S04.E11: Chapter Seventy-Five

[Cranberry]

Jane is ready to move on from the Marbella and pursue writing full time, but an unexpected development forces her to consider returning to her teaching roots. When Jane applies for a job as an adjunct professor, she finds herself seeing her former professor, Jonathan Chavez, in a different light. Rafael thinks he has found a way to get back in the real estate game and looks to Jane for support. Meanwhile, Rogelio courts Eva Longoria to star in the American remake of the Passions of Santos.

[JamieLynn832002]

I enjoyed this episode other the hint of Xo possibly cheating at the end. I'd hate that but I doubt that's where it's actually headed. The episode made me wonder, is Rogelio's mom dead? He said she was always proud of being related to Benito Juárez but that could have just been because the discussions were in the past and I can't remember if we've seen her since the the time jump.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Ha, I can't blame Eva Longoria for being too grossed out to kiss her first cousin on camera.

I hope Xiomara isn't cheating with Hot Brad (is that his name?). I understand her frustration with Rogelio though. He has interrupted and ignored her every time she started talking about going back to school. And she made it very clear that she wanted nothing to do with raising Baby because it's HIS responsibility, so she has every right to be upset that he asked her to watch his child all weekend while he flies off to New York to get River to be on his show. Why can't he just wait until Darcy gets back from her trip? This really can't wait until Monday? Or why can't he bring Baby with him? If he had asked Xiomara to come to New York with him so they could have a fun weekend after he had one short meeting with River, I'm sure she would have been a lot more open to watching Baby for a few hours while Rogelio met with River (as opposed to watching Baby all weekend by herself).

If Rafael had told Jane how icky that time share job was, she would have understood why he turned it down. I don't know why he was so vague about it.

[mrsbagnet]

Xo was justifiably angry about having to keep Baby all weekend, but I don't get why she's disappointed by Rogelio being self-centered. He has always been self-centered, since day one. It's one of the reasons I dislike the character so much. She shouldn't be surprised by his behavior at all.

I thought Ro was taking a break from acting to be a stay-at-home dad.

[Simba122504]

Xo is not cheating with that guy. Of course Alba knows! lol Alba going to sleep on Jane's bed was hilarious. So was J/R texting in the closet. Eva was funny too. Please let Rogelio's show go into production because I am tired of hearing it. I'm happy Jane's book wasn't a runaway success because it's realistic. Not everyone has a blockbuster right out the gate. Many don't. Unemployed Jane is going to go crazy. I love how Rafael back to his roots. He knows what he is good at. Same with Jane and her writing. So nobody is going to expose their secret because they're going to tell everyone they're dating. I like that. 

[Simba122504]

14 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Ha, I can't blame Eva Longoria for being too grossed out to kiss her first cousin on camera.

I hope Xiomara isn't cheating with Hot Brad (is that his name?). I understand her frustration with Rogelio though. He has interrupted and ignored her every time she started talking about going back to school. And she made it very clear that she wanted nothing to do with raising Baby because it's HIS responsibility, so she has every right to be upset that he asked her to watch his child all weekend while he flies off to New York to get River to be on his show. Why can't he just wait until Darcy gets back from her trip? This really can't wait until Monday? Or why can't he bring Baby with him? If he had asked Xiomara to come to New York with him so they could have a fun weekend after he had one short meeting with River, I'm sure she would have been a lot more open to watching Baby for a few hours while Rogelio met with River (as opposed to watching Baby all weekend by herself).

If Rafael had told Jane how icky that time share job was, she would have understood why he turned it down. I don't know why he was so vague about it.

It's impossible for her not to raise Baby. They're married and as far as we know they're not divorcing anytime soon. The child has many, many years to go.  But Xo isn't really angry at that. It's more than that.

[Cranberry]

She'll probably like Baby more once the kid's bigger and can talk. Other people's babies are pretty boring at first. I agree that it's about more than that, though. She feels that Ro doesn't listen to her and always puts himself first.

Still liking the Petra/JR storyline -- Petra's deer-in-the-headlights look anytime she flashed back to that sex dream was great. I'm glad they got the blackmailing reveal out of the way so they can work on rebuilding trust and unmasking the blackmailer now.

[cardigirl]

Not my favorite episode.  Seems they are retreading old territory, especially with Xiomara.  I get that marriage doesn't mean no problems ever again, but she's not been happy with Rogelio through most of this marriage, and she's not been happy without him.  I'm not sure what the show wants to do with her character. 

