Dune: Prophecy episode 3 review: More of Tula's history is revealed as we're shown flashbacks to her tragic past

A massive chunk of episode three of Dune: Prophecy is devoted to flashbacks, showing the two Harkonnen sisters when they were young women and the events that set them on the path to eventually become the leaders of the Sisterhood.

We're shown what life was like on Lankiveil, the frozen planet where the Harkonnen family now lives, and the main trade is in whale meat and fur. It's clearly an unpleasant place to exist, and the bitterness caused by knowing you should have so much better is one of Valya's biggest driving forces, wanting to get back at the Atreides who stole their glory after the Butlerian Jihad.

The problem is in the ruthlessness with which she pursues her cause, which brings more harm to her family than to her enemies, resulting in her brother's death. This is something that stops her from being a sympathetic character. She's always acting for her own ends, even when it looks like she's working for a higher purpose. Her motivation for joining the Sisterhood comes from the same place, it's not about serving something greater, but just how she can manipulate the situation for her own purpose.

This manipulation has spread to her sister Tula. It's hard to see her going off on such a brutal revenge spree without her sister's prompting. It's all done in such a cruel way, completely unlike her. Manipulating a person into thinking she loves him, before massacring his whole family and killing him, is such a cold thing to do, and Tula clearly shows remorse for it and is weighed down by the guilt for the rest of her life. Unlike Valya, she seems to be doing things to make up for it, with the way she treats Lila.

This brings us to one of the best things here, the Agony, where Sister Lila has to essentially go to the edge of death, so she can meet with her deceased foremothers, and ask Mother Raquella about the threat facing the Sisterhood. This is a great scene, dark, creepy, and leaning into the horror vibe. There's always been something unsettling about the world of Dune, and the powers used by its characters, and this handles it really well.

I'm not usually a fan of episodes that are mostly flashbacks, preferring them to be weaved in throughout the show, but this is handled quite well, and considering this is only a six-part series, you can see why they might need to cut things up a little differently to make everything fit. Aside from the scenes with Lila, there's not much that moves the main plot forward, rather just a few of the biggest gaps in their backstories filled in, but it's still an entertaining episode.

The final scene brings the episode back up to date, and is one of the most important, as we see Valya go to see her family. This is definitely no reunion, and she'll be looking to get what she can out of it, but it is interesting that she's fallen quite far in such a short time. A few days ago she led an order that manipulated the Imperium, now she has to go to the people she despises most for help. Given her family history, it's unlikely to end well for them all.