Jane The Virgin – Chapter Fifty-Six

By starrymag | February 24, 2017

By: Emily Cross

 

One month after Michael (Brett Dier) died, reality felt overwhelming for Jane (Gina Rodriguez) so she went into therapy for panic attacks. The therapist told her to breathe and feel her heartbeat to remind herself that she is still alive.

In the present, Jane is still using what she learned in therapy to deal with Chloe (Maya Kazan). At lunch, Jane tells Rafael (Justin Baldoni) she hasn’t quit because she hasn’t gotten an official offer for her book yet. Abbey (Minka Kelly) is at lunch, too. It’s a running gag that the narrator (Anthony Mendez) keeps forgetting about her. We are also introduced to Elvis (Craig Lee Thomas), the new lounge manager. He is trying to fit a group in so Jane helps out.

After lunch, Rafael has to attend a meeting about Scott (Wes Armstrong). Before we find out what’s going on, we are introduced to Dennis (Christopher Allen), Michael’s old buddy at the police department. He is running the investigation into Scott’s death. He tells Rafael, Petra (Yael Grobglas) and Chuck (Johnny Messner) that Scott’s body was officially on the grounds of the Fairwick Hotel. This is a relief to Rafael and Petra. Chuck doesn’t seem fazed until Dennis says that they have to investigate if Scott’s death was an accident or a homicide. On the way out, Petra offers to give Chuck advice on how to handle the situation since she’s been there before. Chuck knows she has an angle so he decides they should take care of their own problems. Petra meets with Rafael, who proposes that they get out in front of the story. Petra disagrees and institutes a total media lockdown.

Rogelio (Jaime Camil) and Darci (Justina Machado) are filming the reality show: their honeymoon in Hawaii (being filmed in Miami). Darci is getting a massage from a cabana boy, but the director cuts as he insists that Rogelio must fly into a jealous rage. Rogelio refuses because he wants the show to be kinder and gentler. He gets a text from Jane confirming dinner later that day. She is at home with Xiomara (Andrea Navedo) and Alba (Ivonne Coll). Xo is happy that Rogelio is coming, a welcome change from their feud from last week. That won’t last long: she gets a mysterious email titled “URGENT!!!” At dinner, Xo shows the family a tape of Rogelio filming the reality show. Apparently, he DID know about Xo’s villainization and he lied to her last week. Alba and Jane are also angry that Rogelio lied, and Xo throws him out.

When Jane sees Dennis at the Marbella, she starts to have a panic attack and slaps him! After kind of apologizing, Jane tells Dennis that she doesn’t want to talk to him ever again and leaves. She flashes back to the day of Michael’s funeral when Dennis promised to check up on her.

Back in present day, Jane tells Alba about her panic attack. In investigating Scott’s death, Dennis has to interview all of the hotel employees, which apparently still includes Jane. (Maybe she’s being interviewed because she’s close with the owners?) While Jane isn’t looking forward to the interview, she is prepared for Dennis’ presence and hopes that will mitigate any panic attacks.

Petra lectures Elvis on his timeliness of delivering food while Rafael encourages her to see that Elvis is improving. Petra is tired of Zen Rafael and tells him to fire Elvis. She then gets a notification that someone has written an article about Scott’s body. Rafael basically says, “I told you so.”

Rogelio brings a basket full of books to Jane to apologize. Jane tells him that even though he didn’t mean to hurt anyone he did and it is going to take a while for them to forgive. Just then, Jane gets an email with an offer from the publisher for $50,000! Rogelio scoffs at this at first (that’s barely his episodic rate), but it’s a lot of money to Jane. It means that Jane can give her two week’s notice to Chloe, which she does. However, Chloe doesn’t think two weeks is long enough to find and train a new assistant (even though it’s industry standard) so Jane offers to stay a little longer. Chloe refuses, telling Jane she was terrible at her job and her book deal means nothing. Jane takes offense at this, finally telling Chloe that she’s a petty, mean-spirited bitch.

Petra gives a press conference about Scott, dedicating a fountain to him and creating a scholarship in his name for disadvantaged youth.

Jane talks to a fellow assistant who tells her that Chloe is even more of a dictator than usual and they lost one of their authors, Gary. She gives him all the important Chloe information (coffee order, preferred stylist, etc.) when she gets a delivery of documents from her publisher. Apparently, she doesn’t get the $50,000 right away. She gets a $5,000 advance, with $5,000 when she turns in her first draft and the rest after the book is published. Jane needs to get her job back!

When at the Marbella picking up Mateo (Joseph Sanders), Jane tells Rafael about getting her job back emphasizing that publishing jobs are hard to find in Miami. Since Rafael has to fire the lounge manager, he offers the job to Jane. She refuses and is convinced she just needs to do some intense groveling.

Later, at home, Jane gets a text that her interview with Dennis is scheduled for the next day and has to calm herself. Flashing back to five months after Michael’s death, we see that Dennis did stop by to check on Jane and it turned into a regular thing. They share Michael stories and decide to finally go through his things. In the present, Jane is once again having a panic attack, which Alba helps her through.

