‘MY LADY JANE’ IS AMAZON ADAPTATION ABOUT A KICK ASS HEROINE
Adapting the fan favorite novel by the trio of authors known as the Lady Janies, Amazon Prime’s My Lady Jane (2024) is funny, but also unnecessary sometimes too.
My Lady Jane (2024) Amazon TV Show Review
Lady Jane Grey (Emily Bader) isn’t an ordinary heroine. She has talents that ranges from knowing herbal remedies to a skilled swordswoman, and she’s determined to live her life her own way. Her mother Frances (Anna Chancellor) has a very different viewpoint. She is about to marry Jane off. As one might imagine, Jane has opinions, namely that she will not be marrying. Her mother merely laughs and despite a ploy to get out of this, Jane finds herself at the alter with Guildford Dudley (Edward Bluemel), a handsome man with a reputation as quite the rake. my lady jane 2024
Elsewhere, Jane’s beloved cousin, who happens to be the King of England, Edward (Jordan Peters) approves this marriage and has plans for Jane to take over his kingdom after his young demise. You see, he’s quite ill and deciding the fate of his kingdom is something he can plan for. His sisters Mary and Bess (Kate O’Flynn, Abbie Hern) have very different viewpoints on this. Same with is supposed advisors Edward Seymour (Dominic Cooper) and Jane’s new father-in-law Lord Dudley (Rob Brydon) who have their own loyalties.
‘MY LADY JANE’ IS AMAZON ADAPTATION ABOUT A KICK ASS HEROINE. Emily Bader stars as Lady Jane Grey in #AmazonPrime's adaptation of the novel #MyLadyJane. #PeriodDrama #CostumeDrama #Romance Share on X
The series changes some of the most basic things which surprises me since it doesn’t seem necessary. I suspect most of these changes is to benefit the narrative that women don’t “need” connections if not by their rules (and when I say this, no I’m not approving of forced marriage). Sadly, I think this is unnecessary since the majority of the novel shows Jane as a strong heroine. However the book also understands the way Jane and G can and do complement each other. The novel recognizes that G can rescue Jane and it’s marvelous and we love it. Yet she too returns the favor and we also don’t mind this. In the book, there’s interest and lust, yes, but they learn respect. my lady jane 2024
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Little things like how the opening title recreates (in a lose sense) the iconic book cover or the magical narration explanation is nice because it feels like a nice callback to the source material. Still this is one production I can confidently say the book is better. The characters aren’t nearly as likable here, and the script (what I saw) doesn’t understand there is a delicate balance between being strong but also being ok to have someone with you. That doesn’t make us weak, and yet this script is heavy on two things. All about the women, and well, sex.
Set in the Tudor era, this period drama is quite modern which I do forgive because that’s part of its comedy. There’s modern pickup lines (intentional) and ideals that don’t fit with the period. Bottom line, I did want to adore this. Usually I’m able to view the promotional images, and can gauge if something will be good or just, well, raunchy. I wanted this to be sassy and smartly cheeky, but still good. It fails in being this. my lady jane 2024
Before we end, I will just note, if you don’t want to see nearly the entire eight episodes in the span or one minute or two, end episode one right after Jane’s fainting. That marks the end of episode one while the rest is a kind of peek of all that’s too come. If you don’t mind historically misplaced humor (the novel twists the historical story to its will) or ridiculous conversation (again it’s intentional) then you might find My Lady Jane entertaining.
Stream My Lady Jane (2024) on Prime Video
Photos: Prime Video / Alamy
Content: Despite its TV-14 rating, this is an adult series. The opening scene features Jane putting salve on a servant’s vagina (conversation reveals she contracts some kind of sexual disease) though we don’t see anything. A servant girl is “pleasured” beneath her skirts. Lots of innuendo happens throughout between Jane and her would be lover (two episodes find them undress one another and heavily make out. Episode five sees Jane lose her virginity and we see her surprised expression during, and strategic shots of them nude). There’s oral sex and a woman tells a man to “get over it” when he implies he wasn’t done. We see a full backside shot of a man (episode two and three). Based on the preview, there’s a character who likes the same-sex (including a handful of kisses). There’s several uses of the F-word, including in the opening credits. (Based on what I’ve seen, even on streaming, this is a first for a TV-14 rating.) Note: this is only the content in episodes one-five.
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Hope you enjoy if you see it. :)
I was SO SO excited to see the banner at the top of Amazon saying they had this out, didn’t know it was in the works and it was one of my favorite novels that I share a love over with my teenage daughter, I called her in to watch the trailer for the first time because I was going to surprise her with an adaptation that we hadn’t known was even in the works and the excitement of needing to find a time to watch it together…..I had to turn off the trailer and both of us are SO SO mad. What in the world were they thinking to turn a young adult novel that was nearly super clean into a raunchy adult sex romp? Your content warning made it clear it was even worse than I thought it would be. I just want to yell out in the void over this decision!!! I mean, now I’m going to have to be careful sharing my love for this book with people in case they think it’s at all like this adaptation. In fact, I might actually stop recommending it in case anyone thinks I endorse it thinking it’s at all like this if they don’t read the book for themselves and see how that would not be part of the book I loved.
This being called an “adaptation” (meaning the source is YA) makes me sad. The basic tenants of the novel is here, but I think this script twists it to be something the book really ISN’T. The novel is (mostly) sweet and cute, and while there is (book) attraction between characters, this one AMPS that up. The series is kind of obsessed with sex (between main and side characters) and is far too heavy on Jane being the smartest in the relationship. (I will confess, I’m curious to see if this changes as they pair grow closer… I’m just not sure if I’ll finish the show.) I think the balance in the dynamic of the relationship between Jane and G is better in the book. This might be the first thing I’ve seen (when I’ve read the book first) that I don’t really like much about the series. Like you, I think it’s sad that they took a good albeit cheeky, YA novel and turned it into a story that’s quite adult.
It’s definitely frustrating when it’s based on YA material.