In part two of my Summer Television series, I’ve listed some additional suggestions for must-see summer viewing.
“My Lady Jane” is a rollicking twist on the history of England. King Henry has died and his heir, the sickly young Edward, was convinced to make Lady Jane Grey his heir to the throne over his two half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. Jane ruled, against her will, for 12 days after which she was imprisoned by Mary who was recognized as the proper heir to the throne. She promptly imprisoned Jane and eventually beheaded her. But that was then and this is television.
Cut to the England of young King Edward. The land is overrun by Ethians, humans who can magically turn into animals. Misunderstood, they are reviled by the populace and are subject to capture and execution. Lady Frances Grey, destitute after the death of her husband, has arranged for a marriage between her very independent daughter, Jane, and the wastrel son of the Dudleys, Guildford. This arrangement suits neither, although their chemistry is palpable.
The court is in shambles after the death of Henry. Son and heir Edward VI is sickly and not thought to survive much past his upcoming 18th birthday. Plotting behind the scenes is Princess Mary, the next in line, and her sinister right hand, Lord Seymour, while Princess Elizabeth stays peacefully in the background. Behind the scenes, however, several of the King’s closest cohorts entreat him to make Lady Jane his heir.
Little more can be revealed because each episode is a spoiler leading into the one that comes next. Suffice it to say that this fantasy is a delight that piles fantasy upon fantasy as villains are revealed, foiled and then rise again. “My Lady Jane” does to Elizabethan history what “The Great” does to Catherine the Great. There is no basis in reality, but it’s a fun ride into period costuming and vamping actors.
Emily Bader plays Jane as a 16th-century feminist; Edward Bluemel is the luscious and lascivious Lord Guildford; Anna Chancellor as Lady Frances Gray will never win Mother of the Year; Kate O’Flynn is a very evil Princess Mary; and in a casting coup, Dominic Cooper plays villainous and sexually frustrated Lord Seymour with everything but a twirling mustache. This is a hilarious romp through fake history that sustains the pace almost, but not quite, to the end. Like so many shows, they wanted to leave the finale open-ended enough in case they get a pickup for a second season. Or maybe they just couldn’t figure out how to end it without a beheading.
Now playing on Amazon Prime.
Photo courtesy of Apple TV+
“Bad Monkey,” developed by Bill Lawrence (“Ted Lasso,” “Shrinking”) has great bones but never quite lives up to them. Based on the book by Carl Hiaasen, “Bad Monkey” follows the circuitous path of Andrew Yancey, a disgraced Miami police detective now living and working for the tiny police department in the Florida Keys. But he’s screwed that up too and is in suspension purgatory. Good judgment has never been his strong suit and once again he’s in hot water. But as luck would have it, his ticket back in, possibly even to Miami, is a human arm that ends up on the fishing line of a tourist. Convinced that the rest of the body is in the deep blue sea, he is bent on proving murder. But first comes identification of the arm, then the not-so grieving widow and a multitude of complications, not the least of which is the aforementioned monkey. The charmingly lackadaisical Yancy involves a comely Miami medical examiner in his quest but continues to run afoul of everyone in his path. His boss removes his suspension and assigns him the odious job of city restaurant inspector. Things can only continue to go from bad to worse.
Hiaasen’s stories, set in Florida, are wildly fanciful with multiple plots that don’t always come together and too many characters. In this particular case, said monkey is a peripheral joke that keeps popping up like the voodoo witch whose predictions and curses are a matter of conjecture. Vince Vaughn should have been perfectly cast as Yancy, the flawed, suspended police officer who, even when he was banished to the Keys, still managed to screw himself and everyone around him. The writing doesn’t really slide comfortably into his voice until the third episode and that’s a long time to wait. Not helping are the numerous secondary storylines and multitude of characters, including said monkey, formerly the constant companion of Neville and now owned by spiritualist YaYa (L. Scott Caldwell). Neville, if there’s a hero he’s it, is a West Indian bent on saving his island from the hotel resort complex planned by the aforementioned owner of the arm and his so-called grieving widow who have been cleverly stealing the land from the rightful owners. Neville is never as well integrated into the main plot as he should have been, although his storyline eventually meshes with the mystery Yancy is trying to solve.
