Jane The Virgin

[sweetdumbass]

QUOTE

Jane is a religious young Latina who is a waitress in a hotel in Miami. Her life takes a big turn for the unexpected when her doctor (Dr. Luisa Alver) mistakenly artificially inseminates her during her checkup. Jane's mother Xiomara, who became pregnant with Jane at a very young age, is scared that Jane will be destroying her life by deciding to bring the baby to full term, while Jane's traditional religious Latina grandmother, Alba, encourages Jane to do what she chooses. The biological father is a married man named Rafeal Solano, who is a cancer survivor and a former playboy. He is the new owner of the hotel where Jane works, and was her former teenage crush. Petra, Rafael's amoral and scheming wife, learns of the mistake and plots her own agenda. Petra is also involved in an affair with Roman Zazo, Rafael's best friend, who is under investigation by Jane's police detective boyfriend, Michael, and who also deals with Jane's unexpected condition in his own way. Meanwhile, the doctor who inseminated Jane, Dr. Luisa Alver, who is Rafael's younger sister, is distraught over learning that her wife cheated on hear and left her. Elsewhere, Rogelio de la Vega, a famous TV star and, unbeknownst to her, Jane's biological father, shows up to wanting to make contact with Xiomara, unaware of Jane's existence.

I don't even know what to say besides that I love this? The bond between the three generations of Villanueva women is soooo heartwarming and wholesome. Rogelio is hilarious and not insufferable at all. Petra challenges what you'd expect from a telenovela villainess and is definitely the heroine of her own story. And Luisa is batshit. Just. Batshit. Michael and Rafael are whatever, I guess at least they provide fanservice. I need more Lina though, definitely love her. Diane Guerrero is bae in everything. And of course the narration is brilliant. This show really deserves the recognition it gets and Gina Rodriguez can make me cry for any number of reasons.





Anyway, anyone else watching this? Who is the biggest piece of shit, Rafael or Michael? What are sum other good telenovelas? Discuss.

[Ted, Tedd, and Teddy]

Who is the biggest piece of shit, Rafael or Michael?

Michael bothers me the most. Because he almost falls into the "Nice Guy" trope repeatedly. He's nice, sweet, supportive, and basically a boy-scout but he relies on that waaay too much in his relationship with Jane. He's constantly waiting for her to see how "bad" Rafael is for her and come back to the guy who is "good" for her.

Michael also has a habit of using his history with Jane to emotionally manipulate her into believing he's the only one she could ever really have a life with. The last half of season 1 was him basically waiting for Rafael or Rafael's family to mess up so he could slide next to Jane and whisper "I told you so" into her ear. The writers made it so difficult for me to enjoy Michael for more than a few scenes per episode.

Plus, he was kinda obsessed with her. Like, I know you can't just quickly get over someone who you've been in a relationship with for 5 yrs and were going to marry, but Michael was always around Jane, always thinking of ways to screw Rafael over to make Jane come back to him, and he was even willing to abuse his position as a police officer, on more than one occasion, to pin the Sin Rostro crimes on Rafael without any substantial evidence.

In season 2, I found him to be slightly better but still pretty bad.

Rafael:

We’ve known since season 1 how deep his insecurities go and how those insecurities influence his personality for the worse.

Him basically begging Jane to see Michael as the “villain” is just Rafael grasping at straws because he doesn’t want to face “losing another family” like he did with his mom, dad, & sister and then again later when he realize Petra had been lying to him their whole marriage.

He’s being irrational and immature. I would like someone to call him out on this in-show, but it’s almost always glossed over. Which is a shame because Rafael REALLY needs to go back into therapy to deal with his abandonment issues and his coping mechanism of desperately trying to control everything when the earth shakes beneath his feet. None of this excuses his behavior but at the very least he has a plausible explanation and potential ways to course-correct himself in the future.

Rafael isn’t a bad guy, but he isn’t a great guy either. He just needs to get a fucking grip.



Both Rafael and Michael have had their share of emotionally manipulating Jane and trash talking the other man to gain her affections. They’ve been behaving like junior high boys instead of grown men.

My main problem with Season 2 has been the lack of development for both characters. Yes, the show is more about Jane than her two love interests, but if you're going to keep those love interests around and promote their relationship with Jane then those characters need to be properly developed along with Jane.

[Ted, Tedd, and Teddy]

All that said, I need to finish the latter part of season 2 to conclude my thoughts on everyone else.

[sweetdumbass]

Michael is suuuuuuuuch a Nice GuyTM it hurts. I couldnt stomach him in the first half of s1 but I felt he kinda got better in the later episodes and early episodes of s2 but it just came back with a vengeance when he assaulted Rafael. He's very manipulative of Jane and when he couldnt have her he kinda went to being a decent human being but when it looked like he could get her back, he just turned ugly again.

My main beef with Rafael is how utterly shitty he constantly is to Luisa and Petra and how that betrays what his relationship with Jane could devolve into. Like he really is the worst. At least Michael looks out for other ppl than Jane or himself (Alba, Nadine) even when it could cost him. Rafael is just soooo self centered.

Tbh I find myself cheering for both of them just bc Im rooting for Jane but I dont think either of them is good for her on the lomg run and I definitely feel theyre dragging the love triangle bc they dont want her to settle and get laid and lose the virgin part just yet. She needs a new guy.

Also the show needs ro stop teasing the Jane/Petra friendship I am dying here.

[sweetdumbass]

Tbh I would hate Michael less if he let go of the khaki shorts. Enuff.

[sweetdumbass]

Omg its finally happening the Jane/Petra friendship I deserve.

[Ted, Tedd, and Teddy]

I have access to my brother's Netflix so I'm rewatching from season 1 and I'm on season 2 now. Michael is still a dick and I don't understand why the writers made him like this but still tried to push him as the love of Jane's life. It's baffling. I get liking Michael and Brett the actor but this show did him no favors. It also just made the whole romance part go around in circles longer than it should have.

Jane is kind of a stuck up jerk when it comes to money and Rafael making sure Mateo has everything he could need in life financially. I understand not wanting to spoil your child and making sure they have a good character above all else but that's where the actual parenting part comes in. Just let Rafael come through with the cash life and raise your kid together.

Rafael is a mess and it's annoying that they won't have him continue his therapy throughout the seasons because he needs it badly. Also, he's a jerk too.

I love Petra and I will fight everyone to defend her.

[Ted, Tedd, and Teddy]

lmao I just noticed I basically made the same post last year.

[Ted, Tedd, and Teddy]

Second half of season 2 Michael is so much better. Damn, they couldn't write him this way the whole time?

Rafael's life is still a mess and Jane is still kinda a jerk. But both are slowly getting better.

[Ted, Tedd, and Teddy]

Michael's SPOILERS:

death was super sad and I wish they gave the audience a funeral episode for him because it would have been nice. But I know Jane will be dealing with his passing for the rest of the season and next.

Abbey is so non-existent. She reminds me of Ann from Arrested Development.