Dune: Prophecy

The hidden hand

Season 1

Episode 1

Editorial review

3 stars

***

Photo: Attila Szvacsek/HBO

Until Denis Villeneuve came along, who adapted Frank Herbert’s novel into a film Dune turning it into a workable film seemed like an impossible dream, once nobly attempted by David Lynch under the supervision of producers Dino and Raffaella De Laurentiis, but with little critical or commercial success. If anything, the idea of adapting Dune was always more compelling than actually doing it, which is why Alejandro Jodorowsky’s extraordinary vision for the film is preserved in the documentary Jodorowsky’s dunestands as its greatest incarnation, a theoretical mind trip with music by Pink Floyd, visual effects by Dan O’Bannon and HR Giger, and a proposed cast that includes Salvador Dalí, Orson Welles, Mick Jagger and Udo Kier in leading roles. (Jodorowsky would cast his own son as Paul Atreides, which is just one of a thousand overconfident reasons the funding was withdrawn.)

The problem with Dune As one movie goes, Herbert’s book is both a thrilling space adventure, full of palace intrigue and giant sandworms, and a hallucinatory freakout on a galactic scale, and it’s rare that a director has the ability to do both at once. (Lynch wasn’t a bad choice, to be honest. With more resources and control, his Dune could be a masterpiece.) Villeneuve solved the problem Dune problem by mastering the ‘space adventure’ side of the equation and replacing the more mystical aspects of the book with imposing, thunderous world-building that overwhelmed you with scale. To a certain extent, you don’t so much like the Villeneuve films as you feel defeated by them, like the freaks of House Harkonnen had landed their ship in your backyard.

Inspired by Herbert’s book and Sisterhood of Dunea prequel novel by Herbert’s eldest son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson, Dune: Prophecy burned by multiple creative teams – that drama is crisply detailed in Noel Murray’s curtain-raiser in New York Times — before settling on showrunner Alison Schapker. Despite the many hands involved, this first episode of Dune: Prophecy makes the conservative choice to follow Villeneuve’s visual template (if not the audio version) and expand it into a Game of Thrones–style series of warring houses and interstellar political intrigue. That goes very far from the soul Dune — Having not read any of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson’s prequel novels, perhaps the creeping begins there – and so far it’s difficult to see evidence of the allegorical weight of Herbert’s original novel, with its veiled references to the battle for oil and jihadists in the US. the Middle East. Perhaps some notable themes will emerge as the show unfolds, but getting it off the ground is such a tough job that some patience may be needed.

At the same time, the mission drive is ingrained Dune: Prophecywhich is about the best laid plans of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood 10,000 years before they engineered the birth of Paul Atreides. (It’s actually similar to the Charlie Day Conspiracy meme from It’s always sunny in Philadelphia if the message board were the size of the Green Monster at Fenway Park.) In the context of Herbert’s Dunethe millennia-long human engineering conspiracy required to produce a messianic hero with surprising apocalyptic power sounds super cool, giving Paul a Chosen One status of virtually unparalleled magnitude. But Dune: Prophecy reveals the obvious, which is that humans are imperfect and often work against each other, and that it’s a miracle that we can make a club sandwich together, let alone create the defining force of the universe.

To her credit, however, Valya Harkonnen (Emily Watson) has a strong, clear vision, and she refuses to let anyone shake her – which, given her family’s reputation, casts the Bene Gesserit plot in a dark shadow throws. In her opening narration, Valya seethes at the historical accounts of recent history, in which House Atreides was credited with leading humanity’s successful rebellion against the “thinking machines” that enslaved them, while her great-grandfather was said to have given up the fight. Valya sees the Bene Gesserit’s mission as a means to redeem the Harkonnen name – spoiler alert: that’s not the case – but the whole idea of ​​the Sisterhood is that its members have no greater loyalty to any group outside their own group. The relationships they maintain and the alliances they form are always in line with the overarching plan.

In “The Hidden Hand,” that plan is to have a genetic stake in a royal bloodline, specifically that of Princess Ynez (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina), heir to the Golden Lion throne currently occupied by Emperor Javicco Corrino (Mark Strong). responsible for managing the spice harvest on the planet Arrakis. Against his own sanity, Corrino has arranged with House Richese to marry off Ynez to the very young Prince Pruwet, which would help secure a fleet of warriors to repel the attacks that have been holding back the harvesters on Arrakis . Although Ynez goes through with the extremely awkward ceremony, it will take a while for Purwet to grow into the marriage itself and in the meantime she plans to join the Bene Gesserit as an acolyte and add its mystical and philosophical teachings to the combat skills she possesses. been grinding myself. Valya and her sister Tula (Olivia Williams) have high hopes for their new recruit, who Valya is convinced is part of the prophecy, but Sister Kasha, who mentored Ynez under Corrino, is gripped by disturbing portents of things to come .

The episode sets the stage for plenty of drama, including the introduction of Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel), the unlikely survivor of a devastating attack on Corrino’s soldiers on Arrakis. Desmond returns from the desert planet and insists that the ambush was not by the native Fremon, but by insurgents from allied houses. (For what it’s worth, Kasha, a trained truth-teller for Emperor Corrino, has a feeling Desmond isn’t lying.) In the most dramatic moment of the hour – a sequence that mirrors the middle-of-the-night attack that wipes out House. Atreides in Dune: part one — Desmond breaks up the new marriage by burning the young Purwet to death with his spirit, with Kasha suffering a similar fate at the same time.

“There’s a war lurking in plain sight,” he tells the poor boy before killing him. ‘Winning a war requires a great sacrifice. And yours will not be in vain.” In doing so, Desmond seems to place himself in opposition to the Sisterhood, and his psychic powers, confirmed in footage Corrino sees while summoning a sandworm, make him formidable. But even as Kasha dies right before her eyes, Valya seems more enlightened than discouraged, as if the path the Bene Gesserit founder set for her has been illuminated rather than destroyed. That is the power of faith, which Valya has in abundance – almost as much as her ruthlessness.

It remains to be seen whether Dune: Prophecy will gain momentum from the shocking deaths that conclude this debut episode, which often weighs down under the weight of all its character introductions and piles of exposition. That’s part of the Dune trap – moviegoers for the 1984 version were greeted with a glossary of terminology – but so far the show doesn’t have the masterful wonder of the Villeneuve films to give it a boost. Just like Desmond Hart, he will have to crawl his way out of the sand.

• Reflecting the jihadist carnage that haunts Paul Atreides, the series features the threat of “Tyrant-Arafel,” a destructive force that lends some urgency to the technology the Bene Gesserit is working on. Ten thousand years is a bit too long to wait for a payout.

• “Humility is the basis of our virtues. The spirit of man is sacred. Thou shalt not deform the soul.” These are the words of Dorotea, who does not share Valya’s interpretation of the wishes of Bene Gesserit founder Raquella Berto-Anirul and, shall we say, becomes the victim of this powerful exchange of ideals. Young Valya’s use of the Voice to get Dorotea to plunge a dagger into her own throat indicates that violence and delusions of grandeur will play more of a role than humility in the group in the future.

• The acolytes who will welcome Ynez into the fold all get a brief introduction here, but of the group only Sister Jen (Faoileann Cunningham), who tells a wild story about killing a kidnapper and both her parents as a child, stands out . . A love triangle between Ynez and two handsome young men is also touched upon too lightly to make much of an impression.

• “May the Richese seed find purchase in royal wombs.” As is the case with wedding toasts, this gets a zero out of ten.

• “I understand, mother. I see.” It is the mark of a true cult that when reality does not conform to the vision they offer, they simply switch to another vision.