This review contains spoilers for DUNE: PROPHECY episode 2.
Dune: Prophecy‘s second episode “Two Wolves” features the best and worst of what the show has to offer, all within the same scene. The scene takes place deep within the palace of Emperor Javicco Corrino (Mark Strong), where his daughter Princess Ynez (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina) and his swordmaster Keiran Atreides (Chris Mason) spar.
The hidden passion between the two plays out in a series of thrusts and parries, their personal shields flashing blue with every brutal, but ultimately harmless attack. Finally, Keiran pulls Ynez close and points his weapon at her throat. The red glow from her shield indicates that the weapon moves slowly enough to penetrate, but when combined with the look of longing on Ynez’s face, the hue also suggests romantic longing between the pair.
The look lasts just a couple of seconds before Ynez pushes Keiran away. And despite declaring “I don’t want to talk” just one minute earlier, right before she began sparring with Keiran, Ynez does exactly that: talk.
Specifically, she talks about an incident from her childhood, when she and her brother Constantine were kidnapped by an enemy to the throne. Keiran responds in shock because the Corrino’s kept the incident secret, and yet Ynez states it openly.
The fight scene shows what Dune: Prophecy can be and what it too often is. It can be a rich character story, one that uses its sci-fi setting and compelling visuals to add depth to people caught in a battle between galactic powers. However, Dune: Prophecy is most often a show in which people stand in rooms and make statements, declaring things that are apparently supposed to be secret.
On one hand, the emphasis on revelation makes sense. “Two Wolves,” written by Elizabeth Padden and Kor Adana and directed by John Cameron, mostly deals in investigation after the horrible murders at the end of the premiere “The Hidden Hand.” Two people burned alive from the inside, Mother Kasha (Jihae) — influential member of the Sisterhood and trusted Truthsayer to the Emperor — and young Pruwet Richese (Charlie Hodson-Prior), the child groom intended for Ynez.
The surprise attack sends all of the show’s many schemers into a spiral to figure out what happened. Javicco and his wife Empress Natalya (Jodhi May) must not only deal with a direct affront to their power, but also Javicco’s feelings toward his former lover Kasha. Grief grips Pruwet’s father Duke Ferdinand (Brendan Cowell), who demands justice and threatens to disrupt the empire’s spice operation unless he gets it. But Ferdinand’s wife Orla (Laura Howard) urges caution, because she serves the Sisterhood.
Keiran and his colleagues in an anti-Corrino rebellion, including Harrow Harkonnen (Edward Davis) and the Fremen Mikaela (Shalom Brune-Franklin), see the attack as a chance to make their move against the Emperor. However, Mikaela recognizes clear attraction between Keiran and Ynez, which both threatens her secret rebellion and possibly also her even more secret work with Valya and the Sisterhood. For his part, Constantine uses the attack to slip away from the public eye and enjoy a tryst with the Duke’s older daughter Lady Shannon Richese (Tessa Bonham Jones), who has her own plans at work when she informs the boy about the power of spice.
Finally, there’s Valya (Emily Watson) and Tula (Olivia Williams), the former of whom sees the attack as a direct affront to the Sisterhood. Valya seeks guidance from her mentor Mother Raquella, whom she plans to contact by making young acolyte Lila (Chloe Lea), Raquella’s granddaughter, undergo the Agonies and access her genetic memories. The decision to put Lila at such great risk angers Tula and sets her plotting against her sister, but Valya remains certain that they must take immediate action against a direct threat to the Sisterhood.
Valya, it turns out, is correct. We know this not because any subtle suggestions or obscure visuals, but because Desmond Hart tells her that he plans to destroy the Sisterhood, straight to her face.
Against all odds, Hart is becoming the most exciting character to watch on the show, and not just because of his more direct connections to the familiar aspects of Dune. Hart might have powers he derived from an encounter with a sandworm on Arakkis, but we watch because of Travis Fimmel’s odd take on the character.
A model-turned-actor, Fimmel has always excelled at posing and floundered at suggesting interiority, a problem in most cases, but a virtue here. Hart cannot keep a secret, which makes him an agent of chaos in a world dominated by secrets. When he teams with Javicco and even demonstrates the ability to resist Valya’s use of the voice, Hart establishes himself as the true menace of the show.
Fimmel’s skin-deep take makes sense alongside Dune: Prophecy‘s other great strength, its powerful visuals. Series cinematographer Nikolaus Summerer doesn’t quite reach the heights of the Denis Villeneuve films, but he creates some striking images for the show.
“Two Wolves” includes a striking depiction of genetic memory, one that begins with obvious CG insert shots of blue liquid overtaking red blood cells and then portrays Lila, drapped in white robes, surrounded by shades. The shades overtake her, representing the ancestors using her body, complete with a figure whose face shifts into indistinct forms.
It’s a genuinely horrifying scene, one that gives Williams something to do as Tula worries over Lila’s body. However, the real standout here is Chloe Lea, who conveys Lila’s fear and loss of self through her writhing and twisting and then conveys Lila’s ancestor’s murderous control by holding herself completely still.
These two moments of visual complexity and character depth almost taunt the viewer, teasing them with a great Dune show. It’s too bad that Dune: Prophecy just wants to talk instead.
New episodes of Dune: Prophecy premiere Sundays at 9 pm ET on HBO and Max, culminating with the finale on December 22.
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