Jane The Virgin Meets Destiny in Chapter Sixty-Four

-This week in titles: Jane The Ordained.

-Wow. By Jane The Virgin standards, this was a pretty calm finale. I mean, yes there was a surprise pregnancy reveal, a wedding that threatened to turn into disaster every step of the way, multiple storms literal and figurative, another significant bus ride, a dangerous new alliance, secrets revealed, building romance, a big break-up, the life of one regular character threatened, the livelihood of another taken away and the arrival of a new (to us) love interest, but none of that really matches the emotional devastation of Mateo being kidnapped right after birth in season 1 or Rose shooting Michael in season 2. I'll certainly be curious about what happens next in season 4, but I definitely won't be an anxious as I was in the days leading up to the season 2 and 3 (especially 3) premieres. Which is a good thing. "Jane" already delivered the big gut-punch of the season back when Michael was killed at the mid-point. Had yet another season ended with some cataclysmic thing happening to Jane, it would've been too much to take. Instead we got an ending that was surprisingly hopeful (for the Villanueva's and Rogelio at least) and sets the stage for all kinds of possibilities going into season 4. It was a fitting end to a strong season of this wonderful show. So let's break down some of these developments a bit.

-Is there such a thing as destiny? Are people meant to come into each other's lives? Is love something that's meant to be? At the beginning of the series, Jane Villanueva would've answered "yes" to every one of these questions. She was a true romantic with a future that was all planned out and right in front of her. Even when she was accidentally inseminated and reconnected with a man she had a meaningful connection with one night years ago, it all seemed like destiny falling into place, and when she went to the altar with Michael after a long time apart, it felt inevitable, like it was supposed to happen. Over the course of the season though, as Jane lost Michael and grew older, her romanticism faded and she started to question the idea that things were "meant to be". Life isn't that easy. So when Jane tries to plan the wedding ceremony of her parents and tries to put into words why they're meant to be, nothing she comes up with feels right. She loves her parents and believes they have a true love so why can't she put it into words? Aren't they of all people meant to be? This question is where Chapter Sixty-Four does something surprising. It has Jane decide that no, Xiomara and Rogelio aren't meant to be. Instead, as the episode piles up obstacles and problems that threaten to derail the wedding entirely, it shows how Xo and Ro choose to be together, in the face of countless obstacles and three seasons worth of turbulence, they chose each other. It's not true love because it's meant to be, it's true love because they chose not to give up. It's a powerful idea for the show to explore and it does so masterfully, turning all the contrivances building throughout the episode that conspire to ruin the wedding from a tired old TV staple (You can probably count the number of TV weddings that go off without a hitch on one hand) into something more masterful, a sign of two people in love refusing to let anything stand in their way even when nature itself seemed aligned against them.

-I'll admit that I was a bit worried that something might ultimately end the engagement between Xo and Ro. So many times on "Jane", couples seem to be on the right track only to suddenly get pulled apart in less than an episode (For example, Rafael and Petra, who got together last episode and fell apart almost right away. We'll get to that). Xo and Ro have also had so many up and downs that it's hard to keep track of how many times they broke up and got back together. And yeah, they were solid now that Rogelio had reneged on his plans to have a kid of his own, but when Darci shows up heavily pregnant from the unprotected hate sex she and Rogelio had when they were together, it seemed quite possible that Rogelio and Xo would put their relationship on hold while they figured this out. Because it felt like the wedding might not happen though, that made it all the sweeter when Xo realizes that she's not going to walk away from Rogelio and does want to marry him after all.

-I was a bit disappointed that the idea of Rogelio wanting another kid had essentially been waved away because it made much of his season 3 arc and everything he went through with Darci into a way to stall for time until he changed his mind and got back with Xo as everyone knew he should. I should have had more faith in the "Jane" writers though. Darci being pregnant is a great way to show that Rogelio's quest to have a child does matter and will be affecting his life for a long time to come. It also means we get more Justina Machado, which is always a good thing.

-All the disasters and crises cause Xo and Ro to have a more intimate ceremony, which was at least partly because on a practical level the show probably couldn't pull off the kind of star-filled extravaganza a Rogelio wedding would demand. It works very well on a story level though, reinforcing that even with a ceremony with just their family, Rafael, Petra, and some random guests taking shelter from the storm, even with a muddied-dress and minimal lighting, as long as these two are together, they're still having their fairy tale wedding.

