Dune: Prophecy “Twice Born”

Huh.  So much for Mark Addy.

There’s a lot happening here, and I am at the point where I am starting to wonder how much of what happens is happening because, to put it bluntly, there’s magic involved.  Yes, it has been established that spice can give people something like psychic abilities, but this episode has a number of the sisters all have nightmares about suicide before the most cynical one gets up to stop one of their number from killing herself.  Then they all draw the same picture while under hypnotic suggestion about a dark tunnel and spice-turned blue eyes.  A Freman member seems to have some shapeshifting powers.  And there’s still Desmond Hart’s weird immolation-from-the-inside powers, and in this episode, he uses that ability on some rebels in full view of the assembled ruling houses.

Hart seems intent on removing the Sisterhood’s powerbase.  Why?  Who knows?  He was supposedly swallowed by a sandworm and survived, so he might be a little messed up in the head more than he probably should be for a man who was swallowed by a sandworm and survived.

Now, the important thing here is the political implications.  Both Valya and Hart were planning to use the attempted assassination on Emperor Javicco to their own advantage.  The problem is Hart beat Valya to the punch.  Meanwhile, Tula is back at the Sisterhood headquarters wondering what will happen if/when Sister Lila wakes up.  Lila does wake up, but her eyes are Fremen blue right now.  That would seem to suggest there is something more going on here, but no one seems to be really surprised that there are psychic powers or Hart can burn people to death from the inside of their bodies while he stands on another side of the room.

So, is there some sort of technological explanation for all that?  The Sisterhood are all having communal dreams.  Hart is walking around with a crazy look in his eye.  Valya had a conversation with her long dead brother.  But none of that seems to truly bother anyone that much.  This is just something that exists in this world.

Here’s a better question:  why does Valya do all this?  Her uncle Evgeny, with his dying words, said he believed that she used the Voice to corrupt her two siblings, both Tula and her dead brother, that she didn’t really care for the fate or reputation of House Harkonnen, and she did it all for herself.  Valya might say she did it for the greater good, too.

But the thing is, Valya’s plans to get the family honor back in the flashback episode seemed naive at best.  Like, it’s not that surprising her promising brother was killed as a result of her idea that he simply confront an Atreides and get him to admit that her ancestor didn’t flee a battle in fear.  That’s a terrible plan.  It shouldn’t have worked, and it didn’t.  Older Valya is better at this.  She does manage to get her cousin, the current Baron Harkonnen, a (temporary) seat in the council, and that plan might have worked better had Hart not beaten her to the punch.  But who is this all for?  She has Tula as her righthand woman right now,  but was Evgeny right?  I don’t know.

I’m not sure Valya knows either.  It’s going to be interesting finding out.