Dickinson :: I Like a Look of Agony

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The latest episode of Dickinson is called ‘I like a Look of Agony’, after a poem that’s about appreciating pain from one perspective, because at least people don’t fake it like pleasure, and there are certainly direct allusions to death too: 

I like a look of Agony, 
Because I know it’s true— 
Men do not sham Convulsion, 
Nor simulate, a Throe— 

The Eyes glaze once—and that is Death—
Impossible to feign
The Beads upon the Forehead
By homely Anguish strung.

We don’t even see Emily until the last few minutes of the episode, as it’s more about the pain, in multiple ways, of the Dickinson clan. Mrs. Dickinson delights in the possibility of being a super housewife by hosting two simultaneous, perfect tea parties. But her husband, in what is a pretty negative episode for him, doesn’t seem to remotely appreciate it.

The repercussions of last week’s John Brown tease come about, as we hear about the terrible resolution of the radical abolitionist’s raid of Harpers Ferry which failed in about every way it could — except in perhaps striking the match that ignited the Civil War. The story of John Brown is a fascinating one, and part of it is shown here as we see Sam discuss the best way to spin the story. Which is mainly to be progressive but not too progressive, an idea that certainly feels like it’s commenting on modern times.

But when Austin hears this news, it’s particularly troubling for him because of his direct efforts related to it — his funding of the anti-slavery newspaper could be seen as a direct line to funding John Brown, and now that the man is officially a ‘criminal’, that puts Austin at risk too. At risk too is everything Austin hoped was ‘changing the world for the better’, and he finally confronts his father about his fake position in their law firm.

And Papa Dickinson merely derides his son as a failure, although there’s something more mysterious going on — Austin recalls seeing Emily the night before, even though she’s been in her room the whole day? It’s something that’s still unanswered. Austin is showing himself as lost and empathetic, more complicated than ever, while Sam seems to be more problematic than ever.

After Emily’s vision of Sam and Sue, which Austin confirms as the truth, Sam has not only betrayed his wife but plans to profit from reporting on the war. Hard to imagine a respectable conclusion for the dude at this point. We also meet his wife Mary for the first time as Sue goes to visit her, and Mary seems quite kind and more aware than we’d come to expect, and certainly than Sue expects.

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It’s an affecting moment when the two women share the secret of their miscarriages and Mary offers the crucial point that it’s okay to feel the pain — don’t just push it away. Similarly when Emily refuses to accept Austin’s calling himself a failure, her description of him as not a fraud but instead with so much love to give. Well, Haillee Steinfeld and Adrian Blake Enscoe kill it in this scene, it’s really very touching.

On the more comedic side, Ship tries to reconcile with Lavinia, offering anything to prove that he really will accept her no matter what. So she performs a kind of old school BDSM routine (a very different sort of pain) to the tune of the actual rock song ‘Lola Montez’ by Volbeat, which is pretty awesome. Ship offers the funniest line of the episode as he proposes what would amount to a political podcast sponsored by ‘Aprons. Blue Aprons.’ — that made me cackle out loud.

Emily pulls out two other poetic references in the episode, one while she stares at the fire, ‘The Doomed—regard the Sunrise’, and then goes a bit nutty when Mister Nobody appears. Oh, except it’s actually Frazar Stearns himself, the real life friend of Austin Dickinson who had a tragic death in the Civil War. We get a pretty hard-hitting juxtaposition of scenes as we see Henry on the run next to the rich dudes clicking glasses, right as Frazar ponders his potential future death.

But Frazar also offers a fascinating little note to end things — as Emily poetically quotes herself that ‘If fame belonged to me, I could not escape her’, he suggests that she get her poems back. It’s a fascinating divergence from history in a lot of ways, and I really appreciate how well the episode tied together thematically with the episode title. Most of our Dickinson clan experienced some sort of emotional breakthrough here, except for Mr. Dickinson.

And although it took a while for Emily to show up, her appearance was like a wrecking ball, breaking through the story and hitting you in the head and heart. A great episode as per usual this season, and there’s only the finale to go. They’ve really hit their stride in this season.

What did you think of this episodes? Start a conversation in the comments section below.

New episodes of Dickinson are available Fridays on Apple TV+.