Dickinson Season 2 kicked off with Emily receiving scary medical news … along with the opportunity to share her poems with the world.
Friday’s premiere opens with a history lesson, with a narrator telling that the details of the real Emily Dickinson’s life after Sue and Austin’s wedding are sketchy, and perhaps we can find the true truth only through her poems. Emily still scratches letters to Sue, who now lives right next to Austin. But when her face becomes vague and painful, her father takes her to a doctor who is not very sympathetic. (When she says she’s writing, he tells her, “Maybe you want to stop doing so much of it.”) Her vision is failing, the doctor shuts down, and he advises her to sit in dim rooms and to avoid the sun. He is also not optimistic: “It will only get worse,” he says seriously.
On the train home, Emily’s father mumbles about the hefty doctor’s bill, and she says to him, “Sorry I’m so expensive.” He reassures her that it really is Austin who is the problem; his new home with Sue cost a fortune, and then the market came to an end. As he walks away, Emily is approached by a strange man who tells her, ‘I’m nobody. Who are you? “She is convinced that he looks famous, but he leaves without saying his name – and when her father returns, the man disappears. Hmmm.
Meanwhile, Lavinia is thrown for a loop when her mother takes over a new residence: mr. Shipley, an ex from Lavinia with gorgeous hair. (“What’s going on even now?” Lavinia wonders.) Shipley boasts that he was very successful in selling pharmaceutical products, but he wanted to marry Lavinia again. He is looking for a traditional gal who displays “submissiveness, chastity and willingness to perform household chores”. Lavinia insists it’s not her – and proves it by throwing him on the bed and sitting up. OK, then!
When Emily and her father return home, her mother is afraid of her bad diagnosis: “Why is this happening to me?” Lavinia wants to gossip, but Emily runs upstairs to write, “My mind is bursting with ideas.” (Her father warns her about her eyes, but she’s unabashed.) Lavinia is excited to attend one of Austin and Sue’s fantastic parties tonight because there’s so much noise. (“Sue is an influencer,” she jokes.) Newspaper editor and budding media mogul Samuel Bowles will be there, she adds. Emily tries to write, but the noise of the party next door makes it impossible. “It sounds like they’re doing all the latest jigs,” says her servant.
During the party, Sue keeps the court in a posh dress while Mr. Shipley marvels at the oysters. (“Oysters are actually a cheap and readily available food,” Lavinia sighs.) Shipley greets Austin and tells him that he and Lavinia are ‘engaged to be engaged’ … though she never agreed to it. . That biting click of Emily’s acquaintances is also there, declaring that Ralph Waldo Emerson is being ‘canceled’ and pitying poor Jane, now that she’s a widow with a baby. Emily finally drops her writing and goes to the party with ink smeared all over her face. Sue tries to help her wipe it off, but Emily does not care what she looks like: “I’m here to see you.”
She claims to know what Sue thought of her poems, and Sue says it’s better than ever before … but it’s too much for her too: “Your poems … it makes me feel things I do not want do not feel. ” They remind her of her recent miscarriage, of which she has not yet told Austin. Sue wants Emily to meet Sam Bowles and thinks he might publish her poems in his newspaper, which has long since ceased to be a reader. When asked, Sam shows up, Sue calls ‘Suzie’ and brags comfortably about his travels. He knows all about Emily’s poems and wants to hear one – but when Sue encourages her to read one at the party, Emily says “not tonight” and walks out. (She also looks at a ‘nobody’ again. Is he a ghost or something?) As she runs home, she turns around and sees Sam watching her leave. We guess these two will see each other again, right?
Give the Dickinson premiere a degree in our poll, and then print the comments to share your thoughts.