Perspective of books reader/movies watcher but wife hasn't read the books: The "big picture politics" of the Landsraad coupled with the power of the Guild and

Perspective of books reader/movies watcher but wife hasn't read the books: The "big picture politics" of the Landsraad coupled with the power of the Guild and Bene Geserit...is the biggest thing missing. It's all only hinted at. When you read the books you realize how all these different factions sortof work as checks and balances on each other. If you haven't read the books, it just seems like it would be impossible to understand why anything is happening "big picture". It just seems like bad stuff is happening to the good guys.