Dune: Prophecy – Season 1 Episode 3 Recap & Review

Sisterhood Above All

Episode 3 of Dune Prophecy begins with Valya leaving the palace. As she does, we cut across to Lankiveil, the Homeworld of House Harkonnen. Flashbacks flesh out more of Valya’s past, as she works to try and restore their family’s honour. Valya believes they should confront Vorian Atreides, and refuses to let complacency destroy their family name, while Valya’s mum sees this move as nothing but greed.

There’s a rift between them all, but her brother Griffin is caught right in the middle of this. He speaks to Valya outside and calls her extraordinary, given how she saved him when he fell in the lake. He supports her plan to see Atreides and try to get their birthright back.

Unfortunately, Griffin dies at the hands of Atreides some time later, and his death hits Valya hard. She wants the Atreides to suffer, but Valya is in the process of moving out to Wallach IX so that seems impossible right now. Her time there is mired in bitterness after her brother’s death. After all, she was going to be Griffin’s TrUthsayer when he went to Landsraad, and now she feels directionless.

She’s incredibly stubborn and powerful given her voice. When Raquella, the Mother Superior at this time, shows up, she speaks to Valya in confidence. Raquella understands Valya’s pain, given she too lost someone close to her. Raquella’s loss comes from her husband, who fell during the Machine Wars. She believes Valya can shape the Imperium and change her own destiny… but only if she chooses to stay.

This is an important flashback as it shows the steely resolve that Valya has. An ability to trust in herself when everyone else around her is clouded in doubts.

Anyway, she speaks to her sisters and suggests they try again. She’s going to try and regain her hold on Corrino, while she tells the other women to return to their nobles. However, things hit a snag when Valya learns about Lila’s death.

Raquella’s prophecy, surrounding “a person twice born in blood and in spice” seems to be hinting toward it being Desmond. This makes her mind up, and Valya decides to head home.

Tula is already there, and she mourns Lila’s death. She refuses to let anybody touch her body, and she’s also going to take her time with this as well.

Tula’s past comes into view during flashbacks here as well. She’s involved with a guy called Orry, and she’s intent on making a good impression to his family. She’s also adept at caring for animals and skinning them, and she’s incredibly merciful too.

We see this when a horse falls and breaks its leg. While the others want to stab it with a knife and let it bleed out, Tula uses poison as a more merciful way of letting it pass. She’s very much going in her own direction, away from Valya, although we know that the two paths do eventually converge at the Sisterhood.

Tula left home after her brother’s death blanketed her parents in grief. She wants to be seen, and hopes to have that from her partner Orry, who wants her to marry him. However, after sleeping together, Tula reveals that her real surname is actually Harkonnen and while he’s okay for it… he’s not when he finds out what the real play is here. Turns out Tula has betrayed him and his family, whose name is actually Atredies. She killed them all in the night with poison and eventually stabs him in the neck and kills him too. However, she notably leaves a little boy alive.

Meanwhile, Raquella guides Valya down to the tunnels, rehashing the same details we heard in episode 1 about the DNA from bloodlines and the work the Sisterhood are currently doing. However, Valya walks away before she can have her mind unlocked.

Raquella brings word from Tula about the “feast being over”, which is obviously code for the Atreides family slaughter. Valya has unfinished business back home, and Raquella knows as much. She grants Valya the ability to go home and finish this, hoping that when she returns, she’ll do so as a Reverend Mother… or not at all. This contextualizes the murder in episode 1, and why Valya seized the position for herself.

Valya heads home and learns from Tula that she’s completed her mission. However, the rest of the family are not happy. They blame Valya for this, and in the end, she walks away. It’s probably for the best to be honest as she almost kills her own mum!

With the vial given by Raquella, she unlocks her mind right on the cliffside and follows the light, just as she’s supposed to. Valya then returns to Tula, bound by a new purpose to elevate the Sisterhood.

In the present, the Sisters say goodbye to Lila, although there is friction growing amongst the women, who aren’t happy with the way Lila was used as a pawn in this game. Tula though, has her own agenda here though and she takes Lila down to the archives, and hooks her up to the machines there, attempting to revive her…

The Episode Review

Apart from the repeated dialogue about the archives and DNA, episode 3 works well to flesh out more of the past and humanize both Valya and Tula. I can’t help but feel this probably should have been interwoven into the first episode, especially so we can get to know both women and understand what’s led them to their respective places in their journeys.

The show has done well to flesh out the flashbacks though, and seeing the dedication these two have to their family – and to each other – is definitely one of the stronger parts of this chapter.

However, offing Atreides out in the woods in that manner, along with the betrayal plot in general, definitely feels similar to that of Game of Thrones. The surviving boy is almost certainly going to play a part here and I wouldn’t be surprised if we find out this is actually Desmond.

There’s an intriguing element to this one though, discussing themes of power and corruption, along with dedication to one’s family and house. As we know where the story goes given the Dune movies that follow, seeing the rise of the Sisterhood and their bond to one another is partly what makes this such an enticing episode.

The show is far from perfect, but this is a decent episode for what it’s worth and leaves the door wide open for where this one is likely to go next.