Joana

It probably wasn't the intention, but the longer Rogelio and Xiomara are separated, the less I want them to get back together. I'm liking them with Darci and Bruce quite a bit, actually, and to me they now feel like siblings more than anything. I wish the show would be brave enough to accept that their moment maybe has passed. I'm tired of characters suddenly appearing and taking a lot of screen time, without seemingly having a place in the grand scheme of things. Rafael's brother, Michael's ex-girlfriend and now Catalina. For a show that used to be so incredibly well put together, it sure does tend to occur more and more often and it's annoying.

I'm just so glad that the show has finally acknowledged that Petra has experienced a horrendous trauma. They put her behaviour in a context somewhat and hopefully this means that her character is back on track. Nothing about Michael's career change makes much sense. And I don't really see what the point of bringing Catalina in (assuming she won't be back) was, but whatever. Are we officially done with the whole Sin Rostro/Mutter/Derek/etc. thing? I don't remember a clear resolution. The whole storyline was definitely becoming a drag and I don't really miss it, it's just that I don't want them to randomly reintroduce it at some point.

OK, I have literally no idea how they're going to pull it off in the next episode. I thought they'd use these two episodes following the break to lay the foundation for the storyline about Michael's death and soften the blow a bit, but that obviously hasn't happened. So what, he gets run over by a bus or something equally random? I guess his death could be related to the whatever mess comes out the addendum stuff, but it seems somewhat far-fetched. Meh. I was so thoroughly unimpressed with these two episodes as they were and knowing that Michael's days on the show are numbered hasn't helped one bit.

But getting him back from the dead only to kill him off for real just 10 episodes later is horrendous writing. I cannot believe these writers would do something that nonsensical if they had any say in it. If they truly wanted Michael out of the picture so soon, either they would have had him die in the first episode of the season or S2 would have ended differently. Of course, it's all moot now.

Yeah. And it's not like she's some poor soul without anyone to take care of their best interests. She has a great, devoted lawyer, obviously she would have goen hard after whatever extenuating circumstances, had there been any.

I agree that the doctors didn't need to know what she had done. And really, they possibly would not have given her the best possible treatment if they had known that she had tortured and murdered her entire family and then ate their corpses, or whatever that is that a privileged white girl had to do to get herself a life sentence at the age of 16. They were probably aware of that themselves, it's human nature, so I get why they wanted to be in the dark in order to do their job right. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean that they get to pass off whatever heinous thing she must have done as a "mistake" and "stuff that just happens". Bailey's epiphany in the end was ridiculous. And even more so, they don't get to judge the mother who must have been through God only knows how much and that they have absolutely no idea about. Looking at you there, Arizona. Generally, it wasn't the worst episode ever. Or even this season. I appreciate they were trying to do something different that doesn't include Meredith, for a change. Of course, the timing of this episode is everything but perfect. Also, did you know that Jo used to live in her car?

But this very show has proved that happy TV couples can exist! Just because Shonda Rhimes or whoever doesn't know how to do it, doesn't mean it's impossible. Of course, there was always going to be a chance that they'd hit a block somewhere down the line and make Jane single again to shake things up, but I don't think it's happened just yet. And they certainly wouldn't just randomly pull it off in the middle of the season. It must have been something out of their control. I do agree though that a time jump was probably planned at some point, not only because it would be more practical to have an older child at the set, but also because an older child opens up for more possibilities regarding storytelling than a toddler can.

Something just occurred to me - we never saw Michael fail the physical, quit the job or have his farewell party. We were told all of these things, by him. Also, his co-worker said he couldn't be present at the interrogation in front of Rafael. It seems like they want everyone who's close to Michael to believe he can't do his job anymore. I think it's an undercover mission of some sort.

I can't even begin to imagine what the show is going to be without Michael. He adds a little special something to literally every scene he appears in. To say that the show wouldn't be the same without him would be an understatement of the year. I really don't think I can watch it when/if he's gone, especially as I'm not too thrilled with the most of the current storylines.

Rogelio signing the contract in such a nonchalant manner without even taking a glance at it made me think she's maybe setting him up somehow. IMO it's a twist this show would pull. It would be kind of a bummer, as they do have good chemistry. Jane and Michael are on the best TV couples ever and I don't mean it as a hyperbole. I love them, I really do. I didn't love much of the other stuff in this episode, though. It's so disappointing on Petra being evil again. I get that she's scarred and traumatized by her recent experience (which the show didn't take nearly seriously enough, BTW), but turning against Rafael in this particular manner seems awfully contrived. Also, her interactions with Jane are one of the show's absolute highlights and they basically haven't even shared a scene this entire season. Nothing about Michael's career change makes much sense. It was never properly explained why he can't be a detective anymore. It really might be another undercover mission, which would be a bit of an overkill at this point. I dunno, I feel like the show is starting to run in circles and it's a bit disappointing after the truly fantastic four or so episodes of the season.

Speaking of characters that unexpectedly got "too" popular, I think that's what happened to Petra rather than Michael. I think he was always supposed to be a fan favourite with how much was invested in him, I'm not sure anyone counted on Petra getting this big. And it's just a wild speculation on my part, but it might explain why her role was so greatly diminished this season with the awful Anezka storyline. Perhaps they wanted the character to take a back seat for a while because they thought she might be taking too much spotlight away from Jane.

