Jane the Virgin, “Chapter Thirty-Three” was directed by Uta Briesewitz and written by Michael J Cinquemani, who has also written for Revenge, Brothers and Sisters, General Hospital, and All My Children. This was a very relationship intense episode with little happening on the crime lord front, though Bridget Regan (Rose) is briefly back at the end of the episode! I have to admit that I’m not enjoying the Chavez (Adam Rodriguez)/Jane (Gina Rodriguez) romance at all, and it’s made me lose a lot of respect for Jane.
The episode begins with our regular flashback. All three Villanueva women are trying to share their one, tiny bathroom. After Xo (Andrea Navedo) spits toothpaste in her hair – by accident! - Jane snaps at Xo that if she had a regular job, they wouldn’t have to share. Xo explains it’s just hard to give up her dream – a theme we will see play out in the present.
In the present, Xo is teasing Jane about her hot dream about Chavez. I love this cast! The two are adorable together. Jane is doing a public reading of her work, so goes to meet with Chavez to discuss it. It’s hilarious to see Jane interpret everything he says as a double entendre.
The reading goes very well. Xo, Rogelio (Jaime Camil), and Alba (Ivonne Coll) are in the front row and Chavez is smiling and nodding from the side. And then, Jane substitutes Chavez’s name – Jonathon – for her hero’s! Awkward! But then afterwards he says he particularly liked the addition of the Jonathon character and winks at her.
Chavez asks Jane for a favor. He’d like to bring his mother (Carole Gutierrez) to set to meet Rogelio. Meanwhile, Jane gets advice from Xo. Xo tells her to look for the signs: stop calling him Chavez, becomes more familiar – non-school events, touching. Xo tells her that he’s Jane’s teacher, so Jane needs to make sure that she lets him know she’s open to it.
Rogelio readily agrees to the set visit because he’s in Jane’s bad books. He had offered to baby sit Mateo. It’s hilarious as Rogelio pleads his case while swinging the scissors madly about! Jane had only asked him before to be nice and when she knew he couldn’t do it. She has no excuse now and has to let him.
While Xo and Jane are baby proofing Rogelio’s apartment, they find the ring and Jane confesses that she overheard Liliana give the ring to Rogelio. When Rogelio comes home, the two try to hide the ring, but he knows somethings up. Jane confesses to having found the ring. He says it’s a family heirloom, and he wants JANE to have it!
However, Rogelio does have a diamond for Xo! He’s going a wonderful job babysitting – and really enjoying it – when Jane calls to chew him out. She’s seen him tweeting – her hashtag is #madincar! But those were pre-arranged publicity tweets, and it’s only when Jane has distracted him that Mateo is able to swallow the diamond! This results in a trip to the hospital – and some poop-watch!
Jane quickly realizes that she is more mad at herself and that Rogelio feels bad – and his face in the hospital was all the proof that I needed! However, his guilt also results in him being adorable with Chavez’s mother. Jaime Camil is just SO good in these scenes as he pours on the charm!
Chavez is thrilled and walks Jane to her car where she thinks she misreads the signs and kisses his sweater – AWKWARD! Jane goes to talk to him to ask if they can just put it behind them. He says he wasn’t trying to lead her on because it could get him in trouble – for good reason. Jane ultimately decides that she can’t get past it and tells Chavez that she’ll get another supervisor, at which point Chavez immediately wants to start dating. And at which point I lost all respect for both of them. Jane was a lot more on point when she wondered how she could have jeopardized her writing career over a hot guy. And regardless of when their first date is, this started before Jane decided she’d get another supervisor.
Xo is meanwhile having a crisis about what she wants to do with the rest of her life. Rogelio is intent on throwing her a fabulous forty birthday bash. In the end, Xo ditches the party that she never wanted in order to do what she really wants to do – sing. Just as for Jane’s reading the entire family shows up to watch – and Navedo nails it.
Rogelio proposes – finally! It is a beautiful proposal as Rogelio goes down on one knee and tells Xo that his whole journey has been about finding his way back to her. Xo is completely upfront and honest with him. She doesn’t want to have any more kids and wonders if that’s a deal breaker. Rogelio doesn’t know.
Petra (Yael Grobglas) and Rafael (Justin Baldoni) seem to grow closer over the potential loss of a big client. The bride cancels because Petra treated her terribly in the past when Izzie (Nishi Munshi) was a barrista. Izzie has channeled her anger into her art, creating a piece she calls Trophy Wife that is clearly Petra – hilarious!
We see that in flashbacks Petra had set her sights on Rafael early on. However, just as she’s about to marry him, Magda (Priscilla Barnes) reprimands her because Petra really is in love with Rafael. In the present, Petra gets the account back by subjecting herself to the embarrassment of having the statue in the lobby of the Mirabella. She also takes the high road when Rafael moves in to kiss her. She stops him and asks him if he’s over Jane. His face clearly answers no.
