Jane the Virgin, “Chapter Nineteen,” was written by the team of Emmylou Diaz and David S Rosenthal and was directed by Robert Luketic, who is likely best known for directing Legally Blonde. The episode features more great guest stars: Nia Vardolas is Dr Barbara Stanbrook and Jane Seymour returns as Amanda Elaine. The episode features more great performances from the cast, especially Justin Baldoni as Rafael and Gina Rodriguez as Jane. And of course, the drama which takes a serious look at the difference between sex and love is interspersed with the humor and magic realism that truly keeps the show magical.
The flashback is about sex education, but really highlights that there is a difference between sex and love. Love, like the flower, needs to be nurtured. Jane (Jenna Ortega), the romantic, is all about the flower, but Lina (Dayrin Martineza) is all about the practical. She tells the other girls that her four sisters have told her “where everything goes and for how long.”
Naturally, then it’s Lina (Diane Guerrero) who points out to Jane that if she has the baby vaginally, she’ll technically be losing her virginity to the baby! But Jane’s virginity is more than just the physical breaking of the hymen to her – it’s giving herself to the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with. A quick shout out to Guerrero for the heart-felt speech to Jane at the baby shower – this is one of her best scenes to date.
After quickly going through the stages of grief in 16 hours and 22 minutes, Jane begins the episode determined to make things work with Rafael. I love how cleverly the subtitles tell us that Jane has reached the “Acceptance” stage and then changes the caption to “NON-acceptance” as Rafael opens the door. Rafael keeps telling Jane – and later Barbara – that the two of them are just too different and that he’s always disappointing Jane. I think this is a nice echo of how Rafael felt about his father – the other most important person in his life. I’m hopeful that at some point, Rafael will stop trying to satisfy his dead father and put Jane first – or at least realize that he doesn’t have to disappoint her. Baldoni is really excellent in this episode as we see his conflict very clearly – the pain of that conflict comes through loud and clear in his performance and is wonderfully contrasted with the love you see in Rafael’s face when he allows his true love for Jane to shine through.
A little digging on Jane’s part, with Lina’s help, reveals the real reason Rafael was so upset, and Jane immediately goes to him with the knowledge of his meeting with his mother. Rafael admits that he loves her and agrees to couples’ therapy. I loved the little flashbacks we get throughout this episode. Jane is joined by her cheerleading squad of “five-years-ago Jane,” “Pool Jane,” and “Petal Jane” after she thinks back through her relationship with Rafael. There’s also a flashback of Nadine (Azie Tesfai) and Michael’s (Brett Dier) relationship later in the episode. And we get Jane and Rafael’s relationship “in a nutshell.” All of these in addition to the previously on are very helpful in keeping track of all the twists and turns!
The therapist session shows how differently Jane and Rafael are feeling about their relationship. Jane acknowledges that they are very different and grew up very differently, but she’s eager to navigate their problems. Rafael isn’t sure their relationship can be fixed. I liked that the therapy sessions were not just a source of humor. Barbara really does give good advice! She tells them they both have to be willing to work at it and make compromises, and she gives them a list of exercises to help them.
Rafael shows up at the baby shower with flowers as he’s supposed to – finally, he doesn’t disappoint Jane! And in the course of going through “How well do you know your partner,” Rafael realizes how much he loves Jane and tells her he wants to try. They try to do the exercises. I was very happy that WE got subtitles during the staring game! I also liked that the final subtitle – This is ridiculous – appeared for both of them at the same time. When Jane wants to go through the list of “spontaneous” activities, Rafael points out that a list is hardly spontaneous, so Jane says, “Screw the list! Let’s go rogue!” and suggests skinny dipping!
Again, both Rodriguez and Baldoni are wonderful in this scene as they convey the love between these two. Caught up in the moment Jane suggests they have sex, but they are stopped by the arrival of Nick (Seth Laird) the security guard. Jane tells Xo (Andrea Navedo), and Xo points out that Jane can compromise many things, but she can’t compromise who she is. Jane acknowledges that sex won’t change anything fundamentally about their relationship.
Jane goes to Rafael the next day to say having sex would be a mistake, but she’s willing to make another compromise and she wants to move in with him. It’s telling that when Jane arrives, Rafael has been drinking again. He tells her that last night made things clear for him too. He tells her that he “realized that something has changed. I don’t love you the way that you love me.” He tells her that he was just caught up in the idea of them being a family. Jane and all the other Jane’s walk out. This was another brilliant scene between these two, and I actually had a physical reaction to Rafael’s rejection of Jane.
