Embrace Your Inner Dickhead
Hello beloveds. I open with the following, as it’s surely the most important thing on the internet today:
THOSE ARMS??????????????
Subsequent to that, although I do not know how any meagre offerings of mine can compare to the glory above, I come bearing glad tidings: Apple TV+’s brilliantly, blissfully, blessedly weird sitcom about, of all things, Emily Dickinson is now available to watch for free, no subscription fee needed.
If you’re like “Hmm, that show sounds familiar. I wonder why?”, it could be because Lin-Manuel Miranda loves it.
Or it could be because I lavishly praised the show when I first watched it in January:
Something else I recently binged but with absolutely no regrets (unless you count wishing there were more of it) was Apple TV+’s hilarious, inventive, delightful, addictive, impossible new series Dickinson, a ½ hour sitcom about dedicated to dismantling the cultural understanding of Emily Dickinson as a shy, reserved poetess and instead presenting her as bisexual hellion with a deliriously anchronistic demeanor and vocabulary. There are 10 episodes of it, they are perfect, you can watch all of them in your free 7-day trial. If you like at least two of any of the following things, you owe it to yourself to watch:
Me
Derry Girls
19th century lady writers
Kate Beaton’s webcomic Hark, A Vagrant
The idea of John Mulaney, shirtless, portraying Henry David Thoreau
Emily Dickinson having gay sex with her brother’s fiancee while Mistki’s “Your Best American Girl” plays in the background
Giant talking bees smoking blunts
The most perfectly pitched Aaron Sorkin parody since The Foodroom
If that description alone isn’t enough to persuade you to give the show a try, maybe listening to Alena Smith, the show’s creator and head writer, talk about it on my TV podcast will take you over the edge. She is so smart and funny and she does SUCH a good job of articulating her goals with the show. I have a hard time imagining you won’t come out thinking that-- even at the cost of acquiring another streaming service— Dickinson is worth checking out.
All told, it is an excellent thing to watch and you should avail yourself of it.
If you’re overwhelmed with time, there are 10 perfect episodes for you to watch right now! Five hours you no longer have to fill!
If you’re overwhelmed with responsibilities, that’s okay! The episodes are just 30 minutes long. You could, I bet, hide in a closet long enough to watch at least one without your cat— or children— being any the wiser.
Go forth and embrace your inner Dickhead, friends. You will not regret it.
And! If you enjoyed last week’s survey-derived playlist, I have another one! This week’s question: what’s one song that feels, to you, like a really good therapy session? The resulting playlist is bracing, soothing, emotional, and invigorating by turns. If contributing to such an endeavor sounds fun to you, follow me on Instagram— there will be a survey every Sunday until people stop encouraging me.
I hope you are all as well as the disaster unfolding around us will allow. See you next Monday <3
Dame M.