CW

A Tribute to Jane the Virgin

By Rueben | July 30, 2019

Jane the Virgin debuted on The CW on October 13, 2014, loosely adapted from the Venezuelan telenovela Juana la Virgen, and developed for U.S television by Jennie Snyder Urman.

The series introduced Gina Rodriguez to the world as Jane Gloriana Villanueva, a devout 23-year-old Latina virgin, who became pregnant after an accidental artificial insemination by her gynecologist. The show regularly parodied common tropes and devices in Latin telenovelas.

With the show on the verge of coming to an end after five seasons this Wednesday night, it seemed only right to pay tribute to this groundbreaking series.

In season one Jane was a college graduate living in Miami with her mother Xiomara (Andrea Navedo) and grandmother Alba (Ivonne Coll), who dreamed of being a writer. While Jane was hard-working – she was a waitress at the Marbella Hotel – she always made sensible choices because her Abuela [her grandmother] taught her to protect her virtue (i.e., not to have sex outside of marriage unlike her own mother Xiomara who got pregnant while still a teenager).

While Jane was at a doctor’s appointment for a standard test, Dr. Luisa Alver (Yara Martinez), a recovering alcoholic dealing with a bad break-up, made a very big mistake. She mixed Jane for Petra Solano (Yael Grobglas), who was to be inseminated with her husband Rafael’s (Justin Baldoni) [and Luisa’s brother’s] sperm, as he was in remission from cancer (and basically had his swimmers on ice).

It wouldn’t be a telenovela without a lot of intrigue. Jane was inseminated, Petra wasn’t and now the virgin was having a baby fathered without sex by the guy who Jane had actually had a crush on years earlier; but Jane was now happily engaged to police detective Michael Cordero (Brett Dier).

But…(you knew there would be a but, right?) Jane ended up eventually falling for Rafael and while they were happy together for a short time, the romance didn’t last for long once Rafael began to spiral out of control when he found out his father was killed by step-mother Rose (Bridget Regan) [also known as the famous crime boss Sin Rostro AND was Rafael’s sister Luisa’s secret lover). When the pressure became too much, Rafael broke up with Jane.

That’s not all. Jane’s mom Xiomara never told Jane the truth about her father, and when it was revealed that her birth father was none other than famous telenovela star Rogelio de la Vega, well things get even more complicated. Xo and Ro were high school sweethearts, and all these years later, they fell back in love and ended up getting married in Las Vegas after a very, very drunk night.

At the end of the debut season, Jane gave birth to a baby boy Mateo, who ended up being stolen by someone pretending to be a nurse at the hospital. That someone just might be Rose…

As season two rolled out, the cliffhanger of Mateo being stolen was resolved with the baby boy being returned to Jane, who struggled with being a new mom and sharing parental responsibility with Rafael.

A lot of things happened in the sophomore season: Jane dated two other men – other than Michael and Rafael; only to, in the end, choose Michael, marrying him at the end of the season [breaking Rafael’s heart in the process]. Before that wedding, however, Michael and Jane were apart for a number of months, learning later in the season that Michael and his partner had gone deep undercover in order to bring down Rose (aka Sin Rostro).

Rafael dealt with a lot of family drama, learning that he wasn’t really a Solano; that his biological mom abandoned him as a child and that she was actually a notorious crime lord known as Mutter. Rafael’s ex-wife Petra used – of all things – a turkey baster to inseminate herself with the very last of his sperm, ending up being pregnant with twins. The twin girls were born, being named Anna and Elsa [no, the animated movie Frozen was NOT the inspiration for their names!], but Petra dealt with postpartum depression as well as learning she had an identical twin, kept secret by her hateful mother.

Elsewhere, Xo and Ro ended their drunken night marriage with an annulment, as Xo wanted to focus on her career while Ro wanted to have child. Alba not only became a U.S. citizen but also revealed she he had slept with a man named Pablo before marrying Xo’s dad Mateo. Ro was kidnapped by a previously imprisoned stalker fan of his; and Jane earned her Master’s degree.

As mentioned earlier, Jane and Michael got married, but he ended up getting shot in the Marbella Hotel (where they were having their wedding night) by his cop partner Susanna, who turned out to be the deadly Rose (aka Sin Rostro) in disguise.

