We watch television for many reasons, but perhaps the most important of all is to be entertained. If, while doing so, a show also manages to move us, to make us care, to teach us something, well, that is icing on a very good cake. Prime Video’s My Lady Jane is the fantasy-inclined, witty cousin to Bridgerton in the period romance genre — and it manages all of those things, while also achieving the one thing shows that pass the threshold of good and hover on the brink of great have to do: it leaves us wanting more.
It does so by delivering an amazing lead, a captivating romance, entertaining side characters, and by developing a world that we understand, one we live in, and yet one that isn’t exactly like the one we inhabit. This world has magic, or at least shapeshifters, called ethians, and discrimination that feels very much real. Jane, our Jane, the Queen who wasn’t, who isn’t, but who could be, wants to change that. We want her to. But we also want her to live, to be free, to enjoy her life and her husband, Guildford.
Because My Lady Jane is, above all things, a romance. And it is a very good romance at that. Perhaps it is one because it does a very good job at establishing who both Jane and Guildford are – and why they work together, beyond the fact that they are two pretty people who look pretty good standing next to each other. How can we root for two people we don’t know to end up together? Just like the show jokes, there is no such thing as love at first sight (though there is lust at first sight), and there is no real shipping at first sight (beyond the aforementioned these two would look good next to each other).
The fact that Emily Bader is absolutely captivating as Jane, disappearing into the role in a way that doesn’t really make it feel like she could be the real Jane Grey – the real one did die very catastrophically, but that at the very least has us convinced that history would have been so much better if things turned out this way, helps. As does her chemistry with a very dashing Edward Bluemel who has come a very long way from his days on A Discovery of Witches.
A ship works when the thing that keeps you watching the show is the anticipation of two people coming together. My Lady Jane has many great dynamics, including the one between Jane and her mother, the utterly frustrating and yet always interesting Lady Frances Grey. But nothing clicks as well as Jane and Guildford and the show relies on us caring about exactly that as it builds on a fantasy world within a real world, with real historical people.
It is unlikely most of the people watching will be doing so for the history. My Lady Jane does, after all, throw history out the window pretty quickly. This is strictly AU, and that’s the point. And it is very much a romance. The show doesn’t just own all of these things, it’s very proud of them. It wears them as a badge of honor, and the gotcha is that it turns all of this back on the viewer with humor.
Yes, My Lady Jane is also a comedy. No, it’s borderline parody at times. The good kind. You hear the voices in your head? They’re speaking at you from the screen, and yes, they know your inner thoughts. They’re making fun of you as well.
It can be hard to categorize My Lady Jane, if nothing else because there’s not much like it. The easy solution, of course, would be to make more My Lady Jane. Good period romances are a dime a dozen, good comedic period romances with a dash of fantasy are like striking gold. When you find one, you better make sure you grab on tight.
Especially if the romance part works as well as it does here.
All episodes of My Lady Jane are available to stream now on Prime Video.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of My Lady Jane? Share with us in the comments below!