-The narrator mentioning that Xiomara looked beautiful to the people who loved her most was a wonderful callback to when Michael was trying stand-up and his set was well-received by the people who loved him most. Also with the way the narrator added an "including me" and the immediate shot of Mateo afterwards, I'm now pretty convinced that the narrator is a future Mateo who's written books about his mother's life.

-In an episode full of heart-warming tear-jerking moments, Alba yelling her heartfelt speech about how much she loves Xo and how proud of her she is so Xo wouldn't cry and ruin her make-up almost takes the cake. To be fair though, a letter from Michael written before he married Jane, explaining why he and her are meant to be is pretty damn hard to top.

-Though Jane The Virgin is a big fan of flashbacks, since Michael died, the show has refrained from using Brett Dier up until now. This is probably a wise choice. People needed time to adjust to the new status quo and having him pop up constantly in flashbacks would have been like rubbing salt in the wound, especially because you're immediately reminded of how charming and likeable Brett Dier is in the role. Tonight uses him well though as Jane's reverend informs her about a letter Michael wrote her before they got married that explained how he felt about her. This allows us to see flashbacks of Michael and Jane at their peak, about to be married and move into a home of their own, trading goofy banter and just being in love. Of course Jane would become fixated on trying to find this letter. Who wouldn't want to read new words from a loved one who was gone? It also ties into her story well and the episode's exploration of the idea of destiny. Jane wants to find this letter because it's a lost love letter from her dead husband, but also because if she could reconnect with her great love for a moment, then she might be able to use this letter as inspiration for the wedding ceremony. If she were to find this letter right before the ceremony, wouldn't that be meant to be? Ultimately she doesn't find the letter before the ceremony but the time she spends looking for it causes a series of events that lead her to the inspiration she needs on the bus.

-Fateful bus rides are one of those recurring motifs that "Jane" likes to work in at least once every season. Jane was on the bus the day she fainted and learned she was pregnant. She was on the bus when her water broke. She took the bus to her wedding. She takes the bus to her parent's wedding and this is where she sees an ad for upcoming book releases that includes a certain little book called Falling Snow by Jane Villaneuva. All of Jane's hard work and effort have paid off and the show uses this to have her come to her realization about what to say at Xo and Ro's wedding. Raf thinks seeing her name up there must feel meant to be but it doesn't feel meant to be for her because it wasn't easy. "Meant to be" implies something had to be easy but it took a lot of pain and strife and effort and hard choices to get this book published. The satisfaction Jane gets from seeing her name was the result of a choice she made to not give up and that leads her to realize exactly what she needs to say at the ceremony. It's a clever way to tie Jane's arc this year to the arc of her parents and the comparison feels totally natural. It's also a good way to have Jane realize that she no longer believes in destiny, right up until the ending when fate steps in (We'll get to that in a minute).

-With all the pressure Jane's under this episode and the spectre of Michael hanging over things, Jane's new-found feelings for Rafael are underplayed as she tries to ignore them. Unfortunately Petra picks up on them and becomes convinced that Rafael would still pick Jane over her if it came to it, which combined with a newly free Chuck trying to win her back winds up ending Petra and Rafael before they could really begin. It's a frustrating moment because even though Petra is right to be concerned that Jane has feelings for Rafael and her reaction is in-character, it also feels forced, like something thrown into the episode to manufacture maximum drama. Add in that intimate hug between Raf and Jane as they laugh off Petra's insistence that the two have feels for each other and the fact that Rafael's feelings for Jane are being kept ambiguous and it feels like the show is positioning things for a love triangle where everyone is on equal footing, which is less interesting than if Jane has to hide her feelings while Raf dates Petra. Of course, the episode kind of realizes this and has Petra off to get Raf back before she's waylaid, while Jane's ultimate decision to tell Rafael about her feelings also gets waylaid. Hopefully the show reverses this Raf/Petra break-up early on into season 4 because this feels like an unnecessary regression.

