What I’m Watching: Jane the Virgin

Jane the Virgin: Season 4, Episode 15 “Chapter Seventy-Nine” (B+)

In the very incestuous world that exists on this show, it’s fun to see a character that we’ve gotten to know separately from our primary protagonists get to interact with them for the first time. Rafael showing up early with the girls created the uncomfortable situation of JR walking out of the shower and then professing to Petra that she didn’t like kids, something that proved less problematic for their relationship than the fact that JR really wasn’t too fond of Jane, who proved just how intense and unstoppable she was by cornering JR in an elevator. It’s nice to see where the friendship between Petra and Jane has gone, and we’re actually dealing with an entirely new Petra now too, one who’s about to face a challenge she thought she had overcome, as her mother somehow plans to try to ruin her life once again. Xiomara is showing how much of a force she is, determined to see her mother pass her citizenship test with flying colors and not about to let her cancer get in the way of that. It was cringe-worthy to see Rogelio play the cancer card to get out of telling Darcy about his new show, but fortunately Xiomara didn’t seem too angry and it enabled them to connect about how they might try to be less awful to each other. Jane casually saying “I love you” to Rafael for the first time was sweet, and I love how well their relationship is progressing, with a surprising real estate question that’s going to be a big change! The best news of all is that this show will be back for a fifth season, which will probably be its last – a bittersweet truth, but at least we’ll end up with about a hundred episodes, which isn’t all that bad!