Season 1, Episode 5: ‘In Blood, Truth’
It is a time of revelations. In this week’s episode of “Dune: Prophecy,” character after character learns some shattering truth about another — or the audience is clued in to something previously unknown about a familiar face. It’s about time, too. In a show this focused on plot and lore, at times to its dramatic detriment, the characters involved in both deserve a real turn in the spotlight.
The first mystery to be solved is the question of Constantine Corrino’s parentage. As the emperor’s son from outside his marriage, he enjoys a privileged place at court but not his father’s respect. Only his sister, Princess Ynez, recognizes his potential; after all, as a child, he volunteered to come with her when she was kidnapped by rebels, just to protect her. That shows some mettle.
Clearly, he got it from his mother. This turns out to be a member of Valya and Tula’s inner circle from their rebellious youth, Sister Francesca (now played as an adult by Tabu). Having traveled to the imperial capital on Mother Superior Valya’s request, she seeks to shore up Constantine’s position by maneuvering him into commanding the emperor’s fleet. Sure, he is wildly underqualified, but when has that ever stopped an autocrat from saying, “You’re hired”?
Meanwhile, the imperial sword master and undercover rebel agent, Kieran Atreides, narrowly escapes discovery by Desmond and his crack forces. During a sweep of the city’s underworld, they storm the nightclub owned by Kieran’s Fremen ally from Arrakis, Mikaela, for being a known rebel hot spot. It’s a move the rebels have been waiting for: Mother Superior Valya, the real authority to whom Sister Mikaela answers, has instructed her to booby-trap the place with explosives. Mikaela and Kieran escape and blow the place sky high … but Desmond survives. Rather conveniently, he also finds Mikaela’s Sisterhood robe, proving a link between the sisters and the rebels.
There’s still the pesky problem of Emperor Javicco and his disrespect for Constantine to resolve. Even as Francesca reluctantly — or “reluctantly”? — rekindles her romance with the emperor, Constantine lucks into discovering Kieran’s involvement in last week’s rebel plot to blow up the palace. Whether this is because of unseen meddling by Francesca or because of ludicrously poor operational security by Kieran is unclear, but as with Desmond’s discovery of Mikaela’s robe, pivotal evidence falls right into key characters’ hands with some dubious regularity on this show.
Regardless, Kieran is carted off to the suspensor cells, and Constantine gets his big promotion. That this only drives his sister, Ynez, closer to her Atreides lover is beside the point.
The Sisterhood has problems within and without. Back on their home world, Wallach IX, Mother Tula’s spice-aided resurrection of her acolyte Lila is discovered by Sister Avila (Barbara Marten), a one-time follower of Valya’s slain rival, Dorotea. Tula also lets Lila’s friend Jen in on the big secret: Not only is Lila alive, she is often possessed by one of her ancestors, who were awakened within her by the Agony ritual.
But that’s just the break Tula needs. When Raquella, Lila’s great-grandmother and the founder of the Sisterhood, takes over the girl’s body, she is able to help Tula analyze a tissue sample from the brainstem of Sister Kasha, who was murdered by Desmond Hart’s telepathic firepower. In it, she finds evidence that connects the killing to a virus once unleashed by the thinking machines during their war against humanity.
Perhaps this explains the seemingly mechanical nature of the blue eyes peering through the darkness in the sisters’ shared nightmares.
Yet there are some secrets that have not been uncovered, some mysteries yet to be revealed. When Baron Harrow Harkonnen approaches Desmond to offer his apologies and his service, for example, the resulting scene is a hoot — especially by the standards of “Dune: Prophecy,” in which they are virtually the only two characters permitted to be funny. Credit here goes to the actors Travis Fimmel and Edward Davis, whose contrasting demeanors make for a highly entertaining mismatch. Harrow, however, is a double agent: He is still working for his Aunt Valya, whom he claims to detest in order to curry Desmond’s favor.
The final secrets center on Desmond. Even as he begins an affair with Empress Natalya, whose resentment of Sister Francesca drives her into the psychic psychopath’s arms, Tula Harkonnen discovers his secret identity. Thanks to a genetic sample sent to her by Valya and fed into the Sisterhood’s genetic database, Tula learns that Desmond is half Atreides, half Harkonnen. The stricken look on the face of Olivia Williams implies strongly that Desmond is, in fact, her son, fathered by the Atreides lover she murdered in order to further Valya’s quest for vengeance.
Did Tula truly give him up to “scavengers,” as Desmond claims to the empress? If so, was it at Valya’s insistence? Either way, sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Until now, this show has been focused on plot, layering mystery upon mystery and expertly building a world. But it has done so at the expense of building characters, who have mostly been along for the ride. By keeping the focus on character, and on the truths they uncover, this episode reversed the show’s polarity in a welcome way. With any luck, the change will stick.
The spice must flow
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The fact that Desmond Hart is given command of his elite storm trooper squad on the planet of Salusa Secundus leads me to believe we’ve just seen the origin of the Sardaukar, the imperium’s most lethal, feared and fanatical fighters. By the time of the “Dune” films, in which they play a key antagonistic role, Salusa Secundus is their dystopian home base, with not an imperial palace in sight.
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Which leads me to wonder: Is the real purpose of “Dune: Prophecy” just to show us the origin of a bunch of “Dune” stuff? So far, the Voice; the Sardaukar; the roots of the House Atreides and House Harkonnen rivalry; the facedancers; and, of course, the origins of the Sisterhood have all been covered. As suggested in a previous review, it’s possible Desmond Hart is the inspiration for the concept of the Kwisatz Haderach, known also to the Fremen as Lisan al Gaib, the messiah for whose birth the sisters will labor for millenniums to come. This is all a lot of fun, especially if you’re a fan of the setting. But when most of your ideas are “this is how this other idea you’ve already heard of got started,” the narrative can start to feel a little shopworn.
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There’s something extra intimidating about a guy who’s so confident he can beat you that he doesn’t even bother to take his hands out of his pockets.
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Travis Fimmel’s performance as Desmond reminds me at this point of Michael Sheen’s as Aro, the ancient, giggling vampire monarch who presides over much of the “Twilight” saga. Sheen’s mirthful eyes, mellifluous voice and overall vibe of sinister good cheer stood out in a cast whose job was largely to look pained and pale. Similarly surrounded by callow aristocrats and dour ideologues, Fimmel is smirky, sarcastic, deadpan, even flirtatious at times, all in service of Desmond’s overall “I know something you don’t know” vibe. He’s the show’s spice.
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