Given the little kudos Jane the Virgin has been throwing out to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, it was only a matter of time before Jane herself donned the famed pantsuit. This week Jane wades into politics, if only at a preschool level [insert ironic chuckle here]. Jane and Petra come from an inherent desire to help their children, just in different ways. They resume their old rivalry spurned on by their insecurities of the other, yet realize just how different they are from the women they were five years ago.
Jane and Petra aren’t the only ones with insecurities. Instead of focusing on her own wedding, Xiomara helps Alba get back into the dating game. Alba does need some help in the subtle ways of flirting with her former boss Jorge. Xiomara gets her mama all gussied up, and I’ve got to say Alba looks fantastic! What novices to the glam game don’t fully understand are the tiny irritations which go along with looking your best. Everything needs to be tight, everything needs to be zipped, plucked, powdered, glued, etc. One false eyelash distraction and it’s all downhill for Alba. It’s a miracle the woman didn’t break a hip. Despite the graceless fall, Alba hits Jorge square in the chest with Cupid’s arrow!
The same cannot be said for her daughter’s romance. Something has been holding Xiomara back from being excited about marrying Bruce. She can’t put her finger on the problem until Jane reveals something Rogelio confided in her. Rogelio and Mateo have a special bond. I’m not sure that Mateo needs a professionally tailored suit for playground time, but we’ll go with it since Dapper Mateo looks so adorable! The point is that Mateo has filled the void Rogelio felt years ago not being able to raise a child. Which means the reason he and Xiomara broke up no longer exists. Coupled with the hurt she’ll have to relive over her two year separation from Rogelio for the trial, it changes how Xiomara feels about her relationship with Bruce.
In that three year time jump Petra became super mom while all of Jane’s planning didn’t prepare her for Mateo’s special needs. Jane does what she always does and overcompensates. She and Petra try, and fail, to work together on Room Mom duties for the preschool, so decide to have an election. It’s time for “Decision 2017: Room Mom, Spring Term”! In lieu of the blue and red which gave everyone migraines, the show decided to work with teal and coral. Rafael respects both mothers of his children too much to decide, so we’ll just call him an Independent here. Boy oh boy do we have a plethora of election references to work with! I’d gladly watch Jane and Petra debate anytime, since theirs at least make sense in the smaller context of doing what’s best for their children.
Though Petra’s first instinct is to buy votes, coming from a childcare standpoint she actually makes some great points to counter Jane. Nevertheless, Petra feels that same inferiority she did when Jane first came into her life. Ironically Jane feels the same because she believes her grief after Michael’s death somehow affected her parenting. Petra actually hates being Room Mom, and Jane doesn’t have the time or passion to focus on it. So the show plays around with their election with another fun shout-out to our presidential election. Neither teal nor coral wins. Instead both agree to have a third party candidate win the seat. Rafael will make a great Room Mom.
This experience teaches each of the women who they really are as mothers. Many children have aides because each child is different. There’s nothing wrong with taking the extra time and effort to understand your child. Mateo’s new aide Alex sees nothing wrong with Mateo other than a little trouble focusing. Otherwise he is a happy, healthy child with strong attachments. Poor Jane and Rafael thought their experiences traumatized their son. Even though Petra’s children are advanced and well-behaved, even Petra was worried about how good a mother she was. Rafael had to tell Petra her daughters don’t think she’s scary. They see their mother as fierce, always protecting the people she loves. She and Jane had each other’s backs when Rafael was in prison. She has Rafael’s back now when she rips out a page of Scott’s burn book which refers to Rafael’s illegitimacy. Some fans may have been hoping for a Jane and Rafael reunion this season, but Jane is not the ex Rafael is drawn to.
Did Jane the Virgin do justice to its foray into politics?
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