“Comfort the victim.” – Jane the Virgin Recap – Chapter Forty-Six

Jane the Virgin Season 3, Episode 2
“Chapter Forty-Six”
Posted by Kim

With “Chapter Forty-Five” tying up most of season two’s dangling storylines, “Chapter Forty-Six” dove right into laying down the groundwork for the stories Jane the Virgin wants to tell in season three. There are no flashbacks to Young Jane, no past life lessons to tie in to the present day, we just dive right into the state of Jane’s life, 4 weeks after Michael’s shooting. This is another point in the long list of reasons why I love Jane the Virgin and why it’s one of the smartest shows on television right now: its willingness to play with story structure. Some weeks they use extremely heightened story structure and other weeks (like this one) we’re presented with a traditional story and we have to adjust the way we watch. ALWAYS KEEPING US ON OUR TOES, WRITERS. I LOVE how Jane unfold like a novel…some chapters have big momentous stories while others tell smaller stories that still reveal vital elements of character. “Chapter Forty-Six” is one of those chapters. Let’s take a look at what went down this week…

Jane the Heartfelt

source: maddeninglyrichard.tumblr.comSo often, when a character has a baby on a TV show, once the baby is born we rarely see it and the mother’s life continues on as if it had never happened, other than random mentions of the baby. Jane the Virgin is not a typical TV show and they never let us forget that having Mateo has changed Jane’s life forever. (Plus, that baby is so effing cute, clearly they want him on camera as much as possible.) “Chapter Forty-Six” dealt with the search for a pre-school for Mateo and it also laid the groundwork for a completely new dynamic between Jane and Rafael: completely platonic co-parents.

Yes, with Jane MARRYING Michael, it appears that we are finally FINALLY past the Jane/Michael/Rafael love triangle and everyone can get on with their lives. Despite claims from both Michael and Xo about Raf still being in love with Jane, Rafael himself declares that he is over her and I REALLY want to believe that’s true. (Or if it’s not true YET that it’s in the process of being true.) Rafael deserves the chance to be happy and he’s never going to get that chance if he’s sitting around pining after Jane. He and Jane are always going to be in each other’s life because of Mateo and it’s so important that they have a good relationship. I loved the whole discussion they had about Mateo and the tantrums. Rafael never shamed her or hinted that Mateo’s behavior is her fault. He takes ownership too. THIS IS PROPER CO-PARENTING.

source: madddeninglyrichard.tumblr.comWhat this new dynamic DOES bring is freedom for Rafael to push back at Jane’s decisions a little more, since he’s not agreeing with her because he’s trying to woo her. (YIKES. Was that how he was making choices before? Oh, Raf, be your own person.) Rafael declares the Catholic preschool they had previously agreed on “too Jesus-y” for him and he wants them to look elsewhere. He should have said something MONTHS ago because preschools FILL UP but he was too busy letting Jane call all the shots because he was in love with her. Now all the good places are wait listed and Jane is left scrambling trying to get a spot somewhere. They manage to get a visit at a snooty rich private school where the parents are more concerned about being able to send their nannies in to parents’ night than taking care of their kids. Jane is IMMEDIATELY judgey because this kind of environment is not her style. Clearly it’s not Mateo’s either, since he’s accused of biting another child. Since no one saw it happen, Jane lashes out at the mom who accused Mateo and they are kindly asked to leave. Raf accuses Jane of sabotaging the visit, which let’s be real, she probably did. All arguments are forgotten when Mateo bites Jane. Turns out snobby rich mommy was right.

source: sancriss.tumblr.comThe next stop on the preschool tour is hippie-dippie school where they don’t care if kids know their letters and numbers as long as they can name their feelings. Jane and Rafael immediately dismiss this place and start fighting about the rich school because Jane ate her pride and begged for another chance there but Rafael has changed his mind AGAIN because the rich school asked for money to make the whole biting thing go away. This leads to them screaming at each other on the playground and the preschool teacher calling them out for it…but not for the reasons you would expect. At this school, it’s fine for parents to fight in front of the kids, but they ALSO need to make up in front of them. Jane and Rafael have to sit in the compassion corner and get to the root of their issues. Rafael confesses that it’s important to him to not back down from decisions as they navigate this new dynamic between them. Jane understands that but she also stresses that Rafael can’t push back against her just because SHE wants something. I love how open with each other they were here. He’s so honest about his fears about losing his voice now that Jane is married and starting a family with Michael and she’s so steady in her reassurance that she and Rafael will always be their own family. I LOVE THIS, MORE OF THIS PLEASE.

In the end, after getting some sage advice from the hippie teacher about Mateo’s biting (“It’s just a phase. And it’s not your fault. But the next time it happens, don’t give him attention. Comfort the victim.”), Jane and Rafael choose that preschool because it’s the perfect mixture of both of their philosophies. It’s so important for Jane and Rafael to respect their differences but also have the willingness to put them aside for the best of their son. Healthy relationships FTW.