 

I'm also kind of disappointed that the way they ended the triangle of Petra, Jane and Rafael was to make Petra have feelings for a woman, effectively making her no longer a threat to Jane and Rafael.  It's been done before.   

This season seems to be winding the show down.  Where are they going to go from here?  I thought the creator had a 5 year vision for the series?

[jaigurudeva]

On 3/3/2018 at 6:35 PM, Simba122504 said:

It's impossible for her not to raise Baby. They're married and as far as we know they're not divorcing anytime soon. The child has many, many years to go.  But Xo isn't really angry at that. It's more than that.

On 3/3/2018 at 9:10 PM, Cranberry said:

She'll probably like Baby more once the kid's bigger and can talk. Other people's babies are pretty boring at first. I agree that it's about more than that, though. She feels that Ro doesn't listen to her and always puts himself first.

It doesn't matter what age she is or whether or not Xo likes her, Baby is Xo's step-daughter. You can't marry someone with a child and expect to never have to care for her. That kid isn't going anywhere, and the last thing any child needs is a resentful step-parent. The problem with their marriage is that both Ro and Xo are self-centered people, both unwilling to sacrifice and compromise for anyone else, much less for each other.

47 minutes ago, cardigirl said:

I'm also kind of disappointed that the way they ended the triangle of Petra, Jane and Rafael was to make Petra have feelings for a woman, effectively making her no longer a threat to Jane and Rafael.  It's been done before. 

Petra dumped Rafael after they tried to get back together, and has been over him for some time now, well before the introduction of JR. I have my doubts over how far JR is going to get in the show, (as mentioned in an earlier thread, no doubt the show will want to make a "who shot JR?!" joke) but it would be nice to have a same-sex couple on the show that isn't completely toxic like Rose and Luisa. The way they handled Adam's bisexuality was realistic, informative, and tasteful, so I expect good things if they do decide to take Petra and JR seriously.

[cardigirl]

40 minutes ago, jaigurudeva said:

Petra dumped Rafael after they tried to get back together, and has been over him for some time now, well before the introduction of JR. I have my doubts over how far JR is going to get in the show, (as mentioned in an earlier thread, no doubt the show will want to make a "who shot JR?!" joke) but it would be nice to have a same-sex couple on the show that isn't completely toxic like Rose and Luisa. The way they handled Adam's bisexuality was realistic, informative, and tasteful, so I expect good things if they do decide to take Petra and JR seriously.

She dumped him when he proved he wasn't really over Jane. After he vigorously pursued Petra.  I don't think she fell out of love with him, she was protecting herself.  Rafael has certainly been an yo-yo with her. She's not aware, yet, that Jane and Rafael have decided to go for it, and I'm certain it will cause some angst, at least, with her.  So yes, the intro of a female love interest for her, when there has been no indication of Petra  leaning that way previously, seems to me like a way to "clear the road" for Rafael and Jane.  Plot device if you will.  Although I like the JR character. 

The way the show jumps around, trying to create drama, it's difficult to keep up with Petra and Rafael's relationship. 

Edited March 5, 2018 by cardigirl

[MoreCoffeePlease]

On a fashion note, I loved Jane's blue and white striped dress, and Petra's floral sleeveless top.  How I envy them with their wardrobes!

What is Jane's injury?

[Enginerd]

57 minutes ago, jaigurudeva said:

It doesn't matter what age she is or whether or not Xo likes her, Baby is Xo's step-daughter. You can't marry someone with a child and expect to never have to care for her. That kid isn't going anywhere, and the last thing any child needs is a resentful step-parent.

Maybe you can't reasonably expect to NEVER have to care for her, but it's not like this was some dire unanticipated emergency and there were no other options. Rogelio is just taking Xo for granted and expecting her to serve him and his interests without giving her life and priorities equal concern. She's said all along she was not going to do baby care again. I think it's fine for her to be a kindly but hands-off stepmother. She will probably like the kid more when she's older, but she doesn't want to be changing diapers and giving bottles and having to be there with the baby or take her wherever she goes. Rogelio knew he was looking to work again. He should have hired a nanny or even two nannies and compiled a list of responsible, willing sitters. Or, you know, Jane is now unemployed. Maybe he could have asked her if she was willing to take care of Baby for the weekend.

But instead, he just assumed Xo would do it, while also ignoring all the things she's been trying to talk to him about. He doesn't listen to her. I can see why she was angry.

That aside, I really enjoyed this episode. It was a lot of fun. I'm glad Jane finally came to a realization of how skeevy her relationship with Chavez was, although I think it would still have been skeevy if she'd been the only one. He may not have been her advisor, but he was in her department and she was still a student there. He shouldn't have been even considering hooking up with a student.

