Jane The Virgin – Chapter Fifty-Seven

By starrymag | March 4, 2017

By: Emily Cross

 

Two years ago, Jane (Gina Rodriguez) lost her voice. Rafael (Justin Baldoni) had just started dating Abbey (Minka Kelly) and encouraged Jane to write something new. It had been eighteen months since Michael (Brett Dier) died and Jane hadn’t written since then. After he left for a date with Abbey, Jane started researching for a new writing project about the history of Florida (one of Rafael’s suggestions). She looked to a picture of Michael, which gave her inspiration.

In the present, Mateo (Joseph Sanders) meets his new preschool aide, Carly (Mackenzie Marsh). Jane and Rafael are observing through a door to see how it goes. Rafael leaves, but Jane can’t resist one more look and is spotted by Mateo and Carly. On their way out of the school, Jane and Rafael run into Stacy (Yvonne Orji), another mom, who implies that Mateo really needed the help. When they’re getting into their cars, Jane complains that Stacy was being judgmental. Rafael points out that she might be extra sensitive because she’s insecure about Mateo, which Jane admits could be true.

Abbey asks to move in with Rafael. Rafael is shocked and asks for time to think it through, since it affects Mateo, Anna (Mia Allan) and Ellie (Ella Allan).

Petra (Yael Grobglas) is at lunch with Chuck (Johnny Messner) and is a bit jumpy. Chuck accuses her of being embarrassed to be seen with him and she concedes, not telling him that the guilt over moving Scott’s body is eating her alive. She invites him to the Marbella for dinner, to prove that she can overcome her “embarrassment.”

Jane meets her editor, a sports-loving frat-boy-type named Jeremy (Evan Todd). We learn that Jane’s novel is not just about Michael, but is set in the early 1900s at the dawn of Miami’s hotel boom. Jeremy loves Jane’s book, but tells her it needs more obstacles. Throughout the episode, we see scenes from Jane’s novel with Jane as Josephine, the main character and Rafael as Rake, the man who impregnated her. Later on, Jane is struggling with adding more obstacles and dimensions to her characters. She makes Rake a literal mustache-twirling villain, but it doesn’t feel quite right.

Meanwhile, Rogelio (Jaime Camil) meets with his agent Donnie (Danny Woodburn) who promises to take care of the breach-of-contract lawsuit. He asks Rogelio for a list of all the people involved so they can plan their attack.

At dinner, Xiomara (Andrea Navedo) complains about being deposed. Bruce (Ricardo Chavira) offers to go with her, as her boyfriend and as legal counsel. Jane and Alba (Ivonne Coll) marvel at how supportive and nice Bruce is being.

At Mateo’s preschool, Jane overhears Stacy complaining about Mateo to another woman. Jane defends Mateo, insulting the other woman in the process. That other woman happens to be Gwen (Stephanie Nash), the director of the school. Jane apologizes, but it’s an awkward situation all around. Rafael reads a card that Jane wrote to Gwen to apologize. He reassures Jane that Mateo won’t get kicked out, but Petra is convinced that Gwen will give Mateo the bad kindergarten teacher. Jane shows her the card, but Petra rips it in half and tells her that words mean nothing, but actions do. She convinces Jane to help with planning the annual fundraiser.

At Rogelio’s lawyer’s office, Xo gives her deposition detailing the emotional damage she underwent because of the reality show. The lawyer plans to drag the production company through the mud until they’re begging to settle. On their way to the car, Bruce tells Xo that he doesn’t like Donnie and thinks his plan is risky. He convinces Xo to talk to Rogelio and promises to be by her side when she does.

At the planning meeting for the fundraiser, Jane suggests removing a decorative fountain to make room for more tables, but this is shot down by Gwen who apparently loves fountains. Jane eventually volunteers at the event, in order to curry favor.

Later, Rafael asks Petra if he Abbey should move in. Petra is casually supportive, but Rafael doesn’t seem convinced. Petra offhandedly mentions that she and Chuck are having dinner at the Marbella so Rafael calls Elvis (Craig Lee Thomas) to tell him that Petra will be out of her room. What are they up to?

Jane is working on her novel when Xo comes in so she asks for advice on how to move forward. Xo encourages her to trust her editor, even if he is a little fratty. A scene from Jane’s novel features Xo as Zara, a prostitute trying to distract Rake to get some keys. It’s so weird seeing these two almost kiss and real-life Xo agrees, asking Jane to take it out.

Petra and Chuck arrive at the Marbella for dinner, expecting people to be watching (which no one is). Petra realizes she left her phone in her room and goes to get it, finding Elvis snooping around. He pretends to be doing maintenance and leaves. Petra is suspicious so she bails on Chuck. She then unscrews a vent cover, revealing a notebook hidden inside. She quickly hides the notebook again when Abbey comes by, dropping off Anna’s blankie. However, that’s not the only reason Abbey’s there. She also wants to talk about Rafael and asks Petra for her advice. Petra comforts Abbey, saying that she hopes Rafael will get there eventually

When picking Mateo up from school, Jane checks in with Carly. He is doing well so far and was a dream in comparison to another troublemaker in the class. On the way out, Jane’s editor calls her and asks for the new pages by the end of the week. Jane tells him no problem, but it is clearly going to be one. When Jane gets home, she starts to tell Alba about her deadline, but notices Bruce sitting at the kitchen table. He is there to talk to Alba and Jane, but we are not privy to their conversation.

