‘Dune: Prophecy’ Episode 3 Recap
Episode three of ‘Dune: Prophecy’ opens with a flashback to Valya when she was a young woman living on the frozen planet of Lankiveil, where the Harkonnen family has been exiled to after the war. We’re shown how harsh life is there, with freezing temperatures, and the main source of trade being the hunting of whales for meat and fur.
Valya wants to leave, believing they deserve better, and should take revenge against the Atreides for stealing their glory after claiming victory in the Butlerian Jihad against thinking machines.
Her brother Griffin says he’s going to go and speak with Vorian Atreides, to try and get a better situation for the family. However, he’s killed by Vorian while away, leading the family to blame Valya for stirring things up with her constant need for more power and recognition.
Valya once again asserts that they need to take revenge against the Atreides, but she’s sent away to Wallach IX to join the Sisterhood.
In the present day, we see Tula caring for Lila. She’s barely alive after going through the Agony, and there’s no chance she will recover. Ravella says Tula has to let her go, as it’s the right thing to do, and keeping her alive in this state is worse than death.
There’s another flashback, this time to a younger Tula. She’s out riding with a young man on an unidentified planet. They are taking part in a hunt, and one of the horses falls and is fatally injured. Lula takes the poison sac from an animal they are using as bait for the hunt, and uses the poison to put the horse out of its suffering.
There are more flashbacks to Valya, now an Acolyte in the Sisterhood. Dorotea is leading them in a lesson on how they use their skills to advise and guide the Imperium, rather than controlling it by exercising direct power themselves.
The Acolytes are sent outside, where they are to remain until they decide whether or not they really want to be a part of the order. One by one, the others proclaim “Sisterhood above all” and return inside, until only Valya remains, conflicted. Mother Raquella arrives and tells her to come inside to talk.
In a flashback, Tula retires to a tent with the young man she was riding with. They make love, outside come the sounds of the hunters, who are now celebrating their hunt, dancing around a bonfire and chanting the name of their house: Atreides.
In the morning, it’s revealed that Tula was manipulating the young man and she tells him she’s a Harkonnen. All the others are dead, killed by the poison Tula put in their food. As the man looks at the scene of death, she injects him and kills him too. The only survivor is a young boy who didn’t take part in the celebration, who Tula allows to escape unharmed.
Mother Raquella shows Valya the genetic index that she uses to manipulate the bloodlines of the great houses to create better leaders.
She asks Valya and Dorotea to go through the agony, so they can both become reverend mothers. Dorotea willingly agrees, but Valya refuses and walks out. She receives a letter from Tula revealing what has happened with the Atreides. Raquella tells her to leave and go home to sort out the problems with her family, and not to return unless she goes through the Agony.
On Lankiveil, Valya almost kills her mother using the voice, during another argument where she’s accused of manipulating Tula into massacring the Atreides. She goes through the Agony and leaves for Wallach IX with Tula, so they can both become Sisters, which Tula hopes will be an end to it all.
In the present day, having lost her privileges at the Imperial palace, Valya goes to the only people she can to try and rescue the situation, her family.
The episode ends with Tula going into the vault where the genetic index is. While it appeared she let Lila die, she’s actually being kept alive by a powerful thinking machine.