-This week in titles, "The Virgin" part of "Jane"'s title gets a bomb dropped on it, cleverly setting up a "bombing and bomb dropping" motif for the episode.
-After a brief video chat followed by unexpectedly showing up on Jane's doorstep last week, Jane's cousin Catalina gets a lot of focus this week. Sofia Pernas is a great fit into the world of the show and she makes Catalina feel as cool, sexy, and interesting as the show tells us she is, while making the reveal that she's probably up to no good (Which we all saw coming, but whatever) feel believable.
-The opening flashback does a pretty good job explaining why Jane isn't more wary about her cousin showing up unannounced by explaining how she always wanted a sister. It still seems like something she should be somewhat concerned about though. At least Michael is a bit wary.
-OK, so it's a bit of a stretch that Jane who was artificially inseminated and been caught up in a whirlwind of telenovella-style drama ever since would worry that her life is boring. I can see how the incredibly organized, incredibly romantic Jane would be jealous of Catalina's more care-free and spontaneous approach to life though and get caught up in that.
-Michael being concerned that Jane thinking her life was boring would lead to hear thinking he was boring was a lot more believable conflict. The resolution of him singing "Locked Out of Heaven" at the bar they were at and getting Jane to join in seemed a little weird though since he had just stormed off in a huff the previous scene. The number was cute though.
-Jane's efforts to be a bit more spontaneous lead her to go for an interview for a publisher's assistant job that her adviser recommended her for only to immediately almost blow her chance by deleting her potential boss' file after pretending she had knowledge of a computer program she didn't know. Catalina helps her figure out how to recover from that though by getting in with the other assistants, so that should help Jane's chances a good deal.
-Rafael and Catalina hooking up is definitely an interesting development. Also interesting is the choice to have Jane initially refuse to give Rafael permission to date Catalina. Even though that will probably turn out to have been the right choice in the end, Jane's doing it for the wrong reasons here and it's nice to see her flawed, human side come out more.
-Catalina even charms Alba before revealing that the whole family believes Alba stole Mateo from Cecilia (The truth was Alba never knew her sister's feelings). It was good to see the Jane/Alba tension hadn't completed evaporated from last episode and though they reconciled more fully this week, it felt earned here in a way that it wouldn't have last week.
-Is Catalina evil? I have my doubts. "Jane" doesn't have a lot of complete villains and I want to believe that Alba's family is more complex than how Alba paints them. I guess time will tell.
-Xo's plans to open a dance studio are sure moving along quickly with Rogelio stepping in to help speed things up. Also, after having him mentioned a couple times in the beginning of the series, it was nice to finally meet Bruce, Xo's no-good ex who she just can't resist. It was no surprise that she winds up involved with him again, especially now that he's apparently divorced but her keeping it from everyone is a nice wrinkle.
-The flashback to Xo and Ro's high school days as we see teenage Rogelio try and fail to convince teenage Xo that he joined her dance troupe for reasons beyond meeting girls was wonderful. Their efforts to recreate it in the present was equally wonderful and the reveal that Rogelio had actually joined the dance troupe to meet Xo was a nice one.
-I like when shows do product placement while poking fun at how they're doing product placement so I thought Rogelio's storyline where he has to integrate HBO (Honey Bunches of Oats) into his show so he can go full frontal in his movie was just terrific. Especially with the attempts to turn a key episode about the Cuban Missle Crisis into an episode set at HBO Creator Vernon J. Herzing's house.
-Of course Rogelio's storyline is really about him coming to realize he still loves Xo only to walk away when he sees her kissing Bruce (A move he criticizes when the writers on his Telenovella intend to have his character do it earlier) because he realizes how guilty he feels for not being part of Jane's life sooner and how much he does want those kids that Xo doesn't want. It seems like Rogelio is really going to be focused on trying to find someone to have kids with now, which should be promising.
-It's a bit disappointing to see the status quo of Rafael and Petra as equal partners in the hotel back again after Petra's major power play last week but the reveal that Scott's sexual harassment lawsuit was a set-up by Rafael was clever (To me anyways. I should have seen it coming but I somehow didn't.) and hopefully is setting up for more of a back and forth power struggle between the two before the inevitable reconciliation.
-I have to say I've never been a huge fan of Scott, but he's really come into his own this season. I like the idea that he's an oily schemer who collects favours and knows everyone's secrets. It makes him an interesting wildcard to shake up stories. Having him learn the truth about his relationship with "Petra" was a smart decision too.
-What did Scott whisper into Petra's ear anyways? The thing that makes the most sense is that he simply told her he knew Anezka had been impersonating her but wouldn't that give away that Rafael had given him that information? Maybe Petra has another secret waiting to be revealed, but I can't imagine what would be so bad as to get her to give in to Rafael like she did.
-Also what happened to Magda and Dot-Marie Jones' enforcer character? That feels like something that should be addressed at some point in the near-future.
-Faith M. Whiskers III! Finally! I've been waiting weeks for that cat!
-Petra telling Scott they are never, ever getting back together was a cute joke made better by the reveal that that was apparently Scott and Anezka Petra's song.
-A solid if unremarkable episode of "Jane" this week. Next week is the mid-season finale though so I'm hoping things will be taken up a notch.
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