Jane The Virgin – Chapter Forty

By: Jennifer Verzuh

Monday’s episode picks up with mother and daughter still on poor terms. Xiomara (Andrea Navedo) is hurt and insulted by Jane’s (Gina Rodriguez) comments to her and waiting for an apology, which a fed up Jane is in no mood to provide. Despite Michael, Alba and especially Rogelio’s desire for them to make up, it doesn’t look good. And Xo has even decided to stop watching Mateo for Jane, throwing her schedule out of whack.

Michael (Brett Dier) steps up though and agrees to watch Mateo while she goes to school and meets with her advisor. She and her advisor are not seeing eye to eye as she continues to show a distaste both for Jane and her writing, dismissing Jane’s romance novel starring a salsa dancer.

Plenty seems to be going wrong for Jane between grad school and her mother, but at least Michael seems to be getting along well with Mateo. Maybe a little too well though. When Rafael (Justin Baldoni) comes to pick up his son, the baby says his first words: Dada. Unfortunately, he’s addressing Michael, not his real father. This causes Rafael to ask for more days with Mateo a week and begs the question: What role will Michael have in Mateo’s life now that he’s becoming a step-father of sorts?

Rogelio (Jaime Camil), who you may remember had the crew of his soap opera build a replica set of Jane’s house for her to get married in, is under hot water for the decision by network execs. He covers by saying that the set is actually for an episode of “Tiago.” The only problem: he has no story. He turns to Dina (Judy Reyes), one of the writers of his old soaps, for help. Ro is also preoccupied though with Jane and her mother fighting. Dina helps him on both fronts by pointing out why it is the two are actually upset with each other and working it into the script.

Rogelio invites his family to watch the taping of the special episode, which acts as an ambush as it re-enacts the fight between Jane and Xo. It also reveals the only reason they’re fighting is because they’re scared everything will change once Jane gets married and they think it will hurt less to leave if they’re mad at each other. Rogelio’s plot works and strikes a chord with Jane and Xo who immediately make up and apologize. Thankfully, it also impresses the studio heads, especially when Dina tells them a huge telenovela twist is coming. Further, it leads to a passionate kiss between Dina and Rogelio.

Speaking of a telenovela twist, there’s Petra’s (Yael Grobglas) long lost sister. And before you ask, no I’m not kidding. Last week we saw a still struggling with postpartum depression Petra dye her hair brown and get on a bus. It appeared she was running away from her children, but when she showed back up to the Marbella and her room it became clear that wasn’t Petra at all, rather the sister she never knew she had.

Growing up in an orphanage and working as a pick pocket, the woman has clearly had a difficult life. She’s desperate for love and is becoming attached to Petra. Unfortunately for Petra and Rafael, she spooks easy and accidentally scratches a woman who approaches her thinking it’s Petra. The woman is the seller of a neighboring resort Rafael and Petra are hoping to purchase and use to expand the Marbella. As a result of the injury, the price gets driven up. To cover the expense, Rafael decides to use his insider trading money.

After making up with her mother, Jane is inspired to successfully re-write her novel for her advisor. This time it prominently features the main character’s mother and their relationship. Surprisingly, she likes it and Jane is re-admitted into the grad program for next year. Michael is happy for her, but also wants to take the time to ask what she’s comfortable with in terms of his relationship to Mateo. He wants to be more than just his babysitter. Jane’s heart melts at the comment and she tells him she wants that too and they’ll figure out his place together.

Keeping with Jane’s telenova tendencies, we find someone taking photos of Michael from the bushes.