Posted in: Amazon Studios, Review, TV | Tagged: amazon studios, Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, Edward Bluemel, Emily Bader, Gemma Burgess, Jodi Meadows, My Lady Jane, prime video, romantasy, ya fantasy

My Lady Jane: Gleeful British Snark Subverts YA Romantasy Tropes

My Lady Jane may look like "just another YA romantasy adventure," but it's hilariously snarky and imaginative in how it pokes at every trope.

My Lady Jane, at first glance, might be yet another Young Adult romantasy series from a popular book that many of us are getting tired of, but it stands out from every other YA fantasy series to date with a hilariously gleeful and knowing British snark. To be specific, it's snark that is specifically London in how there is nothing – not History, Royalty, the Patriarchy, the class system, the period-accurate use of language, romantic comedy, even feminism, and Girlboss tropes – it won't take the piss out of.

There was a real Lady Jane Grey, as the series' introduction tells us. She was a damsel-in-distress and victim who was named Queen before a bad end in the shortest reign in history and was the subject of a 1980s movie starring a young Helena Bonham Carter in her first-ever role. Nobody remembers that movie anymore. It was tragic all the way through and had a tragic ending. This series is an adaptation of the first in a series of YA feminist fantasies by Jodi Meadows, Brodi Ashton, and Cynthia Hand that rewrite classic historical stories into more overtly feminist power plays. This new series is a swashbuckling romantic comedy with an underdog heroine who gets her happy ending. My Lady Jane goes that extra mile by introducing magic into the story as a metaphor for bigotry and prejudice. Persecution of a demonised group of people serves as a timely topic for the Culture Wars currently raging in the West, and that is used to call the heroine's own privilege when she sees the suffering of people she cares about.

So yes, Lady Jane Grey (Emily Bader), cousin of the ailing King Edward II, is forced into marriage as her family's pawn, but her husband Lord Guildford Dudley (Edward Bluemel) has a secret that forces the two of them to form an alliance. She might have resented the marriage, but the two of them have the "hawts" for each other and neither will make it easy in the expected romcom manner. They get drawn into a plot to usurp the Crown and basically have to save the kingdom, save persecuted people – and themselves in the process.

The seriousness of the plot is undercut by a knowing, snarky script as only a native Londoner like novelist-turned-showrunner Gemma Burgess would know. The series is littered with a very British sense of humour and full of British comedy stalwarts like Rob Bryden, Anna Chancellor, Kevin Eldon, and Jim Broadbent, who relish playing up the absurdity of the situation. Even Dominic Cooper is hilarious as the conniving and dastardly but needy villain. Oliver Graham Chris is the series MVP as the endlessly sarcastic, unseen narrator.

The reason we keep harping on about this series being very London in its attitude is its combination of knowing smarts, social awareness, casual but judicious swearing for maximum sarcastic effect, deliberate silliness, and horny sex jokes. Lady Jane may be a smart revisionist feminist heroine. She can fight with a sword but is not the "Girlboss" that the anti-woke brigade complains about in today's movies and TV series, but an underdog with flaws who makes mistakes and has obstacles to overcome before she can change and triumph. In other words, she's a person. That's what good writing gets you.  This series is the most unexpected and pleasant surprise of the summer.

Lady Jane is streaming on Prime.

My Lady Jane

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Review by Adi Tantimedh

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8.5/10

What at first glance looks like another YA romantasy turns out to be a hilariously knowing, snarky and subversive romantic comedy that gleefully takes the piss out of every trope of the genre while leaning into the story conventions and expectations with a very specific London sense of humour. Prime Video's My Lady Jane is the most unexpected and pleasant surprise of the summer so far and is definitely worth your time.

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