-This week in titles: Jane The Widow. Definitely the saddest title so far but it had to be done and the narrator is quick to assure us not to worry. Jane's got this.
-"It will always feel different. You will always feel different. But your life will be beautiful again... just in different ways". "Now come. We need to let some light in. Just a little bit". As "Jane" officially moves into the post-Michael stage of the show, it's only right that we begin with Alba giving Jane (and by extension us) assurance as she's done so many times in the past. Alba is the only person in Jane's life who has gone through this kind of loss so she's the only one who can say with authority that Jane can come back from this even if she'll always miss Michael and the only one who can say with authority that Jane has to come back from this for the sake of her child. It's a strong opening that establishes new emotional grounding for the show going forward even as we jump ahead three years. Michael is gone and it will always hurt but that doesn't mean the light can never come back.
-Some people are going to take issue with the fact that after the opening flashback, Michael's death is backgrounded and we're back to light-hearted antics in our new now and I understand that. It's been three years for the characters to adjust but only a week for us so it feels weird going right from the most heartbreaking scene the show ever did to troublesome Mateo and Rogelio's fake wedding like nothing. However like I said last week, I feel the time jump was both a smart decision and the only decision the show could've made and I'm standing by that statement this week. "Jane" has never been afraid to tackle dark, serious subject matter, but it's always managed to filter that darkness through a light, optimistic goodness that would feel out of place if they spent even one episode fully exploring the immediate aftermath of Michael's death before jumping ahead, let alone how it would feel if they hadn't jumped ahead at all. It would make for bleak, sad television even if they tried to go for the "celebration of Michael's life" route, any jokes or attempts at lightness would feel forced and any efforts for an uplifting conclusion would feel disingenuous. By jumping ahead and giving us mere glimpses of Jane when her grief was at it's most powerful we still get to see the impact of Michael's absence on Jane's life and how she manages to overcome it, but we also get to see how she's changed and grown a few years removed from the event and all the different ways in which her life has become beautiful again, just like Alba promised. It's a more nuanced, complex approach that allows "Jane" to explore this huge loss while remaining the show it was and while it's going to rub some people the wrong way, it works for me. I'm a bit of an emotionally detached robot though, so maybe that's why I'm fine with it.
-Jane hasn't actually changed that much as a person in the past three years, at least not in the ways that matter most. She still loves her family above all else, tries to do the right thing for her son, is very opinionated and is a big fan of vigorous research. She seems older and less idealistic than she used to be but she's still our Jane and Gina Rodriguez is as terrific as ever giving you a strong sense of who Jane is as a character now.
-The big character shifts come from Rafael and Petra. Rafael has grown a great beard (Jane hates it but she's wrong.) and has come out of his time in prison as more peaceful and easy-going about things, "Zen Rafael" as Jane and Petra call him. After two and a half seasons of watching Rafael in a constant state of stress and pain and making poor choices because of that stress, it's refreshing to see Justin Baldoni switch things up and play a mellow version of the character, albeit a version who still knows how to tap into the passion and ferocity of his old self when needed, and Baldoni is clearly having a lot of fun with the change. Petra meanwhile has become the alpha mom/business woman we always knew she could be, reinventing the Marbella as a family-friendly pirate themed hotel, raising two perfect, well-behaved daughters (Anna and Ellie because she finally got tired of the Frozen connection), running the PTA at the preschool Mateo and the twins go to, and looking fierce and stylish while doing it. The insecurity and doubts that have plagued the character for so much of the season are mostly gone and while she still makes questionable relationship choices (She's hate-sleeping with Chuck, the sleazy owner of the adults only Fairwick hotel next door.), she's in a much better place than she's been for much of the series and it's nice to see.
-Of course the biggest shift is from Mateo, who has become a bit of a little terror these last three years which makes up the biggest story of the episode as Jane and Rafael try to handle him. Jane has been trying an incentive-based system of marking days as "sun" or "storm" (A week with five sunny days gets Mateo a treat) but it's clear it isn't working. When Mateo's teacher suggests getting him an aide though, Jane and Rafael are resistant and try other methods to get Mateo under control which only cause new problems. Mateo's not a bad kid by any means, as the episode assures us by showing how sweet he can be under all the bluster. He just has impulse control issues that get him into trouble. Jane's concerned though that she's failed him and hasn't been a good enough mother in the wake of all that's happened, which is what's keeping her from really being able to do something about Mateo's problems. In the end though they spring for the aide and it should be interesting to see how Mateo develops through the rest of the season.
-Season 2 kept feinting towards a Jane/Petra friendship only to have it ultimately be derailed and initially it seemed like that was still the case three years on. Jane is frustrated by Petra's efforts to get involved with disciplining Mateo and the way she seems to hold all the help she gives over them. It's an interesting story that goes deep into the twisted family dynamic between Jane, Rafael, and Petra but Jane and Petra at odds is a story that has been done over and over again so it's a relief when Petra assures Jane she has not dropped the ball with parenting because of Michael's death and we see the unspoken truth about their dynamic. It turns out when Rafael went to prison a couple years ago, Jane and Petra made a pact to support each other and to have weekly brunches no matter what was going on between them or in their lives. They may not always see eye to eye but they have become real friends who care about each other and help each other, even if that only comes out once a week. It's an excellent twist and seeing Jane at brunch with her new family as the narrator repeats what Alba said about Jane's life being beautiful again is the most heartwarming moment of the episode.