I've always seen JtV as a sort of anti-telenovela that playfully takes the conventions of the genre and then goes against them. For that reason I was never convinced that Rafael was necessarily the end game (a true telenovela ending) and firmly believed that Michael was eventually at least going to be given a chance. Of course, there was always going to be a possibility of another break-up/revival of the triangle just to keep the dynamics going in case they ran out of ideas or the ratings were declining, but I really doubt it was ever supposed to happen at this stage of the show. If anything, if that had been the plan all along, the season would have had different pacing. We're now three episodes away from the huge time jump and there's so much stuff unresolved that needs to be packed in. I think they would have hurried up to tie some loose ends and/or not introduced so many new storylines if they had known what was coming. Not that any of that makes a difference now, of course. I just can't imagine what the time jump is going to do to the other characters on the show - Petra, Anezka (is she even going to be there?), Rogelio, Xiomara and their relationship, Luisa (if they ever plan on bringing her back)... They'll probably also have to write in a bunch of new characters. I can't see how it's not going to be a mess.

Yeah. That's what makes me think this really is about Brett Dier wanting to leave the show for whatever reason. It's not like when Sara Ramirez supposedly caught the showrunners by suprise with her request to leave Grey's Anatomy at the end of the last season even though simply everything about the way her character had been written for months beforehand indicated at least some uncertainty about her future status on the show. In this case, it would be more than absurd if they had actually planned everything to happen the way it would, and I refuse to believe the writers are such incompetent hacks. Even so, I'm not really sure the time jump is the best solution. Obviously, I get why they'd do it and that they would want to keep the tone of the show as light as possible, which of course they can't pull off with Jane mourning the loss of the love of her life for a number of episodes. But it will certainly feel so hollow for the viewers. And they deserve to mourn his loss, too!

Exactly! I was already less than pleased with the direction the show has taken in the last couple of episodes and just knowing there's going to be a time jump even with the whole cast intact would not make me any happier. I was starting to worry they were writing themselves into a corner and this kinda confirms it. It's pretty much what happened on Desperate Housewives back in the day. The time jump there turned out to be a handy quick term solution and it did bring some excitement at first, but it didn't solve any of the show's problems in the long run and just created new ones. Another thing that really annoyed me in Ivonne's interview is that she thought that her character was going to die and talked to the producers about it, and they told her that they are not going to kill Alba off because they need the "trinity" of Villanueva women on the show, So, they clearly don't need Michael. Ugh. Way to respect your fans, show. Actually, it's quite unbelievable this interview was ever allowed to see the light of day. Edit: just seen the post above. It does make it somewhat better if they're killing him off because the actor wants out and not because they're giving in to demands that Jane should choose Rafael because he's hot and takes his shirt off a lot. And it does make it some sense as they've already filmed those 3 episodes but apprently haven't started shooting the second part of the season yet. But damn, the show really won't be the same without him and I really don't think I can watch it. I might tune in from time to time just to see what Petra's up to, if they ever bother showing her again, that is, the way things are going.

The way she phrased it rules out a fake death, I'm afraid. I'm going to put it in spoiler tag, just in case: So I really think that's it. And it's so disappointing. Such a... coward move.

Yeah, I've just seen the interview with Coll. It's happening. I'll probably not even bother watching the show when it returns later this month.

If it's true, I'm out the moment it happens, without second thought.

I think the reason GA doesn't get much attention is that there's just not that much to write about. It's a really, really bad show at this point. I guess the only angle to come up with would be "How in the world does something that old and that awful still manage to pull in that many viewers?", and obviously they can't approach Shonda with that. Although, it would be kinda hilarious.

It's clear that she's only investing the bare minimum effort at this point and the only reason GA is still on air is that is miraculously manages to get very good rating at the time most shows are struggling a lot. Seriously, what's the point of giving out "answers" like this?

I'd find it utterly bizarre. Wasn't Addison a hugely popular character in her time? Wasn't there even talk about her overshadowing Meredith? A spin-off with her character taking the central role made sense. Jackson has like 5% of such appeal and interest.

It could be, but I feel that entire storyline is generally off at the moment. Alba insisted so much that Catalina is up to no good right from the start, and then when Jane started suspecting her, she was also all "meh" about it. It didn't make a lot of sense either.

I was 100% sure Petra was going to react to Catalina, it was one of the main reasons why I was so looking forward to this episode. I still think it's going to happen, but the perfect moment has maybe passed. We definitely need more of Petra in the rest of the season. Not Anezka, not Anezka pretending to be Petra. Petra. She's been tragically underused so far.

Sigh. It's true. I read somewhere it would be back on December 19th. And I'm officially pissed off now. I'll probably come back to watch in January, but it would have been a no-brainer just a couple of weeks ago.

Oh God, I didn't even realize this was the midseason finale. Fortunately the break is only two weeks or I'd be pissed they're leaving it at this. I don't really think the show has got significantly worse or anything, but I'm afraid we might find ourselves at an impass there if some things don't change. They need to commit to some storylines seriously or let them go. It seems like no one is even mentioning Sin Rostro nowadays - is that storyline officially over? I could live with it, even though I'd find it odd if Michael didn't go after the person who shot him - I just don't want it to suddenly resurface 7 episodes from now. Also, the whole business with Mutter's bank account number better be good, the way they're dragging it out. Like I mentioned, decide what to do with Luisa and/or Rose and stick to it. Give Petra something meaningful to do. I was never too thrilled with the addition of Anezka, but after all the trouble she caused, it would kinda suck if her storyline just fizzled out like that. Give her a proper send-off, if nothing. If they go the way of Grey's Anatomy and start randomly dropping and resuming major storylines, I'm NOT going to be happy.

I wonder if Yael Grobglas hasn't been as available lately. We haven't even seen Anezka since the big reveal, and last week the resolution of Evil Petra's storyline felt rushed and incomplete and the episode was generally Petra-light. The show really isn't the same without her.