Jane the Virgin, “Chapter 12,” was written by David S Rosenthal and was directed by Gina Lamar. Rosenthal also wrote “Chapter 7” and Lamar’s other credits include CSI Miami. The theme of the episode has to do with forgiveness and lying as we see many characters aren’t what they appear to be. We also have the biggest mystery revealed – who Sin Rostro is! This week I have to single out Jaime Camil for a particularly outstanding performance.
The episode begins, as they most often do, with a flashback to when Jane (Gina Rodriguez) is 10 (Jenna Ortega). Not surprisingly, we learn that Jane was a very, very good girl, but everyone makes mistakes and even though she was told not to touch them, she tried on and lost Abela’s (Ivonne Coll) favorite earrings that she’d gotten from Jane’s grandfather. Jane, being a good girl, confesses and apologizes, saying “I know what I did was unforgivable.” To which Abela replies, “You are my flesh and blood. There is nothing you could do that is unforgivable to me. Nothing.” We already know that Jane’s family is extraordinary, however, and this spirit of forgiveness does not run through every other family.
Rafael (Justin Baldoni) doesn’t want to forgive Luisa (Yara Martinez). Jane says that she forgives her because Luisa’s mistake gave Jane the two most important things in her life – Rafael and the baby. Luisa says that she’s been hurt by Rafael having her committed – and Jane learns that their mother committed suicide. Rafael later confesses to Jane that he’s been hurt too. He tells her there’s too much family history for forgiveness.
By the end of the episode, Jane is willing to admit that she’s too trusting. But she also tells Rafael, “I don’t want to live in a world where people are this awful.” But she’s had an effect on Rafael too, and he tells her that he was just thinking, “that I liked that you believe the best in people.” They are clearly having an effect on each other.
Jane gets her big break when Dina (Judy Reyes) asks her to write the next script. Jane immediately thinks Rogelio (Jaime Camil) has insisted she get to do it. I loved Jane walking in on Rogelio running lines with Nicholas (David Castaneda) about being lovers. It’s always fun to watch Camil slip in and out of parody. Here we see him defend his excited reaction as genuine by explaining what he does with his chin and his chest when he’s acting! It’s hilarious – and also sweet and like a flakey actor – that he’s made a “vision board” for Jane’s success. Of course, Dina does have an ulterior motive for giving Jane the script – and it’s all been orchestrated by Rogelio’s assistant Nicholas!
Jane must write the script in which Santos - Rogelio’s character – is to be killed. Jane quickly realizes it’s to soften the blow for Rogelio, but he is clearly beside himself. He confesses to Jane that he loves the character and loves playing him. Jane suggests he try to appeal to Dina by telling her how much the character means to him. Jane also suggests that he try to be humble – and clearly sets an impossible task for him.
It’s hilarious as Jane keeps having to shut him up to smooth things over by translating what he “really” means. One of the best lines in the episode, is when Rogelio points out the obvious – How can you have
The Passions of Santos without Santos? Rogelio goes on as only Rogelio can – “Then it’s just Passions, and that show failed!” He’s right though – it did! At first, Jane refuses to write the script, but eventually Rogelio asks her to do it and to write the greatest death scene ever. No pressure!
I loved Jane trying to write and talking back and forth with her characters. It’s the only real magic realism we get in the episode – I’m not counting the narrator or the typed comments anymore! Santos tells her that her dialogue sucks. She tells him that it was “meant ironically.” Santos responds, “Exactly! You have too much distance. You have to embrace the telenovela!” And of course, that is why Jane the Virgin works so well! It may be a bit of a parody, but it also embraces all that the telenovela is – with intrigue and misunderstandings and things not being what they seem, but also with things that ring true to life. And that’s how Jane finds the material for Santos’ death scene.
Rogelio has clearly been welcomed into the Villanueva family. Abela feeds his body, and Xo (Andrea Navedo) gives him the pep talk he needs. She tells him to focus on the future. She tells him, “Stop looking back. You have to look forward. This could be a second career!” She tells him he’s too big for television and should be concentrating on movies. Rogelio remarks that he’s been told that he “has the perfect features for 3-D!” For her part, Xo knows about disappointments and having to start over.
Of course, all is not what it seems. I loved how we only get the big reveal about Nicolas’ treachery later in the show when it’s revealed that he’ll be playing Santos’ son! We’ve seen earlier in the episode how the network has become disenchanted with Rogelio because after spending a lot of money to relocate the show to Miami at Rogelio’s request, they then had to suffer him costing them a ton in overtime by being difficult. Originally, it looked like typical star shenanigans, but it wasn’t Rogelio refusing to come to set – it was Nicholas telling him they weren’t ready for him on set. Rogelio didn’t want all of his lines changed, he simply wanted to tweak 3 lines. Rogelio wasn’t one of those blue M&M guys with his cruller, he was responding to a cruel remark that Nicholas attributed to the writers. And then there was Nicholas’ “audition” with Dina as her lover.
