Review: Authoritarianism Backfires in the Latest Dune Installment

In Max's Dune: Prophecy, even the power to predict others' actions can't tame the chaos of free will.

If you're looking to watch another dispatch from the perilous sand-covered planet Arrakis, you won't find it in the Max series Dune: Prophecy. This visit to the Dune universe takes place 10,000 years before Paul Atreides' birth and bears little resemblance to the world portrayed in Denis Villeneuve's Dune films.

Dune: Prophecy follows Valya and Tula Harkonnen, two sisters at the helm of the mysterious, increasingly powerful all-female Bene Gesserit order. The series, both aesthetically and tonally, comes off like Game of Thrones in space, with plenty of palace intrigue, fur cloaks, and random violence.

Watching the Harkonnen sisters getting their way through force—including straight-up murder—offers a case study in the pitfalls of authoritarianism. While the Bene Gesserit assures its members that it influences the Imperium for good, its attempts to bend other people to its designs continually backfire. Bene Gesserit strategies are based on the ability to see through lies and predict others' actions, but even it can't tame the inherent chaos of free will.

Comments

[Stupid Government Tricks]

I don't think even a high school kid could write a shorter and less informative review. I think I wrote a better review of A Tale of Two Cities by skimming the first and last chapters. (I have since come to enjoy Dickens, but it was in spite of teachers assigning his books, not because of it.)

[mad.casual]

To be fair; we're talking about a *Cinemax* 'reimagining' between stories in existing cannon which no one who was actually present the creation of or instrumental in curating the franchise has seen fit to write or publish in the almost 40 yrs. since the Herbert's death.

Less like actually reviewing A Tale of Two Cities and more like a review of the results of you pitching your "A Tale of Two Burgeoning Small Towns" idea from your book report to some random art school grad.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Now I wish I'd saved that book report. Ideas™!

[Jerry B.]

"The series, both aesthetically and tonally, comes off like Game of Thrones in space, with plenty of palace intrigue, fur cloaks, and random violence."

And sex and nudity? How about the sex and nudity?

[Rick James]

I found myself utterly bored while watching the Dune series. And it's one of the rare times I was familiar with the source material on one of these epic sagas. The Bene Gesserit were NOT a bunch of kung-fu fighting girl bosses for fuck sakes.

[Incunabulum]

The only people who have ever done that successfully are Josh Whedon (he created the whole 'waif-fu' cliche) and Tarantino.

[mad.casual]

The Bene Gesserit were NOT a bunch of kung-fu fighting girl bosses for fuck sakes.

I was pretty sure the pointless review could've been better summed up to its maximum effect in one "They did/didn't 'do it dirty' in a 'for modern audiences'." fashion.

Thanks.

[sarcasmic]

After a few episodes I decided the show was a great cure for insomnia and that's about it.

[Vesicant]

It's fiction. It's made up. It doesn't prove anything.

[voluntaryist]

"It's revised (set the record straight) history. It's in the past and can't happen now. It doesn't prove anything."
History has inspired fiction and fiction has inspired the present and will inspire the future.
"It doesn't prove anything." That remark implies political ideas, past/present don't move you. Thinking is a choice based on your values. Values are a personal choice, no right or wrong. So, WTF are you doing on a site like "Reason"?

[Incunabulum]

This review is worse than Suderman's.

Also 'all powerful Bene Gesserit'? Really? Their whole philosophical schtick is specifically stay away from controlling the levers of power in order to fulfill their long-range plan.

Hence why they were mostly powerless to influence the destruction of House Atreides.

Also, its a story. The real universe isn't mystical. There is no Spice.

[MK Ultra]

I've not read any of the books that take place before Dune, so I don't know anything more about the times other than what is mentioned in the original series. I thought the show was fine; nothing particular special. The daughter is an unlikable bitch, and whoever made the comment that the witches aren't supposed to be girl boss ninjas was spot-on. If they do a second season, I'd likely watch it, but I won't be rushing to look up any updates.

It's substantially better than the Wheel of Time show. I never watched the Middle Earth series, but I'd rate Dune about even with the new cartoon movie.

[mad.casual]

Slightly OT-

Black Mirror Season 7-
E01 - Common People - B- - True to form. Well acted. Moderately formulaic. Moderately predictable.
E02 - Bete Noire - C - Also true to form and well acted. Less formulaic but goes completely off the rails.
E03 - Hotel Reverie - F - Did not finish. Starts with Awkwafina and proceeds with an actress that I would find to be unconvincing if she got up on stage and said "I can't act.". At first I thought she was a miscast WNBA or pro-Tennis player being 'pointedly' put into a race/gender-swapped role. AFAICT, nope. The plot wasn't even really Black Mirror-esque as much as just sci-fi but obviously and terribly stitched together backwards from the "for modern audiences" trope built around crummy lead. Maybe it closed up with a good Black Mirror finish, but I don't care. Especially considering other episodes before and after.
E4 - Plaything - B - A bit formulaic as a 'spinoff' but a good piece of 'anthology'.
E5 - Eulogy - A- - Paul Giamatti is well cast and plays his part well. Somewhat of a departure from the psychological horror science fiction more typical to BM, but better than the much-loved San Junipero, IMO.
E6 - USS Callister: Into Infinity - C+ - Good acting. Weird kludges to kinda-sorta maintain continuity. Writing feels like a crappy member-berry cash grab.

Overall: Rotten corpse out of the way first - remember the stupid idea of a TV show that was Chad that tried to be played off by creative types and/or execs as "so cringe it's good" (and it wound up with no viewers, made no money, and damaged the careers of the people involved)? Yeah, Hotel Reverie is like they tried to do that with a Black Mirror episode. As indicated, without this episode, I give the season a pretty solid C. It all still feels more Hollywood or 'edgy within acceptable limits' than it used to, but this season was better than previous offerings. They did a better job of orienting more around lesser-known British actors/actresses where they could giving it back more of the indie feel that it had been lacking. IDK that I'd watch an 8th Season. If S08E01 is like S07E03, I probably won't make it more than 30 min. in.

[mad.casual]

remember the stupid idea of a TV show that was Chad that tried to be played off by creative types and/or execs as "so cringe it's good"

Which, itself was derivative of an actual "so cringe it's good" SNL comedy sketch "It's Pat!" which similarly crashed, burned, and scarred some of the people involved when they tried to turn it into something more than a 5 min. comedy sketch.

Dear Hollywood,
Cringe happens. Stop trying to make it happen.