Jane the Virgin is on it’s second season on the CW network on Monday nights at 9/8c. I freaking love this show. I’ve been all in since the pilot. The essential plotline is this: A young, Catholic woman named Jane discovers that she was accidentally artificially inseminated, and it throws her entire life into chaos. If that sounds ridiculous, it is, but that is what makes this show so great. It doesn’t take itself too seriously (it’s quite hilarious) but also manages to strike a grounded tone, with emphasis on faith, family, and positive relationships. The writing on this show is some of the finest on TV right now, and I hope it continues for many seasons more. If you don’t have cable, you can watch the latest episodes on Huluplus and the CW’s website the day after airing. Season one is also streaming currently on Netflix, which is really nice.
This post is for people who have seen the majority of the show. Jane has been in a whirlwind of back and forth between the two men in her life for over a year. She loves them both very much in entirely different ways. She is currently single and ready to mingle. We’ve been told there is a wedding to come this season, but I’m not convinced it’s a real one. After all, Jane has fantasies all the time. Time will tell. This is my intricate take on #TeamMichael vs #TeamRafael. I’ve gone back and forth time and again myself, but there is always on side that I sway back to. You’ll just have to wait and see.
MICHAEL:
Is a cop who met Jane when he came to shut down her noisy 21st birthday party. They shared a magical kiss and the rest was history (for a couple of years anyway). Michael proposed the day Jane found out she had been accidently inseminated, and major panic ensued.
Now, granted, his response was entirely rational for real life, but this is a comedy-drama. CON: Although he was ready to marry Jane and probably wanted a family eventually (Jane herself had a very long term plan), he was not ready for a baby and being a dad. I think this is significant, and works against him, if only in the sense of circumstances. Time and again as the show went on, his selfish/misguided motives and actions put Mateo in danger. He will never have the mindset that Jane or Rafael does of putting the kid first, and this will always count against him in my mind and I have to think Jane’s too.
PRO: He knows Jane super duper well. He is constantly encouraging her passions and dreams, and always knows what she needs to feel better.
CON: Keeps a lot of secrets for selfish reasons, like the whole Petra Zazo thing, because he was hoping it would wreck Rafael and Jane’s relationship.
PRO: Super helpful with his job. He saved Abeula from deportation and has come to the rescue many times for Jane and Rafael.
CONS: Puts his career and personal motives above other’s safety and even the law. His off-track investigation of Sin Rostro and dealings with Nadine are what put Mateo in danger in the first place. He’s constantly in trouble at his work and sneaking and lying around. Are his reasons justification enough?
PRO: Is very cute (those dreamy blue eyes, amirite?) and their kisses feel familiar and right to Jane. Generally respectful of her boundaries and morals. Is very tight with her estranged father.
CON: Was willing to have sex with Jane when she decided she wanted to, without giving her time to make sure she was sure, or really regretting that it could have happened afterwards the moment passed untouched.
BIGGEST PRO/CONS for the future: His temper is his ultimate downfall. He’s very irrational and quick tempered. He takes things out on Jane, on Rafael, on his job, etc. He loses his cool a lot, and that’s not an opinion as a behavior when you have a kid. Their most recent split came from his causing Mateo to be injured. He was super sorry, but there isn’t a lot he can do to make up for it. I don’t see a lot of improvement of trying to change in that respect specifically. At this point, he’s trying to be respectful of what Jane wants and stay separated, so we haven’t seen them together or talking deeply in a while.
Relationship history worth noting: The fact of the matter is, Jane has been broken up with and broken up with both the boys at this point. She told them both to move on. Michael was able to do so, twice now. Where it stands, he really doesn’t seem to want to have anything to do with her. Now obviously it’s because she told him to, but the fact, is he is capable of pushing on with his life. He’s realistic, which I can respect. But Jane is a hopeless romantic, and so am I. Which brings me to:
RAFAEL:
Jane had a big time crush on grown up playboy Rafael back in high school, and they shared a kiss when she was very young, but he never contacted her after that. He grew up, moved away, got married, got cancer, changed a bunch, became estranged from his wife, had his sperm accidentally injected into Jane, got a divorce, and fell in love with and works to learn all about his baby mama (Jane).
PROS: Really wanted and continues to want a family. He’s very financially capable of taking care of a family, and works hard (though sometimes too hard) to gain more.
CON: His family is crazy (to say the least) and he has a lot of baggage from that, although really at this point Jane has a heaping helping of that herself, what with Rogelio coming into her life only as an adult and all. Sometimes it means very real danger coming into their lives.
PRO: A super great dad who is 100% committed and involved in the whole process, although it took him a little work to get there, he’s fully embraced it now.
CON: He does lie and hide things here and there (like ratting out Michael and lying to Jane about it), however, I do argue that he has more at stake, which is what he’s constantly trying to tell Jane. I’m not excusing his behavior because in general, it is selfish. However, compared with Michael, while he’s also doing it for himself yes, it’s more because of his son: because he loves Jane and he truly wants nothing more than and is invested in them being a normal, happy family.
[I have to say at this point they’ve pretty much both done a fair-to-equal amount of lying to Jane. I guess in my mind the main questions are who was more justified, and who’s done a better job of expressing regret and changing to make up for mistakes.]
PRO: He’s playing catchup when it comes to learning about Jane (which is something she holds against him on multiple occasions) but he does work hard at this, especially to be supportive of her as a mom pursuing her career.
CON: He completely devastated Jane when he broke up with her. He only did it because he thought he was protecting her from his inner turmoil (which he did need to take time to step back and deal with), but it had major consequences nonetheless. She’s wary of getting hurt by him again, which is why she’s kept him in the friend zone since Mateo was born.
PRO: He’s a hottie with a body (no really, have you seen him shirtless) and they have an undeniable chemistry.
PRO related to above: a huge part of the reason he realized he needed to break up with her (he was almost in tears) was that he probably would have gone all the way with her in the pool that night, and he was scared that he would have made that mistake. He recognized that that’s not something he should ever do because it means so much to Jane. [sidenote, the Rafael the virgin hashtag from a few episodes back made me LOL).
BIGGEST PRO/CONS for the future: Rafael is much more even tempered than Michael. His anger is more likely to come out through sulking, hiding and drinking than in fits of rage. This is a very attractive quality to Jane, and slightly less dangerous. He’s worked really hard to change: the difference between who he was at the beginning and who he is now is very evident. He’s buying a perfect white picket fenced house to live in, essentially for their future. I think his biggest cons are always going to be his family and Petra. I feel bad for Petra but I am NOT okay with the closeness they are at. Tbh, I don’t like the twins storyline at all. The complexity that this brings to his life is trouble. Jane (understandably) gets tired of dealing with it all. It’s kind of strange to think that Rafael just has kids he’s the dad of left and right, but it’s part of the beauty/comedy of this show.
Relationship history worth noting: the fact that he is the father of her child is always going to be his biggest draw. Circling back to the hopeless romantic thing, Rafael really can’t let Jane go. Mateo is rounding on something like 5 or 6 months old, and they’ve been broken up since mid-to-late pregnancy, but he’s not over her at all. He tried dating someone else and just couldn’t do it. He’s trying really hard to be patient and win her back. And that is why I always come back to him. Their lives are entwined together with so much insanity, but it’s a tangled web that Michael is always on the outside of. For those reasons, I am solidly #TeamRafael. Did I convince anyone to join?? Welcome to this side of the ship, it’s a beautiful place to be.
Parting thought: can it really be that Jane could end up with someone other than these two? I saw the grad school professor (Jonathan?) thing coming from the first day we met him.
Looking forward to tonight’s episode on the CW! Thanks for reading!
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