After traveling to the Inferno and back, Emily Dickinson’s (Hailee Steinfeld) hope in life and in love has been restored for Apple TV+’s Dickinson Episode “Grief is a Mouse”. With her darkest fears now confronted, Emily mends her relationships with the people dearest to her and finally embraces her authentic truth and her love for Sue Gilbert Dickinson (Ella Hunt).
Mouse of a Man | Mr. Dickinson (Toby Huss) is on his way to Boston with Ithamar Conkey (Robert Picardo) to give a speech at the Law Society when Conkey shares the news that Mr. Dickinson will be asked by the Massachusetts Republican Party to be their nominee for Lieutenant Governor.
Given Mr. Dickinson’s recent fallout with Emily, he decides that he must decline the Republican Party’s ask and remain in Amherst to repair his broken relationships with his family. Conkey grows cranky with Mr. Dickinson and throws him out of the horse carriage to walk home. Mr. Dickinson is again reminded that his traditional and archaic conventions in social politics will lead to his being left behind as the world around him evolves.
One Dickinson at a Time | Emily’s intention for the day is to “[make] the world a better place one Dickinson at a time”.
First on the agenda, Emily calls for a Dickinson “sibling summit” with Austin (Adrian Blake Enscoe) and Lavinia (Anna Baryshnikov), during which Emily apologizes to Austin and admits that he is right about their father being a disappointment and “a real asshole”. Emily discloses with Austin and Lavinia the details of their father’s will regarding Austin’s inheritance of the home and all of its possessions, Emily and Lavinia included.
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Emily asks Austin to promise her and Lavinia that he won’t be “the same kind of man [their] father was” and that no matter what the law or society says, that he will treat them with respect and give them the freedom they deserve. Austin doesn’t hesitate to promise his sisters this.
Next, Emily visits her mom, Mrs. Dickinson (Jane Krakowski), who’s been depressed and in bed for over a week. Mrs. Dickinson confides in Emily that she is grieving the loss of her sister, not just her sister’s death but of the life that they weren’t able to have together because Mrs. Dickinson married at a young age and moved to Amherst. Mrs. Dickinson articulates the special bond that sisters share, spotlighting the relationship that Emily and Lavinia are fortunate to have.
During their conversation about sisterhood, a little mouse appears. Emily and Mrs. Dickinson believe it to be Mrs. Dickinson’s sister, giving Mrs. Dickinson the opportunity to tell her sister everything she had wanted to say to her at her funeral. Talking to her sister was exactly what Mrs. Dickinson needed to begin the process of healing.
Farewell | A long-time friend of Austin and Emily, George Gould (Samuel Farnsworth), has been drafted to serve under the Union forces with the Massachusetts 21st, the same regime that Frazer Stern (Will Pullen) had fought with. To wish George farewell, Austin and Sue throw him a party at their home.
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Towards the end of the evening, Sue reveals to Emily that she submitted one of her poems to be published in the Union Army newsletter, “Drum Beat”. As a parting gift, Emily reads the poem aloud, dedicating it to her dear friend George, but “mostly [to] Sue”:
These are the days when Birds come back –
A very few – a Bird or two,
To take a backward look –
These are the days when skies resume
The old – old sophistries of June –
A blue and gold mistake.
Oh, fraud that cannot cheat the Bee,
Almost thy plausibility
Induces my belief…
Your Ivy Grows | Emily has reconciled with her need to have Sue in her life, not just as a friend but as a lover. With her reconciliation and full acceptance of her love for Sue, Emily also now understands Sue’s need for more than just Emily’s words. Together for the night, the poet and her Sue communicate in the language that written or spoken word cannot – in human touch “where the spirit meets the bone”.
All the letters I can write
Are not fair as this –
Syllables of Velvet –
Sentences of Plush,
Depths of Ruby, undrained,
Hid, Lip, for Thee –
Play it were a Humming Bird –
And just sipped – me –
For all you EmiSue stans, was this not the episode we’ve all been waiting for? What were your favorite moments of Dickinson’s penultimate episode? Leave your comments below!
Watch the series finale of Dickinson on Friday, December 24, streaming on Apple TV+.