I Got Thoughts is a thing I've been trying where I post a point-form collection of my thoughts on episodes of television for shows instead of a normal recap to better express myself and give it a personal touch. Some thoughts will be longer than other ones as the following post will demonstrate.
-Hey, this post is going to get really personal, so if that's not your jam you can skip this post. I won't be mad. OK, here we go.
-So I'm a virgin (Told you this post was super personal) of roughly the same age as Jane waiting for marriage like Jane did. It's a personal choice for reasons that started out as purely faith-based but have expanded as I grew older to be more about my own ideas of romanticism and sex as a personal, meaningful experience between two people. I'm aware a very large number of people feel differently than I do and that's fine. I respect that and I don't judge anyone who doesn't wait because it has nothing to do with me. Everyone's entitled to their own choices and opinions about sex and everyone deserves to have their choices respected. That being said, "waiting until marriage" isn't really something you see on television or film these days and while I'm definitely not calling for more abstinence on TV, it does get lonely sometimes (for lack of a better word). So I've always appreciated how Jane the Virgin has carefully and respectfully Jane's virginity, which she finally lost tonight when she consummated her marriage to Michael at last. It was always something that the show took seriously and explored honestly, but it was never a huge part of the show, despite being part of the show's title (Which will apparently now be constantly changing and in flux). It came up when it was pertinent to the stories the show told and was backgrounded the rest of the time. It was part of who Jane was but it didn't define her. She's always been much, much more than just Jane the Virgin. The show could've lost the "Virgin" part at any time, but they chose to wait until it was right for the character and I find that amazing. I genuinely never expected for them to actually have Jane wait until marriage to have sex so it's a big deal for me that they actually followed through with that. And Chapter 47 was everything I wanted for the episode where Jane has sex, which was handled with the same respectfulness and care that's been present throughout the show as it explored the effect finally having sex had on Jane.
-I was wondering how the sex in question would be handled. This is the CW after all and while Jane has never been afraid to get steamy, a full-on sex scene would've felt weird. The animated representations of Jane and Michael getting into a rocket and travelling around the world though? Perfect the first time (albeit too short, which makes sense as it wasn't that satisfying for Jane) and even better the second time (which got the extended sequence it deserved). It's the kind of super cutesy thing only Jane could really get away with, through the whimsical tone they've established from the get-go.
-Even though last episode ended with Jane and Michael rushing off to have sex, I was worried that they were going to get waylaid by something to delay the moment from happening until at least the end of the episode. And they were waylaid, but the distractions weren't in the way for very long and they had sex by the end of the first act, which was much appreciated. That left the episode more time to explore the aftermath.
-Having Jane's first time be a confusing disappointment where she faked an orgasm was smart and felt true to life. When you build something like that up for so long, there's no way that it immediately manages to live up to your expectations.
-Having Jane also accidentally record her first time and send it to her adviser was a weird choice and probably unnecessary, but the awkward scene between Jane and Professor Donaldson wound up being funny enough to justify it, while moving along the Jane's thesis storyline well.
-The thing in this episode that really hit close to home was Jane's ultimate fear that a huge part of her identity was gone now that she had had sex. Having this fear manifest itself through Jane becoming concerned about Xo considering giving up on being a famous singer to explore other possible career venues was a smart move on the writers parts (I feel I say "smart move" a lot but that's only because the Jane writers make a lot of smart moves) and added more heft to Xo's eventual conversation with Jane, grounding it in their mother-daughter bond. Xo assuring her that she hadn't lost something and had instead gained something was powerful and something I had never thought about before (So Xo helped me out too. Thanks Xo!).
-Jane and Michael watching their own accidental sex tape and that leading to their much more satisfying second encounter (after some hilarious mishaps with both of them too in their own heads earlier in the episode) was the other reason I wound up being fine with that particular plot point.
-Jane's thesis gets revisited this episode too as we find out Alba has an estranged sister Cecilia (Who used to look exactly like Jane), who ruined Alba's wedding by revealing she wasn't a virgin. Gina Rodriguez gets to show off even more of her acting chops by playing a fantasy version of Cecilia as Jane tries to get into her head for why she'd do such a thing for her novel. It's terrific.
-The Cecilia runner even plays into Jane's ongoing identity crisis in the end, as Jane tries to use her newfound sexual experience to deepen the character, but gets completely hung up on that aspect of the character. Once she puts that aside and starts focusing on other details of Cecilia's life, she's able to crack the character and accidentally stumbles on the real reason she tried to derail Alba's marriage: she was in love with Alba's fiance. Hopefully we get to see real Cecilia sometime soon.
-Gloria and Emilio Estefan guest-starred in this episode! That's pretty neat! Having Rogelio call in a favour (According to him, he gets one every 20 years) to help Xo instead of himself like he planned was sweet.
-The majority of the Estefan's appearance is spent fawning over them, so when Jane snaps at Gloria for encouraging Xo to explore other ventures beyond singing, the moment is that much funnier.
-Rogelio pitching an American remake of The Passions of Santos to The CW allows the show to get incredibly, delightfully meta as it both pokes fun at The CW (Jane and Xo have never heard of it and Rogelio hails their "Superhero every day of the week" plan as genius at the actual meeting), while also heaping tons of praise on The CW and giving it a bit of promotion (I was excited to see a poster for The 100 in the background).
-Rogelio giving Dinah 51% ownership of Santos feels like the kind of thing that will haunt him later but I hope not because I love Judy Reyes and want her to be in this show at every opportunity as an ally. Rogelio's declaration that they were artistic soulmates was surprisingly sweet.
-The show finally acknowledges that Luisa and Rose are going in circles by having them literally spend over a month going in circles at the bottom of the ocean. Clever.
-The Sin Rosetro element of the show has long been it's weakest, but focusing it on the idea of Rose wanting to get out of the crime game and settle down with Luisa (who may or may not be game for that. It's left up a secret what she actually decided in the end) has potential. Her apparently killing Rafael's mother at the end of the episode is also promising for at least suggesting that they're going to simplify the crime story.
-No Petra/Anezka this week. Smart call as that story would've overstuffed the episode.
-So I guess Jane The Virgin is gonna have to change that title now (At least in show). That could be fun.
-Thanks for reading all that super personal stuff earlier. I think it turned out really well!
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