-OK, let's talk about that ending. So during the wedding reception, Petra and Rafael's assistant gives her the letter Michael had written, which she received from the previous owner of the house where Michael had stashed the letter who the current owners had contacted after Jane went there looking. It's a beautiful letter, designed to assure the Team Michael diehards that Jane and Michael truly were meant to be, give Jane permission to move on with Michael's "never doubt that I want you to be happy", and also make a strong case in favour of destiny. Sure Jane and Michael chose to be together, but they had only met at all because Michael stopped for a burger on his way back from a shift he wasn't supposed to be working and chose to answer a noise complaint. He made a bunch of random choices based on events that he had no way of controlling and he met the love of his life because of it. That's destiny. Meanwhile the series of choices that led to Jane getting the letter at all (Jane's choice to look for the letter, and check the old house, leading to the current owner's choice to contact the previous owner who had chosen to take that letter)  has brought her back to Adam, her first great love.

-As far as season-ending twists go, this is a strong one and a welcome wrench into the road to Jane and Rafael getting back together. Adam was hinted at several episodes back and the references to Jane falling in love and breaking up with him in the flashbacks meant his appearance wasn't really a surprise. Having him be in possession of the letter though was a definite surprise and a great way to tie up the episode's look into destiny. Jane and Adam sure seemed destined to cross paths again, but are they meant to be? We'll have to wait until next season to find out, but I'm excited to learn more about this previously unknown chapter in Jane's life.

-Jane's first love being named Adam (the first man) is a great biblical allusion. Bravo whoever came up with that name for the character.

-In crime plot news, Scott's killer is finally revealed and it turns out to be Eileen. Not Rose pretending to be Eileen, but the actual Eileen who Rose had paid to leave the country under threat of death. A drunken Scott saw her and fearing that he would say something to give her away, Eileen kills him and flees. It'd be an underwhelming conclusion to a mystery that ran out of steam a few episodes back if not for the fantastic use of The Midnight Runner's Come On Eileen, which scores the whole flashback sequence. It's now obvious that naming Rose's new identity Eileen was solely so they could use that song for this specific scene and that's wonderful.

-With Rose finally behind the bars, the show finds a surprising new antagonist when Luisa finds out that Rafael lied about his cancer coming back. As I mentioned last week, Luisa's arc this season has been about her trying not to choose between her girlfriend and her family. Last week she picked her family, and now risks losing the love of her life because of it. Luisa and Rafael have always had a strained relationship due to Luisa's addiction issues and general "trainwreck" status but Rafael has always felt a loyalty to her until he found out the truth about "Eileen". Justin Baldoni and Yara Martinez have always had terrific sibling chemistry that made it easy to care about their relationship so watching that relationship be completely destroyed over the course of a single scene as Rafael pours out all his pent-up frustration and resentment is hard to watch. It feels earned though, the natural culmination of everything that's happened between these two this season and it leads to exciting story possibilities going forward. It also leads to a fantastic use of the heartglow as the warm love that Luisa feels for her brother turns into black hatred. Luisa has been a character that the show has often struggled to use in a meaningful way, but her personal connections to the characters (Rafael in particular) and the sympathy that Martinez's performance generates should make her into a compelling antagonist for the next little while.

-I predicted that Luisa would use the clause in Emilio's will against Rafael to make him lose everything. I had forgotten however that Luisa didn't know that part of the "Rafael is adopted" saga. Enter Anezka. When Rafael's discarded (for good reasons) sister meets Petra's discarded (for good reasons) sister, I gasped in delight even before the #TwistedSisters hashtag popped up. It's just such a natural character pairing. Both of these characters love their siblings, but have inflicted a lot of hurt onto them while being hurt by them. Of course they would team up. Suddenly Scott fixing the will addendum all those episodes back becomes more than a misdirect about why he was killed and Luisa's vast knowledge about how alcohol works comes in handy to help make Anezka realize that Petra had drugged her the night "Scott" broke up with her. So Anezka steals Rafael's phone and lures a "wanting to get back together" Petra to a secluded spot where she's waiting with a gun. Luisa kicks Rafael out of the Marbella and officially takes control. It leaves both Rafael and Petra in a very uncertain place to end the season. Rafael has been defined by his wealth and privilege for so long, it'll be interesting to see how he reacts to losing it and how he'll fight back against Luisa. Meanwhile it seems unlikely that Petra will die or be replaced again, there's still a lot of damage that Anezka could do. I suspect she'll have Petra sign away her shares of the Marbella to her or Luisa. Whatever happens I'm excited to see where this all goes.

-Well that's it for Jane The Virgin season 3. This continues to be one of my favourite shows on TV and I'm going to miss it a lot while it's gone. October can't come soon enough.