{"id":7583,"date":"2020-06-10T13:00:28","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T20:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7583"},"modified":"2020-06-01T15:36:37","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T22:36:37","slug":"mark-watches-jane-the-virgin-s01e18-chapter-eighteen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2020\/06\/mark-watches-jane-the-virgin-s01e18-chapter-eighteen\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Jane the Virgin’: S01E18 – Chapter Eighteen"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the eighteenth episode of the first season of Jane the Virgin<\/i>, EVERYTHING HURTS. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Jane the Virgin<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Two Different Worlds<\/b><\/p>\n

HEY, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M A FUCKING MESS, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL. This episode wrecked me? It was so damn raw and stressful and frustrating and then bam. Punch in the fucking GUT right at the end.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to be right. I was into this whirlwind romance. I was into the idea that this horrible mistake had brought these two people together, that Rafael could have a family of his own, that Jane would be so much closer to her ideal partnership. But aesthetics don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t cut it; how a relationship appears<\/i> is not exactly what it is<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still heartbreaking to experience this turn of events because at the end of the day, I want these people to be happy. It would be easier if I could look at this and be angry at one person and place blame into a category, but what if two people are simply incompatible? What if their desires and dreams don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fit together?<\/p>\n

It sucks. A whole lot. And I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even begin to imagine how this heartbreak is going to be complicated because it involves a pregnancy, because Jane still has to figure out how to co-parent with someone who ultimately is choosing not to be with her romantically. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a disaster! I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know how to imagine this future for her!!! THERE ARE FOUR MORE SEASONS.<\/p>\n

Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll say. It isn’t<\/i> easy to categorize things in general, but there were multiple things here that rubbed me the wrong way. Jane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doubts were real<\/i>, and while I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to talk about them in greater detail later, I found some of Rafael\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s behavior to be disturbing. Like his refusal to turn off his phone until something was important to him<\/i>. Or how often he left Jane high and dry when she needed him. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a really telling scene in the early part of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chapter Eighteen\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that summarizes a major problem, too. Rafael cannot seem to be present and supportive in the ways Jane needs him to be because his mind is always elsewhere. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s understandable that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s busy and stressed. But go back to that scene where Rafael tells Jane that he found his mother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s email address. Notice how quickly Jane is immediately<\/i> there for him. She puts aside herself and devotes all her attention and care to him, despite that is is absolutely understandable that she is busy and stressed. That<\/i> bothered me so much.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a partnership, you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect something from a partner that you yourself are not willing to do, especially<\/i> if that partner has repeatedly communicated that need to you! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like Rafael didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that Jane needed more time and attention. SHE HAS CONSTANTLY TOLD HIM THAT. But it cuts right to the core of the problem: What does Rafael value? Success. Financial in particular. Leaving a legacy! Certainly fair things to want for one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s self. But where do Jane and their child fit into this? Are they signs of Rafael\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s success more than things he wants to work towards? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s complicated, obviously, and while I do think these two people might actually not be compatible in the long run, that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make this hurt any less.<\/p>\n

Which makes me worried for Alba and Edward. While there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly no full story for the two of them in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chapter Eighteen,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a hint of a parallel: Alba and Edward are both of the same world\u00e2\u20ac\u201din the sense that they are both religious and most likely share a lot of the same beliefs\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut are from different ones, given that EDWARD IS A PRIEST. Who also said yes to her date? OH MY GOD. I truly can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wait to see how this unfolds!<\/p>\n

Disappointment and Truth<\/b><\/p>\n

Part of why I enjoyed \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chapter Eighteen\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201das stressful as it was\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwas because of how multiple themes and stories were woven together in a way that seemed so effortless. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a recurring exploration of disappointment here, especially in how people withhold the truth out of fear of disappointing someone they love. The obvious example of that came with the glorious arrival of Liliana De La Vega, portrayed with ABSOLUTE PERFECTION by the stunning Rita Moreno. (Seriously, let this be one of many examples of why I love that I get to do this unspoiled: Seeing Rita Moreno in one of Rogelio\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s photos was A JOY TO DISCOVER.) Liliana was onscreen for a minute, and I suddenly understood LITERALLY EVERY PART OF ROGELIO\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S CHARACTERIZATION. Bravo, first of all, for the writers nailing that; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of my favorite things in fiction. Shit, in real life, too! Getting to meet someone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s parents and then understanding why they are the way they are? Priceless! I get Rogelio\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s exacting, diva-esque behavior; he got that from his mother!<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Rogelio once made a huge mistake: He lied to his mother about Xiomara and her pregnancy so that he wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t disappoint her. And when you realize you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re probably not going to see a person again\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 look. Rogelio probably thought he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never have to deal with this lie. Except here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Xiomara, back in his life and now living in his house, and this lie has TERRIBLE ramifications, especially since Liliana targets Xiomara constantly throughout the episode, all for a wrong that Xiomara definitely did not commit!<\/p>\n

