Dune: Prophecy Season 1, Episode 2 Review: Three Deaths Put a Major Dent in Valya's Plans (2024)

The Dune: Prophecy premiere on Nov. 17, 2024 brought audience members 10,000 years into the past of Denis Villeneuve's Dune universe. Set sometime after the Butlerian Jihad that outlawed thinking machines, the series follows the villainous Valya Harkonnen, who is both the Mother Superior of the Bene Gesserit and the protagonist. Seeking to restore power to House Harkonnen, Valya and her sister Tula are using their unique position within the Sisterhood to manipulate House Corrino and House Richese into helping them regain control of the desert planet, Arrakis.

Despite the careful hand Valya has played throughout the decades, Episode 2, "Two Wolves," throws a couple of spanners into her carefully laid out plan. The first is one that caught her completely off guard: Desmond Hart. As a soldier of the Imperium who served Emperor Javicco Corrino on Arrakis, Desmond carried out two assassinations in the premiere that compromised one of Valya's goals: that of nine-year-old Pruwet Richese and Mother Kasha. The other threat to Valya's plans that she doesn't see coming is the vengeance of Mother Dorotea, who can now access her granddaughter Lila, after undergoing The Agony. Despite the odds that are stacked against her, Valya still has an ace up her sleeve.

Desmond Hart Is Valya Harkonnen's Deadliest Threat

Desmond Wants to Destroy the Sisterhood and Seize the Emperor's Throne

One thing that "Two Wolves" does exceptionally well is raise the stakes from Episode 1, "The Hidden Hand." Easily, one of the most compelling new characters in Dune: Prophecy not featured in the source material is Desmond Hart, played by Travis Fimmel. Though "Two Wolves" continues to build the mystery of House Corrino's deadliest assassin, fans of the source material can already start to piece together what kind of enemy he is.

Beginning with the fact Desmond claims to have been gifted with unique abilities after being swallowed by Shai-Hulud on Arrakis, many people are shocked to learn he survived an encounter with the gigantic sandworm at all. Among his unique abilities include possessing "The Eye," which gives him some form of extrasensory perception. He's also able to burn people alive using their own body heat. Though "Two Wolves" confirms nothing about his origins, all evidence seems to point to him being the show's version of a ghola, which is an artificial human clone created from the remains of an original deceased human.

If true, this would mean the original Desmond did actually die in his encounter with Shai-Hulud. This would also mean he was artificially cloned from his remains by a third party to take down the Bene Gesserit and seize the throne from Emperor Javicco. At least, that's what he implies during his two encounters with Valya Harkonnen on Salusa Secundus. Though Valya is not shown to be intimidated by Desmond, she quickly realizes the danger he truly poses to her when she learns she cannot use The Voice to control his actions like she did Mother Dorotea decades earlier.

Not only does Valya not succeed at killing Desmond to remove him as a threat, but Desmond knows that she's planning to usurp the Imperium from House Corrino. For Valya, this means she has a powerful enemy who can fight her on equal footing. However, while Valya knows she cannot underestimate Desmond, he may still just be a pawn in someone else's plans. This strongly implies Valya has a much bigger threat to worry about: a rival spiritual organization with powers similar to those of the Bene Gesserit.

While Dune: Prophecy has yet to name-drop the Bene Tleilax (the actual creators of the gholas in the Dune novels and enemies to the Bene Gesserit) or the Sisterhood of Rossak, both are strong candidates for appearing later on in the series. However, given that there is division among the Bene Gesserit over Valya Harkonnen's plans for the Sisterhood, it's far more likely that the Sisterhood of Rossak is the group behind Desmond's creation. This is especially likely if they are planning to save the Sisterhood from Valya, who is in fact using the Bene Gesserit to reclaim power for House Harkonnen. Whichever ends up happening is guaranteed to surprise viewers.

Lila's Death Reveal's Another Sinister Threat to House Harkonnen

Lila's Agony Reveals Reverend Mother Dorotea Plans to Avenge Her Own Death

Another way "Two Wolves" raises the stakes from the series premiere is the role that Lila plays in Valya's own plans, which may prove to be Valya's most fatal error yet. In a desperate attempt to learn more about the reckoning Mother Superior Raquella warned about decades earlier, Valya talks her sister Tula into having her favorite pupil Lila undergo The Agony to communicate with Raquella directly. Though Lila successfully undergoes The Agony, it is not Raquella she encounters, but her own grandmother, Dorotea, whom Valya killed decades earlier.

After using Lila's body to warn Tula Harkonnen that she will destroy her "hope" after Valya destroyed her life, Dorotea seemingly kills her own granddaughter. However, given what's already known about Desmond Hart, Lila could still prove useful to Dorotea, especially considering she told her granddaughter she had been "waiting" for her. It's hard to imagine Dorotea would wait for Lila to undergo The Agony just to threaten the Harkonnen sisters and then kill her off.

