If you haven’t already caught up to this week’s episode of the critically-acclaimed show Jane the Virgin, then please, go watch every episode available on Netflix and CW.com!! This article is full of spoilers and tweets delivered directly from Rogelio, coming to a smartphone near you.
But in all seriousness, I sit here in shock, sitting in my room, trying to process what just happened in the show. Jane the Virgin holds a very special place in my heart. Sure, it’s just a show. But we grow attached to characters, we find similarities, and we invest our time into storylines.
Jane the Virgin: Connections
I’ve always been a writer, I’ve always been a dreamer, and I’ve always been an optimist. A perfectionist. An organizer. A list-maker. A “plan this”, and “create a timeline for that” type of gal. I have no shame in it because it’s what makes me, me.
Jane is all of those things, and then some. She [was] a virgin mom, a wife, a goal-oriented career builder, a daughter, a granddaughter, a well-rounded, good person.
We’ve followed Jane through her accidental, artificial insemination, through her love triangle with Rafael and Michael, and then the old visit from Sam, and a fling with a grad school professor, through the birth of Mateo, through her progress from waitressing at the Marbella to her work with her frizzy-haired teacher who turned out to be okay, through her mom’s bachelorette-surprise-gone-terribly-wrong, through Jane and Michael’s wedding (finally!), through their romantic-turned-tragic wedding night, through the night when they finally did “IT”, long after their wedding, and through so much more….
Finally, Jane and Michael get their own apartment, they cook and drink wine and have awkward couples dinners with other people. They raise Mateo together. They laugh, they date, they navigate through life together. It was always…together. Until tonight.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
Jane and Michael seem to have it all figured out. He’s going to take his LSAT and get one step closer to becoming a lawyer. She just landed a dream job, working as an assistant at a publishing company, with a woman who is just as driven and competitive as Jane. There are plenty of big changes going on with Rogelio and his lady, with Xiomara and Bruce, with Rafael and his, er, family. Things are a little crazy, but things seem to be falling into place as Jane and Michael fit the pieces of their puzzle together.
Everything was a team effort with Jane and Michael. And that’s why I’m upset with tonight’s episode. For everything to be going smoothly, Jane and Michael to be so happy, for them to have such a bright future … and now Jane is faced with a harsh twist. A change in her “timeline”. But it’s not just about her missed period, or her baby daddy going to jail. It’s about mourning, living without Michael, moving on.
Denial
I bawled so hard tonight. It all happened so quickly. I couldn’t believe it. I sat there for a few minutes, staring at the TV screen.
At one point, I actually cupped my hand over my mouth, in disbelief, eyes-widened, tears ready to break free. I wasn’t sure if it was real. Michael almost died once already. I was hoping so badly that this was just a heart attack, or a dream, or some sort of fake scene in the show. For them to have it all, and then for it to be taken away from Jane, from us, the viewers.
Understanding
It reminded me of when The Walking Dead killed a fan-favorite in a very gruesome manner. The worst part, from what I could sense, was how they showed it to the viewers. The audience cheered for the character, they were attached, and then it was all thrown in their faces. Although I stopped watching the show years ago, I still heard about the episode, read about it, and saw the backlash from fans. Now I understand it.
Acceptance?
I read the interview with Jane the Virgin showrunner, Jennie Snyder Urman, which provides some comfort. But I am still upset. I found a lot of similarities with Jane and Michael’s relationship compared to my own relationships.
It always felt like when we watched Jane and Michael, that there was no one else in the room. The spotlight was on them. Their romance outshined all others on the show. They were sweet, supportive, LOVING, and even when they fought they always knew how to talk it out and make it better.
Here’s to Jane and Michael. They gave us hope, and they showed us what a young and loving couple could be.
~Twentysomething Vision