Dickinson Review: A War is Raging (Season 3 Episodes 1-3)

If you had told me two years ago that one of Apple’s best shows would be about poetry and Emily Dickinson I would have thought that you were crazy. And yet, here we are!

Back for its final season, the first three episodes of Dickinson Season 3 are a promising start to what I hope will be a satisfying season of one of television’s most inventive shows. Debuting less than a year after Dickinson Season 2 dropped — seriously how does Miss Hailee Steinfield do it? — I already prefer the direction the show is going in more than I did last season.

A refresher: when we last saw Emily in Dickinson Season 2 she had just pulled herself out from under the thumb of Samuel Bowles (Finn Jones), the newspaper editor that offers to publish her poems, and she had finally rekindled her friendship-turned-relationship with Sue Gilbert AKA her brother’s wife.

Dickinson Season 3 picks up at least nine months into the future, though we aren’t entirely sure how far. How do we know this? Well, because Sue (Ella Hunt), who we last saw on screen professing her love for Emily, has a pregnant belly that is about to pop.

This is where I think the show gets a little messy. Due to the nature of the IRL Emily Dickinson’s life, most notably her posthumous fame, scholars assume that she had some sort of affectionate relationship with Sue Gilbert through the timeline and the depth of feelings the pair shared is up to interpretation.

While it’s obvious from the first three episodes of the third season that Emily and Sue are in a much better place, both together and individually than they were in season two, it’s an odd choice to do a complete about-face from the Dickinson Season 2 finale. 

Yes, the fact that there is an actual historical timeline that has to be loosely followed plays some part in that decision, I’m sure. And yes, the end of Dickinson Season 2 already foreshadowed the beginning of the Civil War. 

It just seemed a little jarring coming straight off a rewatch of the last season’s finale.

Also a little confusing thus far into Dickinson Season 3 is Austin’s (Adrian Enscoe) steep decline. While I empathize with him and his failing marriage, I would have thought that he would have been more excited at the prospect of fatherhood after his storyline in the past two seasons, regardless of his feelings towards his wife.

That being said, I do appreciate Dickinson‘s flair for symbolic parallels. While the backdrop of this season certainly seems to be New England during the Civil War, I can’t help but love how the show is mirroring the conflict within the scope of the Dickinson family.

Austin threatening to “secede” from the family (while being a total mama’s boy, by the way) is appropriately humorous for the time period, though I hope we aren’t saddled with drunk Austin throughout season 3.

Inspired by Emily’s poems written around the season’s timeline, one of the themes of Dickinson Season 2 was “fame,” and whether or not Emily needed outside validation via publication. It seems like a theme of Dickinson Season 3 is going to be “hope,” apropos for a season set in the midst of the nation’s reckoning. 

Another emerging theme, one that has transgressed seasons, is the search for Emily’s “Why.” Like any other 20-something, Emily is trying to figure out her life, especially amidst all of these major life changes. Last season we saw her externally motivated by the validation of her editor and her desire for Sue’s attention, but those barriers are gone in this go-around.

Instead, the focus on this season is Emily’s struggle to write beyond her personal bubble and to reflect on real life. Betty (Amanda Warren) says as much when the Amherst crew gathers for sewing (read: gossip) circle at the Dickinson house.

“Writing that shuts real life out is as good as dead.”

Speaking of Betty, I’m really enjoying seeing more of this character after two seasons of her husband, Henry (Chinaza Uche). Betty is proving herself a voice of reason amongst the Dickinson family even while her husband is away to fight in the war, and seems to be a source of inspiration for Emily’s hope.

She has one of the most poignant scenes of this first block of episodes. Speaking about her husband I assume it will have a lasting impact throughout the rest of the season as Emily searches for her “Why?” in such desolate times. 

Elsewhere in Amherst, Dickinson is giving us comedy gold with Emily’s sister Lavinia, “Vinnie,” and her circle of friends. While Emily, Austin, and Sue’s storyline is a focal point of the series, I’m pleased with the way Vinnie has come into her own in the past two seasons.

Anna Baryshnikov is an underrated star of Dickinson, playing a broody 20-something in 1800s New England with the affectation of a 2000s SoCal Valley Girl. She’s taking the death surrounding the Civil War the hardest because it means losing potential suitors.

Lavinia’s character is perfectly representative of the entire series, mixing serious historical matters with an anachronistic, Gen-Z/Millenial wit.

It’s what’s kept the series so ingenious over the course of its run — the writing is utterly modern, and yet still reminiscent of Emily Dickinson’s reality. I’m personally obsessed with the friendship circle dynamic and the way they speak to each other in very 2010s platitudes.

A standout from this batch of episodes was the “What’s the Tea?” moment during the sewing circle episode, followed by Mrs. Dickinson’s very serious lamentation, “I didn’t know you wanted any tea.”

Side note – Jane Krakowski is a comedic genius. Dickinson Season 3 Episode 2, is arguably one of the best episodes from this series, led by her performance as the midwife to her daughter-in-law.

The one part of Dickinson that I have yet to make sense of is Emily’s tie to the supernatural world. It’s a flashy, interesting plot device for sure. I mean Wiz Khalifa as “Death” himself? Say Less! It’s just crazy enough to get you watching the show, but it seems forced sometimes when the scenes do arrive.

Similarly, Emily’s fascination with “Nobody” aka Frazer Sterns came out of left field last season and I’m glad that storyline seems to have wrapped up on Dickinson Season 3 Episode 2, “It feels a Shame to be Alive -“. Emily’s flair for premonitions is interesting, I’m just more interested in the real world plot.

I’m intrigued at where Dickinson Season 3 is leading us, for both Emily’s internal journey and her interpersonal ones. I’m even more curious to see where the show comes to an end in terms of Emily’s life. We know the real timeline of events so it will be interesting where we leave the characters of Dickinson compared to where we know (or assume) the real figures ended up.

While last season’s journey was intrinsically focused, with Emily wrestling with herself, these first three episodes have primed us to expect a healthy amount of external strife. 

Sue and Emily’s relationship appears to have flipped since we’ve last seen them, with Sue leaning in more than Miss Dickinson, so I’m sure that will cause turmoil. Austin and Vinnie have both become increasingly nihilistic in their own ways, and Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson are, as ever, humorously ignorant of their childrens’ turmoils.

Dickinson is setting up its final season arcs to mirror the tumultuousness of the Civil War, which is apt for a story about a poet who descended into her own “personal inferno” of creativity during this era. I just hope the entire Dickinson family makes it out on the other side intact. 

Stray Thoughts:

• I have a feeling the references to Dante will keep popping up throughout this final season; after a little digging it appears the IRL Emily compared her love to Sue to Dante’s love for Beatrice.
• Um, Ziwe as Sojourner Truth? I hope we see her stick around for a while because there simply wasn’t enough.
• The Dickinson family needs therapy. Full stop.
• Hailee Steinfeld has to be one of the hardest working women in Hollywood, and an absolute force to be reckoned with on screen. She plays all aspects of Emily beautifully.
• The maple syrup snowball scene was giving me big Instagram influencer fall aesthetic vibes, proving that being in your 20s is really “all vibes, no thoughts,” no matter what century you’re in.
• Did anyone else catch Emily and Mrs. D doing the Supergirl stance before they helped Sue give birth? They must have watched the TED Talk.

What did you think of the Dickinson Season 3 premiere? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Dickinson Season 3 is streaming on Apple TV+ with new episodes dropping each Friday.

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