In the ninth episode of the first season of Jane the Virgin<\/i>, Rafael and Jane face a new challenge while Xiomara chases her dreams. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Jane the Virgin<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For discussion of domestic abuse, ableism.<\/b><\/p>\n
THE FINAL MONTAGE OF SCENES RUINED ME, WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Petra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Backstory<\/b><\/p>\n I have long wanted more for this character, and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chapter Nine\u00e2\u20ac\u009d finally grants it: I learn why Petra assumed a new identity, why she is hiding from someone named Milos, why Ivan is here, and why she is so desperate for money. I appreciate that, as the show manages to use archetypes from telenovelas but has given depth and complication to pretty much everyone here. Except for Magda and Petra, that is. And while this certainly adds a new layer to them, it feels very strange in hindsight. There is nothing in this flashback to hint at who these people will become. In fact, what we see in it makes them out to be wholly sympathetic characters who went through a horrific experience because of an abusive, controlling, and spiteful ex. He meant to hurt Petra, but hurt Magda instead, and then Ivan further complicated matters through blackmail.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So, the show makes these two people out to be relentlessly awful people, only to introduce backstory that is tonally jarring. I just feel so weird about it! Particularly the idea that in trying to escape a monster, these two people became<\/i> monsters. The story has already been leaning heavily into the trope that someone who is disabled or disfigured is evil, and Magda is BOTH of those things! That doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even account for the ending, where Magda shoves Alba down the stairs. Yeah, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretty unforgivable, so I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see the show finding a way to redeem Magda. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impossible for abused people to become abusers, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think the show is trying to address something nuanced here; sometimes, these two feel like drama for drama\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sake. Yes, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a weird thing to say about a telenovela show because that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s often the point of narratives like this. It just makes me uncomfortable that the show used a background of abuse to build a couple of villains.<\/p>\n Better Together<\/b><\/p>\n I wanted to expand on something I said on video. There are multiple moments in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chapter Nine\u00e2\u20ac\u009d where I really fell into believe that Jane and Rafael would work. I still think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s possible, and I certainly want<\/i> to believe what Rafael does: that the events of this episode were a way for show Jane and Rafael that they work wonderfully together. Yet I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop myself asking the same question Jane is: Do<\/i> they? Do they work well together, or did this situation end as it did because of more random circumstances? As I had mentioned before, people in Rafael\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life keep messing up this relationship. Rafael is<\/i> trying his best, but Jane isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t wrong. She and Rafael come from drastically different worlds, and their approach to Petra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attempt at custody demonstrated that. Rafael wanted to solve the issue with money. Was that a bad<\/i> idea? No, not necessarily. He could afford it, it would have given what Petra needed, and in the short-term, Petra would have left them alone. But Jane was concerned about the long-term; would Petra come back to ask for more<\/i> money somewhere down the line? Jane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s solution was uncomfortable, since it involved working with Michael, but it was also a little more practical. If they could implicate Petra in the truth\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthat she had no interest in the child, just more money\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthan this solution could be longer lasting.<\/p>\n What they end up with is something right in the middle. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not perfect, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly<\/i> not over. (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure the Narrator is cackling at me.) They discover that Pietra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s identity was assumed, and they use this to pressure her into accepting the divorce. Does that mean this couple is better together? Rafael\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hopeful, and I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say that Jane feels the opposite of that. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hopeful, too, but she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also much more cautious, and I believe that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to be impulsive or hasty about any of this. And what if that<\/i> is yet another thing that will come between them? Jane plans things out for YEARS at a time. Is Rafael like that? Will he clash with how careful and reticent Jane is?<\/p>\n AHHHHH THIS HURTS.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Michael\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Desperation<\/b><\/p>\n I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m calling it now: Michael is getting so reckless in his pursuit of Sin Rostro that all of this is going to come back and bite him in the ass. Paying his brother to find evidence? To lie and use that as a means of obtaining a warrant? Not reporting leads as he is supposed to? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not even addressing his relationship with Nadine! This is a MESS, and while he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s made a breakthrough in the case (WHERE DOES THAT HOLE IN THE GROUND LEAD TO), I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m worried. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that the break-up with Jane has manifested this messiness; I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be behaving this way at ALL if that had not happened. But what if he blows this case? What if Sin Rostro gets away with everything? Also… have I seen<\/i> Sin Rostro? Are they somebody I know? Because I currently don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have any suspicions. I feel like I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m completely in the dark.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Xiomara\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dream<\/b><\/p>\n I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so into the mother-daughter parallels here, especially since they each feel, in their own way, that maybe their dream should have already happened. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, this is an ETERNAL mood. There was a sprawling conversation about this on Twitter not too long ago, when someone expressed some despair over the idea that they still hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t published yet and were in their 30s. HI, HELLO, FIRST-TIME NOVELIST AT 34. I understand why we focus on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153success\u00e2\u20ac\u009d when it comes from younger people, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly a whole lot of pressure to succeed early and do it big<\/i>, too. I felt that for most of my life, and I wrote about what that felt like when I was reviewing Terry Pratchett\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Moving Pictures<\/i> for Mark Reads. There is no age you HAVE to reach your dreams by! None! Most days, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m actually thankful I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t publish a book in my 20s; I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think I could have dealt with the pressures that came with it; I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think I would have even gotten published if I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t spent LITERAL YEARS reviewing and analyzing fiction on this site and Mark Reads. My path was strange and different, and I want Xiomara to appreciate the same thing for her own<\/i> journey.<\/p>\n Granted, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard when gatekeepers spout this kind of ageist bullshit. Xiomara is by no means the only woman who has ever been affected by this; the show is clearly referencing a longstanding bias in the music industry. Her talent doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter to the producer he saw because he expected someone younger. And the absurd thing about this is that any producer or marketer or publicist can make someone \u00e2\u20ac\u0153happen\u00e2\u20ac\u009d if they just put some effort into them. So I appreciate deeply the quiet gesture that Rogelio made here, especially<\/i> since he refused to gloat about it or take credit for it, which is definitely not what he usually does. No, I think he understood that Xiomara needed a boost from someone like Paulina Rubio, who has such a long and fascinating career. Look, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I really think Rubio was instrumental in the popularity of Latin pop, and I am certain<\/i> that countless people told Rubio that what she was doing wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t possible. Like going solo from Timbiriche; I feel like I read an interview of hers where she faced detractors telling her she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never find success on her own without the group.<\/p>\n Well, look at her now.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I want Xiomara to find happiness, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. And that includes romantically!!! MORE ON THAT NEXT.<\/p>\n Jane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dream<\/b><\/p>\n I love that Jane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interest in being a writer is not the main focus of this show, at least not right now. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot I relate to in this depiction because I, too, had a very full life while I was trying to be a fiction writing. Much of my career has actually involved heavy writing, but it was never really fiction. So I found what time I could, I sent off my stories or query letters, and I hoped for the best. I got almost entirely rejections for many, many years, at least until I finally got that first yes, the one that set everything into motion. More often than not, depictions of writers in other mediums is not very accurate, but this felt believable. After a long grind, you finally get your first acceptance, and the validation that often comes with it is immense. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a high! Like, the thing you<\/i> created had to be more memorable than anything else that person read??? Somehow???<\/p>\n At the same time, I was touched by Jane wanting to be selfless and respectful here, especially since the subject matter of her short story hit way too close to home. That scene where Jane and Xiomara discuss the contents of the story was refreshing, especially since it really drove home the sense that these two were actively trying not to keep secrets from one another. It hurt for Jane to admit that she judged her mother when she was younger, but her honesty wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t cruel. But she also didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t try to dodge how hurt her mother was by the character based on her.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n All of this was portrayed with tenderness and love, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m finding Jane the Virgin <\/i>best when it is at its most sincere. I hope dearly that Xiomara feels free to pursue who she wants now that Jane understands her mother so much better than she ever did. Her mother was<\/i> impulsive and promiscuous; she also sacrificed a great deal to make her daughter feel safe and happy.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m full of so many feelings, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.<\/p>\n The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chapter Nine\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> In the ninth episode of the first season of Jane the Virgin, Rafael and Jane face a new challenge while Xiomara chases her dreams. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Jane the Virgin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[705],"tags":[706],"class_list":["post-7567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jane-the-virgin","tag-mark-watches-jane-the-virgin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7567\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\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":"