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The latest episode of Dickinson is called ‘A little Madness in the Spring’ after the poem:
A little Madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King,
But God be with the Clown –
Who ponders this tremendous scene –
This whole Experiment of Green –
As if it were his own!
Interestingly, this poem is sort of used here as an allusion, because the episode is entirely about a trip to the lunatic asylum. The setup was fairly clear: Edward wants to be a trustee at the asylum (which he was in real life), Emily wants to support her father, Lavinia still feels depressed about her lack of marriage prospects, and Mrs. Dickinson is afraid that due to her erratic behavior at the sing-along, what with falling down the stairs in a wedding dress and all, that her husband might want to commit her.
As of course, in those days, women could be institutionalized against their will by their husbands for very little cause indeed, so Mom Dickinson really couldn’t do much legally to prevent it. So when they get to the women’s asylum, she’s overly odd about trying to be perceived as not crazy, talking about liking things a ‘normal amount’ loudly.
While Emily, by virtue of the fact that she’s imaginative and unusual, is seen by the doctor as a ‘lunatic’ — a word that originally derives from being ‘moonstruck’ or driven crazy by the moon. And of course, historically there is also a spurious connection between women and ‘lunar cycles’, so there’s a connection there too.
Lavinia runs into another old flame, Joseph Lyman, who reveals that he had many loves but had told her his true love was actually Vinnie. At first Vinnie is joyful at this, but when the realization that someone who loved her is dead, she too bursts into tears — so this trip to the asylum, where the doctor said mental illnesses included things like exhaustion, being overeducated, menstruation, laziness, and being unmarried, suddenly Vinnie has more than one of these danger markings.
In contrast, Mama Dickinson comes across a lady faking a mental illness who’s getting a posh room and seems to be finally getting some rest — but there’s the far worse room downstairs, with women in straitjackets and getting doped up, including Emily’s friend Abby (who in real life was never institutionalized, as far as I could tell). So this asylum is hardly just a nice vacation spot.
In the side storylines, Sue finally allows herself to be progressive, and lets Austin be an active part of raising their son. This is all he needs to change his entire perspective, and he lovingly kisses her on the forehead before rushing off to see the child. It’s a different sort of madness, but a seemingly positive one.
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Similarly, a new kind of madness grabs hold of Henry, as he makes it a point to help the new black battalion despite the ‘white ally’ help of the Colonel, who has lines like ‘move the needle’ or ‘are you at capacity’ which are getting a little cutesy. But the ultimate point is that Henry has finally decided to stop simply letting the Colonel carefully tiptoe around, he’s going to confront him.
The final note for Emily’s storyline is Edward refusing the trustee position because he won’t commit Emily to the asylum (which also never happened in real life) stating that she belongs at home with him. But really, the episode does seem to imply that doing that is really a prison of a different sort, like the one Mama Dickinson so admired.
Overall, it was quite an interesting episode, really delving into the historical inequities while taking some significant departures from the historical reality. Emily’s attempt at freeing the women is immediately cut short, and when you contrast that to Henry helping the freed slaves, it makes you wonder if the point is about the difference Emily really can make.
Finally, a music drop to point out, the song playing during the fixing uniform montage was ‘Fashion Killa’ by Mason ft. Stefflon Don (not the same song title by A$AP Rocky), which I really dug.
What did you think of this episode? Start a conversation in the comments section below.
New episodes of Dickinson stream Friday on Apple TV+.
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