Dickinson (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - I Have Never Seen 'Volcanoes' - full transcript

It's all I have to bring today -

This, and my heart beside -

This, and my heart,

And all the fields -

And all the meadows wide -

Are you watching me sleep?

Yes.

Don't do that. It's creepy.

Well, I'll never do it again,
since you won't be sleeping here anymore.

Are you telling me to go
back to the boardinghouse?

I'm just saying you won't be sleeping
in my bed when you and my...



brother get married.

By the way...

you know Austin eats cookies at night?

Crumbs go everywhere.

I wanna go back to sleep.

I can't sleep with you next to me.

Why not?

Because there's, like, this...

rumbling.

And it rumbles and rumbles.

Do you mean I snore?

I wish I could just marry you.

You'd be a terrible husband.

How can you say that?



You have no practical skills.

And you're too small to fend off enemies.

Okay, fine.

But I bet I'd look good in a suit.

Here's an idea.

Let's just run all the way
to the edge of the earth and... fall off.

Sounds nice.

Morning, ladies.

What a beautiful day
to dig into some paralegal work

and embrace the rest of our lives here.

I don't know how the two of you
fit into such a tiny bed.

Hey, Emily, shouldn't you be downstairs
helping Mother?

Nope. That's why we got a maid.

Fire! Fire!

What is going on?

Maggie burned the bread.

Just the first loaf, madam.

Old Irish custom.

That's kind of fun. I love that.

I hope you're not accident-prone.

I've only killed four husbands.

I sense that you're going
to bring chaos into this home.

Morning, everyone. I got the water.

Thank you, Vinnie.

Now, Emily, would you help Maggie
bake a new loaf of bread, please?

Mother, what part of
"we got a maid" don't you understand?

I beg your pardon?

The whole reason we got Maggie
was so I don't have to do chores.

So I can just have time to myself.

Time to yourself? To do what?

To take dictation from God.

My sister's a poet.

Poetry. I've written some poems myself.

- Have you?
- Yes.

Mostly limericks.

The limerick scene in Dublin
is pretty wild.

Well, it's nearly eight o'clock.
The gentlemen are getting hungry.

Somebody's gonna have to
get their breakfast ready.

I suppose it'll have to be me.

Oh, no, madam. Don't be absurd.
I'll take care of everything.

You just sit down and relax.

She doesn't know how to relax.

When a leaf falls in the fireplace
upstairs, she has a panic attack.

A leaf fell in the fireplace?

Dad, do you really think
the Whig Party can survive?

I certainly hope so,
since I'm running for Congress as a Whig.

It just feels like no one in this country
can agree on anything anymore.

It does appear
we've gotten a bit polarized.

Morning, Dad!

Good morning, my beloved.

- Morning.
- How did you sleep, my darling?

Let's see what's in the paper.

Oh, no! They don't even have the big news.

What big news?

The caterpillar in my garden
turned into a butterfly.

You're so weird.

We need more hot water.

- Hey, Maggie!
- You called?

Yeah, more hot water
for Mr. Dickinson, please.

Yes, miss. Right away.

There's a famous geologist
giving a lecture today.

He just got back
from a lab on Mount Vesuvius.

A laboratory on a volcano?

That is the coolest thing I've ever heard.

Yes, Professor Hitchcock.

Star of the Harvard science department
until we poached him.

Big win for Amherst.

Austin, you should go.

Oh, no, I'm good.

What? How can you miss this?

I graduated a year ago, Dad.
I've had enough lectures.

I'll go.

No.

- Well, why not?
- I believe you know why not.

I have the hot water, Edward.

Will you please tell your wife
to sit down?

I'm the maid, I'll do the chores.
That is, if she'll let me.

Now, please do have a seat, dear.

I've tried sitting down.
It didn't agree with me.

Why can't women go to the lecture?

Professor Hitchcock was hired
to teach students at the college,

not girls who live in the town.

Well, so why can't I go to the college?

I wrote about it in my essay,
"On the Proper Place of Women."

You did read my essay, didn't you?

- I skimmed it.
- All right, well, let me summarize.

A woman should receive an education,
to be sure.

But that education
should not be the same as a man's.

And why should it when the role for which
she is being trained is so very different?

Look,
an education prepares one for a career.

And the career of a woman is in the home.

Well, what if I want to
learn about volcanoes

so that I can entertain guests
when they come over?

Well, I see you are in a silly mood
this morning, my girl.

Alas, I have work.

Edward?

Might I have a word?

A quick one, I suppose. In my office.