“Chapter Thirty-Four” was written by Madeline Hendricks and was directed by Howard Deutch. This is Hendricks first writing credit but she’s been Jennie Snyder Urman’s assistant for the entire run of the show. There were two nice magic realism effects that ran throughout the episode that I really liked. One was a return to Jane’s flower from the very first episode – we keep seeing flowers blooming and wilting as Jane waffles on what to do about her virginity. I also loved the pink/red lighting every time someone was romanticizing something! The show really does these perfectly for me – not hit you over the head, but not exactly subtle either – just the perfect mid-way point.
The flashback introduces both blooming flowers – that Michael (Brett Dier) brings on their date – and the rosy romantic of their relationship. When she tells Michael she’s a virgin, he is totally ok with waiting. His badge poking her becomes important as a trigger to reminding her what’s important later in the episode. We’ll also end the episode with these two on the porch! I love the careful writing on this show!
Jane has decided that she’s ready to let go of her virginity and that Chavez is the one. He brings his own baggage as apparently Jane is the first person he’s going to have sex with after breaking up with his wife. Anybody else suspicious of just how broken up/divorced he is?
Both say they want to keep things light. He’s going to be going away on sabbatical – which prompts the question of how he was going to supervise her to begin with, but we’ll hand wave at that. Jane proves that giving up her virginity is a big deal because she does tell Chavez – and she doesn’t tell Alba, which really hurt Alba. But Alba has a shocking revelation for Jane - Alba had sex before she got married! Chavez also feels the weight of being “the one,” but ultimately, it’s Jane who realizes she can’t go through with it.
Meanwhile, Xo and Rogelio are trying to decide on whether kids is a deal breaker for them going forward with the engagement. Rogelio finally shows Xo what he says is the Scientology tape – much to the narrator’s relief! We do eventually get to the tape with several false starts, and it turns out that Rogelio was unknowingly a gigolo! But we see much later in the episode that that wasn’t really the tape – the one he’s still hiding is the one in which he says that Xo is his greatest love. He also happens to mention that his prison penpal Lola is about to get out of prison…
This episode is really even more brilliantly structured than they usually are. I loved them cutting back and forth between the Jane telenovela and the one that Rogelio is shooting. Rogelio in his telenovela has traveled back in time to become the first male feminist – which is hysterical. Because in our telenovela, he introduces Xo as his fiancée to the cast and crew and just assumes that she will change her name when they are married.
Xo sees Rogelio helping a young fan with his camera and realizes how good he is with kids and how much he likes them. Rogelio is convinced that Xo will change her mind – though he just says maybe she will. He convinces her to agree to have her eggs frozen “just in case.” Xo agrees, but after changing Mateo, she realizes that she likes being a grandmother but no longer wants the responsibility of being a parent. She gives Rogelio back the ring because she knows that he still wants children and she’s sure now that she doesn’t.
Rafael tries to get Petra to go to Jane for advice. I was really enjoying seeing a nicer, gentler side to Petra, but it’s clear in this episode that she is going to continue to be the oil to Jane’s water. Jane throws Petra a baby shower, not because she feels sorry for Petra but because she wants Mateo to have a bigger family than she had herself.
Rafael is still holding out hope that he and Jane can be together. He tells Jane that he didn’t tell her about his kissing Petra because he still loves Jane. Jane tells him that her feelings have changed and she can’t leave the door open – words that Xo will echo.
The chase for Rose and Mutter comes to a head in this episode. I loved the narrator teasing us all the way through about getting ahead of himself. Rafael and Luisa (Yara Martinez) fight and he tells her that he won’t forgive her. She ends up getting into a terrible car accident after she falls off the wagon. Even Luisa’s car accident is paralleled in Rogelio’s show!
Michael and Susanna (Megan Ketch) have identified and caught one of the plastic surgery thugs and are using him for bait to catch Rose. The narrator keeps telling us that Michael had everything riding on the outcome! In fact, the thug was the public plan – the real plan was to catch Rose when she came to Luisa in the hospital! Rose manages to take Susanna hostage and then Susanna is shot. In the end, Rose is killed with a blue silk tie – by Elena! Her own stepmother!!! I was very, very sad to lose Regan as Rose – fingers crossed that she has an evil twin…
However, the best news of all, is that with Rose’s death, Michael is free. He couldn’t come back to Jane until he knew that she and Mateo would be safe. We are back where we began in the episode – the front porch. Michael tells Jane that he wouldn’t endanger her. The narrator tells us that there are some moments that can’t be romanticized… Michael asks if Jane still loves him and she says YES!
What did you think of the two episodes? So much happened! And Elena is still on the loose – and Lola is about to arrive! 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.
