Chapter 18 of Jane the Virgin was a mother of an episode. Rita Moreno guest stars as Rogelio de la Vega’s doting mother, who just happens to despise her son’s girlfriend and mother of his child, Xiomara. While Rita Moreno makes an impression, it’s Rafael who left us freaking out and heartbroken at the end.
So… WHAT’S GOING ON?
Easter is coming up, and most know that holidays tend to have a direct correlation with drama. A lot of craziness will go down, and at the start of this week’s episode, you feel the tension beginning to build. Xo is already stressed out about Rogelio’s mother coming to stay with them for Easter. No matter how polite she is, his mother is rude and dismissive, and Rogelio is such a chump for letting his mom get away with that kind of behavior. Eventually, we find out that Rogelio never told his mother that he asked Xiomara to get an abortion.
Once Rogelio musters the guts to tell the truth to his mother, she apologizes to Xo, but then goes on to say how they shouldn’t be together. Xo is too old, especially if Rogelio wants more kids one day. Xo storms out and bumps into that cute guy she dated earlier this season. Her penchant for sabotaging her relationships kicks in, and they share a kiss. Quickly, she backs out of it and returns to Rogelio to tell him the truth. She’s stopped short when he tells her that he loves her and they can just “get new eggs.” Rogelio, please never change.
Jane is excited for Easter, but she has doubts. Knowing her, she can’t shake the doubts she has about Rafael and his commitment to their relationship and baby. His mind is always on the hotel, and he makes Jane give up on her family Easter traditions to help him secure an earlier court date to get the hotel’s liquor license back. Jane helps because she cares about him, and it was partially her fault for messing up the initial meeting with the city commissioner.
Now on to Rafael….
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The writers have been torturing us lately by where they’ve been taking Rafael character-wise. It’s both exciting and frustrating to have a love triangle that truly makes us switch back and forth between two good guys. This week, things aren’t looking that great for #TeamRafael. After meeting with his estranged mother, he learns the truth of why she abandoned him and his sister. His father paid her $10 million to leave and never contact them again. Wow. To recap, let’s list all of the bad things that happened to Rafael lately:
- His father was killed.
- His stepmother was the one who killed his father and happens to be the infamous crime lord, Sin Rostro.
- His sister is missing and probably carrying on her affair with Sin Rostro.
- His ex-wife now owns part of his hotel.
- With all the murders and crime activity at the Marbella, business is bad. (And they lost their liquor license in the last episode. A hotel without liquor in MIAMI? Bye.)
- His mother abandoned him as a child for money.
Poor guy. Not only are the writers killing us with Jane and Rafael’s relationship drama, but Rafael keeps going through a ton of bad shit. Yet, you would think that after all of this, he would hold on tighter to the good things in his life, like Jane. Just when Jane decides to get over her doubts of Rafael, he tells her that they should take a break. Jane interprets that as breaking up and is totally heartbroken, as are we. If there’s one thing we have learned about Rafael lately is that he doesn’t handle bad things all that well. As fellow TYF writer, Cachie Gonzalez, tweeted…
@GabrielleAdelle he's definitely proved that his problem solver is binge drinking and fighting with Jane… Not cool bro.
— CachieG (@thee_cachie) April 14, 2015
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Much of the episode is focused on leading up to that ending. It would be nice to take a break from all of the heavy relationship stuff, but next week’s preview looks like we’ll be spending a lot time watching Jane try to win Rafael back. Only thing is that she shouldn’t have to do that. Honestly, I think the guy just needs a friend right now. It may be a little tough right now, and we may have our doubts. Let’s just have faith that everything will work out by the time that baby arrives.
Other things from Chapter Eighteen that should be noted….
- Petra (and I) was right about Roman Zazo still being alive. Too bad Roman kidnapped her before Michael could make an arrest.
- Alba WOULD have a crush on a priest. Now, she actually has a date with him. This kind of freaks me out because my grandma is obsessed with The Thornbirds.
- The whole thing with Jane and the city commissioner didn’t give us as much as I hoped. For one thing, I thought it was kind of cliché and didn’t dig deep into how different Jane’s world is from Rafael’s rich one.
- Michael, stop making us think you’re so cute with that date sweater. Also, for a second, I was scared that Michael would be revealed as Rafael’s half-brother. Now, I wonder who that will be. For sure, it’s going to be a big deal.
- Jane should be more concerned about Michael’s stalker/ex-girlfriend. That’s not going to end well.
- The Villanueva women with their discussions on doubt and faith continue be the heart of this series. I love them.
Gaby’s Crazy (But it COULD happen!) Jane the Virgin Theory of the Week:
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Roman Zazo is going to take Petra to her mother, who is going to blackmail Petra into doing bad things for her.
Rating: 7/10
“It should be noted that…”Jane the Virgin airs Mondays at 9/8c on The CW. Watch a preview for next week’s episode:
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