Jane the Virgin, “Chapter Thirty-Two,” was written by Micah Schraft and was directed by Jason Reilly, whose other credits include 2 Broke Girls, The Carrie Diaries, and Fetching.
This week’s flashback is a ‘portrait of the young artist’ and shows Jane with her very first laptop. She waits for inspiration to strike, but the moral of this week’s tale is that we never know where inspiration will strike. For Jane, it’s on the bus and involves a man in a bowler hat… I loved this week’s magic realism touch of the exaggerated glow from the laptop.
In the present, Jane (Gina Rodriguez) wakes up in the middle of the night and is struck with inspiration to writer her thesis. Everyone at breakfast next morning is happy, it seems. Xo (Andrea Navedo) is happy that Rogelio (Jaime Camil) finally sees his mother (Rita Moreno) as manipulative. Grandpa (Diego Boneta) has never been happier. And everyone is thrilled to see Mateo crawling, until Jane’s computer is pulled of the table and has orange juice spilled on it! Who isn’t struck with terror at the sight of FATAL SYSTEM ERROR on their computer?
Meanwhile, Liliana is making Rogelio breakfast – and making his life miserable. He tells her he just wants her to be happy. She asks him to talk to his father and get him to change his mind. Rogelio does speak to his father, but he’s very much in love with Carlos. He explains that the reason he’s stayed away from Rogelio’s plays was that he was afraid he’d be outed. He does suggest that Liliana was always more interested in Rogelio’s career.
We get a flashback to Liliana coaching a very young Rogelio through an audition. Rogelio decides to hire his mother as his new manager, and Xo is not happy. Rogelio isn’t happy for long either as his mother starts causing all kinds of trouble on set. When Xo asks him how work was, he tells her that he’s not comfortable sharing with her, but finally admits Liliana is driving him crazy. Xo tells him to tell Liliana to tone it down.
Finally, Rogelio decides that he is going to have to fire his mother. He tells her that she’s “too present and opinionated.” She is surprisingly ok with it. She says it’s because she’s a professional, but it’s really because she knew it was coming because she’d overheard Rogelio and Xo because Rogelio still had his microphone on.
Xo, however, sees Liliana afterwards and sees how sad she is. She goes to her and lies, saying that she told Rogelio to fire her. Liliana admits she overheard and knows Xo is lying and thanks her for it. In the end, everyone shows up for the filming of the final scene – which Liliana takes credit for writing!
Liliana takes Rogelio aside. She tells him that she has no idea what she’s going to do next, but she’s resilient. She’ll figure it out. She also gives Rogelio her ring and tells him to marry Xo! She’s finally realized that Xo is a good woman, and Xo has clearly won her over.
Jane takes her computer to the store to see if it can be saved and takes Lina (Diane Guerrero) with her. Lina insists that the computer store guy is flirting with Jane. She tells her, You need a re-boot! You’re a 24 year old single mom, not a grandma! Jane insists she wants to “meet cute” – not through social media or online dating.
Rafael (Justin Baldoni) brings Jane a loaner laptop when he comes over to watch Mateo. Of course, Rafael has had a really bad day… We first see him unconscious where his mother left him, discovered by Michael (Brett Dier) and Susanna (Megan Ketch). Rafael pulls Michael aside to tell him that she wanted the thumb drive they’d traded to Sin Rostro to get Mateo back. Neither wants Susanna to know about the trade off because it involved breaking a “bunch” of laws! It’s clear to everyone now that Rafael’s mother is Mutter. Rafael “downloads” the entire story to Jane.
Jane goes off to a coffee shop to write. While there, a guy comes up for their date! Jane explains that she’s no on Cinder (ummmm Tinder wannabe anyone?), and quickly realizes that Lina has set the whole thing up. When she gets back home, she tells Rafael about the blind date. It clearly bothers him. He texts that hearing about the date bothers him and he really wants to text back that he loves her.
Rafael gets a call from Petra (Yael Grobglas) that she’s in the hospital, so he races there. She’s had some bleeding but everything’s ok. She just needs bedrest for the next week. Rafael insists on getting her a nurse, but she ends up running them all off. Rafael ends up staying with her himself after she finally admits that she’s terrified because of the late term miscarriage she had four years ago.
There’s a terrific scene between the two as they are both in the bed, picking names out of a bowl. When the babies start kicking, Rafael puts his hand on Petra’s tummy. Rafael is beginning to worry about what kind of a parent he’ll be. He tells Petra, “my mother’s a monster.” She replies, “but you’re not.” It really is hard to choose whose mother is worse between the two!
Jane meanwhile is struggling to re-create the amazing chapter that was lost. She is determined to delete her Cinder profile, but when she opens up the account to do so, she sees that she has 42 messages and even gets some winks! Of course, given the picture Lina put up, none of the guys who respond are at all interesting to Jane, but as an experiment she puts up a nice picture of herself with Mateo. Greg responds, they chat, and they set up a date to meet for coffee.
The date seems to be going really well. Jane likes him, but when she goes back online, he’s blocked her! Lina advises her not to look for Mateo’s next daddy but just to look for someone to have fun with. Lina and Jane go out to a bar and run into the guy from the computer store. They end up going to a skate park where Jane ends up crashing – she really isn’t sports oriented! He tells her that she “can’t let her fear of falling keep her from flying.” It’s not bad advice. The two kiss before he reveals that he has a girlfriend!
Jane laments that she doesn’t know how to do “this” with a kid. Xo tells her what she should already know. Jane is a relationship person. She doesn’t do casual. Xo also suggest that maybe Jane isn’t ready for another relationship yet, and that’s okay. It’s hilarious to watch Alba (Ivonne Coll) browse for guys with Jane – “It’s like shopping on Amazon!” Jane puts in her whole list of what she wants in a guy – and gets no hits. Later in the episode, we see Alba doing her own shopping. Jane also realizes that she actually knows someone who fits her list – Professor Chavez (Adam Rodriguez)!
It’s while she’s on the bus, just like in the flashback at the beginning of the episode, that Jane is once again faced with the man in the bowler hat – her inspiration is back and the writing flows out of her – loved this little touch! Once again we’re told, “You never know when inspiration is going to strike!” Which is a lot like love.
Michael also needs to be inspired in the episode. Michael, being Michael, determines he has to come clean with Susanna about the thumb drive. She’s furious at first, and gathers all his infractions to confront him. She tells him she wants to know all the details. Michael relates how he and Nadine (Azie Tesfai) used to meet at a tourist place on the beach each afternoon. On their final meeting she drops a beer bottle and cuts his leg. She tells him “you have to trust me or it’s on you.” Michael finally realizes that Nadine planted the chip in the cut on his leg! He removes it, and brings it in.
I thought this was another fun episode that nicely intertwined all the storylines around that central theme. What did you think of the episode? Favorite scene? Favorite line? Do you think Nadine is really dead? What is on that chip? Have we really seen the last of Rose? 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, Agent Carter, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The X-Files, Defiance, Bitten, Killjoys, and a few others! I'm active on the Con scene when I have the time. 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.
