The following review contains spoilers for the first episode of Dune Prophecy, “Two Wolves”
Inside of each of us, there are two wolves. And inside the second episode of Dune: Prophecy there are also two wolves. The episode is, in fact, named “Two Wolves,” and for the most part, it’s divided in half: We bounce back and forth between Tula’s conflict over putting Lila through The Agony and Valya’s trip to Salusa Secundus to investigate the threat of Tiran-Arafael. It’s a separation that makes things feel more focused than last week, but more lopsided as well, as the Sisterhood storyline proves once again to be much more interesting than the goings on of the Imperium.
For the most part, the heavy focus on the Harkonnen sisters’ respective journeys is a positive. They’re the primary protagonists of Dune: Prophecy, and Emily Watson and Olivia Williams are the best actors on the call sheet, so splitting them up and giving them their own threads to follow is a good change of pace. As much as the Imperial family’s storyline continues to feel dull, adding Valya into it shakes things up a bit: Her investigation into Tiran-Arafael and her realization that Desmond Hart isn’t susceptible to The Voice offers some real intrigue, too, but while Watson’s doing the lord’s work, Travis Fimmel struggles to balance “born-again fanatic” with “existential threat to the Sisterhood.” What should be unsettling and intimidating at best comes off as wild and unruly, and at worst becomes outright wacky.
Tula’s arc in “Two Wolves” doesn’t just benefit from Williams’ emotional and subtle performance. It’s also a much more engaging storyline with life and death stakes, implications for the lore of the Bene Gesserit and the wider Dune universe, and a satisfyingly dark conclusion that propels some of the more compelling mysteries set up in the premiere forward. Not all of the visual elements come together in the depiction of the Agony – again feeling more like an imitation of what Denis Villeneuve did with Dune and Dune: Part Two – but getting to see clearly what it’s like to commune with one’s foremothers is another interesting lore drop.
Chloe Lea’s performance as Lila is another standout in “Two Wolves” – portraying someone who feels the Sisterhood is her family, and is willing to (and ultimately does) sacrifice her life for the betterment of that Sisterhood. And Lea makes you believe it. It’s also well juxtaposed by sisters Emeline and Jen whose thoughts on martyrdom are very much the opposite. The divide in the Sisterhood during this era is deepened, and the prospect of one side winning out in the end even more gripping.
Outside the two main focuses of “Two Wolves,” there’s one other tangential storyline that gets just a bit of screentime: Keiran Atreides is involved in a fledgling rebellion against the Corrino Empire, and they’re planning a big, spectacular debut for themselves. But with so much focus on Tula and Valya’s various issues, we don’t get a chance to warm up to any of these newly minted rebels. The ragtag band don’t immediately instill any sort of inspiration or intrigue because we’re given only surface-level introductions to these seemingly important characters. And it’s almost immediately revealed that the blue-in-blue eyed Mikaela is actually a Sister, playing her role in the balance of power that the Sisterhood is trying to achieve. It’s a sort of awkward introduction that could have made for a big moment later down the line, but it feels as though the constraint of a six-episode series restricts a lot of the story Dune: Prophecy is trying to tell.
