‘Dune: Prophecy’ Episode 5 “In Blood, Truth” Review: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Dune: Prophecy episode five takes a step back compared to an explosive episode four last week, this time taking focus on some underwritten characters like Constantine Corrino. Read our Dune: Prophecy episode 5 review. 

This review contains spoilers for the fifth episode of Dune: Prophecy season 1. 

This passing week’s episode, episode four, gave us some of the most shocking moments in the series yet, with reveals of face dancers, mass murders, resurrections, and more. It was a major shift from the prior episode, which focused on the history of the world, but now nearing the end of the show’s first season, Dune: Prophecy has kicked into gear, aiming to bring some big developments in the story. 

Dune: Prophecy follows two Harkonnen sisters (Emily Watson and Olivia Williams) turned members of the empirical Sisterhood, aiming to take control of the Empire from the shadows. In this first season, the sisterhood faces a fierce adversary in the form of the mysterious soldier turned right hand man of the Emperor (Mark Strong), Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel). The show concerns itself deeply with the politics and worldbuilding derived from the works of author Frank Herbert, as well as Denis Villeneuve’s interpretation of the source material in Dune: Part One and Two. 

Episode five is nowhere near as explosive as the fourth but maintains a strong and swift movement barrelling towards what looks to be a big reveal in the final episode of the show. The last episode put Hart closer to the Corrino empire than ever before, and he’s on a warpath against the insurgents, which include the likes of the Emperor’s own swords master Keiran Atreides (Chris Mason) and his accomplice Mikaela (Shalom Brune-Franklin). This creates a sense of paranoia for these characters that you can really feel. While that happens, I can’t help but feel like the showrunners want the audience to feel the wrath of and hate Desmond, but I can’t bring myself to do it. He is by far the most interesting, the most strong willed of the cast, and is who I continue to seek out when I tune into this series week by week. 

I cannot say the same for the Harkonnen sisters however, who I fail to find captivating and it seems the writers aren’t even hiding it at this point, with each of the sisters feeling very secondary here in comparison to the first three episodes. As I alluded to earlier, it seems that this episode is a very Corrino centric story, with Constantine (Josh Heuston) meeting with his mother, a member of the Sisterhood under the influence of Valya. There’s also a pretty weird moment between Jodhi May’s Empress Natalya and Hart, but out of it (and in conjunction with a Tula sequence) we did get some insight into the origins of Desmond and his abilities.

Dune: Prophecy episode 5 stars Emily Watson as Valya Harkonnen, Olivia Williams as Tula Harkonnen, Mark Strong as Javicco Corrino, Travis Fimmel as Desmond Hart, and more. The episode was directed by Anna Foerster, and written by Carlito Rodriguez & Leah Benavides Rodriguez. The episode is now streaming on HBO and Max.

Up Next On ‘Dune: Prophecy’

This series was renewed just today (at the time of writing), so while I previously would have guessed that the Bene Gesserit would have been created at the end of the next episode, it’s possible that that is the final move in what seems to be an ever expanding picture. I do however wonder if Desmond will continue to stay in the picture or if he will be terminated by the sisterhood in the next episode. 

Dune: Prophecy episode 6 debuts seven days after the release of the fifth episode, on Sunday, December 22nd, 2024, at 9 PM Eastern Time (ET). It is titled “The High-Handed Enemy”, and written by Elizabeth Padden & Suzanne Wrubel.

Thanks for reading this Dune: Prophecy episode 5 review. Stay tuned here at Feature First, for the rest of our coverage of the six-episode miniseries.