Dickinson episode 4 review: A dull meditation on nature

Dickinson’s fourth episode is the series’ first truly lackluster installment, a boring half hour that doesn’t offer much in the way of character development or overall plot.

Well, not every series can hit it out of the park all the time. While the first three episodes of Dickinson were loads of fizzy fun, its fourth is a dull, clunky follow-up that doesn’t progress the overall plot forward very much, and relies almost solely on an inspired piece of stunt casting to be interesting.

To be fair, the idea of John Mulaney as famous author Henry David Thoreau is almost worth the price of admission. It’s just that the rest of the episode is kind of boring.

This is a surprise, considering the dramatic way we left things at the end of “Wild nights”. There, Austin discovered Emily and Sue kissing, Sue fled to Boston to get away from both Dickinson siblings, and Emily did way too much opium for her own good. One would think that some fallout from those events would be natural here.

Alas, no.

Instead, “Alone I cannot be” basically chronicles Emily’s affection for nature, her love of a specific tree in her neighborhood, and the fact that she’s a fangirl for Thoreau’s Walden, which sort of sets up the idea of nature as a fortress of impenetrable beauty and perfection. Which, I guess?  Maybe?

I hate Walden personally so, seriously, can’t relate; but there’s no accounting for taste, I suppose.

This episode is basically Emily’s like, junior year environmental club project, where she does her level best to save her favorite tree and thinking spot from the insidious encroachment of the industrial age. (The railroad is coming through Amherst, and it’s going to be built right through her proverbial outdoor room of one’s own.)

Her campaign to prevent this involves complaining to her father, who somehow is all about the engine of progress moving along even though he has stupidly draconian views about the necessary roles of women. It somehow also involves heading to the real Walden pond to seek out Thoreau, in the hopes that he will understand her nature-related plight and…like right a letter to help out or something.

It’s not a super well thought out plan, but it does get Emily and George out of the confines of the Dickinson house, and off on a fun little roadtrip together.

I generally like George, though I can’t quite put my finger on how the show would like me to read him. He’s sweet, and generally understanding – and even, often supportive – of Emily’s many idiosyncrasies. But he also doesn’t listen to her. (She straight up tells him to go away at one point during this episode, which he…proceeds to not at all do. And he definitely has that vibe of a guy who’s just hanging around, hoping to wear a girl down until he gets to yes, instead of just respecting that she meant her no the first time.

The most entertaining part of the half-hour is certainly every scene with Mulvaney in it, who plays Thoreau as I personally have always imagined him to be: A huge jerk, with a massively overinflated sense of self. HIs Walden is hardly some sort of bucolic ideal, but instead a weirdo 19th century tourist trap full of gawking fangirls. His mom even does his laundry!

It’s not super interesting – fictional Thoreau is as boring as his real-life self – but it’s at least memorable, which most of the rest of this episode is not. At least Emily gets to call him a dick to his face, on behalf of the many English majors who will come after her, and hate every word of his pompous writings. Never meet your heroes, folks.

Anyway, back to the tree. Which, surprise – or not, I’m sure everyone saw this coming – is eventually saved by the intervention of Emily’s father. (Seriously, he couldn’t have done this, say, when she asked him to, and spared us all this?) Mr. Dickinson has helpfully chatted with the railroad folks and they’re apparently fine with rerouting a specific section of their track to protect this one particular tree.

Though, if you ask me, I’m not sure how relaxing Emily’s spot will be now, with a train running right beside it belching out noise and dirt, but it’s a nice moment between her and her dad, and we haven’t had much of that lately, so let’s just go with it.

Just make sure you get a seat in the quiet car, girl.

All episodes of Dickinson are now streaming on AppleTV+.