Dickinson Review: The Daisy follows soft the Sun (Season 2 Episode 4)

Dickinson Season 2 Episode 4 “The Daisy follows soft the Sun” is a solid entry to Dickinson’s canon but overall not quite as exhilarating as the season’s first three episodes ( though there is an overhead shot of a maze that is a stunner).

Much of this episode of Dickinson is about expectation. Both Dickinson sisters are struggling with whether to buck expectations or lean into them.

Plus, Dickinson‘s early Season 2 episodes make it clear fame — and the hunt, maintenance, and cost that come with it — is going to be a driving force for the season.

This theme picks up on Episode 4 “the Daisy follows soft the Sun” when the Emily (Hailee Steinfeld) we witness is a wholly alien creature.

For the first time, Emily has writer’s block and it becomes clear over the course of the episode that her anxiety about what Sam Bowles (Finn Jones) is overwhelming and distracting her.

While Emily’s insecurity is disconcerting, her experience over the course of this episode does prompt some larger questions about the connection between art and notoriety.

How exactly does fame impact the process of creation? Is the end product different when we create for ourselves vs. when we create for the approval or consumption of others? Is fame a prize or are all of its benefits mere distractions? Are some people built more for a life of acclaim than others?

Dickinson‘s not quite ready to answer that question. After all, we know what path Emily Dickinson ultimately chose in real life but not necessarily why.

What made her rebuke the sentiments of her best friend Sue (Ella Hunt) and the overall general public, most of whom are enthralled with the idea of fame and outward success?

Did she agree with Frederick Law Olmsted (Timothy Simons), who like a true Romantic, asserts that “the work is the gift”? Or did she perhaps recognize that while fame may have short-term merits, for her, it was not the right longterm choice?

There’s an interesting moment towards the end of the episode.

As Emily struggles to make her way through the hedges, Sam finds her and pulls her out of the maze. It’s the most telling metaphor on an episode full of them (uh, hello, the Dickinson parents are stuck in a hole while they talk about how their marriage is in a rut? Talk about on the nose).

Sam provides some sweet relief in the moment, but Emily could have eventually made her way out of the maze and found relief and safety on her own. It may have been more difficult, but not impossible.

I suspect that we’re going to see a multitude of metaphors about the push-pull of this relationship (fame/unknown and Sam/Emily) from here on out. The season finale — which reportedly features a showdown between Emily and Sam — will almost certainly call back to moments like this one.

As an aside, while I get the sense that Finn Jones is supposed to be the guest star that draws my attention (and maybe swoons), Timothy Simons really runs away with this episode.

His Olmsted is wonderfully wise and eccentric and while his presence isn’t quite as organic as say, Louisa May Alcott (Zosia Mamet) or Henry David Thoreau’s (John Mulaney) appearances last season, it’s his words that Emily — and viewers — are going to most likely remember.

Meanwhile, after tremendous growth last season, Vinnie has cooled to the idea of marriage and is on the verge of rebuffing Ship (admittedly, I’m not sure why she’s with him this season in the first place. It’s the one thing about her trajectory that doesn’t quite add up).

It doesn’t help that Ship’s proposal is completely cringeworthy, accented by the fact that in his very public display of affection, he doesn’t even spell her name right. (Dickensen she ain’t, Ship, though I loved this completely mortifying detail from a narrative standpoint.)

As Vinnie, Anna Baryshnikov is a full-on delight.

I could have written that for nearly every episode thus far this season but it’s so emphatically, undeniably true that I had to comment on it. Her work is especially good this episode as she goes from joyfully lost in her thoughts to helpless upon finding herself cornered by a public proposal she realizes she doesn’t want.

Baryshnikov telegraphs it all so well, but especially through her eyes. Her command of even the smallest changes in facial expression and body language is significant and I’m looking forward to how the show steers her away from this ill-fated union.

Overall, this is a solid, though not exceptional episode. The dueling storylines of Lavinia/Emily are compelling and clearly exist so as to lay some foundation for larger emotional beats to come later this season.

However, they strength of these plots are dragged down by the evil nieces/hole-in-the-ground storylines. These are far less inspiring — and inspired! — hence the reason they’ve barely been mentioned in the review. Both are undercooked.

Stray observations:

• Okay, I take it back. Austin still is a jerk. And Sue’s quickly joining him on that list. While I can guess some of the story-driven reasons for the change in Sue, it’s becoming awfully difficult to sympathize with her.
• Jane Krakowski as the elder Emily still feels miscast but she admittedly is less of a sore thumb this season. 
• So quick survey for the group: was Olmsted there? Or was he just a figment of Emily’s very tired, exhausted imagination?
• While I loved Olmsted’s inclusion (Central Park represent!), I did find it odd that a show as self aware as Dickinson (sometimes exhaustingly so), didn’t even allude to the destruction of Seneca Village, especially with the larger role race is playing this season. 

What did you think of this episode of Dickinson? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Dickinson is available to stream on Apple TV+. New episodes premiere on the service on Fridays. 

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