Hell hath no fury like a… well, you know.
Recap
The opening shows the aftermath of Dorotea’s death from Tula’s perspective. She, Francesca (Charithra Chandan), and Kasha (Yerin Ha) see Valya use the Voice against Dorotea, and they agree to say that she took her own life out of grief. Tula runs away, and Valya learns that she’s pregnant from Orry Atreides and that there was some manner of affection there. Valya asks Tula if she wants to keep and child and Tula says she does, so Valya vows to help her do so, and says they’ll raise the child together. Tula cites the rules against Sisters keeping their children, but Valya says that when she’s Mother Superior, they will be able to do whatever they want. In the present, Sister Nazir talks to Tula about the viral nightmare being caused by this virus Hart is spreading. Nasir is curious why is took so long to kill Kasha, and Tula recalls Kasha’s difficult past and how the sister believed that she was specially adept at handling fear. The bioweapon is more dangerous to those who have difficulty with fear. Nazir is also curious as to who gave the disease to Hart; she presumes he’s the first carrier. She believes they can create a cure similarly to how they transmute the poison during the agony. Tula volunteers to take on this task, but Sister Nazir believes that she’s the best candidate.
Nazir almost manages to fight off the virus and transmute it, but it causes the virus to activate and she sees “the monster of Arrakis watching him” and insists that it’s not human before dying. Hart tells Keiran Atreides that the Sisterhood—and therefore the Harkonnens—have been helping the resistance, and that he wants him to testify against them. Keiran points out that he hates the Hart and the Emperor far more. Ynez tries to break Keiran out of prison, but the Empress stops her, and has her arrested. Javicco tells Francesca that he wants her to stay and that Natalya knows about them anyway. He tells her that he wants to speak to Mother Superior. Francesca brings this to Valya, insisting that this will give her everything she wanted and that she can make sure Javicco releases his daughter from prison, but Valya knows that Natalya would never stand for it and believes that Javicco is beyond help; she plans to bring down his reign and insure Ynez’s ascent to the throne. In flashback, Valya shows Tula, Francesca, and Kasha the thinking machine Raquella was using and they develop their plan to install Javicco on the throne with Natalya as his wife and Francesca as a distraction until it can come to pass. Valya speaks to Tula alone and tells her that the machine has determined her child will have incredible potential.
In the present, Tula is talking to the machine and wants to know how to virus is doing this to them. The machine recommends killing her son, so Tula insists that he wasn’t born a weapon and that she plans to go to him. Lila begs Jen to undo her restraints, and uses the drug meant to be used on her to known Jen out. Javicco comes to Hart and tells him that he’s planning to send the Empress on a goodwill tour; Hart realizes that the Sisterhood is worming their way back in and warns the Emperor against this path. Lila—who is being possessed by Dorotea, and she finds Emeline and her group, and starts trying to find her band of faithful sisters, but they’ve all gone. Valya has plans to go see the Emperor on invitation; she will get out due to Sister Theodosia’s presence at the palace on Francesca’s invitation. Francesca is given poison to administer to the Emperor. Natalya meets with the Emperor to tell him off for trying to send her away. She refuses; Hart is firmly on her side, and she’s running things now. The Emperor is told that Mother Superior is there. She’s sitting in the throne room, on his throne.
Valya tells Javicco the whole truth: That he’s been their puppet this entire time, and his reign is coming to an end. He has her arrested. Dorotea continues to use Lila to tell Jen and Emeline the truth about the order that they serve. In the past we see Valya and her cohort confront Dorotea’s contingent and use the Voice to make them choose: to follow Valya or do follow the same path as Dorotea. The entire group cut their own throats with the exception of Sister Avila (Sarah Oliver-Watts), who vows to follow Valya. Javicco confronts Francesca about moving on to her next assignment, and she admits she has the poison, but insists that these plans were always Valya’s, never hers. Valya uses the Voice on the guards to get herself and Ynez released; Ynez insists on Keiran’s release too, and Sister Theodosia changes into Ynez so that they can get the princess out without suspicion. The Empress and Hart are informed that Mother Superior has been arrested, leading Hart to call for a lockdown of the palace. Theodosia pretends to be a wounded palace guard in order to get Hart close and stab him. He has her put in suspension.
Javicco is talking to Francesca, trying to figure out what’s been real in his life. He realizes that he’s never known freedom, but there’s one thing he can control; he stabs himself in the chest. As Francesca cries over him, Natalya uses the poison dart meant for the Emperor on her. The Empress takes a moment, then runs out screaming that the Emperor has been killed. Dorotea takes the acolytes to see the grave site of her followers, and insists that the Sisterhood has lost its way. She plans to turn them back to their righteous path, and the acolytes follow her into the tunnels underground. Dorotea takes a crowbar to the Anirul thinking machine. In the past, we see Tula with baby Desmond, deciding that he needs the ability to find his own path, free of Valya’s influence or her own. Francesca helps her in this task, finding a new mother for him who gave birth to a stillborn baby. Tula tells Valya that her own child died. In the present, we see her arrive on Salusa Secundus. Harrow arrives home and takes the recording device Hart gave him from the wall. Valya, Keiran, and Ynez escape the palace and land their craft at a fuel depot. Valya tells them to continue on while she buys them time.
