The Feels Review: Dune Prophecy

Welcome to D.T. Pierce's "The Feels Review!" Book, show, and movie reviews based strictly off how I felt the first time engaging the product.

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About the Rating System

The Feels rating system combines three categories: brain, mouth, heart. Then, with no rhyme or reason, I consolidate the scores into an overall "Feel" rating. Books, shows, and movies are art, and the power of art is in how it makes us feel. That feeling is the only thing that matters. Below is breakdown of each category.

The Feels:

1. Brain

   1. Did the product engage thought?

   2. Did the product produce an insatiable appetite for more?

   3. Does the story create an immersive experience?

   4. Whatever else I decide based upon my mood when reviewing the product.

2. Mouth

   1. How would I quickly respond when asked about the product?

   2. How well does the voice or dialogue flow off the tongue?

   3. Is the content appropriate for the target audience?

   4. Whatever else I decide based upon my mood when reviewing the product.

3. Heart

   1. What emotions did the product elicit?

   2. How do I relate to the story and characters?

   3. Does the story elicit a reflection of my own life?

   4. Whatever else I decide based upon my mood when reviewing the product.

   
   

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The Feels Review of "Dune Prophecy"

Summary:

Dune Prophecy is set 10,000 years before the events of Frank Herbert's books and subsequent movies. The show strives to provide an origin story of the world we've come to know and love through the eyes of the Bene Gesserit. Dune Prophecy follows two Harkonnen sisters within the Bene Gesserit, shortly after the Machine Wars, as they struggle to retain power and influence within the Imperium.

I highly suggest reading Frank Herbert's Dune series (at least Dune) and watching Dennis Villeneuve's adaptation of Dune. The impact of Dune Prophecy on your feels will depend on whether you've experienced these prior works - I'm yet to decide if impact is positive or negative.

Dune Prophecy was a highly touted and highly marketed product that had many fans of Dune savoring at the mouth. It promised to reveal the darker, realistic aspects of Frank Herbert's world the movies avoided in order to acquire a PG-13 rating. How brutal were The Machine Wars? How did the Bene Gesserit come to power following The Machine Wars? How were the Bene Gesserit able to retain their power for nearly 10,000 years? These are all questions many of us Dune fans had while reading the books or watching the movies. Dune Prophecy promised an answer to some of these questions through an unearthing of the Bene Gesserit's origins, beliefs, methods, and brutality required to steer the imperium for thousands of years.

We are now two episodes into the season, and I find myself disappointed. I love Dune, much like Game of Thrones, because there is more tension than action. Meaningful, impactful action takes time to setup. All the action in the world means nothing if we couldn't care less about the characters. Political maneuvering, intense dialogue, scheming, planning, building an army, and so on, are critical to both world building and character development. The more tension created the bigger the impact of action.

Dune Prophecy, so far, follows this formula. However, I find myself bored between the action. The cinematography is nearly perfect, the acting is strong, the story is intriguing, but something doesn't sit right. Nothing exciting about the Bene Gesserit has been revealed. The characters are as you would expect. The larger view of the Imperium is dull and uneventful. Everything beneath the surface is just...blah.

I wanted something darker, more alive, secrets hidden behind every turn with gut-wrenching turn of events. I wanted to fall in love with new characters and feel my heart explode when they met their end. I wanted a larger view of the Imperium, where Dukes waged war in the shadows as the Bene Gesserit scrambled to keep order (and their secret mission). You have hundreds of worlds, billions of people, Dukes, an Emperor, the Bene Gesserit, a prophecy - AND IT'S BORING! HOW!? It's a story stuck within itself that fails to bring us along for the ride.

At this point, I'll probably shrug at the death of any character, or if the whole Imperium were to succumb to a black hole. There is a lack of depth I craved when the show was announced. Dennis' movies were astounding, somehow able to produce more feels over a much shorter duration of time.

My only hope is that the show will improve as the story progresses, but I'm leaning toward more of the same these next couple months.

RATING: 6 on The Feel Scale