Yet this gets even sadder, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m now VERY worried about the future of Rogelio and Xiomara. Ugh, I understood Xiomara\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very justified anger at Liliana telling her son to break-up with Xiomara. TO HER FACE. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so unnecessary and rude, even if that was<\/i> how she felt! And I get why she opened up to Marco during their chance meeting. As a fellow self-sabotager (my early 20s were FUN), I get why Xiomara went down the route she did. Doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean it was the right choice, but I understood it.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lying to Rogelio, though, when he did the exact<\/i> thing Xiomara wanted him to do? Oh, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not going to go away. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not. She is going to feel guilt, and Rogelio\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hurt is only going to get worse as she keeps that lie going. The act has come full circle: Rogelio lied so as not to disappoint his mother. Xiomara lied so as not to disappoint Rogelio. Oh god, and Jane lied so as not to disappoint Michael, who seems very much to be moving on. BUT WITH SOMEONE WHO MAY HAVE STALKED HIM OR AT THE VERY LEAST IS MANIPULATING JANE OR PLAYING SOME WEIRD GAME WITH HER. Holy shit, what the fuck is going on there??? Help me??? That whole plot is so strange and it stresses me out?<\/p>\n

And I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even address the lie of omission from Elena, Rafael\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother. Hi, holy shit, that story is also a massive gut punch???? Elena cheated on Emilio, and he paid her $10 MILLION TO JUST DISAPPEAR and she took<\/i> it, which\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know what to do with that. I just don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. Actually\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 holy shit, the Solano family is way richer than I thought they were if Emilio just had that amount of money to throw at his ex-wife. But how do you deal with a disappointment like that? There was an actual price that Elena was willing to take to ABANDON HER CHILDREN. That has to sting on a level I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even comprehend! While I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure this had some<\/i> effect on why Rafael broke up with Jane at the end of the episode, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s truly its own beast, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how Rafael is going to cope with that in the future.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ugh, now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thinking about Jane breaking down in the hallway after being dumped and it hurts all over again. THIS EPISODE HURT ME SPECIFICALLY.<\/p>\n

Faith and Doubt<\/b><\/p>\n

Oh, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still not done talking about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chapter Eighteen.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Layered over the examinations of love, duty, and disappointment is an INCREDIBLE exploration of the concept of faith, both on a religious and an interpersonal level. The one thing I related to most in this episode\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand wow, so much here felt so deeply real\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwas Jane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s struggle with the tenets of her Catholicism as a teenager. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve written about this before in other reviews, but it was one of the hardest parts of my conversion to Catholicism as a teenager. I was already struggling with the beliefs that I was raised in, and it frustrated me that I sought answers in something that only gave me more questions. Like Jane, I could poke holes in anything<\/i>. This didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean I was being clever or logical, though; I have been such an anxious, nervous person for so long that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s second nature for me to question literally everything that has ever existed, currently exists, or may exist in our or any other universe.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I think you can see the incompatibility there, especially since the kind of Catholics I was around were not remotely interested in questions. You were taught things to ingest and follow them without question. If you expressed doubt or something didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make sense, the problem was always<\/i> with the individual, not the text or the belief or the tenet or the faithful person. Again: Feels like my inevitable defection from the church is really obvious in hindsight.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To an extent, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shown here, especially in young Jane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s experiences. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s extrapolated to the present as she struggles with Rafael\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s increasingly busy life. She doubts her future with Rafael, and one doubt turns into many, which turns into a serious crisis of faith. Her inner thoughts are insisting that Rafael is heading down a terrible path, and these thoughts conflict with what other people are telling her, namely Alba and Xiomara. (I did want to say that I feel really weird about the portrayal of the voice, as there are moments where Rodriguez\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s acting veer a little to close to a blaccent or a sassy Black lady, which is problem both in that association of sassiness and Black womanhood, and<\/i> because Gina Rodriguez herself has had a number of anti-Black incidents over the past few years. I think they could have still had the voice exist without going down that road at all.)\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The tragic thing\u00e2\u20ac\u201dof many, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all\u00e2\u20ac\u201dis that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think Alba and Xiomara necessarily gave bad advice. They know that Jane is an overthinker, that she can obsess over an idea until it begins to drastically affect how she views things, so I get why they both encouraged her to stick it out, to try to see things differently! But neither of them saw first-hand what Rafael was doing, and thus, their advice falls short. It influences Jane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to try to repair things with Rafael, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, that isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t what happened. But also!!! No one knew what Rafael was going through either! UGH THIS ALL HURTS.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Falco<\/b><\/p>\n

I understand the point that the show was trying to make through Mrs. Falco. On the one hand, the Falcos needed to exists so that there could be further conflict between Jane and Rafael. Where this made me feel uncomfortable was how much the show let Jane feel responsible for Mrs. Falco being INCREDIBLY gross. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard for me not to read a racialized element into why Mrs. Falco was so cruel to Jane. Seriously, the pregnant, unwed Mexican mother is about as plain of a racist trope as possible, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s exactly what Mrs. Falco was playing into. So like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 fuck Mrs. Falco? I kinda don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a person??? She dehumanized Jane, Jane stood up for herself, and so it felt especially gross that Rafael didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even seem to notice or care about this? Jane is<\/i> the type of person to want to immediately make things right, so I get the decision to have her do that, but\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 ew. No. Fuck Mrs. Falco. I hope she gets nothing but dirty silverware forever.<\/p>\n

Roman<\/b><\/p>\n

WHAT IS HAPPENING. WHAT THE FUCK, I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T GET THIS. OH MY GOD. WHERE IS HE TAKING PETRA, WHAT IS THIS SHOW. I AM NEVER READY FOR IT.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chapter Eighteen\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– You can now pre-order my second YA novel, Each of Us a Desert<\/i>, which will be released on September 15, 2020 from Tor Teen!<\/a>
\n– Not only that, but my very first pre-order campaign is now live for North American readers! If you submit proof of pre-order, you can get a limited edition print that comes with the book<\/a>.
\n<\/strong>– If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"