Meanwhile, Rafael waits for Abbey to get ready for the fundraiser and writes in a card (that she presumably designed) that they should move in together. When she appears, he tucks the card in his jacket pocket.

At the fundraiser, Jane is selling raffle tickets and having trouble meeting Gwen’s standards. When observing Petra playing roulette, Jane gets an idea for her novel. In another novel scene, Josephine asks Penelope (a/k/a Petra) for help, but is shut down. Jane gets stuck once again, not able to figure out why Penelope would help Josephine. Before she can think about it more she is approached by one of the waiters and has to handle a glass shortage. Jane approaches some of the other moms to ask if they can help wash dirty glasses, and they are shocked at the idea.

Meanwhile, Xo gets a text from Rogelio that he settled the lawsuit. She is relieved until Rogelio texts her that he hopes they can settle things, too. Xo doubts this will happen, but Bruce agrees with Rogelio. He knows that Xo is happy when her whole family is in her life.

At the fundraiser, Jane has finally gotten dishwashing recruits: Rafael and Abbey. She talks about not finding the right angle for her novel and is convinced that it’s a “Jeremy thing.” Gwen appears and Jane assures her everything is under control and apologizes again. Gwen accepts her apology and asks Jane to take the protectiveness down a notch, which she agrees to.

Back out at the event, Petra is getting a little drunk and Rafael checks on her. She tells him that things with Chuck aren’t going so well and she is embarrassed by him. She also tells Rafael to tell Abbey he doesn’t want to move in together because it’s obvious to her that he doesn’t. Nearby, Abbey overhears! Petra leaves, but doesn’t go up to her room. She goes to Chuck’s and confesses that she likes him. It turns out that she caught him on poker nigh, and all of his friends heard her drunken confession.

Jane visits her editor and talks to him about the problems she’s having with his notes. He encourages her to not take his notes literally and do what feels right to her. He thinks she could play with Josephine’s feelings for Rake and develop a love triangle out of it (sound familiar?). But when Jane is writing that night, she is still stuck. She confesses to Alba that deepening Josephine’s love for Rake feels like a betrayal of her relationship with Detective Martin (a/k/a Michael). Alba explains that she thinks Jane’s love for Rafael deepened and enriched her love for Michael because she chose him. She also tells Jane that Michael would want her to write the best possible book. This helps Jane and she’s finally on the right track. As Jane is writing, we get a nice flashback to a few classic Jane/Rafael moments. Could the writers be hinting at a romantic reunion?

Bruce mediates a discussion between Xo and Rogelio, who both still hold grudges. He finally gets them to agree that they are much happier when they’re not fighting. Rogelio apologizes and promises to never betray Xo again and Xo forgives him.

Jane picks Mateo up from preschool again and learns from Carly that the day was good. They spot Stacy leaving and Carly gossips that her older son is at a behavioral center for juvenile delinquents instead of an exclusive boarding school like Stacy claims. Jane is alarmed to learn that Carly is such a gossip so she tells Rafael, who agrees that it’s inappropriate. Jane worries about how to get rid of her when Mateo likes her so much, but Mateo admits that he just said he liked her because he knew Jane and Rafael wanted him to. Jane encourages Mateo to always speak his mind.

In Petra’s suite, Petra and Chuck reflect on their successful night out. Everything is going well until Chuck suggests they “bone” (ew), which triggers Petra’s guilt. She ends up telling Chuck what she did with Scott’s body and he leaves, believing that the Marbella is more important to her than he will ever be.

Outside the preschool, Stacy confronts Jane, assuming that she blabbed to everyone about her older son. Jane promises that she told no one because she knows how hard parenting is and tells her that it was probably Carly because she is such a gossip. Stacy apologizes and thanks Jane for her support.

Rogelio meets with his lawyer and learns that the lawsuit is far from over. Somehow it leaked that Rogelio was behind the smear campaign and now the production company is suing him for disparagement.

Rafael tells Abbey that he’s not ready to move in together and realizes that made him think about their relationship. She stops him and pulls out the greeting card he wrote. She knows that he was going to agree to moving in together and asks him what changed. He tells her he rethought things, but she knows this is a lie. She leaves anyway, presumably leaving the relationship behind with her.

Jane and Alba are in Xo’s dance studio with Bruce, planning a proposal for Xo! (So that’s what he was talking to them about earlier!) However, Rogelio barges in and asks Bruce to be his lawyer, ruining the proposal and revealing the surprise to Xo. After Bruce agrees, he proposes (really sweetly) and Xo says yes!

While chatting, Jane tells Rafael that Jeremy loved her new rewrite and he tells her that he broke up with Abbey because he couldn’t picture being in a serious relationship with her.

In the last scene, we find out that Abbey stole Petra’s notebook and sent it to the police. Dennis (Christopher Allen) is the one who opens the package and finds that the book is Scott’s “Burn Book.” Abbey included a greeting card encouraging the police to reopen the investigation. This can’t be good…