If Dorotea anticipated that Valya would be weak enough to have Lila undergo The Agony to contact Raquella, then it's just as likely Lila's death is part of a much larger plan Dorotea has brewing. Since Desmond already implied there's another group that wants to take down the Bene Gesserit (or at least the faction Valya Harkonnen is leading), Lila may be the next person Dorotea plans to resurrect in a similar capacity to Desmond to more directly control. This seems to provide the strongest evidence of the Sisterhood of Rossak's existence, and may turn out to be the faction Dorotea was building prior to her death.

Between Desmond and Lila's storylines, the moving pieces now seem to be in place to not only bring down House Corrino, but House Harkonnen as well. Since "Two Wolves" confirms viewers haven't seen the last of Dorotea, it can already be speculated that Dorotea plans to expose Valya from beyond the grave. Both her own granddaughter and Desmond Hart may just be the tools she uses to achieve that end. Either way, "Two Wolves" keeps viewers thinking about what will happen next, which keeps things exciting.

Emperor Javicco Continues to Lose Control of His Empire

House Corrino Has a Rebellion Rising Against Him Within His Own House

Of course, it's not just Valya Harkonnen who is losing control of the very plan she's been initiating since her adolescence. Emperor Javicco himself can't seem to maintain a stranglehold on his own empire, and seems to be in a worse place on that front than House of the Dragon's King Viserys I Targaryen. Not only is Valya preying on his weaknesses as a ruler similar to how Otto Hightower preyed on Viserys' on House of the Dragon, but she still plans to seize the army of House Richese for herself. Unfortunately, she is far from the only problem Emperor Javicco has to concern himself with.

Desmond Hart seems to have his eyes on the throne as well, but perhaps not for himself. Perhaps he is seizing the Imperium for whomever resurrected him from the dead, if he is in fact a ghola. To top it off, Javicco's own daughter, Princess Ynez, also wants to take the throne from him, but now seems to want to avenge Mother Kasha's death as well. This is a weakness Valya is exploiting to get Ynez on her side, and assigned Sister Theodosia to be her new confidante as a means to that end.

The one problem Emperor Javicco doesn't see stacking against him is the very rebellion Valya is orchestrating with the help of Mother Mikaela, who is also posing as a rebel. However, unbeknownst to the women, it seems Keiran Atreides is also part of the rebellion for his own reasons that have nothing to do with the Bene Gesserit's plans. Exactly what Keiran is up to is still up in the air, but based on what Dune fans already know about Paul Atreides' future as the fabled Muad'Dib, it's likely he's also working against the Sisterhood to obtain power for House Atreides.

All in all, "Two Wolves" is the strongest episode of Dune: Prophecy yet. While the series is, unfortunately, still relying on the same tropes and storytelling devices as HBO's other hit series, Game of Thrones, it's hard to deny that the characters and their individual arcs are the most engaging part of the show. Without the careful plotting of Dune: Prophecy's writers' room coupled with the actors' performances, and the direction of showrunners Diane Ademu-John and Alison Schapker, the series would struggle to be something more than Game of Thrones in space.

Despite similar plotting to Game of Thrones, the series still builds on the concepts already present in Denis Villeneuve's Dune movies, and the novels by Frank and Brian Herbert. In terms of story, the series remains accessible to audience members who have only seen the movies, with just enough lore clues for fans of the source material to pick apart and speculate on. Even if an audience member is coming into Dune: Prophecy without having watched Villeneuve's Dune movies or read the source material, it's still a highly enjoyable series, complete with great cinematography, and a powerful score by Volker Bertelmann.

New episodes of Dune: Prophecy debut on Sunday nights on HBO and Max at 9:00 PM EST.

10

10

Dune: Prophecy

TV-MA

Sci-Fi

Adventure

Fantasy

Drama

Two Harkonnen sisters combat forces that threaten the future of humankind and establish the fabled sect that will become known as the Bene Gesserit.

Release Date

November 17, 2024

IMDb ID

tt10466872

Creator(s)

Diane Ademu-John , Alison Schapker

TMDB User Rating

0 .0

Cast

Emily Watson , Olivia Williams , Jodhi May , Travis Fimmel , Mark Strong , Jade Anouka , Chris Mason , Sarah-Sofie Boussnina , Shalom Brune-Franklin , Faoileann Cunningham , Aoife Hinds , Chloe Lea , Josh Heuston , Edward Davis , Tabu , Yerin Ha

Main Genre

Sci-Fi

Seasons

1

Writers

Diane Ademu-John , Kevin J. Anderson , Brian Herbert , Frank Herbert

Streaming Service(s)

Max

Franchise(s)

Dune

Directors

Anna Foerster

Showrunner

Alison Schapker

Character(s)

Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen , Reverend Mother Tula Harkonnen , Empress Natalya Arat , Desmond Hart , Emperor Javicco Corrino , Sister Theodosia , Keiran Atreides , Princess Ynez Corrino , Mikaela , Sister Jen , Sister Emeline , Sister Lila , Constantine Corrino , Harrow Harkonnen , Sister Francesca , Young Kasha

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