Dune: Prophecy put up a powerfully long finale tonight on Max -- an hour and twenty-one minutes -- for its short six-episode debut season. And it made every minute and sound of the Voice count, as it dealt out a series of blows and retributions and affirmations of what we already knew and suspected.
[I'm not going to give you a detailed recap, but I suppose I should warn about spoilers anyway ... ]
First, we learned more of the brutal truth about what Valya was willing to do, and did, to insure that the Sisterhood went her way. That way was to keep AI as an essential weapon in the Sisterhood's arsenal. I agree with Valtya's view of AI, But as to her methods ... well, we see that she killed not only Dorotea but a vast majority of the Sisterhood in that room, because they opposed her view, and thought AI was a blasphemous threat to humanity.
Later, we're also treated to a battle royale between Valya and Desmond Hart. It's pretty much a draw. As readers of my reviews here of Dune: Prophecy know, I've been a bigger fan of Hart than Valya. They might both have well died, had not Tulya arrived and rallied her sister Valya -- and then, after convincing Valya to let her son Hart be, because she as his mother not only loved him but was sure she could control him, Tula goes and tends to her wounded son. I said a few episodes ago that I thought Tulia would ultimately be a more potent character than Valya, and I think she proved it in that scene and in this episode.
One thing I didn't like, though, was the Emperor's self-inflicted death. He wasn't a bad Emperor, as far as Emperors go. But leaving a Bene Gesserit in the palace, who now through face- and body-shifting looks just like Princess Ynez, I thought that was a pretty cool move.
All in all, I think these six episodes have offered a memorable and captivating prologue to the Dune saga. Kudos, again, to Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert who wrote the novel Sisterhood of Dune, which I haven't yet read and on which Dune: Prophecy is based, Frank Herbert who got the Dune saga going with a series of masterpiece novels, and everyone who starred in this TV series.
I'll see you back here when the second season comes along.
See also Dune: Prophecy 1.1: Compelling Prequel ... 1.2: The Hart of The Matter ... 1.3: The Power of Voice ... 1.4: The Ambience ... 1.5: Revelation and Seduction
and Dune, Part One: Half the Movie, Twice the Power of Most Other Complete Films ... Dune, Part Two: Not As Good as Part One