Things heat up in episode five of Dune: Prophecy as the emperor makes a move to consolidate his fragile position.
After unleashing Desmond Hart in the previous episode and revealing his power to the council, Javicco now makes his move to try and solidify his place as emperor, creating a new regiment of elite soldiers that looks to be the forerunner of the legendary Sardaukar that play a big part in the movies. These troops are led by Hart, who immediately starts tracking down and threats to the emperor. He's given some intel by Hanno, who's working on Valya's behalf and points him in the direction of the nightclub where the rebels meet.
At the same time, Constantine's mother Francesca returns to Salusa Secundus on Valya's orders and starts to make some moves to put her son into a position of power within the Imperium. She wants him to be commander of the new fleet of fighters. This becomes a reality when Constantine finds evidence of Kieran's plot to assassinate the emperor, allowing him to earn the respect and trust from his father that he needs.
While all of this is an interesting new development, it does highlight one of the biggest problems with this show, which is how everything happens so fast, without any setup. The fact that we get Francesca's introduction, her plans for Constantine, her manipulation of Javicco, and a resolution to it all in just one sixty-minute episode, despite it never being raised as a major plot point before, does come off as very convenient.
Of course, some of this can be blamed on the fact the series is only six episodes long when ten or twelve would have given the story more breathing space. Even so, it does seem like it's rushing to get to the finale, cramming all the pieces onto the board at the last minute, whether they fit or not. This cuts out the kind of long-term scheming and political intrigue that a show like this relies on to really fly.
Aside from this, the other major point of this episode is Lila being possessed by Mother Raquella after she almost dies while going through the Agony. I don't know if anything will come of this, or if it's just a way for the Sisterhood to get more information on the threat they are facing that killed Kasha. Lila seemed to be fine at the end of the episode, so maybe she's fully recovered now.
The revelation that Desmond Hart is apparently Tula's son, and not only that, he's both Harkonnen and Atreides, which is a powerful combination. It sets up another level of conflict, as Tula won't be willing to do whatever is necessary to defeat him, not after the way she acted over Lila. So will she turn against Valya if need be?
I'm sure time will tell, but there's not much of that left, with just a single episode remaining to wrap up all these disparate threads in a satisfying way.