my lady jane watch party - 1.06 'i feel free' (dir. stefan schwartz)
+ at least when jane is on the throne, she gets to wear a crown! I'll say this: the crown looks uncomfortable as heck
+ jane trying to raise an army through force is not...going well! but props to archer for pushing her out of the way of the crossbow shot D:
+ "yet our beleaguered ex-king remains stubbornly cismorphic" jeekers
+ I need S2 so I can have more of edward/fitz outlaw/thief otp!!!
+ at least jane accomplished firing dr. butts! that guy was the worst
+ lord dudley and frances are correct - jane really does need to consolidate her power. that said, if this is way jane is going to go down, there's no better way, tbh.
+ aw man, jane really does want to see guildford :( bu he's not there! and rupert didn't tell her until she comes looking for him.
+ "did he say anything else?" / "only that he's sorry, and uh, he didn't think you'd understand." sad face!
+ I never read guildford leaving as like, a permanent thing - just that he left to ~find a cure~ and then he'd come back - but I can see why jane would fear the worst.
+ "simple fact is, humans love to hate" sadly, lord dudley is not wrong. that does describe a lot of people. he's not all right either, though.
+ IMDB informs me that the ethian selling guildford to the ethian trader is called "owen", so: when owen is describing the transformation and how you feel free in that one moment, you can tell that guildford does feel it - and maybe, if he had the choice, he wouldn't hate it so much.
+ "I do not wish to discuss my wife" guildford is not here to examine his fight with jane, not yet!
+ frances is really auditioning scrope as a replacement husband for jane by having sex with him first. there are...no others like her.
+ 1 point deduction to william seymour for being afraid of frances! he'll get over that, at least, but you gotta be willing to stand up to the MIL
+ I like that 1) we get to see edward fighting for fitz's life, which I love, and 2) that we get to see him fight really well. we saw this from jane, and they learned together, after all.
+ I do love this dress that jane wears to the tournament/bowling!
+ "rain in england, I don't believe it" okay, buddy [rolls eyes] [sure jan.gif]
+ respect for katherine being the one to send the note to william, and to kiss him first, and to really go after her man. the grey women cannot be stopped from going after what they want, that's for damn sure.
+ jane is not...super great at diplomacy. telling norfolk he lost in front of everyone and then announcing the end of division laws tomorrow is just a recipe for disaster. it gets worse, later, with scrope.
+ stan really is GREAT at spilling the beans: the royal will is missing, guildford's a horse, guildford killed his mom, etc etc etc. no wonder lord dudley kept him away from court.
+ but at least stan reassures jane that guildford will come back! in fact, when jane hears a moment later via scrope that guildford is never coming back because her mother said so, she believes that more than she ever believed the alternative
+ back to guildford in the forest with a strange man with shackles D:
+ I know some folks in the fandom like jane with archer (we'll get to that again in 1.08) but I am irritated by frances saying that jane is "flirting with [her] new pet beast". god forbid women talk to men while trying to undo unjust laws without people thinking they're in love with them!
+ notably, while archer does have charisma, he's not willing to raise an army to help jane fight to save her throne, aka save the one monarch who is trying to protect ethians. even if he stayed because he has a crush on her (his "I don't know" in response to her query of why he stayed suggests this, at least?), he doesn't fight for her here, or in 1.08. others (susannah, guildford, frances, margaret) do. he's not required to use his army to save her - he's a leader with his own priorities, after all - but from a shipping perspective, meh. it also is kinda shitty that he expected jane to keep putting her neck out to defend ending division laws and then when the consequences of that arise, he peaces out.
+ meanwhile, jane finds out guildford is in danger and is immediately ready to set out to find him herself. babe, I know nobody noticed the last time you went missing, but that was before mary was raising an army to fight you.
+ "jane. jane is the reason." / "jane, your wife?" and then poor guildford thinks for a second that he could get back to her just before owen mocks him with it.
+ guildford still has his dagger! owen hasn't bothered to disarm him! is this his first time kidnapping someone? or at least someone with a dagger?
+ guildford is really gambling with his life when he tells this woodcutter that he's ethian, but he really is running out of time. however, jane is right - not everyone hates ethians, and people do want to help each other. it won't happen everywhere, and not when their power is threatened, but not everyone <3
+ and now guildford is on his way back to jane, with clarity (yay!), but he's going to be too late
+ at least jane gets to briefly end division laws? for like, 30 seconds? in front of 5 nobles who are clearly wishing they could also leave? alas.
+ this whole episode, frances has been trying to save her daughter - with bad methods that I don't like, but still - and she tries once more again at the end. she has her flaws, but she does risk herself to try to save her, repeatedly. at least she's consistent!
+ I do wish susannah had been in this episode, especially at court. maybe she's running things back at the ethian camp?