{"id":7636,"date":"2020-08-19T13:00:11","date_gmt":"2020-08-19T20:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7636"},"modified":"2020-08-10T08:54:37","modified_gmt":"2020-08-10T15:54:37","slug":"mark-watches-jane-the-virgin-s03e04-chapter-forty-eight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2020\/08\/mark-watches-jane-the-virgin-s03e04-chapter-forty-eight\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Jane the Virgin’: S03E04 – Chapter Forty-Eight"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fourth episode of the third season of Jane the Virgin<\/i>, Jane and Michael deal with the complications of their new home; Rogelio asks Rafael for a strange favor; Luisa begins to heal; Xo makes a mistake. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Jane the Virgin<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of consent, trauma, and alcoholism\/addiction.<\/b><\/p>\n

Adulthood\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the Worst<\/b><\/p>\n

Who knew that adulthood was just doing complicated math until the day you die??? Truly not recommended, zero stars on Yelp if I could give it that. God, this episode gives such a crushing depiction of personal budgets, expectations, and leaving beyond one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s means. Because this is literally the bulk of my adulthood life! A decade ago, I once tried to live beyond my means, though it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t what I had planned. I finally decided to live in a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153nice\u00e2\u20ac\u009d apartment (one that was billed as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153luxury,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and it was indeed pretty damn fancy) that I would be splitting with my partner at the time. But seven months into that lease, I was dumped. (For what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth, we had already lived together for two years in a different place, so this wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t our first time cohabiting together.) I suddenly had a rent I absolutely could not afford without letting other bills go late. I had to do a very quick scramble of my finances, much like Jane and Michael do here. I also had my receipts and bills in a shoebox at the time, too. I GOT BETTER, I PROMISE. What did I have to give up on short notice? How could I save money so that I would stay just barely afloat month-to-month? It was a terribly difficult time, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually one of the things that got me to move from Los Angeles to Oakland. I ended up having to get a roommate, someone who was largely a stranger, just to make it those last few months before my lease was up.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Until literally earlier this year, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve consistently been in a place where finances were difficult, where I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had to carefully plot out my expenses every month. So I deeply, deeply know how stressful it is to be in this state of uncertainty. It feels all-encompassing, doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure some of you know it, too!!! The writers and the cast portray this with empathy, too. They could have just kept up the fantasy of Jane and Michael getting to live in their dream home, but again: Jane the Virgin<\/i> is often best when the fantasy collides with the real world. They could<\/i> have asked for Rogelio for more money, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear they planned to. But how sustainable would that have been?Jane should also have been honest about padding the budget rather than letting Michael think that they were paying for Mateo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s daycare\/gym. Instead, the stress of money compounded these issues. So while it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sad that this wonderful home is most likely not going to be permanent, you could see the relief in Jane and Michael as they agreed to move somewhere smaller and more affordable. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, this shit can affect so much of your life!!! And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I liked this plot so much. It showed how visceral and chaotic this kind of stress was in a very believable way. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll miss that nice home, but if the move makes them happier? Then I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m all for it.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rogelio\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Favor \/ Babysitting Luisa<\/b><\/p>\n

All right, so this plan didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really work, did it? WHOOPS. EXCEPT LOOK WHAT COMES OF IT, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL. That makes it utterly worth it to me. Rogelio is still on his quest to raise his American profile, which brings him back into the life of one Amanda Elaine, romance writer extraordinaire. So, what is Rogelio willing to do in order to be famous? What fascinated me about his story in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chapter Forty-Eight\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is that while Rogelio remains ambitious, I notice that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s becoming a lot more thoughtful in his approach. Normally, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d plunge headfirst into any opportunity that would benefit him, but here, he has to contend with the fact that his ego doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually work in his favor. Amanda might have genuinely been considering casting Rogelio in the Hallmark adaptation of her novel, but she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want<\/i> Rogelio. At least not for her charity gala! No, she wanted Rafael<\/i>. It put Rogelio in an odd place because he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d not really been a fan of Rafael after the events of… well, pretty much everything prior to this? They weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t friends at all, and now, Rogelio\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gotta ask Rafael to attend an event with Amanda?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A trade happens: If Rogelio spends time with Luisa, who is dealing with the traumatic events of leaving Rose, then Rafael will go with Amanda. Look, it is absolutely ridiculous, of course, that Rafael uses his training as an actor to basically give Luisa an impromptu therapy session. But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of the charm of the scene, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. Because at no point does Rogelio approach this with anything but empathy. He takes Luisa seriously from the get-go and genuinely tries to help her. Granted, watching his own telenovela was not exactly the best coping mechanism??? WHO KNEW??? (Literally everyone.)\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet once Rogelio starts taking Luisa through that Meisner technique, something incredible happens. The process did exactly what Rogelio promised it would do: Get beneath Luisa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s emotions to the root cause of them. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so happy that the show didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make fun of Luisa during this moment of vulnerability because we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve unfortunately seen that happen so many times in the past. Instead, Luisa is allowed to confess her fears of being a terrible sister; she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s given the space to admit that she feels like she is inadequate. And then Rogelio gives her an INCREDIBLE piece of advice: It is absolutely fine for her to take care of herself first. That metaphor of the oxygen mask? MY THERAPIST HAS LITERALLY USED A SIMILAR LINE. Luisa can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help others or repair her relationship with Rafael until she puts on her own oxygen mask, so to speak. Thus, she decides to go to preventative<\/i> rehab.
\nShe took the second step. Because the first one? It was her going to Rafael when she felt the urge to drink and telling him that she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to be alone. She recognized she was having a problem, and she wanted to fix it. UGH, MY FEELINGS FOR LUISA, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dealing with so much trauma, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so wonderful that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s getting the chance to get better.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Xo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s New Job<\/b><\/p>\n

