The first episode of Dune: Prophecy gave us a stunning set of images with a somewhat shaky-paced plot. The second episode of Dune: Prophecy gives us plenty more beautiful landscapes, people, and other imagery, with a plot that continues to meander along at a slow pace. At least with this second episode, we can see where things are going a bit. There’s more drama at stake between all the various players of the story. Here’s the official synopsis of Episode Two.

After receiving word about events on Salusa Secundus, Valya brings Theodosia to the Imperial House to help manage the situation. Meanwhile, Desmond makes a confession to Emperor Corrino, Tula reluctantly enlists Lila for a vital mission, and distrust swirls around Keiran Atreides, the sword master for House Corrino.

John Cameron directs a script from Kor Adana that features plenty of distrust all around. Everyone’s true motivations for their actions aren’t revealed until very late in the episode. The dynamic between not just Corrino and Desmond Hart, but the other relationships that come to light are revelatory. Those revelations do end up taking a bit longer to unfold though. In between there’s some nice work from Mark Strong, Emily Watson, Travis Fimmel, and Chloe Lea. Lea in particular carries the back half of the episode during a horrific scene. It’s nightmare fuel and easily the highlight of this second episode.

The finale for the episode sees a thrilling battle of wits between two characters. I don’t want to get into it too much for fear of spoiling anything, but it adds a TON of intrigue to the narrative. So in a realm where we know what’s coming between the Harkonnen clan and the Atreides clan in the future, we get some inklings of that here. Where does Dune: Prophecy go from here? Well, we have all the various factions bidding for control and trying to one-up another constantly. The only issue that I have is the time to get to the most interesting parts of Dune: Prophecy. When you get the intrigue and revelations, it’s top-notch. However, those moments feel like they take a bit longer as the series crawls along.

We’ll have to see if the pace picks up a bit more in episode three and beyond. For now, we’re still intrigued, and a bit more so, than after episode one.

Dune: Prophecy airs on Sundays on HBO.

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