{"id":7683,"date":"2020-11-02T13:00:10","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T21:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7683"},"modified":"2020-10-27T09:25:03","modified_gmt":"2020-10-27T16:25:03","slug":"mark-watches-jane-the-virgin-s04e13-chapter-seventy-seven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2020\/11\/mark-watches-jane-the-virgin-s04e13-chapter-seventy-seven\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Jane the Virgin’: S04E13 – Chapter Seventy-Seven"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of Jane the Virgin<\/i>, the Villanueva family waits for difficult news; Petra and JR get closer to the truth; Rafael tracks down his parents. 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 breast cancer, abuse, trauma, suicide.<\/b><\/p>\n

Diagnosis<\/b><\/p>\n

Well, I mentioned this on video, but somehow, I wrote that entire last review without addressing the major plot twist that would CLEARLY affect future episodes. Look, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how it slipped my mind. I WAS VERY DEVOTED TO WRITING ABOUT OTHER THINGS, I GUESS. But lord\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 this was intense. There was no way it wasn’t<\/i> going to be, and from personal experience, I know how agonizing it is to have to wait for this sort of news. My therapist often tells me not to worry about things until there is<\/i> something to worry about, but hi, anxiety brain here, THIS IS EXCEPTIONALLY HARD TO DO. For what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth, there are a number of things that the characters do here that are<\/i> good techniques for dealing with this kind of anxiety! Distraction isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always the best coping mechanism, but it is<\/i> a wonderful way to redirect attention. My therapist frequently asks me: What can you do<\/i> about something causing you anxiety? And if there is truly nothing, is there somewhere else you can focus your energy? Jane tries this, and Rogelio is actually a lot more successful at it.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so hard to have to wait to find out whether your whole life is going to change. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t talk about this much, but I had a scare myself my senior year of high school. My mother was diagnosed with (and survived) lung cancer, and then, near the end of my senior year, a routine physical led me to talking about the asthmatic attacks I was having, which led to an X-Ray, which led to some weird growths discovered in my lungs. I ended up being fine, but my parents had smoked around us my entire childhood up until my mom\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cancer diagnosis. I thought I had cancer from secondhand smoke. Those days waiting for the call back were just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 christ. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to explain it, but I think this episode did a wonderful, wonderful job portraying it.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And what a fucking gut punch that ending is. When the Villanueva family all knelt down to speak the Lord\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s prayer\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 fuck. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m devastated. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hoping for the best with this show, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a part of me that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, the Villanueva family is untouchable, right? The worst can’t<\/i> actually happen, can it? UGH, GREAT, A NEW THING TO WORRY ABOUT.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

River Fields<\/b><\/p>\n

I really like Brooke Shields in this role, especially since she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s able to match the energy that Jaime Camil brings to Rogelio. In a weird way, that makes me believe what the network sees in these two. Like, on the surface, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s absurd. How could they possibly be paired together? And yet, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m starting to believe it. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something here! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also interesting to me that in adapting Santos<\/i> for an American audience, River is pulling the show out of some of its worst qualities. Because what little we saw of the original telenovela in early seasons was\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bad. Especially in how women are treated! So now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m interested to see how these changes River has made to the very premise will change the dynamic. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s exciting, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all! Like, I still want this show-within-a-show to be ridiculous and over-the-top, since it is<\/i> a telenovela, but now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m curious what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be different this time. River\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also very<\/i> savvy when it comes to social media and the industry, so this has a lot of potential. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M GAME, LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S DO THIS.<\/p>\n

Tooth Fairy<\/b><\/p>\n

HI, THIS WHOLE PLOT IS SO, SO GOOD. I loved that the writers leaned on the fact that Petra had a difficult childhood that didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel all that magical to her, thus she raises her children to be a lot more practical than most. That doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean they aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happy, and it certainly doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean that kids who don’t<\/i> believe in Santa or the Tooth Fairy are inherently worse. But within cultures who do tell these stories, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s understandably seen as a part of the innocence of childhood. My parents kept up the story for a small bit of my childhood, right up until they were able to convince us that it was unnecessary because: Jesus. (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 literally not kidding. I HAD A FUN CHILDHOOD.) In a sense, Jane also wanted to preserve the magic of these stories for Mateo. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s partially because she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a storyteller! I feel like Jane loves to be able to share these stories with her son. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impossible to ignore that Jane is desperate to protect Mateo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s innocence because of the other<\/i> major thing unfolding in this episode. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure that despite that she never says it aloud, Jane was worried about having to tell Mateo about Xo and cancer. So she clung to the Tooth Fairy story, then lashed out when Petra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s girls spoiled it for Mateo.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

AND THEN THIS LEADS TO ONE OF THE VERY BEST SCENES IN THE WHOLE DAMN SHOW. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I will never<\/i> forget how magical and sweet Petra was in this episode. She did something because she knew that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d hurt Jane and Mateo, and I love how natural<\/i> this was for her. PETRA FROM FOUR SEASONS AGO WOULD NOT HAVE DONE THIS. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been such a treat to watch her become less self-absorbed, you know??? (Well, not completely<\/i>, but still.) SHE DRESSED UP AS THE TOOTH FAIRY FROM XO\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S STORY, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL. Oh my god, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get over this, WHAT A PERFECT MOMENT.<\/p>\n

Parents<\/b><\/p>\n

Well. There goes my longstanding theory that Luisa was behind everything.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I also want to start this off by saying that I really<\/i> appreciated what we saw here with Luisa. I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been critical of what the writers have done with her over the course of the show, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s often because I just want her to be given the same depth as the other characters. With \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chapter Seventy-Seven,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d we do<\/i> get some major growth in Luisa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s character, and I think they handled this well. It helped that Jane had that assignment to re-write a part of her life from the point of view of someone else. First of all, that helped both Jane and the audience get deeper into Luisa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s head, to understand what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been through and why her trauma has manifested as it has. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an act of empathy!\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From that, the show builds on Luisa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s journey when Rafael finds her at the same inn where her mother once hid out. What little screen time Luisa had here was\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, it was just different<\/i>. I could tell that she had found peace, or at least some form of it. Because this journey isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t over for her, and it won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be for a while. That being said: I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m proud of her. Giving up all that money and property and shares\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 she found freedom<\/i>. Now, Luisa gets to find out who she is outside of the pressures of money, and outside the abusive, toxic, co-dependent relationship she had with Rose.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I just hope she gets a happy ending.<\/p>\n

The Blackmailer<\/b><\/p>\n

So, let me start by saying that I do<\/i> appreciate that the identity of the blackmailer was not a surprise. The show has been hinting at this, yes, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly multiple seasons worth of supporting evidence to build up Krishna\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s motivation. Because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really awful how Petra treated her all this time!!! But merely acknowledging that is\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 not really enough? Petra isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t held accountable at all, since Krishna\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death by suicide erases all the ramifications for Petra. In fact, as far as I can tell, everything is resolved? And the optics of that\u00e2\u20ac\u201da queer woman of color killing herself so that a queer white woman can be free of responsibility\u00e2\u20ac\u201dfeels particularly callous. Also\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 why the fuck did Krishna even make<\/i> that decision? It literally comes out of nowhere, and the note she leaves behind is mostly a vehicle to deliver a joke, rather than an important character moment. What the hell, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

– My second novel, EACH OF US A DESERT, is now out in the world!<\/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":"