If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never worked a retail job\u00e2\u20ac\u201dor really, any sort of front-facing position in which you have to interact with the general public\u00e2\u20ac\u201dI should let you know that the sole<\/i> customer we see Xochitl interacting with in this episode is barely<\/i> a joke. BARELY. Because that is EXACTLY how people treat others in this context. I honestly think I will one day write a novel with a protagonist who works in retail just because I have about a billion stories to tell that all relate to how humans are fucking weirdos who wait until they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re being assisted by another human to reveal just how goddamn weird and terrible they are. WHY IS THAT. WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN ONLY IN THIS CONTEXT. (I actually have theories on that, but… another time.)<\/p>\n

I say all of this because even before Alba had the reaction she did to Xo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s job at the bank, I knew<\/i> Xo would hate it there. I knew it! I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s patient enough for a job position like that, first of all. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not very good at filtering herself, either. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also no passion here whatsoever. Which I also get was the point! She wanted something that was different and stable, and this had that… but at what personal cost? How many customers would she have to deal with just like that man who asked for crisp, new bills and then hated that they were crisp new bills?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s truly not a joke. YOU HAVE NO IDEA. (Unless you do.)\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I know that in the previous review, I wrote about how Xo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plot felt like it hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been resolved. Now I see it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more that she made her choice: She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to casually sing on the weekends and pursue a full-time career elsewhere. Is this going to last? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. Maybe she pursues singing as a hobby so that she can continue to enjoy it, rather than stress herself over fame and notoriety. Will that make her happy? Maybe. But I also don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what other career works for Xo. What would she be good at? What could she stand<\/i>? I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T KNOW. I still want her to achieve artistic success, too, but what if that isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t her path?<\/p>\n

Petra and Scott<\/b><\/p>\n

Look, I have complicated feelings on the whole Anezka thing, but wow, this episode also cemented just how much I deeply, deeply dislike Scott? He just doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem like a good person at all!!! He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gross and self-serving and will do anything to get ahead and… oh. Well, that also sounds like who Petra was in the first season of the show? Except not only has Petra grown from that place, THAT IS NOT PETRA SCOTT IS IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh god, this whole plot is a HUGE mess, a relentless slab of chaos as Anezka tries to balance pretending to be Petra while also executing her mother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plan: To get all the shares of the Marbella from Rafael and Luisa. Within this, though, is Anezka torn in so many directions. Her feelings for Scott are real<\/i>. I still get the sense that Anezka also doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really like what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing, either, but she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s afraid to say no to her mother. (Or her mother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s recently-released friend, who threatens her multiple times in this episode.) She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so in over her head that by the end of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chapter Forty-Eight,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she resorts to a very extreme measure to get Rafael to do what she needs: She blackmails him about the insider trading AND him covering up his father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s financial crimes.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is… bad. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s real bad. That being said, right as this story got REAL dark\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhen Anezka threatened to turn Rafael in if he and Luisa didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t give her all their shares to sell\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe light at the end of the tunnel arrives. THE FIRST THREAD HAS BEEN PULLED. Because Anezka, rattled after threatening Rafael, lets loose the tiniest<\/i> hint to her real identity. Once Jane rethinks her interactions with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Petra\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with this swap in mind, it seems too obvious to be just a coincidence. What if Petra isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t who she says she is? Look at Raf\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face when Jane suggests that!!! He started putting two-and-two together as well!!!<\/p>\n

OH I NEED THE NEXT EPISODE NOW. I also need Petra back so badly. SO BADLY.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chapter Forty-Eight\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":"