I Got Thoughts is a point-form collection of thoughts on episodes of television for shows where a proper recap is insufficient for expressing all the things I want to express.
-So it looks like "Jane" is going to be replacing "The Virgin" part of the title card with something new every week to reflect her situation. Fun fun! This week we get Jane The Happy Mom due to her joy about Michael and Rafael going on a "man date".
-The recaps on Jane The Virgin can get fairly long so the part towards the end where the narrator tries to remember what else is going on before landing on Jane and Michael moving which means there might be boxes in scenes was a good meta-joke about their need to explain everything.
-I always knew Yael Grobglas was extremely talented, but I'm not sure I realized how talented she was until real Petra returned tonight incredibly distinct from Anezka pretending to be Petra. There's a certain power to Petra that Anezka doesn't have but it wasn't obvious until Petra got back in action.
-I wasn't expecting Petra to become unfrozen halfway in the episode and I certainly wasn't expecting her to cover for her sister and go through with the plan to sell the hotel shares (Until a speech from Scott convinced her to go against her mother's plan and try to get Rafael completely out of the hotel with her having total ownership instead). I'm a bit torn on the return of Petra as an antagonistic force because I enjoyed her slowly becoming a decent person last season but it does make a lot of sense. After Petra's struggles with postpartum depression, bonding with her children and worrying she was a bad mother last season, I can see how her hearing Rafael's comment to Anezka Petra about worrying for a minute that she didn't have the "mom gene" would set her off. Couple that with her being trapped for three months as everyone around her failed to notice what had happened and I can see why she regressed. I'm not totally on board with the regression yet but I'm willing to give it a chance and see how this plays out. Scheming Petra is a lot of fun to watch, I must admit.
-Also not sure how I feel about Petra branding Anezka. She definitely deserves punishment for what she did, especially if Petra isn't turning her in to the police but branding seems extreme.
-I do know how I feel about Xo's "Beauty School Dropout" fantasy that convinces her to open her own dance studio though. It was delightful! "Jane" does a lot of musical performances but full-blown musical production numbers are rare. So this was a treat, especially with how it utilized Gina Rodriguez, Jaime Camil, and Ivonne Coll's wonderful voices.
-It's also nice that the show remembered Xo teaches dance lessons, because opening a dance studio seems like the perfect career option for her. That should be a fun story to watch play out.
-49 episodes in and Jane finally has her first significant conflict with Alba. They've had conflict before but Alba's anger with Jane after the most indirect conflict with her family leads to an out of the blue phone call from her long-estranged sister was genuinely shocking. After two seasons of Xo/Jane or Xo/Alba conflict though, it was a bit refreshing to have an Alba/Jane conflict with Xo being the peacemaker for once.
-Also the show did a really good job of setting the conflict between Jane and Alba so that you could see both sides of the argument. Jane grew up with a loving family, but a very small one and the letters from Cecilia reveal a huge tapestry of uncles, aunts, and cousins that Jane never imagined was there. One of the first things we learn about Jane is how passionate she is about family and that's been consistent throughout the show. How can she resist reaching out? On the other hand, Alba's mother died not talking to her because of what Cecilia did. Her entire family turned on her and to expect Alba to suddenly let them back into her life after all the pain they've caused her isn't fair. Jane crossed a line she promised not to cross and Alba is absolutely right to be angry about it, which the show acknowledges.
-The flashback to young Jane convincing Alba to let her go to Disney World for a day was good at how it reflected the Jane/Alba relationship up until now. Jane has always wanted her grandmother's approval and Alba has always been willing to concede to Jane. The thing is now that Jane is an adult, that kind of relationship isn't sustainable anymore. Jane has to be able to make her own decisions whether or not Alba approves and Alba has to accept that. So Jane is going to continue trying to connect with Alba's family, which is exciting. It's a bit similar to how the whole Xo/Alba abortion conflict played out a couple weeks ago but it feels fresh because it's an entirely different relationship under strain this time and it's about something that's not easily brushed away.
-Of course right after Jane decides to let some of Alba's family into her life her cousin Catalina unexpectedly shows up on her doorstep. That should be fun.
-Also Jane's Facebook chat with Catalina made me remember how much I like the way social media is naturally incorporated into the world of the show.
-The "man date" between Michael and Rafael at the gym was awkward in all the best ways. Rafael and Michael are two very different guys with a very complicated history and though I'm as excited as Jane is at the prospect of the two becoming friends, it's not something that will come easily to them or happen overnight and the "Jane" writers know that.
-They did make some big steps tonight as Michael's freakout after thinking Rafael was sleeping with a married woman brought up one of the plot points from the start of the show that doesn't get acknowledged much anymore: Jane was Michael's fiancee and Rafael pursued her despite knowing that. Nothing actually happened between Jane and Rafael until her and Michael broke up but he still came between them and that's not something Michael can just drop without an honest apology (which he does get).
-Another early plot point that got revisited tonight: Rafael having cancer, which was used to explain why he tries to hard to be in control of his body now. Was this whole storyline an excuse to have Justin Baldoni show off his admittedly terrific physique? Probably but I don't care. Rafael and Michael are on the road to becoming friends now. Yay!
-Rogelio tricking Michael and Rafael into getting into his car for a "Man to Man to Man to Man" (Mateo was there too) talk was hilarious. Also I'm on board with Rogelio constantly pointing out how handsome Rafael is as a running joke.
-Rogelio was kind of an afterthought this week but the idea that he has to do his network a favor now in order for them to allow him to do a full-frontal scene in an American movie could be interesting.
-Apparently Mudder's "Angels Guard The Son" message was code for a bank account number (Which rich guys Rogelio and Rafael immediately picked up on). Which is anticlimatic if that's all it is but this is Jane The Virgin. There's always more to it.
-Jane stealing the narrator's "It feels like straight out of a telenovella" catchphrase was cute.
-Scott actually got a fair bit of depth this week, which was surprising. Also the show's definitely setting up for a Scott/Anezka/Petra love triangle in the near future, right?
-Strong episode this week. What else is new?
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