What I’m Watching: Jane the Virgin

Jane the Virgin: Season 5, Episode 6 “Chapter Eighty-Six” (B+)

There was nothing more heartbreaking than seeing the look on Jane’s face when Mateo repeatedly said that he hated her and didn’t want to be around her. Referendums on cooperative coparenting were productive across the board, and Rafael jumping to Jane’s defense when Mateo expressed that he was doing it out of solidarity for this dad was at least affirming. The fact that Rafael was ready to let Jane back in and she was the one who chose to take a step back to reconsider things was the most devastating way it could have gone, in my mind, since that means that Rafael does still have feelings for Jane and she may once again choose Michael. It wasn’t a stretch for Jane to be feeling things again given the road down memory lane that she had to take to help Michael prove that he didn’t fake his death to cash in on his life insurance. Seeing Rafael take pills at the end of the episode was deeply disconcerting as it can’t be anything good. As all this was happening, it seemed that Petra’s relationship was doomed as well, but I like that she committed to working to get JR to trust her rather than letting herself be too offended to try. The best relationship repair came from Rogelio, who suddenly switched to his old nemesis Esteban’s side when he saw what he felt for Darcy and Baby. The narrator jumping in to speak out against dispassionate narrator voice was entertaining, and that was a helpful substitute for the otherwise absent framing device in this hour.