Dune: The Prophecy Series Review: Tabu-helmed Miniseries Is As Addictive As It Gets

Tabu in ‘Dun: Prophecy’

So Tabu made her appearance in episode 5 Dune: Prophecy Sister Francesca as Emperor Corino’s (Mark Strong) former lover. She is also the mother of Callo Constantine (Josh Houston). The balance is thrown wildly by Francesca’s arrival at the palace, with Empress Natalya (Jodhi May) staring daggers at the other woman in her husband’s life and Francesca insisting that Constantine must prove himself to her father, the Emperor. More responsibility should be given for.

Through the episode, we learn the backstory of the Harkonnen sisters, Valya (Emily Watson) and Tula (Olivia Williams), what made them the kind of women they are – Valya, determined to raise her house among the rich and the wealthy. Powerful with desire, and Libra’s secret sorrow.

We follow the girls’ (Jessica Barden, Emma Canning) tough journey through the icy wastes of Lankyville, the death of a beloved brother at the hands of Atreides, and the divergent paths they each take as they become their mother’s superiors to seek revenge. Let’s learn. On sisterhood.

Valya is in for the long haul, while Libra’s path leads her to the terrible beauty of the bull hunt and its devastating climax. We’re also given a glimpse of hairy whales beached – just their rib cages, which are being cut into strips of meat to be sold, and their tails. A longer shot showing the whole animal would have been nice, considering how long we’ve waited. The cute whales suffer a fate similar to that of the sandworms, which we have seen only in bits and pieces so far – many sharp teeth and piles of sand like creatures plowing through a desert.

The sword master, Kieran Atreides (Chris Mason), plans to bring down the empire growing fat on spice from the desert planet of Arrakis, along with Mikaela (Shalom Brune-Franklin), a freeman who runs a groovy nightclub, where All the rich and powerful love to hang out and get high.

Valya has arranged all the pieces on her chessboard to put Princess Ynez (Sarah-Sophie Bousnina) on the throne, which includes training her along with her sister. The Sisterhood (they are not yet called Bene Gesserit) is a group of women who, after intense physical and mental training, have the power to distinguish truth from lie. They advise the noble houses to move forward.

Joining the pack is Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel), a soldier of Joker’s Arrakis who wins the Emperor’s trust and seems bent on demolishing the entire house of cards. Harro Harkonnen (Edward Davis) follows in his aunt Valya’s footsteps with double and triple crosses while demanding better rates on whale fur.

Based on Frank Herbert’s Dune universe, it is a prequel to Denis Villeneuve’s two dune The films almost stand on their own. By the finale, some threats are neutralized while others escalate, a shadowy presence is hinted at, and three heads descend on Arrakis. There is going to be a Season 2, where we can learn more about the prophecy that the Bene Gesserit had taken over the Fremen until the arrival of Paul Atreides 10,148 years later.

The production design remains excellent – ​​colorful gowns, contrasting rich blacks, sweeping scenes with cold clinical laboratories and eye trauma (ugh), and burnt orange skies clashing against icy, starry skies . Watson and Williams keep us engaged in this tale of sisters doing the wrong thing for the right reasons, while Tabu does everything she can with her thinly written character as she navigates the murky corridors of power in 50 Shades of Black. Which she can do.

There are so many scenes of cloaked figures climbing majestic staircases or flowing down winding walkways that it’s hard not to even think of women slipping into Mel Brooks. Dracula: Dead and Loving ItAnd Leslie Nielsen as the bloodthirsty Count telling them to move properly! And once that image is “imprinted”, it becomes difficult to take the events happening on the screen seriously.

Dune: The Prophecy streams on GeoCinema