Welcome back to the blog readers. Dune: Prophecy has been an interesting series if I can be honest. I thought the first episode showed a good amount of promise while introducing us to the ideas of this series. The second episode I found to be a solid one as we built on what had happened and furthered the things I cared about. Last week's episode was kind of a bore with too much emphasis on the flashback portion of it. Would we course correct with this episode, titled "Twice Born," written by Kevin Lau and Suzanne Wrubel, and directed by Richard J. Lewis? Stick around to find out.
NOTE: I will be using spoilers for my thoughts, so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the episode.
Like I said in the introduction, I was nervous for this episode of the series because I did not know what we would expect going forward for the final half. I was hoping that somehow we would get back to the quality of the second episode, with all of the political intrigue from House of the Dragon (2022-) that we all love. And I do have to say that this episode just so happens to be the best of the series thus far. We got great political intrigue involving all our characters and we got another show-stealing performance from Travis Fimmel, and one by Mark Strong as well.
I praised the performance of Travis Fimmel as Desmond Hart in my review of the first episode, where I thought his performance led me to believe he had what it takes to carry his own in s show like this. That is even more so the case when we get into this episode, because he stands head and shoulders above anybody else. Fimmel does a brilliant job making you believe that Desmond is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers. Just look at the scene in the Landsraad to give you all the proof you need to come to the same opinion as me. He takes complete command of the scene and he floored me with his talent. I hope he starts to get more roles because I seriously think he is ready for this.
Now we have to talk about the brutal and fantastic (might I add as usual) performance by Mark Strong as Emperor Javicco Corrino. I came close to giving him a paragraph in the review for the second episode because I thought the moral gray area he is able to convey was nothing short of legendary. Although this character is really starting to piss me off (in a really good way), I am loving Strong's portrayal of him. And this week is nothing different, because Strong delivers a masterclass in playing in the morally gray. Even though he does not really do all that much in this episode, the brooding presence is just as magnetic as ever. At least give Strong his flowers because he absolutely deserves them.
Now I want to divulge and discuss the absolutely bonkers story offering we got this week. This is worth talking about because this is a good jumping off point for our final third of the series. We start on Wallach IX where Sister Emeline suffers from a nightmare. Another sister names Jen discovers the other Sisters are also having nightmares before preventing Emmaline's suicide. When the news of the nightmares is brought to a resistant Tula, she shrugs off the idea of it until Jen reveals all of the Sisters have been having nightmares. She later imbues all of the acolytes with spice to get them to draw what they are seeing in their nightmares. This horribly backfires when she loses control of them and they start to unanimously draw the same images: Shai-Hulud (the Arrakis sandworms) and blue eyes staring back at them; one acolyte pronounces the prophesized "Reckoning" is already upon them. Tula returns to the thinking machine that is giving Lila spice and dreams Emeline discovers her usage and she kills her. She is then horrified and relieved to see Lila alive and awake.
Meanwhile, on Salusa Secundus, Javicco is preparing to address the usual Landsraad meeting while Valya successfully convinces her nephew Harrow to agree to have her by House Harkonnen's Truthsayer. She additionally reveals to Theodosia that she is aware of the rebel plot to assassinate the Landsraad and promises to save the emperor to get back into his good graces. Sisters get to announcing the murder of Pruwet and the threatening of his House to other Houses. This gets a few Houses to want to open an investigation and invite Harrow and House Harkonnen to replace the departed House Richese on the Landsraad. Later on, Valya confronts her uncle, who claims she warped her siblings and she withholds his respirator, which kills the old man. She confides in Theodosia, who was impersonating Griffin due to some shape-shifting power she is revealed to possess.
Princess Ynez overhears Desmond's confession of the murders of Kasha and Pruwet and attempts to get her brother Constantine to assist her in calling out Desmond and betraying their father, an idea he is not comfortable with at all. Later on, Keiran Atreides acquires an Ixian flying thermal bomb to go forth with his plan to assassinate the Landsraad, something Mikaela overhears, which is how Valya finds out. Javicco's wife Natalya reveals she is the one that leaked the murder of Pruwet as Desmond tries (and fails) to get all of the Truthsayers removed from the Landsraad. At the Landsraad, it is business as usual (and Keiran starts his plot to murder the Emperor) until at the insistence of Valya, Harrow begins to officially declare an open investigation and that kanly was broken. However, Ynez openly accuses Desmond of the muder of Pruwet, which leads to him revealing the plot to murder the Emperor and destroying the bomb. And at the approval of Javicco, he goes on to immolate the conspirators to the horror of the Landsraad. Valya then notices that immolating the people weakening Desmond and takes some of his blood to finally confirm his identity. Javicco confides in Desmond and tells him to not exert himself like that again.
This week's episode was a shocking one, to say the least, and the scene at the Landsraad was one of the most shocking things of television I have seen all year, surpassing the murder of Aegon's son in House of the Dragon. Dune: prophecy finds its footing after taking a bit of a stumble and I am again looking forward to next week's episode. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.
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