S01.E05: In Blood, Truth

[AnimeMania]

As Corrino names a new Bashar, a Sister with deep connections to the Emperor arrives on Salusa Secundus… sending ripples through the Royal House. After receiving a tip, Desmond goes on a warpath to root out the insurgents. Meanwhile, Tula tries to keep her secret project from being discovered by the other Sisters.

Premiere Date: December 15, 2024    HBO    9pm    

[AimingforYoko]

I have a feeling Aunt Valya is not going to be happy about this development.

[astrohip]

Holy Moley! So that's who Desmond Hart is.

[magdalene]

I don't see how this show can possibly stick the landing next week in a satisfying manner. Will it be really sisterhood over all now that we know who Desmond is?

Here's my own Dune prophesy - the show will leave several story lines on frustrating cliff-hangers and HBO won't give the show a second season.

I hope I am wrong on that.

[AnimeMania]

So Desmond Hart is around 30 years old, he must have spent every day of his life baking in the hot desert sun.

[Haleth]

Since I haven’t read the book I still have no idea what’s going on. This show wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. 

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, Haleth said:

Since I haven’t read the book I still have no idea what’s going on. This show wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. 

The book "Sisterhood of Dune" really helped me get a good "firm" idea about what was going on in the universe at this time and it was pretty interesting (I listened to the audiobook while playing a videogame, but some of the past Dune history stuff went over my head as they were just a bunch of names of people who sounded important but I knew I was never going to read those books).  I had no other knowledge about the Dune Universe (I hadn't read any of the Dune books or watched the movies).

[Affogato]

So, is Desmond the first

Spoiler

kwizatz Haderach and the sisterhood spends the years between current affairs and Paul trying to breed the one they can control? I guess so! presumably the prescient worm fear is Leto 2, and they no longer have to fear it when it happens.  Also far in the future. 
 

And Lila is the first abomination  

That said, it seems as f this is a story srt for multiple seasons, because I can’t figure out how they resolve it in a meaningful way. It is a lot of money to put out to define the origin of a few terms from the later story. 

Well, the Corrinos are still in power at the time of Dune, I wonder which one is in power at the end of this story?

[Affogato]

I think I’d hoped this was less about revenge and more about, well, sisterhood. 

[magdalene]

Now that the show is renewed for season 2 I won't have to grind my teeth on Sunday when everything is left on cliffhangers.

[Mari]

On 12/16/2024 at 9:26 AM, Affogato said:

Well, the Corrinos are still in power at the time of Dune, I wonder which one is in power at the end of this story?

It almost has to be Javicco or Constantine, doesn't it?  Inez might be the heir, but she's a woman.  Dune society doesn't seem to put women in ultimate leadership positions. The only real women in authority positions seem to be the BGs.

 

On 12/17/2024 at 2:38 PM, Affogato said:

I think I’d hoped this was less about revenge and more about, well, sisterhood. 

Technically, it has been about the sisterhood of the Harkonen girls.  Sometimes sisters are just . . . uncaring, selfish, and extra-manipulative?

 

On 12/15/2024 at 11:29 PM, AnimeMania said:

So Desmond Hart is around 30 years old, he must have spent every day of his life baking in the hot desert sun.

Desmond might be attractive, but he definitely aged like Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tantooine.

Edited 23 hours ago by Mari
Spelling error.

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 12/16/2024 at 7:12 AM, Haleth said:

Since I haven’t read the book I still have no idea what’s going on. This show wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. 

I haven't read any of the Dune novels and I have only seen the 1980s Dune movie (which I had trouble following) and Part I of the recent movie. But I seem to understand what's going on here OK. Hope this explanation makes sense:

In the distant past of the Dune we are familiar with, many of the broad things of that society still existed: the Houses, spice, the Imperium, intrigue etc.

But in the time period of the show, humanity was just out of a devastating was with AI, or thinking machines. As a result, thinking machines were outlawed.

