Friday Flicks: My Lady Jane (2024)
An alternate history retelling of the real-life English noblewoman, Lady Jane Grey. I watched it and I think you’ll want to.
Starring Emily Bader and Edward Bluemel, the show is created and written by Gemma Burgess and based on the book of the same name by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows.
The Synopsis:
“Lady Jane Grey and her husband Guildford live during the reign of Edward, son of Henry VIII. She unexpectedly finds herself crowned queen overnight and becomes the target of criminals who want her throne and her head.” – IMDB
The Plot:
The series starts with a narrator giving us a brief history of England and the tumultuous lives of kings and queens. After which, it promptly tells us to forget all that.
“What if history were different?” it asks.
Here we meet Jane Grey, a rebellious young lady who studies medicine, believes in women’s rights and really doesn’t want to get married. We also meet Jane’s creepy uncle, evil mother, docile middle sister, and (probably my favorite) slightly sociopathic youngest sister.
IMDB
At a family dinner, it’s revealed Jane will be married to Lord Guildford Dudley.
It doesn’t go over well, but Jane’s mother, Frances, simply tells her to “suck it up, buttercup.”
Jane plans to run away with her favorite maid, Susannah, but the maid has doubts. She warns Jane about “Ethians” and potential civil war. Jane is convincing, though, and they head out at sunrise. Only to be hunted down by Frances and brought back. Well, Jane is brought back. Her maid dematerializes into a hawk.
So, Ethians turn into animals. And Susannah was one. I did not expect that.
But normal life marches on, and Frances starts wedding planning with Lord Dudley, who remarks on Jane having a reputation of being “clever,” and even though she tries to tell him she doesn’t want to marry his son, he’s undeterred.
Jane then meets little Dudley Posh Pants.
My Lady Jane. Description: Henry Ashton (Lord Stan Dudley). Credit: Jonathan Prime/Prime Video. Copyright: © Amazon Content Services LLC.
Let’s just say Jane needs a miracle. So she goes to her cousin, King Edward, to beg him to intervene.
But the king has his own problems. Lingering sickness. Conniving councils. A truly detestable sister.
Edward reiterates Frances’s sentiment that Jane really just needs to “suck it up, buttercup.” Granted, he does it in a much nicer way.
Completely despondent on her way home, Jane’s coach loses a wheel, and she uses the opportunity to runaway… again, taking refuge in a rowdy tavern. It’s here that she meets a mystery man who is equal parts roguishly handsome, smart, and annoying.
Which can only mean (drumroll please) he’s the show’s love interest.
IMDB
There’s banter. Lots of it. All laced with sexual tension, obviously.
They’re interrupted by royal guards storming in and an Ethian, Archer, spectacularly transforming into a grizzly bear. After which, everything dissolves into total chaos. Mystery Man tries to convince Jane to escape with him, but she helps her former maid, Susannah the Hawk, escape instead, getting herself captured by guards in the process. She’s awaiting a quick execution when she’s rescued or recaptured by her very annoyed mother.
The next morning, Jane reluctantly prepares for her doomed wedding to Posh Pants.
She walks down the aisle…
And waiting for her at the alter is…
Mystery Man from the tavern! He is Guildford!
IMDB
The show totally bamboozled us with another brother switcharoo.
What will happen next? You’ll just have to watch and see!
The Critique:
My Lady Jane is fun. I think it’s one of the most fun shows I’ve watched in years. It’s equal parts A Knight’s Tale, Monty Python, and Ladyhawke. The acting is fantastic. The evil characters are vile. The morally ambiguous characters, like Lord Dudley and Lady Frances Grey, are well developed. Lord Dudley, in particular, has such funny yet believable character development in eight episodes that it makes me weep for shows like Game of Thrones that take ten thousand seasons to try and attempt the same thing.
The chemistry between Lady Jane and Guildford is terrific. Though, I have to admit, there was some serious heat coming off the scenes between Jane and Archer the Ethian Grizzly Bear. So much so that I thought there was going to be a love triangle.
The comedy is superb yet subdued. Lady Jane’s tipped-up eyebrow at just the right moments is worth a thousand sarcastic one-liners.
I also love the fantasy genre weirdness with the animal transformations, something the show didn’t originally advertise. Apparently it’s been polarizing for viewers, but I thought it increased the fun quotient exponentially.
The only problem is that the show went a little too far, obviously trying to draw in a very specific historical fiction fandom with explicit sex scenes. Starting with the promotional materials, it was all wet Guildford in the stables and lusty panting in the bedroom. I don’t mean to sound like a prude. I’ve watched Bridgerton, Queen Charlotte and Outlander. I don’t mind some spice. But in My Lady Jane, it felt completely unnecessary. It was at odds with the lighthearted tone of the other 95% of the show.
I personally would love a director’s cut edition with more tasteful fade-to-black moments and other scenes cut altogether. Feisty female protagonist fights against the patriarchy with shapeshifters by her side? Come on. That’s tailor-made for the 12–18 young adult audience.
But let’s refocus on why this so far horseless show is being reviewed by an equestrian website.
Spoiler warning.
This is your last chance.
Guildford turns into a horse. A lovely bay and, to be honest, I can see the resemblance.
Amazon Prime Video
When he first learned of the horse plot twist, Bluemel told the NY Post, “I had a lot of questions. I’m like, ‘Does the horse talk? Is it going to be a CGI horse? Is it me in a motion capture suit, pretending to be a horse?’ It’s not me in a suit … it’s very much a real horse, who is much better at pretending to be a horse than I would be.”
Bluemel joked, “They didn’t have us both on set together much. Maybe it would be confusing for some people — or tension between me and the horse because we both thought we were the No. 1 Guildford.”
He also said that, even though it was a major reveal in episode two, he didn’t hold back information from his friends and family.
“When people were like, ‘What are you filming?’ it was really hard to not go, ‘I turn into a horse!’ Because it sort of feels like the headline, in a way. I did my mini version of what the Amazon marketing team did. I would describe the show, and leave a tiny pause and be like, ‘Oh, and I turn into a horse.’”
He quipped, “[I]t’s a romantic show, some very inappropriate horse questions came shortly afterward.”
At this point, I find it necessary to say this show is not bizarre shifter erotica, the likes of which can be found on Wattpad. When Guildford is a horse, he is just a horse. He lives in a stable. He has a groom. The character spends most of his offscreen time grazing in the idyllic English countryside while Jane deals with all the political intrigue.
My Lady Jane. Description: Henry Ashton (Lord Stan Dudley). Credit: Jonathan Prime/Prime Video. Copyright: © Amazon Content Services LLC.
I personally loved this unique challenge to Jane and Guildford’s marriage, and I love the actor’s response about his role in the show.
“I think what’s really fun is that Guilford … has a specific arc in Season 1 that feels like it resolves itself quite well,” he explained to The Post. “So, there’s an opportunity to have fun with where he goes next. He’s a great character for Jane to have by her side.”
He added, “I would like to see him continue being her sidekick.”
I give My Lady Jane 3 ½ out of 4 Golden Horseshoes.
Go riding.
Amanda Uechi Ronan is an author, equestrian, and wannabe race car driver. Follow her on Instagram @amanda_uechi_ronan.
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