{"id":7700,"date":"2020-11-27T08:00:26","date_gmt":"2020-11-27T16:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7700"},"modified":"2020-11-16T09:47:29","modified_gmt":"2020-11-16T17:47:29","slug":"mark-watches-jane-the-virgin-s05e06-chapter-eighty-seven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2020\/11\/mark-watches-jane-the-virgin-s05e06-chapter-eighty-seven\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Jane the Virgin’: S05E06 – Chapter Eighty-Seven"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the sixth episode of the fifth season of Jane the Virgin<\/i>, the Villanueva women realize how much they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve changed. 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 drug use and depression<\/b><\/p>\n

Well, not everything<\/i> hurt, but a lot of it still does? THIS SHOW, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rafael<\/b><\/p>\n

Oh, Rafael. Look what a change of perspective does. Because I admit that I was worried! I literally said so in my last review! Of course, like Jane, I was missing a key detail, one that not only explained Rafael\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s behavior but Petra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s secretive nature about what Rafael was going through. I also feel like this confirms something that is left unsaid: Rafael got that prescription for his anti-depressant prior<\/i> to this moment. Right? (Unless I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m misunderstanding what happened at the end of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chapter Eighty-Six,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and he did<\/i> try something else before switching to anti-depressants?) Either way, it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really matter. Rafael knows he is going through something that is difficult and challenging, and he sought out help.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I appreciated it just as much that the show didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t demonize him for making mistakes while coping with both his depression and the potential side effects of his new prescription. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an unfortunate stigma that we see too often, and hell, even as someone who has been dealing with depression the majority of my life, I still have to check my own understanding of it. For example, my therapist has gotten me to move away from describing myself as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153high-functioning\u00e2\u20ac\u009d depressive and to reframe it. I have had depression for so long and so intensely that I simply found ways to deal with it and live with it. Those adaptations aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always great, of course; I have a tendency to throw myself into work and into distractions rather than address the root cause of something. So, am I actually able to function in a depressive episode, or is it more that I have gotten really good at ignoring it and ignoring the emotional and physical toll it takes on my body?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even worse, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m setting myself up for failure and<\/i> judgment with that sort of thinking. Because I might have gotten good at persisting in the face of an episode, but guess what? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always \u00e2\u20ac\u0153succeed\u00e2\u20ac\u009d at it, and when I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhen it is monstrous trying to get out of bed, when I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t eat for a long time, when I overeat, when I stew in an episode and use it to punish myself\u00e2\u20ac\u201dI am overcome with guilt.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why do I bring this up in relation to Rafael? Because this script is, from my interpretation, tender when it comes to its treatment of him. Yes, we see all of this from Jane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s point of view for a reason. It allows us to understand how she is able to work herself up about Rafael while being completely wrong about him. We understand why she interprets his actions as she does. But this never slipped into a place where it felt like a condemnation. Once Petra reveals the truth to Jane, the whole episode transforms. Rafael\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s messy apartment, his tardiness, his odd sleep behavior\u00e2\u20ac\u201dall of it has a context that isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t demonized. This isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily any less uncomfortable to watch, of course, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not mean-spirited. The show doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make it seem like Rafael is a bad person for being depressed. Which is why I brought up what I did: Stigma makes us assign a moral value to disease. Only certain<\/i> people deserve it, and only certain<\/i> behaviors are allowed to be critiqued with harshness and severity. So I appreciate that this script doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go there.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ghosts of the Past<\/b><\/p>\n

I said something to this effect in a previous review, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so clear that Jane and Michael (the show is now fully calling him Michael, so I guess I will, too) are fundamentally different people. This is also why I assumed that scene on the bench was going in a specific direction. WHEN IT CLEARLY WAS NOT. Over the course of this episode, as Michael tracks down his memories of the day he spotted Rose as Eileen, there are constant reminders of this reality. Michael views his own behaviors from four years prior as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sappy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Which isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t how he used to see all of that. He was a romantic, and now? Well, after spending four years as Jason, his tastes have changed. His interests have changed. He might still be in love with Jane, but what if he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only in love with the version of who she used to be?<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually a very fascinating question, though I admit that I am also deeply frustrated by the ramifications of it in the present time. Which I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m supposed to be! This is a ridiculously upsetting situation, and seeing how much it is hurting Rafael makes it difficult on my end. Like, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fully accept the idea of Jane exploring this\u00e2\u20ac\u201deven though I know she has to\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbecause it causes so much pain to so very many people. At the same time\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 she has to know, right?<\/p>\n

