In Dickinson season 3 episode 1, Austin Dickinson (Adrian Blake Enscoe), Emily’s (Hailee Steinfeld) supportive older brother, begins to misbehave by drinking excessively, continuing an affair with Jane, and lashing out at his family— why is Austin behaving so poorly in season 3? In “‘Hope Is The Thing With Feathers,” a civil war is instigated within the Dickinson family when Austin blames all of his misery and failures within his adult life on his father during a family dinner, which prompts Edward to have a mild heart attack. While Austin was formerly the “golden boy” of the Dickinson family, Austin experienced a lot of personal roadblocks in season 2 that might’ve catalyzed his bad behavior.
While Emily found moderate success as a poet in season 2 when she’s published in Samuel Bowles’ (guest star Finn Jones) newspaper, her brother Austin Dickinson struggles to build the life he wants for himself and his wife Sue. In an attempt to connect with Sue, Austin lavishly decorates their new home and throws elaborate parties for Sue to entertain high society members at her own salons. The extra expense, however, causes conflict between Austin and his father, who views his indulgent lifestyle as irresponsible. In the beginning of season 3, however, Austin stops trying to appease anyone in his family, including Sue. Austin spends much of his time drinking, misses his Aunt Lavinia’s funeral, and is even absent during the birth of his firstborn child. While the rest of the country is engaged in the Civil War, Austin Dickinson appears to be battling his own depression.
Austin’s drinking and angry outbursts are likely due to him feeling unfulfilled in his adult life. During the family dinner in which Emily eulogizes her Aunt Lavinia in Dickinson season 3, Austin points out that his unhappiness began when he took his father’s advice to live in Amherst and became his law partner instead of pursuing his own dreams. When Sue and Austin were married in season 1, Austin considered moving out west to California to forge his own path but abandoned those plans after his father disapproved of them. Since his father never gave Austin the freedom he craved, Austin blames his feelings of being “alone, unhappy, and lost” on his father because he might’ve had a better future if his dad hadn’t “clipped” his wings. Albeit juvenile, Austin’s assumption isn’t entirely wrong: going into business with his overly-critical father ensured that Austin would never thrive in his career because his father still views Austin as an irresponsible child and makes important business decisions without him.
Austin’s bad behavior could also be attributed to his unhappy marriage and unfulfilled desire for a family. While Austin knew that Emily and Sue had feelings for each other in season 1, Austin also became aware of Sue’s affair with Samuel Bowles in season 2. Even though he knows that he’s stuck in a loveless marriage, Austin tries to find ways to make Sue happy. Apart from trying to buy Sue’s love with fancy furniture and clothes, Austin tries to convince Sue to start a family with him, believing that children will fix their marriage. Austin even goes so far as to adopt two of his orphaned cousins against Sue’s wishes. When Austin learns from Emily that Sue miscarried shortly after their wedding, he seems to accept that Sue doesn’t love him because she didn’t trust him enough to confide in him. Austin’s pursuit of Jane then in season 3 appears to be his last desperate attempt to find love and family, even if it’s through scandal.
Another contributing factor to Austin’s discontentment in Apple TV+’s Dickinson season 3 is the pressure to contribute to the war effort. In episode 3, Lavinia hosts a sewing circle to supply bandages for wounded Union soldiers. Emily also considers becoming more involved in the war effort, if only to instill more truth into her poems as Hattie suggests. Unlike Lavinia and Emily, Austin is the only Dickinson who seems too consumed in his own problems to worry about the war, even though one of his close friends Frazar just enlisted. The pressure for Austin to enlist himself could then be another source of the anxiety that’s causing Austin’s bad behavior.