The greedy and dishonest developer and his money-hungry wife set in motion a plan to cover up their evil doings by staging his death. When his arm is fished out of the sea by a tourist, the plot is set in motion. It is Yancy, howling like a wolf at the moon, whose gut instinct tells him something else is going on. Like all of Hiaasen’s novels, the peripheral sometimes overwhelms the important. Of course, there are femme fatales galore, one of whom is the reason for his suspension. Although designed around Vince Vaughn’s skills, the true star of this messy, almost unfathomable series is Meredith Hagner as Eve, the appropriately named villainess who leads her husband Christopher, a delightfully clueless Rob Delaney, into a bite of the proverbial apple; but in this case, she is also the serpent. At 10 episodes, it’s way too long for a series that will leave you scratching your head.
Premiering on Apple TV+ on August 14 with new episodes weekly.
“Women in Blue” (“Las Azules”) is a police/mystery/thriller telenovela with amazing substance. Set in the Mexico City of 1970, a serial killer is on the loose and women are terrified. Crime is rampant and corruption permeates every segment of society, including the police who can’t seem to crack the case; or, as many think, aren’t that interested. Machismo rules and women who are out on the streets are asking for it. But these victims aren’t prostitutes; they’re working women with families to support. Newly elected President Luis Echeverria has instructed one of his ministers to get them some good publicity to take the public’s eye off the murders. His wife has come up with the idea of forming a women’s police unit. It will garner lots of press and that will give everyone a breather.
Recognizing that this is just for show, the minister recruits a disgraced detective, someone sure to fail, and assigns him the task. Remarkably, he takes it seriously, creating a cadet academy from which he graduates his first all-girl unit. Everyone, but the women, realizes that this is for show only. The successful recruits are denigrated and ignored by the detectives and are assigned park patrol to help tourists.
Soon, however, even the women realize they are being used as eye candy. But they alone take these murders very seriously. We follow Maria (Bárbara Mori), an upper middle-class wife and mother, her sister Valentina (Natalia Téllez), a political activist, Gabina (Amorita Rasgado), who wants to be a cop like all the men in her family, and Angeles (Ximena Sariñana), a savant on the spectrum looking for a better-paying job—they all want to be of service. With the case stalled, they begin to surreptitiously take matters into their own hands, gathering evidence, interviewing relatives and going sub rosa on the hunt during their lunch hours and after work.
They are fighting not just society’s expectations for women but also the resentment and vilification by their male counterparts and superiors. Even when they come up with viable leads, they are ignored and threatened with dismissal. Although they soon realize that the odds aren’t just stacked against them but are piled higher than the ceiling, glass or otherwise, they become stealthier and smarter as their superior analytical skills come into play. Whatever they find, they keep to themselves.
Every episode is engaging and reveals new bits of information on their surreptitious hunt for the crafty killer. The characters are engaging, the plot is exciting and the corrupt backroom politics are fascinating. I just ate it all up!
In Spanish with English subtitles.
Premiering July 31 on Apple TV+, with new episodes weekly.
Neely Swanson spent most of her professional career in the television industry, almost all of it working for David E. Kelley. In her last full-time position as Executive Vice President of Development, she reviewed writer submissions and targeted content for adaptation. As she has often said, she did book reports for a living. For several years she was a freelance writer for “Written By,” the magazine of the WGA West, and was adjunct faculty at USC in the writing division of the School of Cinematic Arts. Neely has been writing film and television reviews for the “Easy Reader” for more than 10 years. Her past reviews can be read on Rotten Tomatoes where she is a tomato-approved critic.
