“Hope” is the thing with feathers
Episode 1 of Dickinson Season 3 begins this final season with awkwardness as we open to Aunt Lavinia’s funeral. Unfortunately, the reverend blesses “this brave soldier”, getting his words mixed up. Even worse, he doesn’t realize that he’s actually blessing a woman. The reverend is behind schedule though, pointing out that he needs to bury 15 union soldiers that have passed in the Civil War. It’s hardly the time to be blessing the life of a lowly woman. Alas, a CGI bird lands on the casket though, chirping relentlessly as Emily interprets this as a sign to keep writing. On the way back, Emily chirps herself, excitedly mentioning to Death about what she’s experienced. Death isn’t happy though, especially with the Civil War raging on. It’s made his job difficult and he bemoans how repetitive it’s become. In fact, he asks Emily for advice. Given how inspired her writing it, he wants to try and capture that same sense of inspiration himself. That day, as the family head home, a very pregnant Sue shows up. Austin has been working late, which explains his absence, but with the pair missing from the funeral, Sue is pressured into showing up at the reception. Of course, her true feelings are for Emily and not Austin. This is a difficult situation, especially as Sue wishes that her child was actually Emily’s and not Austin’s. If that wasn’t bad enough, in secret Austin exhibits his concerns over whether the child is even his. He’s got a good thing going with Jane too, further complicating this situation. Betty heads over in the wake of all this, as the rest of the gang in town show for the reception too. Mr Conkey takes Emily aside and asks for her hand in marriage out on the porch. Emily is completely taken aback by this, and eventually defiantly tells her she won’t marry him. When things simmer down in the evening, Edward gives a touching speech about duty and honour. With the loss of Lavinia and Sue’s baby on the horizon, it falls to Emily to speak up at this dark time; the proverbial light to brighten the room. Emily promises to keep hope alive for all of them but Austin is not convinced. In fact, he scoffs at this whole idea and claims the family is a lie. He lashes out at Edward, who finds the stress too much and ends up having a heart attack.
The Episode Review
Dickinson returns with its third and final season, as Emily’s final years start to take shape. With lots of simmering family drama and issues surrounding Emily, Austin and Sue, the drama here is poised nicely to explode at any time. Much like the first two seasons, Dickinson is very much a love/hate affair and the same anachronisms, language and modern music are mashed up here too. However, with the Civil War playing a more dominant part in the story this time around, there’s a somber sense of finality to a lot of what’s being shown. This is certainly a nice inclusion and it’ll be interesting to see where Dickinson goes with that. Either way, there’s plenty to like about this third season so far and that cliffhanger will have you scrambling to watch the next episode!