You too.

I drank way too much coffee.

It's just not fair.

There's so much I wanna learn,
and I can't just go and get taught.

I have to steal random bits of knowledge
when no one else is looking.

I wouldn't stress out about it.
School is boring.

It wouldn't be boring for me
because my brain works.

Hey, that's not nice. Besides,
we couldn't allow girls at school.

It'd be too distracting.

I just wanna go to this lecture.

Well, I want to go look over
the blueprints for the new house

that Father is making for us.

It's going to be a romantic Italian villa.
So pimp.

Sue, would you accompany me
to visit the architect?

She can't, actually.

We have plans.

- Plans for what?
- Girl stuff.

And I told Mrs. Packard I'd help
sort through her dead husband's things.

Why is that your job?

It's payment for my room and board. And
she can't bear to touch them in her grief.

Fine. If we must be separate today...

Yes?

You can't forget about our little ritual.

What ritual?

Just this thing we do where we both eat
a chestnut at the ring of the vesper bell.

Okay.

I'll do it too.

No. Just me and Sue.

Chestnut at the vesper bell.
You can't stop me.

Haven't I been a good wife to you?

What in the world? Of course you have.

Haven't I kept the house immaculate

and cooked meals that ranged from adequate
to downright appetizing?

Of course.

Of course, all of that.
Since the day we were married.

Well, then, why, Edward?

Why?
Why have you insisted that we hire a maid?

Oh, my dear, I just thought that...

a family of our station, I mean, it's
utterly expected that we should have help.

You have help.
You have Henry, the stable hands.

If you want a butler, a footman,
well, get one.

But I have never wanted any help.

I thought you were satisfied
with my efforts.

I just can't explain it. Unless...

Unless you just think we need Maggie
because I'm not good enough.

No. No, my dear, I promise you
it isn't that. Not in the slightest.

Then tell me, what prompted this?

Enough of this interrogation.

I hired a maid because I thought
it was best for the family. Full stop.

No. You did it for her.

She talked you into it.
Well, she is very good with words.

Well, I may not be as eloquent as she is,
Edward, but I'm telling you this:

You're indulging her.
She's not learning her proper place.

And getting a maid
is hardly going to help.

It's just...

Just what?

It's just, the kitchen was kinda...
my thing.

What about this blue silk?

Do you think the hips are wide enough?

I wanna look really fertile
for you-know-who.

Oh, no, Vinnie, don't tell me
you still got eyes for that Joseph Lyman.

Betty, don't tell.
Betty knows all my secrets.

Well, you're in here once a week.
And you sure can talk.

What is that?

That one's spoken for.

Custom piece I'm making for Jane Humphrey.

Oh, my gosh.

Jane Humphrey has the best taste.
She always looks so ample.

Jane Humphrey is a snob.
And she's in love with Austin.

From what I hear, a lot of girls
in this town fancy your brother.

Yeah. Well, it's too bad for them.

He's marrying Sue.

- Emily...
- Is that so?

Sorry, I forgot it's a secret.

Oh, no, I know how to keep a secret.
Don't you worry.

Congratulations, Sue!

I suppose I'll be making you
a wedding dress?

I don't think I can afford you.

She might not even go through with it.

Emily! Stop.

Well, you'll be making
my wedding dress, Betty, for sure.

Are you getting married?

Someday.

Don't be too sure, Vinnie.

Remember what that fortune-teller said?

I told you never to talk about
what that fortune-teller said.

God, there are more clothes in here
than at Betty's dress shop.

Yeah, and we have to
sort through all of them.

Look, Sue, I'm traveling the world.

I thought you were supposed to be helping.

Isn't it funny how
this whole big Earth exists,

and we'll probably never see
any of it besides Amherst?

I've been to Geneva, New York.

My aunt used to live there.

Did she move?

No. She died.

I wanna see a real volcano.

You'd have to leave Massachusetts
for that.

Let me see the hat.

- How do I look?
- Handsome.

Check me out. I'm a man.

I do what I want. I go where I want.

I have the right to vote.
I can legally own property.

I study volcanoes
in a lab on Mount Vesuvius.

Sue, I have an idea.

What?

Let's put these clothes on
and sneak into that lecture.

- That's silly. We can't.
- Why not?

It's the sort of thing that works
in a story but does not work in real life.

Oh, come on.
What is the worst that could happen?

We could embarrass ourselves.

Well, I am willing to take that risk.

I mean, it really is absurd that we
can't go. What are they so afraid of?

