What I’m Watching: Jane the Virgin

Jane the Virgin: Season 4, Episode 16 “Chapter Eighty” (B+)

I was wondering about this show doing a bit of a time-jump since I thought that we still had a few episodes left, but for some strange reason seventeen is the magic number this year. It does feel like pretty much everything has been wrapped up at the moment, with the ominous return of Rose and her need for Rafael to give her Luisa’s location as the one outstanding cliffhanger item. I was waiting for that to come back, and hopefully it will lead us to an intriguing fifth season. I’m glad that this show knows which moments to skip over since they’re not all that exciting, like Rafael working on his hotel development deal and Alba being really angry at him for yelling at her after she spanked Mateo. It’s understandable that Alba would feel powerless, especially with Xiomara struggling with her cancer with Rogelio by her side. The introduction of Amy Brenneman’s Donna was a tragically bittersweet addition since she helped Xiomara to feel better for a bit before suffering a relapse and untimely demise to leave her even more alone than before. The pot brownies that she left helped River to realize the importance of keeping telenovelas true to their roots, an apt plotline to be featured on a show that, more than any other show, is the closest America has come to a telenovela of its own. Magda proved not to be much of a problem, and things between Petra and JR may just work out if the newly disbarred lawyer doesn’t turn into an entirely different person without her job.