Petra and Rafael observe Elvis being terrible at his job so Petra moves to fire him. Rafael wants to find another place for him because they met in prison. Petra agrees to moving him to maintenance. They both get an alert: another article about the Marbella, this time praising them. The article also highlights Chuck’s relative silence on the matter, which makes Petra feel bad.

Rogelio leaves a voicemail for Xo, apologizing and asking to talk to her. When he sees Darci he accuses her of sending the footage to Xo. Darci swears it wasn’t her and suspects the director of doing it.

Jane attends Chloe’s spin class in an attempt to apologize. Once the class starts, the music is too loud for Chloe to hear Jane’s apology. After the class, Chloe agrees to give Jane her job back if she can get Gary back.

Before her interview with Dennis, Jane leaves Gary a voicemail asking to meet up for drinks. In the interview, Jane flashes back to the day that Jane and Dennis went through Michael’s things. He found Michael’s journals and took pictures of Michael’s notes on Sin Rostro and Mutter. Jane caught him and Dennis told her that there was an investigation into Michael’s connection to Sin Rostro. Jane is upset by this and throws Dennis out. Back in the present, Jane is still upset and slaps Dennis again.

Rogelio apologizes to Alba (in Spanish!). She forgives him, but asks him why he betrayed Xo. He was desperate for the reality show to be a hit because his career was in the toilet after “penis-gate.” Alba understands this, but says that doing the reality show, having a fake marriage and lying to his family is not the Rogelio she knew.

At the Marbella, Rafael films the twins (Mia and Ella Allan) playing at Petra’s desk while Petra reads an article aligning the Fairwick with Scott’s potential murder. When Rafael asks her if she is worried about Chuck, she changes the subject and asks why Rafael films everything the twins do. He tells her she will be glad later to have all of the recordings and that gives her an idea. She tells her assistant to get recordings from events held at the Marbella at the time of Scott’s death.

On the tape of a bachelorette party, Rogelio shows up with a cameraman. Petra goes to his set to see the footage, which gives us a funny moment of them not understanding each other’s accents. But she finds what she’s looking for: footage of Scott! Petra shows Chuck the footage, which has a very drunk Scott deciding to go for a swim in the ocean. The cops have said it was most likely an accidental drowning, which means Chuck and the Fairwick are off the hook.

Darci is watching an edit of the reality show, which uses footage of Rogelio and Darci’s real fight. Rogelio appears and agrees that the show needed more drama. He tells Darci that he realized that Xo is never going to forgive him, getting her to admit that she sent Xo the tape. He asks her why things got so bad and she reveals that she still is mad that he bailed out of the baby arrangement. So, Rogelio quits the show despite his contract.

Seeing Mateo’s giraffe coloring page gives Jane a flashback to her and Michael’s first camping trip when Michael made her a stick giraffe. She starts to have a panic attack and Mateo asks her if she was thinking about Michael and why. She tells him about seeing Dennis and he encourages her to use her words, just like she always tells him. She texts Dennis and sets up a meeting with him. When she arrives at the address he gives her, she is surprised to find it’s a boxing gym. It surprisingly helps with Jane’s impulse to hit Dennis.

Rogelio visits Xo at her dance studio to tell her that he realizes he’s lost his way and he wants to go back to who he was before the reality show. He honestly tells her that he agreed to the cut because he was jealous of her and Bruce.

While Jane and Dennis box, they talk about Michael. Dennis insists that he was trying to clear Michael’s name. He didn’t tell her about the investigation because he was trying to protect her. Jane insists she doesn’t need protecting, Dennis thinks she did back then because of the daily panic attacks. This takes Jane by surprise and Dennis socks her in the face. While Jane holds an ice pack to her face, she concedes that she was in a different place back then. She was upset because she thought she could trust him and she liked that he would tell her things about Michael she didn’t know. He tells her he is always there if she wants to talk.

Jane and Rafael talk on the phone and Jane tells him about meeting Gary the next day. Rafael once again asks her to take the lounge job. She tells him no again because she has to think long-term, career-wise. She’s not even sure if her book will be a success and is convinced she is being practical. He encourages her to follow her dreams and promises her that she won’t get stuck at the lounge. She then turns the conversation around and serves Rafael some truth: that he’s stuck and is basically Petra’s bitch. After thinking about it, Rafael tells Petra he’s decided he wants to take a more active role in managing the Marbella. Petra tells him that it’s about time, which Abbey agrees with (why is she always there?!).

When playing with Mateo, Rogelio reveals he’s going back to telenovelas. However, that might have to wait because his agent calls him and tells him that he’s being sued for breach of contract.

Jane has taken the manager job and is rocking it! She sees a stuffed giraffe, which felt like a sign from Michael that she’s doing the right thing. We also find out that she’s officially signed all the paperwork for her book deal!

Chuck brings Petra flowers and wants to take her on a date. She agrees and finally admits that maybe she “like-likes” him. After he leaves, Petra looks awfully guilty. The narrator takes us on a flashback to after Scott’s body was discovered when Petra pushed it so it was on the Fairwick’s property and not the Marbella’s! That’s not the only shady thing going on. In the present, Rafael meets with Elvis who tells Rafael that it would have been bad for them if the police had ruled it a murder. What’s going on?