Do you like historical TV series as much as I don’t? And what if i liked one, after all?
While normal people choose TV series based on reviews, I do it my own way. Sometimes I’m attracted by the presence of actors I find interesting, other times I’m fascinated by the idea. As for this series, I was persuaded to watch it… by a song. Or rather, one of the soundtracks to the series. It was Yonaka’s cover of the Buzzcocks song “Ever fallen in Love”
I would say that this is a very important song, as its style very much reflects the dynamics of events and the style of the story as a whole. Everything happens dynamically, quickly, and to an unsurpassed soundtrack (and I’m not just talking about this song), which makes you want to listen to it even separately from the series, but… let’s get back to the main thing – what is this series about?
My Lady Jane
It would probably be appropriate to start with the fact that the series is based solely on real historical events. The events themselves took place in 16th century England. Historical facts indicate that the main character of the series – Lady Jane Grey (also known as Lady Jane Dudley) ruled England for only 9 days and her story ended tragically. But the voice-over at the beginning of the series hints to us that…this is a different “play”, and, perhaps, events will unfold in a different way here. Will it be so? We will find out while watching the eighth series.
I don’t want to focus on the correspondence to the original, because the story here is really about something else, starting with the fact that in this world there are both ordinary people (who are called Verity) and Ehtians – a “lower” class of people who can transform into animal form. As is customary in all stories, the former oppose the latter, but if the Ethians simply don’t like the Verity, then certain representatives of the latter want the Ethians to not exist at all. But, alas, it turns out that… anyone can be an Ethian. So everything is not so unanimous.
The plot of the struggle for the throne is not new, but there are only eight episodes, so there is simply no time for all sorts of secrets and hidden goals of certain characters here and everything develops quite dynamically, which will be an indispensable plus for people who, like me, do not really like purposefully dragging out the story for the sake of timekeeping.
Actors
For my personal taste, the acting chemistry really helped the adaptation of the story, and all the characters are in their places. Lady Jane (Emily Bader), whose behavior sometimes reminds Bean from the animated series “Disappointment”, and who is far from the term “ideal princess”. Her mother – Lady Frances Grey (Anna Chancellor), who, realizing that the family is just making ends meet, wants to successfully marry her daughter off to a young man from the wealthy Dudley family – Lord Guildford (Edward Blumel). Lord Guildford himself is in no hurry to get married, and the first acquaintance with his future wife takes place in a tavern. There is a good King Edward IV (Jordan Peters), who has been friends with Jane since childhood and wants her to take the throne after his death. There was also the vile “snake” – Princess Marie, played by Kate O’Flynn, and her henchman – Lord Seymour (Dominic Cooper), who have common goals – to destroy all the Ethians and put Princess Marie on the throne.
As usual – good actors evoke warm feelings, while the evil ones you wish “all the best” inside. In places, the style of the story sends us back to series like Game of Thrones, when you are clearly shown why you will dislike the villain, and this is not the only place where these two series intersect. When the developers of the series decided to end it after the first season, the author of Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin, was one of those who signed a petition to the creators of the series My Lady Jane to continue it. I think the whole secret lies in the way the creators of the series presented the plot. They, in the minority, tried to recreate the literal historical course of events, simply using the idea itself and the names of the characters, however, creating, indeed, their own Lady Jane.
Soundtrack
As mentioned earlier, the series has a really great soundtrack. Just think about – it contains 45 original compositions, most of which were performed by quite famous bands. Moreover, the songs sound for most of the series, and they very appropriately set the tone for the story – sometimes adding dynamics (like Ever fallen in love during a fight), then demonstrating the comical nature of the moment (like running away under song She’s not there). You can listen to the full playlist below:
Because of the number of songs, I would almost classify it as a musical, but the music here only sets the background of the moment, while not being performed directly. And this is more of a plus than a minus. Almost all the songs are performed by female vocals, which may not appeal to everyone, but the thing is – women rule the story here, so it is not surprising that the set-list is selected taking into account the demographic realities of the series. I don’t know how you perceive such an amount of female rock (yes, rock is the basis of the soundtrack), but it really appealed to me, not to mention the fact that I knew certain bands from the tracklist even before the series, and I even added other, new songs to my playlist. The last time I saw such a number of good songs was when I watched the musical “Across the Universe” based on Beatles songs.
So…is this series worth watching?
It often happens that people have very different tastes, so there is no unanimous answer to this question. For me, the series became a pleasant break from other projects that are similar to each other. And it is valuable to find at least one plot that can distract you. My Lady Jane has a nice picture, good actors, good music. Plus, of course, a good sense of humour. The narrator adds no less “spark” to the story, thanks to which the story always has a certain sarcasm in relation to the events unfolding on the screen. This reminds me of a pitch from another series – Lemony Snicket, in which I liked this move.
Maybe you will not consider this the best series of the year, but who knows… I would recommend you to watch it.
My rating? Probably, 8 out of 10 would be fair 🙂
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