WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Dickinson, now available on Apple TV+.
As one of the first TV series launches of Apple TV+, Dickinson is a fresh, satirical take on elite society in the mid-1800s. The series details the inner life of poet Emily Dickinson (Hailee Steinfeld) in her family home in Amherst, Massachusetts, as she bucks all traditional female conventions. Season 2 amps up the biting commentary on all the trivial absurdities and strict customs of the Victorian Era.
With a modern twist, Dickinson is not your average period show. Characters often speak and behave in ways that are current with today's colloquialisms and mannerisms, in order to compare the enduring importance of appearances in elite society and the age of social media. Season 2's salons hosted at Susan's (Ella Hunt) house are supposed to be intellectual gatherings, but look and feel more like a lavish frat party. The men greet each other with handshake hugs and cliques form to try to seem cultured. Dickinson plays up the vain absurdities of the upper crust so as to let them mock themselves.
By including anachronistic elements, Dickinson peppers in a lot of scathing remarks about the true nature of the elite. At the salon in Season 2, Episode 1, the Greek chorus of the show vapidly discusses how Jane's new life as a widow is her sole purpose. In one of the funniest bits, the clique fawns over Jane's fainting spell, parodying one of the most famous clichés of a woman's fragile constitution in the 1800s and beyond. The group also does a rundown of 1850s pop culture that reveals the fickleness of fame. They want to start a book club, but in a modern nod to the annulling of celebrities who are no longer pillars of morality, Jane says, "[Ralph Waldo] Emerson is canceled." The scene simultaneously mocks both of the eras for their trivial nature, with the modern twist making the critique sharp and witty.
The beauty of the satire is that sometimes Emily participates in the ostentatious events, since no one is blameless in society. The baking contest at the Amherst Cattle Show is heightened again with rap music to poke fun at the superficiality of the contest. When Emily's cake wins, Toshiaki mutters, "Amherst baking contest so white," another nod to the current political climate, as well as being reflective of the representation of gentility.
Dickinson, on the whole, shines a light on the false facades of high society in a jocular manner. Most of the male characters are shown as being foolish and undeserving of the patriarchal power they hold. Austin (Adrian Blake), Emily's brother, is supposed to be a grown man, but still runs up debt on his father's dime. Emily's father is often at a loss for words when arguing with Emily, who, as a poet, can speak circles around him. Even new men entering Emily's life are scoffed at for their foolhardy confidence and traditional views of women. They enter rooms in slow-motion and with romantic music cues, and then they open their mouths to speak.
The most cutting new mouthpiece for the satire in Season 2 is Emily's sister, Lavinia (Anna Baryshnikov). She dryly sets the record straight about elite New England society at every turn. When her new love interest Henry praises how cheap tobacco is, Lavinia reminds him that the reason is slavery, completely silencing him. Lavinia dismantles Henry's view of a woman's place being in the home by, as a role reversal, not wanting to marry him, but enjoying sleeping with him.
Dickinson delivers so many one-liner jabs at New England society, keeping them under the radar because they are sharp enough without highlighting. The show is superbly aware of itself and isn't afraid to have its characters bluntly dismantle Victorian Era veneers. The modern take only makes for more heightened and amusing satire that works on several levels. Dickinson, the rebel poet herself, would be happy with the show's hard-hitting wit.