Valya dispatches Hart’s guards using the Voice. She tells Hart to show her end that he spoke of. He begins to use the virus against her. Valya flashes back to Griffin’s near death in the frozen water and the first time she used the Voice. Keiran and Ynez fight their way out of the spaceport. Tula finds Valya at the spaceport and tells her sister that she cannot fight the virus because it is a machine. She says Valya must release her fear, and in her mind, Valya hears Griffin tells her that she killed all of them. Tula tells her that she cannot fight the battle with strength; she has to let go of her fear and pain, and let it pass through her. Valya tells Tula that she sees the worm coming, and Tula tells her to let it come. Valya sees through to the end of the nightmare; it shows her what was done to Hart, the machines that were used to make him a weapon. She doesn’t see who did it to him, but she knows his eye is where the device is stored and goes to kill him. Tula uses the Voice on her to stop her and tells her that Hart is her son. Valya realizes that Tula feared her influence on the child, and is mortified that her sister didn’t truly trust her.
Tula tells Valya that she could have stopped her influence over the Sisterhood, but never tried because they’re the same; two wolves. She wanted better for her son. Valya knows he’s been delivered to their enemies and think killing him is the only way to solve this, but Tula begs Valya to let her save him. Valya tells her that she trusts her, and leaves. She is no longer afraid and wants to know who this hidden player is. Tula and Hart embrace, but afterward, he tells the guards to arrest her. Keiran, Ynez, and Valya land on Arrakis: Valya says the path to their enemy begins here.
Commentary
Surprise! We ended on Arrakis. Why? Well, how else would you know it was Dune?
I’m sorry, the convenience of this plot is killing me: The other player in Hart’s creation is also using thinking machines! The scary virus makes you think of Shai-hulud because we had to tie the creation of the Litany of Fear directly to Arrakis somehow! (Which is absurd. This all could have happened to Hart literally anywhere else in the universe, but why invent something new when you could make the most obvious, rote connections possible.) Valya and Tula are going to be responsible for every central tenet of the Sisterhood as we know it going forward and no one else will ever matter.
Also, is Theodosia literally supposed to be the first face dancer? Because they’re talking about her abilities as though they’re unheard of, making it seem like it’s a new concept. Which is another point of convenience that isn’t great. Everything has to be firsts in this story, all things were created exactly 10,000 years ago and nothing has changed since then, it’s fine.
One aspect of the episode I do love are the reveals about where precisely Valya and Tula’s relationship struggles. Learning that Valya didn’t demand Tula get rid of her child, that she wanted her sister to keep him and was excited to raise him together, only for Tula to be the one who wanted her child to grow up away from that influence is great character stuff. Also seeing where alliances originate; it’s not at all surprising that Francesca is the one who helps Tula with this task over any other sister. They have similar emotional makeups.
It adds further layers to the fight Valya has with her uncle before his death; the tragedy of Valya’s character is how desperately she wants her family to love and trust her, and how rarely she receives anyone’s full confidence. Even in light of Tula telling her the truth, there’s no malice waiting on the other side. The deep bond between the Harkonnen sisters can’t be shaken by learning that Tula wasn’t honest with her about what became of her nephew. It must hurt, but Valya that knows she routinely asks too much. Especially of Tula.
The plot with the Empress is also well-handled. They set up the strife between Javicco and Natalya from the start, and make it abundantly clear that the Emperor is insulting and sidelining his wife at his own peril. The endgame of that thread is operatic in a best possible way; a pile of dead bodies and Empress screaming that her husband has been killed, having finally achieved everything she wanted.
“It’s a strange thing when you realize you’ve never known one true moment of freedom” are close to being Javicco’s last words. It’s a canny thought that I think plenty of people might feel some manner of connection to; we live in a world where so many aspects of our own lives are fully out of our hands and beyond our ability to influence. But it’s real hard to feel for the guy when he’s such a sad sack, ineffectual mealworm of a leader. Watching Valya sit in his chair and tell him exactly how little he’s ever done is pretty great.
We’re getting setup for the coming season (which has been greenlit, fyi) in where everyone ends up. Desmond is going to get to known his mother; the Empress is going to exert power for the first time; Valya, Ynez, and Keiran are going to get to the bottom of Hart’s mystery; Harrow has record of a great deal of Valya’s plans and who knows how he’ll use it; the Sisterhood is going to go through a period of upheaval as Dorotea tries to wrest back control through her descendent. I’m curious as to whether the mystery around Hart is actually going to be surprising? My mind immediately assumed that the Mentats have something to do with it—they’ve been strangely silent this whole time.
Here’s hoping that a second season will allow them to strengthen what’s good about this story and avoid future clichés. They’ve got a great cast and so many avenues of possibility open to them. Let’s not spend much time on Arrakis, if your please. I’d like to see somewhere else in the “known universe.”
Truthsaying and Visions
- Learning about how Sister Avila came into all of this… yeesh.
- Sorry, meta-cyanide? I will be laughing about that for days. You know, the poison becomes meta when you need it for Chekov’s gun purposes.
- Constantine’s sure in a weird position now, huh?
Discussion will be closed over the holidays. They will reopen in the new year!
See you next season, perhaps!