Rogelio naturally feels betrayed by Nicholas and insists he didn’t have to get him fired in order to get a part. Nicholas justifies his actions be saying that Rogelio would always see him as his assistant and he needed a spectacular entrance. Even Jane tells Nicholas that he should be ashamed of himself. I suspect that what’s really going to happen is that the audience will hate Nicholas’ character killing their beloved Santos!
Jane is inspired when Abela tells her she knows she can do it – when she sees that Abela is wearing the earrings that Jane gave her to apologize for losing the pair. Jane uses the very thing that Abela said to her in the flashback for Rogelio’s dying words to his son after his son stabs and kills him. Camil really does a wonderful job here. His death scene really is pretty good. However, the part that really had me choking up came after the scene when Jane rushes up to Rogelio and tells him, “You were incredible, Dad!” Calling him Dad for the very first time! Rodriguez is also fabulous in this scene. Rogelio tells her “I have this feeling in my chest not. It feels kind of warm. But also it wants to explode or something… I don’t quite understand it.” And Jane just hugs him.
The best part of the Santos death scene is that we actually have dueling telenovelas for it! Milos (Max Bird-Ridnell) finally tracks Petra (Yael Grobglas) down. Groblas is just excellent in this episode. She actually manages to win me over to her side. I loved that Rafael forces her to meet with a client to plan his very expensive wedding – could he be wanting to plan his and Natalia’s wedding? Then when he introduces them, Rafael completely misses the terror on Petra’s face!
Of course, as it turns out, the drama with Milos is all an elaborate misunderstanding too! He always meant only to hurt Magda (Priscilla Barnes) because she’s lied about him cheating to keep them apart. Petra wasn’t supposed to be there the night he threw acid on her mother and he threw the koruna because he knew it would distract her.
Milos and Petra then work out an elaborate ruse to expose Magda’s treachery. I loved how Milos and Petra’s acting paralleled the acting out of Santos’ death – almost word for word with nice little differences. Santos says, “I will never lose you again,” but Milos says “You will never leave me again.” Then as Santos is stabbed, it seems Petra has her throat slashed and we go to commercial. I’ll admit I yelled at the tv – afraid we’d just lost Petra!
However, when we come back, we see Magda leap out of her wheelchair to go to her daughter. Barnes is also excellent in this scene, and I almost felt sorry for her as she cried for her apparently dead daughter. Coming back to the theme of forgiving family, it seems unlikely that Petra will be able to forgive Magda. In fact, it’s a nice touch that Magda has been trying to come between Petra and Lachlan (Michael Rady) by saying she doesn’t trust him either. It would seem that Milos may have won both Petra's trust and forgiveness.
Petra also reveals her entire past to Jane when Jane finds her crying in the stairwell at the Mirabella. It’s a nice touch that after unburdening herself, Petra notices the fake blood on Jane’s arm. Is that where they got the idea for the staged scene? Jane does in typical Jane fashion soften toward Petra and perhaps even forgive her – though Rafael warns her not to trust her.
Michael (Brett Dier) and Billy (Ryan Devlin) also run a deception. Michael pretends he wants plastic surgery so that he can steal patient records from the plastic surgeon (Carlos Alazraqui) who he tracked from the number of the subcontractor’s (Jack Guzman) phone. It’s hilarious as Billy distracts the doctor on the phone while Michael fights with the slowest printer ever. In the end, he is able to connect the two and trace it back to Emilio (Carlo Rota). Michael then takes the information back to Nadine (Azie Tesfai) even though she ratted him out to their superior. He’s finally willing to admit that it looks like Emilio is Sin Rostro.
But of course, in the best and most elaborate subterfuge of the episode, Sin Rostro is revealed to be Rose (Bridget Regan)!!! Regan does a fantastic job leading us – and Rafael – to believe that she is afraid – and suspects Emilio. Even Luisa is able to persuade Rafael to consider that Sin Rostro is their father. In the end, the only “real” character to die in the episode is Emilio – and I was really unhappy about this turn of events because I really like Rota as an actor and I don’t think we ever really got to see him do much.
I very much liked how the themes of deception and forgiveness played out throughout the episode. What did you think of the episode? Did Jane’s use of “Dad” have you a little misty-eyed too? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.