Can I just say that I am SO PLEASED that Jane didn’t do a very special “Xiomara gets an abortion” episode? With the time jump to get us to the end of Michael’s recovery, we also skipped the ACT of Xo getting the abortion, leaving the narrator to just tell us it happened and focus on the fallout between Xo and Alba instead. While she doesn’t have any guilt regarding her choice, Xiomara DOES fear how her mother will react to the news and she’s hyper aware of it, interpreting all of Alba’s choices as passive aggressive ways of shaming her. (“Calm down, Cersei!” = me dying laughing.) After not so casually dropping “abort” into conversations and having Alba not take the bait, Xiomara finally confesses to her mom. Alba does not take it well and she walks out on her daughter, refusing to discuss it. Xo takes that hard (understandably) and later calls out Alba for telling her she should get an abortion when she found out that she was pregnant with Jane. THIS CONVERSATION. Xo thanks her mother for helping her CHOOSE to have Jane while Alba confesses her enduring guilt for even suggesting an abortion in the first place. “This is my fault for putting it in your head that it was ever okay,” Alba says. What we have here are two women on completely different ideological sides and they are both being portrayed thoughtfully and it’s so important. “Look, I know how upset you are about the choice I made, but I made it and it’s done. So can’t we put this behind us and move forward?” It’s such a monumental moment for Xiomara and Alba because even after Xo’s heartfelt plea for understanding Alba can’t find it in herself to extend it. It’s not out of cruelty, it’s out of her deeply seeded beliefs that what Xo did was wrong. It’s so real and so very painful.

In the end, thanks to a life lesson from Jane’s preschool, Alba finds the courage to admit that while she doesn’t agree with Xo’s choice, it was HER choice and it’s one that she has to accept. Xiomara is her daughter and that bond is unbreakable, even when choices are made that Alba disagrees with. She will never cheer or be happy that Xiomara got an abortion, but she WILL accept it and move on from it. The Villanueva women always find a way to come back together, no matter what. This time, they gather around and rip the cherry wallpaper from the walls. It’s cathartic and it’s symbolic and this is what happens when women are in charge of creating a show.

Jane the Dramatic

Meanwhile, poor Petra is still #Anezkatized at the Marbella. (I SCREAMED at that pun. Bless.) Being Petrezka is harder than she realized and Anezka is starting to crack under the pressure of trying to maintain Petra’s life (she goes to a LOT of meetings, y’all). It turns out that the whole “Rafael” part of Anzeka and Magda’s plan involved Anezka finding some material that she can blackmail him with and then run off with the money. Well Rafael is just too damn honorable (or so it seems), having turned himself in for that insider trading deal, so Anezka’s search is proving fruitless, stranding her in Petra’s life far longer than she anticipated. Magda tells Anezka she HAS to live her life with the motto of “What Would Real Petra Do?” (The answer, especially at work, is be a stone cold bad ass awesome bitch.) Following the WWRPD mantra, Anezka decides to try to find dirt on Raf by hacking into his work computer.

What I love about this storyline is that it shows how much Anezka knows but also DOESN’T know her sister. Scott aka Vests aka Rafael’s former assistant who was totally given a made-up position that makes him feel more important catches Anezka trying to go through Raf’s computer, only to run into a newly installed security system on all the hotel computers. Scott questions her motives and Anezka automatically reverts to her default distraction mechanism: her sexuality. Because that’s how she thinks Petra would react (and she has done so in the past, so Anezka’s instincts are not unfounded). Little does Anezka know that Scott’s always had a thing for Petra, so he doesn’t question it when she puts the moves on him because his wildest fantasies are coming true. The brilliant thing about the performance Yael Groblas is giving right now is how she chooses the small moments for Anzeka to peek through the Petra. In her post-coital bliss, a TEENY bit of Anezka’s real personality comes out as she gleefully declares that she just had the best sex of her life. (It’s the way Yael makes her voice squeak, that’s how she lets the Anezka pop through. I love it so much.)

What Anezka DOESN’T realize is that Real Petra actually can’t stand Scott, as Magda reprimands her in their daily phone call. “No boys, sweetheart. You need to stay focused. Remember old saying…you chase two rabbits, you get neither.” Or, as the great Ron Swanson would say: Never half-ass two things. Whole ass one thing. Anezka re-focuses her search on Rafael’s personal laptop, as the work computer has proved to be a dead-end. While she is copying his hard drive, Raf shows up and calls Petrezka out on her odd behavior. He KNOWS, he just doesn’t KNOW he knows. Before Rafael can figure out what she’s doing with his laptop, Anezka realizes that every once in a while, you CAN catch both rabbits. (That picture of an overjoyed Anezka and the two rabbit corpses though.) She directs Rafael into her bedroom, where he finds Scott in a compromising position. She gets her copied hard drive and the exposure of her “covert” affair explains away her erratic behavior. BOOM.

