In the twelfth episode of the first season of Jane the Virgin<\/i>, I was absolutely not ready. At all. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Jane the Virgin<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For discussion of domestic abuse, stalking, forced institutionalization, brief mention of suicide<\/b>.<\/p>\n
What the fuck, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. WHAT THE FUCK.<\/p>\n
Writing the Exit<\/b><\/p>\n
Most of this episode veers into the telenovela realm, but Jane and Rogelio\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plot? Oh, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just so touched<\/i>. I love how much Jane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flashback to losing Alba\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s earrings matters to the story, and I love that the twist near the end sheds some light on why Rogelio seemed like such an unforgivable person. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to repeat myself, I know, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all so genuine<\/i>. Both of these characters are trying as hard as they can in a circumstance that is deeply, deeply complicated.<\/p>\n
From Jane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perspective, this dream of a lifetime is also a bit of a curse. She finally gets to write a script for an entire episode! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure how realistic it is that she was offered this with no script writing experience, but I also think that while the show may be cutting some corners, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sort of the point. None of the existing writers wanted<\/i> to pen the episode in which Santos was killed off of his own show. Plus, Dina did this to soften the blow, right? If this episode was written by the daughter that Rogelio just recently reunited with, it wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sting quite so bad, would it?<\/p>\n
Yet throughout most of the episode, I felt like Jane wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t addressing the elephant in the room. For what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth, I understood that. In the immediate aftermath of this news, she did what she could to comfort her father and also give him a means of possibly changing the showrunner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 mind. Which wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to work for reasons I DID NOT EVEN KNOW. Because everything I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d seen had shown me that Rogelio was a demanding, rude diva. Which\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 is not all that far from what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen of him, if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m being frank??? It was believable! Rogelio is an arrogant person, caught up in this world of being a telenovela star. He often mixes up fantasy and reality (a persistent motif in Jane the Virgin<\/i>), and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly let this all go to his head. So I definitely believed that he was such a jerk that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been written off the show.<\/p>\n
But what does that do to someone whose entire identity is attached to this character? To this experience of being a telenovela star? Well, Rogelio is distraught, and he also lashes out at the head writer, so he handled it basically how I expected him to? Thankfully, Xiomara helped him see that this could be the start of something new, and Jane\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwonderful, trusting, forgiving Jane\u00e2\u20ac\u201dtries to find the silver lining in everything. Ugh, she tries so hard, and I LOVE THIS ABOUT HER. She holds on to her optimism despite everything that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happened to her. Unfortunately, that also explains why she completed missed the fact that Rogelio\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s assistant sabotaged him. She just saw him as a nice guy doing a nice thing by talking to her about the script!\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But something beautiful came out of this. Rogelio and Jane are most definitely<\/i> closer now from this experience. Jane drew from a painful memory\u00e2\u20ac\u201dlosing Alba\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s earrings\u00e2\u20ac\u201dto give her father a poetic death, one that also engaged with the telenovela style that had given her trouble in the previous episode. Look, I want Jane to keep writing, and I would be overjoyed if this resulted in more TV-writing opportunities. But if that was Rogelio\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s final appearance, it was Jane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s last chance here, right? She served the purpose she needed to. Still, I was proud of her: she adapted to the situation, and she still delivered. That<\/i> is the sign of a good writer, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.<\/p>\n Luisa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Apology<\/b><\/p>\n I know Luisa is a mess, but this episode made me feel even worse<\/i> for her. The shocking reveal of what happened to Rafael\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Luisa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother only created a deeper tragedy for Luisa. Their mother struggled with her own mental illness and unfortunately took her life. So yeah, this would be deeply, deeply triggering for Luisa, since it made her family distrust her. Yes, I understand Rafael wanting to protect her out of fear of a repeat situation, but this is going to have longterm ramifications. Obviously, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a bigger problem at work here that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll talk about at the end, but I still feel like Luisa is suffering the worst fate out of everyone here. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been punished repeatedly and rather violently for what she did. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not to exonerate her or suggest that she shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be held responsible for her actions. But holy shit, she isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t lying! She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not delusional at all! She made bad<\/i> decisions, but she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make anything up, you know?<\/p>\n So I felt like her attempts at apologizing were based in sincerity. Yes, she wants to get out of that place, too. Understandable! I just feel like she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been flung from one disaster to another, but nothing ever goes her way.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Milos<\/b><\/p>\n HI, WHAT THE FUCK. This whole plot was terrifying, and then it went to a place I absolutely did not expect. Look, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like Milos at all, and despite that Magda has lied about a lot of things, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see there being any possible (believable) redemption for him. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s creepy! And awful! And Magda lying doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make him any less of an abusive ex! Like, if your response to someone lying about your infidelity is to become abusive, then\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what to tell you. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re still awful. So I feel really weird about Petra going along with this just to prove that her mother is a liar. Milos got to play the abusive ex a little too strongly, and I still think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s who he is at the end of the day. That being said: I have no idea where this story is going from here. IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S BARELY THE HALFWAY POINT OF THE SEASON. What now<\/i>???<\/p>\n Sin Rostro<\/b><\/p>\n I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see it coming, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I bought every misdirect, every red herring. I honestly thought it was Emilio. In hindsight, Rose\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to masterfully manipulate people was\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 right there. It was right there. And that means she was probably manipulating Emilio to make all those deals, right? So she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now sent Rafael on the wrong path, and both Michael and Nadine have fallen for it, too.<\/p>\n I just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 holy shit. Emilio\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death. I am still reeling from it??? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN HALFWAY THROUGH THE SHOW AND NOT DURING A SEASON FINALE? Oh my god, what NIGHTMARE twists await me if the writers are willing to do this so early<\/i>?<\/p>\n HELP.<\/p>\n The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chapter Twelve\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 twelfth episode of the first season of Jane the Virgin, I was absolutely not ready. At all. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Jane the Virgin. Trigger Warning: For discussion of domestic abuse, stalking, forced institutionalization, … Continue reading
\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>.
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