God Save The Queen – The episode opens with the Kingsland guards leading a restrained Lady Jane Grey (Emily Bader) to the Tower of London. In a flashback, young Jane Grey (Madelynne Mills) and Lady Frances Grey (Anna Chancellor) visit the Tower of London to witness King Henry’s fifth wife, Catherine Howard’s beheading. Jane will remain there until her own beheading. She wonders if Lord Guildford Dudley (Edward Bluemel) is imprisoned there as well. She finds the bars on the window loose. Kingsland guards, George (Harry Trevaldwyn) and Albert (Mark Anthony Brighton) deliver her supper tray. Upon leaving, George sneezes. Jane suggests adding a pinch of pollen to his ale. George asks if it is effective. Albert warns him against talking to the prisoner. She pleads for information about Guildford. After locking the door, George tells her that Guildford isn’t there.

A riot is in progress outside the Palace. The Duke of Norfolk (Will Keen) informs Princess Mary (Kate O’Flynn) that the people demand Jane’s freedom. Mary assures him that the people love her. A guard arrives with a blindfolded Princess Bess (Abbie Hern). Mary tells her that she shouldn’t have defended Jane at her trial and orders her to run. When Bess runs, Mary fires her crossbow but intentionally misses. Norfolk orders her to stop. She says Bess needs to be taught a lesson. He insists she focus on her queenly duties and not act like a tyrant. She points her crossbow at Bess before turning and shooting Norfolk in the chest. Lord Seymour (Dominic Cooper) sniggers. Frances commends Mary.

At the London Tower, Jane utilizes the tip of a spoon handle to break loose the mortar securing the window bar. In a matter of minutes, she pulls back the bar and replaces it before a guard escorts Frances into the cell. Frances boasts of saving Jane and claims Guildford is in Seymour’s care. Jane blames Frances for her situation. Frances says Mary is offering her freedom in exchange for denouncing Ethianism and Guildford. Jane refuses the offer and demands to see Guildford. In the Palace Zoo, Alice (Holly Freeman) tells Guildford that it is a secret prison for Ethians. A guard arrives for him. At the London Tower, Jane is awaiting her execution set to take place in three days. George and another Kingsland guard arrive to escort her to the stables. Seeing a horse’s head in a cart, Jane breaks down sobbing. Mary approaches and mocks her. Jane calls her evil. Mary vows to turn Jane’s beheading into a sport before offering her an opportunity to spare Guildford. Jane must read a script in court but she doesn’t trust Mary to save Guildford.

Fitz (Joe Klocek) and King Edward (Jordan Peters) secretly watch an Ethian camp. Edward failed to understand the gravity of his banishment order for Ethians. He is shocked to learn they are starving. Susannah (Mairead Tyers) demonstrates how to start a fire utilizing a flint. Damian (Tom Durant Pritchard) has no interest in learning because he believes she will always do it for him. Edward changes his mind and turns to leave when Susannah sees them. Edward tells them that Queen Mary had Jane imprisoned in the Tower of London. He asks for their help in retaking the throne to save Jane. Archer (Michael Workeye) suggests he seek help from the noblemen and refuses to help them. Edward apologizes for allowing the Ethians to suffer and warns them that Mary will annihilate all of them. He vows to support them as their King. Archer says no.

William (Brandon Grace) asks Lady Katherine Grey (Isabella Brownson) to run away with him. She refuses to abandon Frances. At the London Tower, Jane reads the script that shows her support for Mary’s plan to eradicate the Ethians. George says she will not save Guildford if she doesn’t sound believable. She asks why he cares. He claims his Ethian cousin was taken. She pleads with him to take a message to Guildford, so he will know she doesn’t mean it. A guard scolds George for talking to Jane.

In the Palace Zoo, Seymour offers Guildford an opportunity to live in exchange for his support. Guildford chooses death over prison. Elsewhere, Frances cleans Mary’s butt between poops. While sitting on a chamber pot, Mary boasts of her plan for Guildford. Lady Margaret Grey (Robyn Betteridge) recalls Mary promising to save Jane. Mary says lies are their friends. Frances asks what she plans to do with Guildford when Charles (Christian Patterson) barges in with a large chest from Prince Philip of Spain. A short time later, Margaret visits the London Tower to tell Jane that Mary lied about sparing Guildford. She apologizes. Jane urges her to be kind and forgiving. Margaret curses Mary before leaving.