So maybe Michael\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s suggestion is the real key to this all. Maybe if the two of them are far from Miami, this whole nightmare might start making some sense. I also<\/i> admit that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see Jane falling for Michael in Montana; I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to like his life there, even if she comes to understand it. Also\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 how is that logistically supposed to work? Jane can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t split her time between the two states, can she?<\/p>\n

UGH EVERYTHING HURTS.<\/p>\n

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

This, however, hurts significantly less than it used to! There were\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 so many queer women in this episode? A LESBIAN BAR NAMED TRUCK STOP? Oh my god, I know the bar is often so low for queer media, but it was a delight to see the show actually commit for an entire episode to introduce us to JR\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s friends, who are all part of this community in some way. (I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to presume to know their identities.) There was so much depth wrapped up in this plot! Petra is an outsider for a number of reasons, first of all. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s much newer to her identity as a bisexual woman, and as someone who was once a baby gay first out in an established scene, that journey is hard<\/i>. The queer community as a whole can be both accepting and off-putting to newcomers. In Petra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s specific case, she hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t experienced this kind of setting either! It was, as far as the show clued us in, the very first queer women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bar she ever went to. She was a fish out of water in that sense.<\/p>\n

But the writers smartly also introduced a second reason for the awkwardness in this episode AND with Leona in particular. Petra is truly having to deal with the ramifications of what she did to JR this season and last. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s working on building trust with JR; she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s determined to make JR feel safe; and here, she has to accept that JR\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s friends might be wary of her for a long, long time. Petra hurt their best friend badly, and as she learns with Jane in the very same bar, friends can be protective. (Which is what Petra was doing with Rafael, too!) I know that a large part of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chapter Eighty-Seven\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is the Villanueva women realizing they changed a great deal in the past few years, but you know what? Petra changed, too. So much. Petra of even four years ago would have bailed on this relationship the second it got challenging. (Or she would have self-sabotaged it.) But now?<\/p>\n

She really seems like she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in it for the long run.<\/p>\n

Alba<\/b><\/p>\n

HI, THANKS FOR MAKING MY HEART HURT EVEN MORE. Oh, I know I shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have, but like Alba, I kept holding on to the hope that maybe Jorge had<\/i> developed feelings for Alba. I wanted that reciprocation. But this is Jane the Virgin<\/i>, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all! Few things are that simple! Of course, Alba\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unrequited feelings are made even worse by the surprise visit from immigration officials, which inspires Jorge to give Alba the affection she wanted. God, even as Alba confessed how she felt, I kept thinking\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 maybe this is it. Maybe he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been hiding the same feelings from her and this will be the cathartic moment he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been waiting for!<\/p>\n

Nope. Not the case at all. As hard as it was, I respected that she told Jorge he couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t live with her permanently. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just not fair for her anymore. And while she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not backing out of their arrangement, she has to protect herself, you know?<\/p>\n

Xiomara<\/b><\/p>\n

I know that there are far more television shows that I haven’t<\/i> seen versus ones I have, so I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to claim that Jane the Virgin<\/i> did anything first. So let me filter this through what I know: I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seen a whole lot of mainstream television where older women are allowed to openly (and with detail!) discuss sex and sexuality like this. It was refreshing to see, first of all, made even more wonderful because it was two older Latina<\/i> women who were talking about masturbation, sex toys, and lubrication. While there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly some humor attempted in having Alba be so open about using a vibrator, the script actually takes things to a really sweet, helpful place, one that Xiomara needed as she struggled with the lack of her sex drive after finishing chemo. Shit, even Rogelio was really good to Xiomara here, and there was such an ease and willingness on his part to put his sexual desires and his ego aside to center Xo and her needs first, even if that meant that he had to leave her alone. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not an easy conclusion to come to, but he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fight her on it at all.<\/p>\n

Even though the two plots had nothing to do with one another, I appreciated this for the same reason I appreciated Rafael\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story: Both were very kind to people struggling with something that was both difficult and embarrassing. And I hope that discussions and stories like these reduce just how difficult and embarrassing both of these things are.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chapter Eighty-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":"