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By: Andrea Merodeadora
We had a kid-filled episode of Jane the Virgin this week and though I think we all miss Joseph Sanders, the new Mateo (Elias Janssen) is proving to be a delightful addition to the cast. Talking about delightful additions to the cast, this episode has a lot of our favorite new cast member, Tyler García Posey a.k.a. Adam! As the Narrator says, let’s dive in!
The episode starts out with one of the show’s favorite plot devices, paralleling Jane’s childhood to her current situation. Jane hasn’t had the best experiences meeting Xo’s boyfriends, so she wants the first time Adam meets Mateo to go perfectly. This romance is going quite fast (and they’re aware of it) but Jane doesn’t plan on her new boyfriend meeting her son for another eight weeks.
A romance that’s been sidelined for a while is the one going on in Jane’s book, but it’s finally making a comeback! Our favorite new couple are chatting in bed when Jane gets the first draft of her novel’s cover, and… it looks awful. Jane sends back some criticisms, and Adam asks Jane if he can read it. Interesting detail! We will be able to read it soon too, as the show is releasing the full “Snow Falling” novel as a companion book.
Jane and Adam aren’t the only ones sharing some pillow-talk. The scene jumps to Rafael and Katherine Cortes (iconic telenovela villainess Alex Meneses), who don’t seem to be on the same page about where their relationship is headed. We know that Rafael slept with Katherine to get a business deal, but Katherine seems to be quite serious about him.
This would be a great chance for Rafael to apologize to Petra for slut-shaming her during their fight last episode, but the show doesn’t take it. Instead, when Jane accidentally meets Katherine and learns that Rafael is using their relationship to get the hotel back, we get another Self Righteous Jane scene. And hell, I’m not particularly invested in Rafael’s money problems, but it’d be nice if this show acknowledged that Petra using sex as a tool to get herself out of a lifetime of suffering and abuse doesn’t make her a bad person.
Jane the Virgin loves pushing abuse victims back with their abusers to create drama (it’s basically all they do with Luisa) but at least they don’t try to make Petra forgive her mother…. right? Petra’s daughters seem to be charmed by their grandmother, but Petra is trying hard to figure out a way to get rid of her. It would probably be easier if Luisa wasn’t paying Magda to stick around until the Marbella is sold.
On a happier note though, our favorite Drama Queens are being extra dramatic this episode. Remember how Darcy hit it off with Rogelio’s new co-star, his arch-nemesis Esteban? Well, they’ve been hitting it off ever since. Ro’s dressing room seems to share a wall with Esteban’s because we can clearly hear Esteban and Darcy’s… passionate love-making. They even passionately make out during a sonogram, and Rogelio isn’t very happy about — well, about any of it. He’s even less happy when he finds out that Darcy has decided to have a home childbirth! The situation would probably get more out of hand if it wasn’t for Xiomara, who finally manages to step in and remind Ro that Darcy’s body is hers and she can give birth however and wherever she likes.
Unlike Darcy, Jane’s introduction of Adam to Mateo did not happen however and wherever she likes. Rather than the carefully planned meeting in eight weeks that Jane expected, Mateo walks in on Jane and Adam kissing on the couch and punches Adam in the eye. It’s a hilarious and sweet scene, but Rafael isn’t too happy about it. To try and convince Rafael that Adam can be trusted around their son, Jane arranges for the three of them to have a lunch, but it doesn’t go quite well.
We know that Mateo really looks up to Rafael so, of course, if Rafael doesn’t like Adam, neither will his son. Mateo decides Adam is “a stupid fart-face”, so Jane has the bright idea of sending the three of them to a baseball game, and it actually works! Adam is great with kids so he charms Mateo quite easily. But, uh-oh, Rafael sees some texts on Adam’s phone that makes him think that even if Adam gets along with Mateo, he might not be right for Jane. He tells Jane so (and it’s nice to see that, despite the arguments, Jane and Rafael sometimes manage to be friends), and our girl decides to ask Adam about it.
It’s a good thing that Jane the Virgin often chooses to be a little more emotionally mature than your average telenovela, though. Jane calmly asks Adam if he’s seeing other people, but — even though they hadn’t discussed until now if they were exclusive or not — he isn’t. The compromising texts he’d received were actually about an illustration he was doing, and what an illustration! It’s the cover for “Snow Falling”, just as romantic as Jane had imagined it. Jane recognizes that jumping to the worst possible conclusions is one of her faults and apologizes, but she also warns Adam that her life comes with a lot more complications. But Adam (and Posey really sells with his lovestruck smile) promises he’s in it, difficulties and all.
Raf isn’t so good at mature relationship talks so when Katherine asks when she can meet his kids, he makes up a lie on the fly and pretends that Jane is a hardass baby mama. Meanwhile, the actual hardass baby mama, Darcy, has Rogelio worried that he’s going to miss out on his new daughter’s childhood like he missed out on Jane’s. And, just in time, the climax of the episode arrives when Darcy’s water breaks.
The happy ending comes amidst a ridiculous scene that takes place in Ro and Xo’s living room. There’s a shirtless Esteban and Rogelio cheering Darcy on through the birth in the middle of a kiddie pool while Xiomara provides the cringing faces to express just what the audience is feeling. But it’s sweet and seeing Rogelio with her new daughter is heart-warming. Still, we hope that this marks the start of a more Xo-focused arc because she’s only played a rather supporting role during these first three episodes.
The mini-arc set up at the beginning of the episode is happily solved when Rafael suggests Adam look after Mateo while both him and Jane are busy, tacitly giving his approval of the new boyfriend. Later we get to see Adam and Mateo playing and dancing together. Jane cries a little, and more than one viewer probably did too. They Mateo takes Adam to have a big talk on the swing at the Villanueva’s porch, where Mateo warns Adam that he can’t hurt mommy’s feelings, and he better not die.
Finally, as usual, the last minute comes with plot-twist after plot-twist. Rafael decides to introduce the kids to Katherine, and we can’t know whether he’s actually serious about her or just taking Petra’s “business” advice. Rose wants Luisa to burn down the Marbella and collect the insurance, and I will happily help her if it means this plot will be over before the mid-season finale. Then Adam, lovestruck and all, confesses to Jane that he might actually be panicking. Fingers crossed that this plot isn’t over before the mid-season finale, right?
Editor: Ammaarah Mookadam
Keshav Kant, aka Mx. KantEven, is a med student tuned Executive Director of Off Colour!
You’ve probably seen her on Twitter and TikTok, both @MxKantEven, or caught her work on Off Colour's many channels.
From consulting on films & shows, manuscript review, conducting interviews, or hosting podcasts & panels, if there is some way to bring sensitivity and authenticity to diversity, inclusion and equity conversations, Keshav will be there.