What I’m Watching: Jane the Virgin

Jane the Virgin: Season 2, Episode 20 “Chapter Forty-Two” (B+)

Mother’s Day wasn’t quite the pleasant family gathering that it’s supposed to be for our characters in this episode, and Petra’s big family brunch idea went south in a lot of ways. It seems clear that Anezka is a genuinely kind and caring person who was just confused about the situation she was in, rising to the defense of her sister when she thought that Jane had wronged her and then seeking to make amends as soon as she realized that’s not what Petra wanted. What changed the situation was that Anezka told Petra that she had overheard Jane calling her a bad mother, prompting Petra to spitefully lie to Jane throughout the entire episode and then earn her contempt for having deliberately misled her. Jane’s TA position is an unfortunate loss, but there were plenty of reasons that job wasn’t going to work out in the end. Rafael is in a much more unfortunate situation, especially since he thinks his half-brother is just out to ruin him and doesn’t realize that his mother is in on it too! Rogelio bringing Jane to Dina’s birthday party so that he could try to seem intellectual was an unfortunate misstep, but it seems that Dina appreciated the effort and that he actually scored a victory in that department. In theory, his happy relationship couldn’t have come at a better time, but he’s going to be absolutely destroyed and totally betrayed when he learns that Xiomara has slept with his archnemesis, who is sure to throw that news in his face at his earliest and most public convenience.