But people like their computers too much and sometimes skirted the law.

The Sisterhood was formed in part to improve human nature and society both by breeding better people, unlocking abilities in humans and by manipulating society in ways both large and small.

House Atreides portrayed one of their ancestors as the George Washington of the AI-war, and House Harkonnen's ancestor as the Benedict Arnold of the war. So Atreides as at a high power level and Harkonnen was at a low. Valya was salty about this, riled up her brother, her brother got capped by an Atreides. Tula executed a revenge plan in which she mass-murdered most of the Atreides clan while sleeping with one of them and apparently getting pregnant and giving the kid up to be raised by wolves outsiders.

Valya had joined the Sisterhood and Tula came along with.

The Sisterhood founder secretly had used AI to try to figure out how to manipulate society to its betterment. This is a point on which Valya was supportive. The next in line was deadset against it, so Valya in her takeover of the Sisterhood used one of the superhuman abilities, the Voice, and forced Dorotea to cut her own throat. This left Valya free to remake the order in her ruthless gene-manipulating/AI-using image. 

With control over the Sisterhood, Valya and her lackeys determined that they could make themselves into advisors to all the great houses and were secretly manipulating the levers of power. But they also thought the best way forward was to get a Sister to take the throne, and the best Sister to get on the throne would be the offspring of the present emperor and empress. The enacted that plan and were well on their way to getting Ynez, the current princess, to train with the Sisterhood. Once indoctrinated by them, she would eventually rise to the throne and the Sisterhood would more directly control everything.

The Sisterhood were about to execute a next step in this plan by having Ynez get engaged to a 9-year-old, which would leave her with roughly a decade of being free to train with them. They also were pulling various strings to give the Emperor legitimacy and to undercut that legitimacy, including giving aid to the rebels at times they deemed appropriate.

All those plans went awry when Desmond Hart entered the picture. Desmond was a wild card with a strange power that Valya didn't understand and with a complete hatred of the Sisterhood and a claimed loyalty to the Imperium itself. Valya tried to adjust to these fast moving changes to the plan, but wasn't very successful. Someone apparently set him up to check/kill the Sisterhood. But who? He could be the one prophesied to be the key to the Reckoning, an event foreseen to tear the Sisterhood apart.

But it would seem that an acolyte who got prompted into a ritual to channel her foremothers is that central figure. Even though she died, she was born again through use of spice and tech.

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

The Sisterhood was formed in part to improve human nature and society both by breeding better people, unlocking abilities in humans and by manipulating society in ways both large and small.

You can also say that the Sisterhood's main function for society is as human lie detectors, along with providing wise counsel to important families. The Sisterhood are more loyal to each other than the families they serve and are willing to bend the truth if it will benefit the Sisterhood. The Sisterhood are using very sophisticated computers (extremely illegal) to do their genetic matching and provide favorable marriage advice/matchmaking to important families to minimize genetic mutations.

1 hour ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Valya was salty about this, riled up her brother, her brother got capped by an Atreides.

Valya's brother died, but Atreides didn't kill him, but Valya thinks that Atreides did.

[Chicago Redshirt]

Fair enough as to the additional functions of the Sisterhood. Again, haven't read the books, just the show. But it seems like the mission to improve society by focusing on truth is inherently corrupt, at least from what has been part of the show.

The Founder based the order on a huge secret and violation of the law. Valya exponentially expanded that by committing murder to win over the leadership, and has kept that murder quiet.

It wouldn't be the first time an order of mystics pledged to truth and justice had shadiness and secrets at its heart corrupting it, won't be the last.

As to Griffin Harkonnen's death, all I know is what the show has presented, which was that an Atreides killed Griffin and Valya (and by extension, Tula) blames the Atreides family for it. I'll take it at your word that it's not in fact true, which makes sense since the Atreides family is apparently super-noble, and the Harkonnen family are scheming lying scumbags.