Mary shows Seymour an arm belonging to Spain’s last Ethian, a gift from Prince Philip. He refuses to let her marry anyone other than him. She tells him that she has chosen him a wife. At the London Tower, Jane removes a poisonous moss from the exterior wall. The guards believe she is trying to escape. They pull her back into her cell. At the Palace, Mary orders Katherine to marry Seymour. After refusing to marry Seymour, Katherine proposes to William. At the London Tower, Jane mixes calcium-hydroxide-scrapings from the interior wall with the moss to create a “lethal neurotoxin.” She places a scoop of the substance on Mary’s script. At the Palace, Jane rubs the poison on her lower lip and approaches to kiss Mary but the guards intervene. Wiping the poison from her lip, Jane condemns Mary, not the Ethians. The guards forcibly remove her from the Palace.

In peasant attire, Lord Stan Dudley (Henry Ashton) and Lord Dudley (Rob Brydon) knock two guards out with a shovel. Wearing Kingsland guard armor, Dudley goes to Guildford’s cell. Stan exposes his real identity to Seymour before knocking him out and racing back to Guildford’s cell with the key. Guildford offers to take Alice but she refuses to go. Seymour alerts the guards. Guildford orders Dudley and Stan to flee. Dudley urges Guildford to forgive himself because his mother loved him. Guildford thanks him. Seymour approaches and challenges Guildford to a duel. Stan and Dudley flee. Seymour knocks Guildford’s sword out of his hand. Recovering the sword, Guildford wins the duel. Seymour orders the guards to intervene. In London Tower, Jane asks George for a glass of wine.

At the Ethian camp, Susannah reminds Archer of how Jane fought for them. He says the Scots will arrive and capture the throne. Edward complains about being powerless. Fitz says stop whining and do something. At the London Tower, Jane spicks George’s wine with the poison. He tells her the pollen helped his allergies. As he raises the cup to his mouth, she knocks it away and claims to have seen a large spider.

The crowd roars when Mary takes her thrown. Guildford is restrained to a post, surrounded by branches for a fire. The crowd boos Jane as she is escorted to the stage. The executioner (Philip Shaun McGuinness) asks if she forgives him. She says no. Mary excitedly watches as Jane is blindfolded. Jane positions herself over the chopping block. As the executioner draws his axe, Susannah the hawk attacks him and removes his mask. The executioner swings his axe at her, only to chop into his own leg. A flock of Ethian birds attacks the guards. Susannah removes Jane’s blindfold and says Edward said to tell her hello. Mary screams for Guildford to be set on fire. Jane races through the crowd to save Guildford. Dudley and Stan join the Ethians to take out the guards. Jane cuts at Guildford’s restraints. As the fire grows in intensity, he urges her to leave him. She professes to love him. He professes to love her before they kiss. He morphs into a horse. She jumps on his back. He gallops through the crowd. Dudley and Stan urge Guildford to run.

Mary is irate about Jane and Guildford’s escape. Bess morphs into a fox. Stan enters Frances’ chamber and removes his shirt. William and Katherine are married. Edward and Fitz kiss. Elsewhere, Guildford invites Jane to run away with him to Venice. She refuses to run and he refuses to leave her. They kiss as the episode ends.

 

My Lady Jane Finale Review

Jane’s plan to be an independent woman is thwarted by her forced marriage to Lord Guildford Dudley. Refusing to give up on her dream, she accepts an offer that would free her of Guildford once and for all. Love overpowers her will and before she knows it, she is the Queen of England. Edward, who is supposed to be dead, escapes Granny with the help of an Ethian, Fitz. Before he knows it, he is in love with Fitz. In the meantime, Mary is wreaking havoc on the Greys, Dudleys, and her own sister, Bess. Love prevails!

 

A satisfying end to an odd but fascinating parody of the life of Lady Jane Grey. The show defies history as we know it and requires a satirical sense of humor. The writing is splendid for a lampoon series. The finale deserves a 6.4 out of 10.

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