Once Rafael runs off to deep clean his brain after watching Petrezka and Scott make out, she confesses that she has been trying to get dirt on Rafael. Scott is all “Duh, I had figured that.” and proves that you should ALWAYS treat underlings with respect. “I’ve got dirt on everyone at the Marbella,” he tells her. “I’ve been collecting it for years. It’s my burn book, if you will. Including good stuff on Rafael. So let’s take him down together, baby.” RUH ROH RAFAEL WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? The only witness to the conversation is the Anezkatized Petra, who may not be able to move or speak, but that drug has done NOTHING to her hearing…and that’s gonna come back and bite them in the ass. I hope.

Jane the Romantic

“Chapter Forty-Six” picks up four weeks after Michael’s surgery and shows that Jane is still coping with the trauma of it. (THANK YOU for not brushing it under the rug.) Jane is having nightmare every night about finding Michael bleeding in the hallway and she’s having a hard time reconciling the fact Michael is going to go back to work and put himself back in the line of fire. I love that Jane doesn’t keep those fears bottled in either and that she confronts him about going back to work as soon as he says that he’s chomping at the bit to get back to it. After all, Michael offered to quit his job once before, he should be willing to consider it now. He pushes back saying that he offered back then because he was afraid he was going to lose her. “Are you saying I’m going to lose you,” he presses. “No, of course not. We’re married.” “Exactly. And you married a cop.” It’s so amazing that Jane can show Michael and Jane being at odds but also have them openly communicating about it instead of bottling it up. Michael ultimately says that he would quit if Jane asked him to (rocks in a corner and sings “You know I’d give up everything, just ask me to…”) and Jane KNOWS that she can’t do that but it also doesn’t make her fears go away. Michael and Jane agree to put a pin in the whole work debate for the next six weeks while he continues to recuperate at home. Where they can’t have sex because he needs to keep his heart rate down and because the writers want to drag the virgin thing out for as long as they can get away with it.

Look, Jane and Michael have had a LOT thrown at them in their first month of marriage and it’s such a testament to their strength as a couple that they don’t let it break them. No newlywed wants to move in with their in-laws and be unable to consummate their marriage and have their new wife act as their nursemaid for a month. Jane thrives on routine and she throws herself into Michael’s rehab…so much so that he slips and calls her “Mom” one morning. WHOOPS. I love how the Mom moment forces Michael to take a step back and reassess their situation and realize that even in these tough times, they have to remember that they are now husband and wife. They need romance, even if they can’t follow through with the sex. Thus, Michael has Rogelio and his Telenovela crew transform their bedroom into the romantic beach honeymoon they didn’t get to have and it’s so sweet I could die. He also knows the way to Jane’s heart and he knows that what she needs is margaritas, cuddles, and her computer so she can research why Mateo is biting. Romance at its finest, people.

source: villaderogifs.tumblr.comCuddled up with her husband, Jane confesses that the reason she is so wound up all the time is the anxiety from not knowing whether or not he is going to go back to work. Some people are great at pausing discussions and some can’t function properly until they know a conflict is resolved. Jane is the latter and she needs the resolution before she goes insane. It’s important to note that Jane isn’t demanding that he quit, she just wants to know his choice either way so she can start dealing with it. “Look, it’s your job. So if you’re telling me that you love it and that you’re not scared and you want to go back, then that’s that. But you have to say it, so that I can flip the switch and move on.” Michael looks her in the eye and tells her that he loves his job and wants to go back. He ALSO tells Jane that he doesn’t want her to just deal with it. He wants her to share her fears and her struggles with him because she is his WIFE not his mother. Her fears are his fears. It’s like the dam finally breaks for Jane, in the best way possible. She confesses that she can’t  even walk the halls of the Marbella without seeing him and that she’s always going to be scared for him. The best thing is that Michael doesn’t dismiss those fears. “We’ll do it together, okay?” PRINCE AMONG MEN.

source: sancriss.tumblr.comThe thing with processing a trauma is you never QUITE know when you’ll get overwhelmed by it. I think Michael has been so focused on his recovery that he hadn’t taken the time to really process what happened to him…until Mateo bites him and Jane employs the “comfort the victim” technique she learned at preschool. “I’m so sorry that happened. That was really terrible and you don’t deserve that.” Then it hits Michael like a mack truck. He almost died. It’s such beautiful work by Brett Dier in that moment; he completely crumbles and I wanted to crawl into my television screen and snuggle him until he stopped crying. “I thought I was fine,” he says tearfully (BABY) and here’s where Jane proves what a great team they are. “You ARE fine. And we’ll get through this.” Michael jokes that now, when he is afraid and emotional, would be a great time for her to convince him to go back to work. I’m sure it crossed her mind. She’s only human, after all. But she also knows when to put her own fears aside and be a rock for her husband. “Not a chance. You love your job and you want to go back, remember?” They are such a TEAM.

