‘My Woman Jane’ turns the tables on the damsel-in-distress trope — and historical past itself

My Woman Jane raises an enormous, unapologetic center finger to historical past. Primarily based on the novel by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows, this swashbuckling story — which was impressed very loosely by the story of Woman Jane Gray, the notorious “Nine Days’ Queen”— establishes itself as a radical, female-led reimagining of its real-life inspiration. It is hardly the primary challenge to supply up a revisionist historical past with up to date aptitude; a number of current examples embrace Six the Musical, Mary & George, and The Serpent Queen, to call just some. Nonetheless, with its brash, playful script and its surprisingly nuanced tackle the damsel-in-distress trope, My Woman Jane is without doubt one of the most profitable to this point.

In an brisk opening montage, a energetic, posh male narrator recounts the identified historical past as previous time-y sketches coated in crayon scribblings flash rapidly earlier than our eyes: Woman Jane Gray was unexpectedly topped Queen of England after the loss of life of her cousin Edward VI. Then, simply 9 days later, she was executed for being a traitor. 

“Jane could have been the leader England needed, but instead, history remembers her as the ultimate damsel in distress,” the voiceover proclaims, earlier than including merely, “Fuck that.” 

From the crayon doodles to the sardonic swearing, this spirited introduction makes one factor very clear: This present will current another story, one through which Jane will get an opportunity to be the hero.

My Woman Jane has a contact of X-Males politics. 

On this model of Tudor England, there are two sorts of individuals: the Ethians, who can randomly flip into animals, and the Verities, who can not. This fantastical tackle the much-less-fun battle between Protestants and Catholics that raged in England on the time units up a tense political divide. In actuality, King Henry VIII was a Catholic whose break from the church by his divorce from his first spouse (and later his sixth spouse) led to the rise of Protestantism. His son, Edward, was raised as a Protestant, whereas his daughter, Mary, was a religious Catholic. On this model, it is just a little extra enjoyable; Edward is half-heartedly making an attempt to weed out Ethians (aka Protestants) from society, exiling them to the woods. Mary, however, despises the shape-shifters and would have all of them killed.

It’s inside this reimagined Tudor panorama that we meet Jane (Emily Bader), a headstrong younger girl with a expertise for creating natural treatments and drawing the undesirable recommendation of menfolk. Actual-world Tudor males might have instructed her to be extra demure. However on this model of historical past, which skews nearer to our personal world, they merely sneer at her: “You’d be prettier if you smiled.” 

Sadly, Jane doesn’t have the posh of residing a lifetime of independence as a self-taught herbalist. So, her mom, the scheming Frances (Anna Chancellor), marries her off to Lord Guildford Dudley (Edward Bluemel), a good-looking braggart with a rakish fame. Regardless of their preliminary attraction to one another, they’re at one another’s throats from the start. 

The morning after their wedding ceremony, Jane learns that her husband is secretly an Ethian. Nonetheless, in contrast to different grownup Ethians, he cannot management his transformations. So, he’s successfully caught residing as a horse whereas the solar is up. He selected Jane as a spouse in hopes her abilities as an herbalist would possibly curtail his personal tail, for starters. She agrees to attempt to remedy him in change for an eventual divorce. Issues get extra sophisticated when King Edward names Jane as his successor. Identical to that, she is whisked off to be topped at Hampton Courtroom Palace. The remainder is, as they are saying, historical past — however not on this present. 

Woman Jane refuses to be a damsel. 

Emily Bader as Woman Jane Gray
Credit score: Jonathan Prime / Prime Video / Amazon MGM Studios

On the floor, Jane’s story is, because the intro tells us, excellent fodder for the damsel-in-distress trope, which has performed out many times throughout historical past and literature alike. From the unnamed maidens of the chivalric tales of the Center Ages to the princesses of early Disney, girls have ceaselessly been painted as helpless victims. Jane herself options in a widely known portray by Paul Delaroche. Dressed all in white, she is proven blindfolded and fearful, simply moments earlier than her execution —  the proper, heart-wrenching portrait of female victimhood. 

Whereas the true Woman Jane Gray was traditionally depicted as a sufferer, on this present Jane is way from being a withering, simpering damsel. As an alternative, many times, her actions match these of the prototypical hero. When a raid at an inn threatens her and her pal, she rejects the help of a dashing stranger (who later seems to be Guildford) and makes an attempt her personal rescue — a daring transfer that sees her captured by the raiders. When her mom publicizes that Jane will marry Guildford, she runs away from dwelling. When that does not work, she makes use of pretend blood to feign an sickness at her personal wedding ceremony. (That does not work both.) Later, she units out into the woods to rescue an previous pal from hazard, all on her personal. When Guildford reluctantly follows her (chivalry’s not lifeless and all that), she exhibits off her hand-to-hand fight and expertly disarms him of his dagger.

It isn’t the girl however the lord who’s the damsel in misery right here. 

Edward Bluemel as Guildford Dudley
Credit score: Jonathan Prime / Prime Video / Amazon MGM Studios

Throughout a Q&A with the solid on the London premiere of the present, Bluemel stated that he loved taking part in the present’s “damsel.” It was an surprising remark; from his first look, the drunken, raffish Guildford definitely would not appear like a damsel in misery. In reality, after we first meet him, he is residing massive at an inn, confidently flirting. Nonetheless, it slowly turns into clear that it’s he, not Jane, who wants saving. 

Because the present progresses, Jane is called the official inheritor of Edward and, upon Edward’s loss of life, is topped Queen. As she beneficial properties extra energy and company, Guildford has much less and fewer of his personal; he is pressured to maneuver with Jane to the palace and easily wait till she is able to discover his remedy. Repeatedly, he finds himself in weak positions as his secret threatens to turn out to be revealed. Plus, as Guildford’s relationship with Jane develops, we start to see extra of his emotional vulnerability. We be taught that his mom’s loss of life triggered his Ethian transformations and that his father really married him off to Jane within the hopes that she could be chosen as Edward’s inheritor. Sure, it appears males could be married off, too! Because the voiceover so aptly places it, “If therapists were invented in 1553, our brooding tortured hero would be a different man.” Evidently, Guildford additionally wants emotional saving.

My Woman Jane marks an fascinating new tactic within the feminist-leaning historic style. As an alternative of merely refusing to let Jane turn out to be a damsel in misery, My Woman Jane goes just a little additional by unexpectedly assigning that position to the would-be romantic hero. It is refreshing to see a interval romance that does not merely present the power of its feminine characters but additionally the vulnerabilities of its male lead. The surprising position reversal makes for one of the crucial nuanced and thrilling historic romances we have seen on TV in years. Throw in some punchy up to date dialogue, endlessly energetic performances, and a soundtrack crammed with thrilling pop-punk needledrops, and also you’re left with a Jane Gray who actually is by and for the fashionable girl. In spite of everything, who desires to look at one other damsel? “Fuck that.”

My Woman Jane is now streaming on Prime Video.