-The Jane and Rafael dynamic has also changed and grown in the last three years. They still have different ideas about how to raise Mateo but they're more collaborative and supportive now, with Rafael less eager to be combative than he was in the first part of the season. When Jane has a Michael-related breakdown near the end of the episode, it's Rafael who knows exactly what to say to get her to snap out of it and spring into action. They've become best friends as Jane puts it, and it's good to see them so cordial with each other. Their friendship raises a big question though, which is how long until the show starts building to a romance between them again now that Michael's out of the picture? As someone who started as Team Rafael, I hope the answer is never. Seeing them as platonic co-parents is much more interesting than seeing them in a relationship. In addition, no matter how well it was done, it'd feel like a slap in the face to everyone who loved Michael from the get go. It's not that Jane shouldn't love or date again and maybe Rafael would be a more appealing prospect a year from now, but the writers should be careful not to rush anything. They're pretty smart though so I'm not too concerned.
-Jane still has her dream publishing job, but it's turned out to be kind of a nightmare. It does get her a chance to be in a showcase for authors to watch though, which is where the episode springs a big twist. Jane's written a book in the three years, but it's not the one we watched her work on about Alba and her family, it's a book about her relationship with Michael, only with a dramatically different ending. After an episode spent on lighter thoughts and complications, it's a swift gut punch that's more effective than it would've been if the episode was mostly about grieving. Jane didn't get the happy ending with Michael she deserved so she made one and the scene where she finds the strength to read it in public after an assist from Rafael is just as effective as last week's scene where she found out about Michael's death. It's also a good reminder from the show that no, we won't be moving past Michael anytime soon, especially since Jane has been offered a book deal for it. Jane's on the cusp of achieving one of her biggest dreams and it's wonderful but also bittersweet.
-Jane and Professor Donaldson are actual friends now that Jane's done the grad program and Donaldson is no longer hiding how much she supports Jane and it's wonderful.
-So the wedding is Rogelio and Darci's but it's not a real wedding, it's all show for the supposed series finale of The Del La Vega Factor Factor. Rogelio and Darci can't stand each other and can't get through a conversation without shouting when the cameras aren't rolling. It turns out the pressures of doing the reality show, the way the show has portrayed Xo as a jealous ex thanks to an out-of-context clip and fertility problems have soured Del La Vega Factor. As a fan of that couple it's a bit disappointing, but it should lead to interesting stories and Justina Machado and Jamie Camill are still great together, even when they're fighting and we're bound to get a lot more of them fighting when Rogelio agrees to a 3rd season of the show to finally get his Passions of Santos remake, The Passions of Steve (One of the best joke names the show's ever done) off the ground.
-Xo and Bruce are living together and it's going well but Xo and Rogelio are fighting because of the aforementioned false portrayal of her on the reality show that has caused her to become a hated figure among fans of the show and Xo's assumption that as a producer on the show, Rogelio was complicit in making her that way. Xo and Rogelio at odds is nothing new so happily, it doesn't last long when Xo learns that Rogelio turned down the 3rd season of Factor Factor at the expense of his dream so she wouldn't have to put up with more public scrutiny. This sacrifice is enough to get her to make a sacrifice of her own and give Rogelio her blessing to do another season of the show, while reestablishing their bond. The Xo and Rogelio bond has been getting downplayed so far this season while Rogelio pursued his dream of having a kid, but could those two be finding their way back to each other? Since we also learn that the real reason Rogelio and Darci haven't had any kids was that Rogelio just could bring himself to commit that fully to Darci, it seems possible. Look out Bruce.
-Oh poor Scott. When Rafael brings him up, you know there's more to the story than Petra's "he moved away after he and Anezka split" explanation, especially when they remind us of him blackmailing Petra, and as the last scene keeps cutting back to the Marbella treasure hunt you know something will go wrong but it's still a shock when his skeleton turns up on the beach (Or at least a skeleton wearing a vest that says Scott on it. We have no clue if that's really him yet.). The twisty crime mystery stuff has been on the backburner this season after growing stale in season 2 but the apparent death of Scott brings it roaring back to life with a fun, new mystery that ties in a lot of our characters much more organically than Sin Rostro and Mutter did. Who killed Scott? Was it Petra? Anezka? Magda? Rose? Rafael? Swashbuckler Sean? Were they also behind the attempted sabotage of the Marbella's expansion? It gives the show a lot to play with in the coming weeks and I can't remember the last time I was excited about the more overtly telenovella stuff in the show.
-Hey, Minka Kelley is here! She's plays Rafael's long-term girlfriend who owns a greeting card company and who has never fought with Rafael. She gets almost nothing to do in this episode (Which the narrator points out when she pops up near the episode's end) but hopefully that changes soon.
-Jane and Mateo are back living in the Villaneuva home with Alba, which is totally understandable but I hope Jane gets out of there again before the season ends, if only so we can finally explore the idea of Alba having to live on her own that the last episode feinted towards.
-If there was any doubt that Jennie Urman and the "Jane" writers know what they're doing, hopefully this stellar episode erased them. It's a new chapter for "Jane" and it's different, but still beautiful.
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