement of the human species. There is something in the basement, with very limited access, that only Valya has knowledge of. And let’s give you the spoiler, revealed at the end of the episode: the Bene Gesserit uses AI to create the genetic matrix containing the DNA of all the Great Houses and eventually create an ideal person (for them).

Sometime later, we meet Tula again with her boyfriend, Orry (Milo Callaghan), preparing to meet his family and help hunt a Salusan bull. We soon realize that they don’t know she’s a Harkonnen, nor does Orry. She is warmly welcomed, but it is slowly revealed that Orry is an Atreides and that they imagined themselves to be Romeo and Juliet, well, sit down.

After spending the night with Orry, Tula tries to sneak away unnoticed, but he wakes up and they end up talking. Tula is thrilled because she genuinely seems to like him, but confesses that she lied and that she is a Harkonnen. Surprised at first, Orry insists that it won’t be a problem for them because the union of the two could end the centuries-old rivalry between their houses. Tula says that nothing will change the fact that “an Atreides killed his brother” and only then does Orry notice that the camp is strangely quiet. When he goes outside, he sees everyone dead: Tula poisoned them without them realizing. And before he could understand what happened, Tula kills him too. She only lets little Albert Atreides (Archie Barnes) survive and escape. She consoles her boyfriend, whom she genuinely loves until she stops breathing and sees a Salusan bull staring at her from afar.

Part of the plan

When Valya receives Tula’s encrypted message, we see that the sisters planned revenge together and that Tula is capable of much more for her family. In Lankiveil, the sisters gather at Griffin’s tomb, but when they get home they are criticized by Sonia, Vergyl, and Evgeny who are against the massacre because it will only worsen the family’s situation in the Imperium. Valya ends up using her voice and showing off her power, but when she sees that nothing makes her parents or her uncle agree with her, she takes the Agony test and is saved by Tula, emerging as a Reverend Mother, exactly as Raquella demanded. Tula decides to join the Sisterhood, and they decide that it will be a new beginning and a new purpose for both of them, establishing a pact of fidelity and commitment between them.

In the present day, Tula (Olivia Williams) is in disguise but remains inconsolable with Lila in a vegetative state. When Sister Avila (Barbara Marten) brings some spiced tea and insists on turning off the machines, Tula has an idea. She performs the farewell ceremony, but, as we see in the final scene, it is revealed that the Bene Gesserit uses the forbidden machines, and the artificial intelligence, named “Anirul”, gives the order to use spices to rejuvenate Lila’s mind. It is against Valya’s guidance, Anirul warns, but Tula orders her to go ahead anyway. After having sacrificed her love, she does not want the same fate for her daughter of the heart. The conflict between the sisters ahead?

*No one asked and everyone seemed in a hurry, but Lila was also born of blood and spice, at least technically. Is she the one responsible for the settling of scores?

In any case, when Valya “goes home,” she means to pay a visit to the current Baron Harrow Harkonnen (Edward Davis), who calls her “Aunt Valya” and asks about “Aunt Tula.” We see that Evgeny is alive and still resentful of his niece. He can sing “Sisterhood above all else,” but Valya? She will always be for House Harkonnen.

What now?

We missed seeing Desmond Hart, who obviously anticipates a counterattack from Valya. In the trailer, we hear him warning the Emperor that anyone who disrespects him “threatens his laws,” so he can use him to create fear. Of course, he then appears in a Council warning that there are “predators among us and a line must be drawn,” doing his now-customary barbecue of people to prove his point.

We don’t have a title for episode 4 yet to see what’s in store, but in the same promo we see Valya claim that she feels “haunted by a past she can’t escape” and, in the ongoing rebellion, Keiran Atreides tells Princess Inez that “sometimes we have to burn it all before we can save it”, with her offering to help him. Honestly, they’re the weak point of the series, I don’t care what they do, and “burn” looks like it could be used literally by Desmond.

“No one is above the Law, not even the Emperor”, we hear Valya say with Harrow. “The future can redefine our name”. After seeing the Bene Gesserit scared by everyone drawing a black hole, we hear Evgeny humiliating a crying Valya that she is “a black hole in this family”, with her, echoing her younger self, losing her cool shouting “I won’t apologize for being strong”. In House Harkonnen, Peace is the stuff of fairy tales.

Since there are only six episodes, we have already reached the halfway point of the story. Yes, it seems rushed. And unfortunately, there are too many people for so little time, even so, my assessment is extremely positive for this first phase. It would have been much better, because it really changed the weight of the relationship between Tula and Valya when we went through the flashback, if the story had been more focused on this fight between the Atreides and Harknonnen, ending with the two sisters going to the Brotherhood after the “red hunt”. In this period in which streaming is groping for releases, quality and even return, a lot of content will be sacrificed. But Dune: Prophecy is already a success.

Pesquisar

Pesquisar