I'm excited about Rafael developing a new hotel. I haven't been so fond of the Marbella since they went with the cheesy cheap-looking kid vibe. I assume he will get a new place built in magical TV time instead of the several years it normally takes.

[Enginerd]

I also wonder whether on some subconscious level Rogelio is punishing Xo for leaving him out of Jane's entire childhood.

[Enginerd]

I don't think Xiomara gave school enough of a chance. Of course you're going to be lost and over your head if you drop in on the middle of a random class. It's bound to be easier if you start at the beginning of the course of study, or maybe even start with a few first-year basic classes like writing and something else really general with no prerequisites to get into the swing of it.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

13 hours ago, Enginerd said:

I don't think Xiomara gave school enough of a chance. Of course you're going to be lost and over your head if you drop in on the middle of a random class. It's bound to be easier if you start at the beginning of the course of study, or maybe even start with a few first-year basic classes like writing and something else really general with no prerequisites to get into the swing of it.

I agree. It would be one thing for her to drop in on this art history class in the middle of the semester if it were something that she were already knowledgeable about, but just showing up in the middle of the term means that it's likely that you won't know what they're talking about because duh, you missed weeks of class leading up to this point. I know the purpose of that whole experience was to make Xiomara feel like she's not smart enough to go back to school, but I'm surprised that as both a former teacher and a recent grad student that Jane didn't point out to Xo that auditing a class now was not a very practical idea.

[nilyank]

I don't know. Watching the show seems like such a chore now. I stay until the end but I am completely unmoved by the romance of Jane and Rafael. 

As for Xiomara, is she even interested in art? She should have audited a music or dance class. This is the same problem as she tries to find a new career. She is in her 40s and still hasn't a clue what she wants to do with her life.

[Simba122504]

On 3/5/2018 at 12:00 PM, cardigirl said:

She dumped him when he proved he wasn't really over Jane. After he vigorously pursued Petra.  I don't think she fell out of love with him, she was protecting herself.  Rafael has certainly been an yo-yo with her. She's not aware, yet, that Jane and Rafael have decided to go for it, and I'm certain it will cause some angst, at least, with her.  So yes, the intro of a female love interest for her, when there has been no indication of Petra  leaning that way previously, seems to me like a way to "clear the road" for Rafael and Jane.  Plot device if you will.  Although I like the JR character. 

The way the show jumps around, trying to create drama, it's difficult to keep up with Petra and Rafael's relationship. 

Petra is not in love with Rafael and Rafael is not in love with Petra. Their romantic relationship is deader than Lindsay Lohan's career. Whatever they had died in the episode they broke up in. The LLN even said so in the mid season finale. Even the creator said so in an interview.

[Cranberry]

Having feelings for a woman doesn't mean Petra can never have feelings for Rafael (or any other man), either. Liking one woman doesn't make her gay. Bisexuality exists! She's no less a potential threat to the couple than she would be if her new love interest were a man. 

[tennisgurl]

Eva being here makes me really miss her old sitcom Telenovella, where she played a famous telenovella star in Florida. It was hilarious, and I miss it a lot. I loved her three assistants that all dress alike. 

So Xio gives up after one art history class when she couldn't name a modern artist? And, is auditing an art history class a really practical way to start a carrier after the age of 40? Or ever? I think Xio problem isn't that she doesn't get pointillism jokes that college students do, its that she is super flaky. She seems to have a new dream every week now, and leaves them behind the second she has to learn something actually new, or do something hard.

[cardigirl]

4 hours ago, Cranberry said:

Having feelings for a woman doesn't mean Petra can never have feelings for Rafael (or any other man), either. Liking one woman doesn't make her gay. Bisexuality exists! She's no less a potential threat to the couple than she would be if her new love interest were a man. 

You are right, of course, but what I was addressing is that the character has not been shown to have an interest in women before, so this felt 'shoehorned' into the story, if you will. And it's been done before in other shows.

Their sexual tension is undeniable, and Petra’s dream-slash-fantasy involving Jane is proof of that. Showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman told Mic that having Petra fall for a woman is not something she planned from the get-go, but after they thought about it, things just started making sense.

 I'm still searching for the article that says Petra has no romantic feelings left for Rafael.   

[Maricopa]

On 3/5/2018 at 8:16 AM, cardigirl said:

Where are they going to go from here?  I thought the creator had a 5 year vision for the series?

Wasn't that for Crazy Ex-GF?