Season 3 opened with Michael in critical condition after being shot on his wedding night. He eventually recovered but was not allowed to return to active duty as a cop so he decided to become an attorney, returning to school to study law, but Michael died [GASP!] after taking the LSAT.

The show then jumped ahead three years with Jane coping with her new life as a widow and single mother; and Rafael was out of prison, after serving 9 months; he was given a lenient sentence after coming clean about stolen art taken by his late father.

Meanwhile, Jane had a brief fling with her dad’s co-star Fabian; her parents finally ended up getting married for real and Jane ex-boyfriend Adam (Tyler Posey) unexpectedly came back into Jane’s life with an MIA letter from Michael to Jane. And, Xo was diagnosed with breast cancer, causing a great deal of worry and strive for the family.

As for season four, Jane continued dating Adam despite both her mom and Alba disapproving. Xo and Ro were shocked to learn that his former girlfriend Darci was pregnant with his child and Rafael and Petra were working together to get the Marbella back from Rafael’s sister Luisa. Oh, and Petra was dealing with her identical twin Anezka, who faked her own death. To make matters worse, it was revealed that Anezka and Petra’s horrible mother – recently out of prison – were working with Luisa to keep the hotel away from Petra and Rafael.

In better news, Jane wrote a book loosely based on her relationship with Michael, and she was able to get it published. But Rafael was dating a woman named Katherine who Jane did not like at all.

Soon enough Darci gave birth to her and Ro’s child, who they ended up naming Baby (yep, the baby was named Baby!), and Darci ended up in a relationship with Ro’s telenovela rival Esteban Santiago. Meanwhile Luisa was driven a bit mad by Anezka and Petra’s mother, forcing Luisa to admit herself to an institution. When caught, Anezka faked her death and then came back to taunt Petra only to really lose her life in a tragic accident that left Petra fate in jeopardy. Because of this deathly accident, Petra had to hire a lawyer, Jane “JR” Ramos (Rosario Dawson), who ended up becoming Petra’s lover.

In the end, Rogelio was attempting to get River Fields (recurring guest star Brooke Shields) to star alongside him in his new show; Alba began a romance with her co-worker Jorge, but in the end turned down his marriage proposal and Rafael and Jane got back together while young Mateo started school. But the BIG twist was that Michael wasn’t dead after all, living for a number of years in Montana, and going by the name Jason.

The current fifth and final season has seen the aftermath of Jason (nee Michael) coming between Jane and Rafael, causing legal ramifications for Jane – the insurance company wanted the death benefits used by Jane after Michael’s passing returned – and causing slight relationship doubts for Jane. It was soon revealed that Rose (aka Sin Rostro) faked Michael’s death and caused his memory lapse.

Meanwhile, Rogelio and River worked hard to get their American pilot off the ground for the studio with many hits and misses behind the scenes and in front of the camera. Alba and Jorge had a fake marriage in order for Jorge to get a green card; and while Alba did truly love him, he saw the marriage only as a convenience. Relationship woes, once again, also hit Rafael and Jane because of Jason/Michael, but soon enough Rafael took Jane back and they got engaged. Also the marriage of convenience between Jorge and Alba turned into real love, and they got married – this time in the Catholic Church before a priest.

It was also revealed that little Mateo had been struggling with reading in school and was soon diagnosed with ADHD. This diagnosis was difficult, to say the least, for both Rafael and Jane, but once Jane finally completed her new novel, Mateo read some sentences from the story, much to the delight of his parents.

Meanwhile, Petra went through heartbreak after her girlfriend JR not only took a job in Texas but also broke up with her; but one good thing did happen for Petra: she was able to get 100% ownership of the Marbella back once and for all. And, Jane not only landed herself a book agent, but when that agent put her manuscript up for auction it was bought for $500,000.

Now all that is left is for Jane and Rafael to get married, to see if Xo and Ro actually move to New York to film his first US series, what happens next for Jane as a published author and whether we FINALLY get to learn the identity of the show’s narrator [who I have thought since very early on is a grown-up Mateo reading his mother’s novel to an audience of her long-time fans].