However, the scene doesn’t end there – thank heavens for the narrator (Anthony Mendez)! He tells us that we’re all thinking that this isn’t the Rafael that we’ve come to know and love and then tells us “Let me explain.” Rafael had gone back to the therapist that morning. He tells her that he’s in a very dark place right now and doesn’t want to drag Jane down with him. The narrator tells us, “Rafael really thought he was doing the right thing. For Jane. For their child. And it should be noted that that didn’t make it any easier.” Am I the only one who was thinking that rather than dragging Jane down, she might be able to pull him up and that he was selling Jane short? But it's clear to see that Rafael is making a sacrifice by letting Jane go.
Rafael and Jane are not the only ones whose relationship is in trouble and seems to be over in this episode. Michael discovers Andie (Rachel DiPillo) had been stalking Jane and confronts Jane for not telling him. As always, I loved the scene between Michael and Jane. He goes from being ticked off at her to genuine concern as he realizes immediately that she is upset. She tells him she’s broken up with Rafael, and Michael immediately texts Andie to say it’s over between the two of them. Kind of a douchy move to break up by text Michael!
Xo is consumed with guilt over kissing Marco but is scared to tell Rogelio (Jaime Camil). Even Jane, who always advocates telling the truth warns Xo that Rogelio is a very proud man. Xo’s guilt is made worse by Rogelio inviting her to be the opening act for his Las Vegas “residency” – clearly he’s not quite got the definition of that quite right which is hysterical. I loved his hashtag for the episode “DeLaVegasBaby!” Rogelio’s showing up to sing at Jane’s shower is sweet – and Rogelio-centric at the same time – how does one not love Rogelio?! His serenade of his original song for Jane is interrupted when Amanda Elaine suddenly jumps up and slaps him declaring, “That’s for Tampa!”
As always, this is hilarious as we learn that Amanda and Rogelio had sex when he was trying out for the movie adaptation of her book, Love Under the Bridge. He mistook the casting couch for “the” casting couch and had sex with her thinking it would secure the part. He didn’t realize it was pointless to sleep with the writer! Here again, the theme that sex and love aren’t the same thing come through loud and clear – and Rogelio doesn’t get what he wants through sex either. However, Amanda forgives Rogelio but not before kissing him. He immediately tells her that he’s taken and in a relationship and won’t be lead astray. I also loved that he thought he’d patched things up with her by sending her one of his famous gift baskets.
Rogelio can’t keep his secret from Xo and confesses at the photo shoot. She immediately forgives him and he tells her that he’s not a monster and would think the same of her. Unfortunately, it’s not the same, so when Xo does finally confess, Rogelio points out the difference: Amanda kissed him, but Xo kissed Marco. She was in control where he was not. Rogelio storms off the photo set – once Philip (Leo Degart) says he’s done, of course – saying they are over!
Meanwhile, in a more dramatic turn, we see Petra (Yael Grobglas) kidnapped by Roman (Alano Miller) and being held in the everglades. Michael is worried about her, and he and Nadine are on the case, but Petra has to help herself first. Roman is trying to take over Sin Rostro’s operation, and Petra asks him to take her with him. They want the same thing – lots of money. Roman is impressed that she doesn’t even pretend to love him. Petra points out that they know each other too well to lie to each other and then they have sex to seal the deal. It’s another great contrast to Jane and Rafael. Sex isn’t the equivalent of love, but even Petra and Roman seem to know each other better than Jane and Rafael. Or do they? Petra is simply playing along until she can get Roman’s phone.
Petra manages to get her location out before Roman wakes up and takes the phone away. Ironically, Roman is once again killed by being impaled when he literally runs onto the harpoon that Petra is holding. Michael and Nadine soon arrive and find the real thumb drive. Petra is clearly shaken and tries to turn to Rafael for comfort, but he puts her off as Jane comes to see him. Petra calls her mother in desperation for comfort, and we see Magda (Priscilla Barnes) arrive back at the hotel. Grobglas is also excellent in this episode as we see her work her best game on Roman but we also see her truly terrified and vulnerable.
We aren’t the only ones to see Magda, however. Alba (Ivonne Coll) also sees Magda when Alba comes to pick Jane up at the hotel, and this jogs her memory. Alba remembers Magda pushing her down the stairs!
Michael also makes the shocking discovery that Nadine was working for Sin Rostro when he finally gets the thumb drive decrypted. She confesses and apologizes but says that Sin Rostro had threatened her family. Michael gives Nadine a head start, telling her it will take him one or maybe two hours to decrypt the whole list and get it to Anderson. I can’t believe that this isn’t going to end badly for Michael when they find out he let her go. Is she playing him too?
All in all, this was a great episode – lots of drama and humor, and some terrific performances. Unfortunately, love seems to be the loser in this episode – except maybe for Michael? What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.
