Review: Apple Tv+’s ‘Dickinson’ (2019—2021)
May 20, 2022 | Dara Marie | @thornfield_lane
Who was Emily Dickinson? You may half-remember her from your high school English class as the reclusive, mystic, depressed poet you had to annotate. The original “sad girl”, if you will. Well, Apple TV’s original series Dickinson urges you to look deeper.
The show follows a young Emily Dickinson navigating pre-Civil War life in Massachusetts as an aspiring female poet who has no interest in the time’s norms, such as marriage and home life. She spends her days avoiding chores as creatively as she can and cramming poetry on any slip of paper available.
That may sound like your usual historic biopic show, and it is… if the people in the 1800s went around fist-bumping, slinging “Shit!” and “Bitch!” at each other in casual conversation, and sitting around with incredibly slumped postures. The best way to describe Dickinson is like you’re watching a normal Emily Dickinson biopic while hallucinating from a high fever. It is beyond wacky and I love it.
While set in the 1850s with horse-drawn carriages, corsets, and cravats, the script is very modern, as are the character’s actions, including some of the things I mentioned in the previous paragraph. You’ll feel like you know Emily as ‘one of the girls’ you could admit any thought to, no matter how random. Pop music often plays in the background, as well as slang we’re used to in the 21st century.
Along with the Victorian period and modernism, it blends reality with fantasy. Emily is known for experimenting with and breaking poetry forms to create unique and elegant works. To showcase her imagination, there are sequences with talking bubble bees and Death (complete with dreadlocks and an EDM background song) strolling by in a ghost-horse-drawn carriage. Whenever Emily is writing or coming up with inspiration, the poem’s lines appear across the screen in flowy, golden letters.
With such a crazy aesthetic, the show is carried by its cast who manage to sell it in every scene. Hailee Steinfeld is phenomenal as Emily. I knew her name because of her music but had never seen her act before. Her comedic timing sells the show’s eccentrics. I could laugh at her antics and share in her sorrow. As a writer, I felt connected to the character’s creative moments which says a lot about the writing and portrayal. Other cast members include Jane Krakowski, Finn Jones, and Wiz Khalifa with a special guest appearance of John Mulaney as Henry David Thoreau. This show wouldn’t be as good without them.
In recent years, Emily Dickinson’s sexuality has been questioned. She never married, and while this is not novel for 19th-century female writers, some of her writings can be read with repressed undertones. Historians speculate she had romantic feelings for her friend and sister-in-law, Susan “Sue” Gilbert who she sent hundreds of letters with intense emotion. The show writers ran with this more than any other Emily Dickinson adaptation out there. There are several scenes showcasing romance between these two characters and this storyline only gets more prominent as the seasons progress which may not sit well with some audiences. The writers and actors did their best to represent the relationship and in my humble opinion, did a stellar job. There is friendship, chemistry, and genuineness.
As with most TV Shows, the first season is by far the best. I still enjoyed the last two seasons but felt they gradually drifted away from the show’s quirky appeal and became more traditional as it went. I didn’t appreciate how several characters became unlikeable over time and was honestly disappointed by how abruptly the series’ finale ended.
But, you know, if my only complaint is that the later seasons weren’t as good, I’d count that as a success considering all that could have gone wrong trying to make such a unique show. Because of this, I recommend the first season, at the very least, to any Emily Dickinson, poetry, literature, or comedy fans. (It streams on Apple TV+).
I would love to see this style–a blend of period aesthetics and modern attitudes—about the Brontë sisters. (Imagine Charlotte and Emily discussing Rochester and Heathcliff like high school girls cheerleader girls while Anne sits in the back, rolling her eyes.)
Have you seen Dickinson? What do you think of their portrayal of the famous American poet? I'd love to hear from you! You can connect with me through thornfield.lane@gmail.com or on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter: @thornfield_lane.
