What I’m Watching: Jane the Virgin

Jane the Virgin: Season 2, Episode 4 “Chapter Twenty-Six” (B+)

I’m not sure I’ve stated it before, but I’m definitely on Team Rafael, and that makes the events of this episode unfortunate, since, to be fair, Jane’s passionate kiss with Michael was much more empathic than her earlier rendezvous with Rafael. It’s true that Rafael does seem to say all the wrong things while Michael gets to swoop in and save the day, but Rafael is going to end up being the much lonelier one when he has to share custody of his child and see Jane happy with Michael, presuming he doesn’t find a way to win her back instead of taking out his anger at what he heard on the baby monitor. Rogelio’s latest ridiculousness was typical fun, and his description of Scientology was particularly amusing. I liked Rafael’s speech to Petra, complete with repeated reminders that he wasn’t the one with whom she’d eventually find love. Luisa’s release means that she’s back front and center with her unfettered craziness, and the interrogation in which she kept going back to her sex life with Rose instead of her kidnapping was very entertaining. Naturally, there would be another seductive lesbian crime boss who Michael’s new partner is apparently very familiar with, and she would have crossed paths also with a famed singer who also managed to find her way into bed with Luisa. This show’s soapier plotlines are being solidly incorporated into this season, which is nice, and it’s turning out to be a refreshing and rewarding start that helps to renew my faith in a show that wasn’t quite as good finishing up its first season as it was starting out.