Maybe they're scared if they teach us
how the world works

we'll figure out how to take over.

Hey. Do up my tie.

We look ridiculous.

You'd have to be pretty stupid
to fall for this.

You thinking what I'm thinking?

Yeah.

Boys are stupid.

Emily...

Professor Shepard said if it doesn't rain,
we can have class outside.

Class outside! Class outside!

This might not work.

Emily Dickinson?

No. No.

Okay. Then who are you, young man?

I... am... Lysander Periwinkle.

And this here is Sir Tybalt Butterfly.

We are scholars of science and nature.

We just wanna hear the lecture.
Please don't tell anyone.

- Your secret's safe with me.
- Thanks, George.

Hey, Hitchcock's the best.
You're gonna love it.

You weird, beautiful boy.

What's up, you weird, beautiful boy?

When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD,

the city of Pompeii was destroyed,

buried in ash.

The inhabitants of the city,

their objects and possessions,
were all immobilized,

frozen in time.

You never know when a volcano will erupt.

We lived in constant danger
in the laboratory.

The pressure beneath us building...

building.

We could sense it.

But we could not control it.

And now, a demonstration.

Would my teaching assistant,
George Gould, please join me up here.

Mr. Gould will now dazzle us

with his own model volcano.

Here we have a model volcano made of clay.

I'm gonna pour in five ounces of water.

One ounce of sulfuric acid.

Beneath the surface of placid rock

lurks the seething,
boiling substance known as magma.

And about three-quarters of an ounce
of granulated zinc.

Angry magma builds up in secret,

far, far underground,

until one day, out of nowhere,

a sleeping mountain becomes a...

How can I describe this?

- Becomes a fiery beast!
- Emily!

Hey, hey, those are girls!

No, that... No.

Girls! Get them out of here!

What's happening?

There are girls in the lecture room, sir.

- Go. Come on, out.
- Dressed as men!

Let them see it.

George, go, go.

I mean,
at least we got to take our corsets off.

Yeah.

- Where have you been?
- Out.

Yeah, but where? There was a man
from the college here talking with Dad.

They said your name a lot.

What were they saying?

Something about trousers
and mustaches and hats.

I don't know. It all sounded superhot.

Emily!

In.

Wait. Have I been knitting all day?

Did I or did I not expressly forbid you
from going to that lecture?

- Answer me!
- Dad, I...

Emily! This behavior is unacceptable.

When I agreed to hire a maid,

it was so you could do a bit of scribbling
up in your room.

And not so you could go...

gallivanting around the town of Amherst
dressed as a man,

making a mockery of me
and everything I stand for.

What'll people say?

What will they think of us?

Your mother is quite unhappy
with this new arrangement,

and if I told her to fire Maggie...

she would do it at the drop of a hat.

Is that what you want?

Well, then you need to cut out
these sort of antics.

Here. Here, it's a copy of my essay.

I suggest you re-familiarize yourself
with its contents. You take it.

- Dad, I remember the essay.
- Well, not well enough. Take it.

I have never seen 'Volcanoes' -

Yes?

Mom, I was sitting in a lecture hall.
I wasn't hurting anyone.

Emily, you need to apologize.

Apologize?

Why should I have to apologize?
All I wanted was to just...

Right, well, that is just it, Emily.
You only think about what you want.

But in this house,
what matters is what your father wants.

Look around.

Everything in this room,
that bed, that desk you're sitting at,

that pencil you're holding...
he provided for you.

Your father has worked very hard
to give us a good life, Emily.

So it is my job to keep him happy.

And as long as you live under this roof,
it is your job too.

Mom, if you're mad about the maid,
just say so.

No, Emily.

Because, unlike you,

I am not in the habit
of constantly expressing myself.

Miss Emily, you frightened me.

Can you teach me how to make bread?

Please?

Maggie, it's very important.

All right, then.

Roll up your sleeves.

All right.
So, you want to scoop out one cup.

Okay.

There we go.

You know I'm gonna miss
sleeping in your bed, right?

Yeah. I know.

I'm sorry, Emily.

I just can't stop thinking about Pompeii.

A whole city covered in ash.

Frozen in time.

That's how I feel sometimes.

Like I'm frozen.

Like I'm...

trapped.

I think I know what a volcano feels like.

You do?

Yeah.

Show me.

I have never seen 'Volcanoes' -

But, when Travellers tell

How those old - phlegmatic mountains

Usually so still -

Bear within - appalling Ordnance,

Fire, and smoke, and gun -

Taking Villages for breakfast,