-Well it's official. Good-bye Jane The Virgin, hello Jane
-Chapter 48 was a bit of a comedown episode for "Jane" after the big emotional highs of last week, serving more as set-up for future episodes than anything else. That's to be expected though. Jane can't lose her virginity every week. And "Jane" is still very good at making set-up episodes entertaining in their own right.
-Now that Jane's finally had sex, she really likes having it whenever she can. That sounds like her.
-With all that went down at the end of last season and the beginning of this one, I totally forgot Petra secretly leasing Jane's house and paying half the rent was a plot point until it suddenly resurfaced tonight.
-Watching Jane and Michael get into a fight over budgeting was hard, but it felt true to life and exactly like the kind of fight those two would have. Television marriages can be tricky because plenty of shows don't seem to know how to have a strong, happy marriage still be dramatic and interesting. "Jane" seems to get that Jane and Michael can be married and happy but still have fights sometimes and deal with challenges though and that's cool.
-If this whole storyline turns out to be a ploy to get Jane and Michael back in the Villaneuva household for a bit longer while they look for a smaller house, I'll be slightly annoyed but only slightly. I already miss Jane not being in that house.
-Alba imagining a young Jane as a guide to help her navigate her dealings with Xo this episode was a nice device. The opening flashbacks of all the times Jane almost left the Villaneuva show also highlighted the not always easy relationship between the two and it's good to see the two trying not to go back to that now that Jane is gone.
-A thing I like about Xo trying to find a career for herself outside of singer is that it gives Xo a substantial storyline that revolves around her for once and not her relationship with Rogelio or Jane or Alba (Though of course they're involved because why wouldn't they be).
-I figured Alba would find out about Xo quitting her bank job before the episode was over but didn't think it would happen as quickly as it did. That was welcome.
-Rogelio's storyline with Rafael seemed like goofy filler at first until it turned into Rogelio "babysitting" Luisa and took a turn for the poignant as Rogelio used acting techniques to get to the bottom of Luisa's desire to drink. Luisa is often treated as a walking trainwreck and a joke by this show so it's heartening to see her plight be taken seriously. Hopefully her decision to go to rehab signals a positive turn for the character.
-That being said, already calling that Rose is going to be working at the rehab facility. Also I'm still not convinced that Luisa really ended things with her.
-Also I very much want to see more of Rogelio's old telenovella Addicted to Love, which was mainly used to telegraph the Jane/Anezka catfight. And him using his telenovella experience to try to relate to Luisa's real experiences is such a Rogelio move.
-Also I'm on board with Rafael and Rogelio finally bonding and becoming friends now that Rafael's no longer in love with Jane. And if this leads to a new bromantic triangle between Rogelio, Michael, and Rafael, all the better!
-The Anezka as Petra storyline is starting to run out of steam, and Jane's constant declarations of being done with Petra are starting to get tired. To the show's credit though, it seems to recognize this and is pushing it along to it's conclusion which is welcome.
-The dinner scene with Anezka and Scott at Jane and Michael's was as delightfully uncomfortable as the show wanted it to be. Also the pay-off of Anezka immediately knowing what Jane met by "Milos situation" after having to fake knowing what Jane was talking about for much of the episode was good. The way Anezka's earlier slip-ups come back again in the end when Jane starts piecing things together was even better.
-Scott is much more interesting as a #dicktator than the early days when he was just another hotel employee for Jane to bounce off of.
-The possible hotel walkout storyline only seemed to exist to create a slight conflict between Jane (Who refused Scott's bribe) and Lina (Who took it) that was immediately squashed, but I did like how it came around to inform the Jane/Michael budgeting story as Jane realizes she does want her and Michael to make it on their own without stressing about living beyond their means.
-The double subversion with whether or not the catfight was actually happening or not was clever.
-Hey Dot-Marie Jones! I haven't seen her since she was elevating Glee through sheer force of will. She doesn't get a lot to do as the enforcer Magda sends to keep an eye on Anezka beyond be imposing, but she does it well. Hopefully there's more in store for her.
-Also Jane Seymour was back! Her character hasn't been around since late season 1 (As demonstrated when she identified Rafael as Jane's boyfriend, which he hasn't been since around the last time she was on the show). She wound up being there to mostly be a plot device on the way to Rogelio and Rafael bonding, but watching her throw herself at Rafael was amusing.
-So we finally find out what Alba does for a living just so she can quit for a different job two episodes later? Typical. I wish we had gotten to see a bit more of her working situation beyond "mean boss" so we had more of a sense of what it means for her to suddenly quit her job after all this time. Sure when she tells Xo she didn't want her to be miserable at a job she hates, we can infer she was projecting but it feels a bit empty. That being said, her working at the hotel gift shop gives her the chance to be involved more with the Marbella stuff, which could be promising. I'm hopeful about her new love interest at the gift shop as well.
-Mutter's last message hidden in the bible she was holding when she was found was "Angels guard the son" (Or is it sun?). The crime stuff is still the weakest part of the show, but that's cryptic enough to be possibly promising.
-So Rafael's big secret that Scott gives to Anezka is that he covered up illegal doings by his father after his death. Not the most exciting revelation, but a fairly logical one that tracks with what we know about Rafael so it works.
-Jane's onto Anezka now so hopefully that means we get Petra back next week. To borrow a phrase from the Narrator, "it's about damn time".
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