BUT NOW FOR SOME GOOD NEWS. At a follow-up appointment, the Doctor clears Michael for (very basic) sex, two whole weeks ahead of schedule. Their reactions are EVERYTHING. For the love of GOD, can they do it PLEASE? I’m dying here.

Jane the Hilarious

source: villaderogifs.tumblr.comFor Rogelio, the fallout from the urine swapping incident is devastating. He has to do a PSA (Michael: a Pee Pee SA!) on the dangers of urine swapping and it goes viral. Meanwhile, Esteban is besting him at every opportunity, down to stealing Rogelio’s spot in a tabloid’s “What’s In My Murse?” column. Esteban, is becoming a crossover star. My FAVORITE thing about Rogelio is how he truly believes the entire world revolves around him and his problems are always the most dire in the universe. (We should ALL love ourselves as much as Rogelio loves himself, honestly.) He deadass looks at Michael, who is recovering from literally being shot in the chest, and compares Esteban’s success to a shot in the heart. I DIE. But my NEXT favorite thing is how other characters (for the most part) completely indulge Rogelio’s self-centeredness because they KNOW this man has a heart of gold and will move heaven and earth for the people he loves. “If I can recover from a gunshot, you can recover from this,” Michael says and the best thing is he says it with COMPLETE seriousness, with only a hint of indulgence. It’s all about perspective. For Michael, getting shot is up there with one of the worst things that could happen to him. For Rogelio, it’s not being as famous as he thinks he should be.

Thus Rogelio goes about trying to crossover in America. Up first, a potential 3 episode arc on Hawaii 5-0, which is ACTUALLY STILL ON. (God bless CBS.) Rogelio announces to the entire cast and crew his intentions to crossover as if everyone is on the same page and ready to support him when in reality he’s constantly interrupting production to take calls from his agent. (CENTER OF HIS UNIVERSE. Y’ALL. BLESS HIM.) Much to his horror, Esteban is being considered for the 5-0 part AND he has to audition (IMAGINE THAT). Ro gets a pep talk from his best brogelio, Michael. Michael tells Rogelio that he’s clearly the better actor, so he should just view the audition as a way for him to prove it. Then Rogelio confesses that his American accent isn’t up to par. Listen, Jaime Camil’s accent on the show is very thick and I don’t know if he’s playing it up for the character or if he can DO a good American accent IRL but Rogelio’s terrible American accent is a thing of glory.

source: sancriss.tumblr.comBut like I said, underneath the vanity and the world-revolves-around-me attitude, the people that know and love Rogelio know that he’s more than that. Rogelio continues to be SO WOKE as he consoles Xiomara about her fight with her mother, even if he does it in his terrible American accent. (“I’m trying to stay in my American character. I’m going full Daniel Day-Lewis.”) Xo finally gets to the root of Rogelio’s obsession with crossing over. Sure, he’s Justin Bieber + Tom Cruise in Mexico (Oh, Ro. Be better than that. Be Harry Styles + George Clooney, okay?) but in America? He’s nothing. And America is his home now, thanks to Jane and Matelio (I LIVE FOR HOW HE STILL CLINGS TO THAT) and Xiomara. “So now that I’ve crossed over to this family, I want to feel the amazing perks of fame in my new country.” Self-centered sweetness. Rogelio in a nutshell.

Narrator Asides

• Okay, that pattern may be a LOT for wallpaper but I’m DYING for it on a dress

• Gina Rodriguez, I love your face.

• “I hate montages, it’s a cheap ploy.” There were so many clever cutaways in this episode, thumbs up to the editors.
• I love Michael’s willingness to be involved in all of Jane’s family drama because they are his family too. Offering up his detective skills to Xiomara was adorable.
• Yael Grobglas deserves an award for being able to portray utter disgust while being unable to move her face. You SAW Petra seethe as she watched Anezka and Scott kiss in front of her, yet she didn’t move a muscle.
• LOOK AT THESE PUPPIES.

source: villaderogifs.tumblr.com

• “You’re on your own, Jane. XO, JC”
• ALSO THIS. THIS is why I’m going to love platonic Jafael because he’s SO AMUSED by the whole thing and he’s making fun of her but it’s coming from a place of genuine affection.

• I love love loved the sly comments on Immigration made during the whole Statue of Liberty scene of the telenovela.
• I’m obsessed with Jane’s anchor print dress, what a freaking Larrie.

What are your thoughts on “Chapter Forty-Six”? Do you like the new Jafael dynamic? Let us know in the comments.