Jane the Virgin Review: Chapter Seventy-Eight (Season 4 Episode 14)

Jane the Virgin Season 4 Episode 14, “Chapter Seventy-Eight,” attempts new terrain with an episode centering around Xiomara’s breast cancer and the ensuing grief after her diagnosis.

However, grief is a hard emotion to convey on television.

Characters are put in peril on a regular basis to further a show’s plot and yet few can touch on what real loss and grief feel like.

Exceptions to this include Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 5 Episode 16, “The Body,” and This Is Us Season 2 Episode 15, “The Car,” that both find unique and relatable ways to convey how the human mind processes grief after a loved one has died.

However, Jane the Virgin is dealing with a different kind of mourning and chooses to portray grief of an unexpected cancer diagnosis not with crafty camera angles or family vehicles but simply from the perspective of an unlikely character.

That character in this instance being Alba.

Sure, it’s not necessarily an unlikely choice of perspective because of her connection to her daughter. The choice to use Alba as a voice for these raw emotions is unusual because Alba is not an emotional person, nor is she really an expressive person.

This chapter, like several that have come before it in season 4, uses Alba’s reserved nature to its advantage by giving her the most emotionally challenging scenes to work with.

Something that is always jarring to watch is Alba speaking English since she only does so when absolutely necessary. To see her furious and yelling at a man in English is not only terrifying because she’s Alba, but it also hits home emotionally.

There is an understanding at this moment for anyone that has ever felt anger or frustration in the wake of grief. Alba is not mad at the man. She is mad at Xo’s diagnosis and the possibility of losing her daughter.

Alba believes someone is responsible for everything that happens in her world, that is just what her religious background has taught her. So having something like this happen and no one to blame puts her in a vulnerable position she doesn’t find herself in too often.

This struggle is conveyed and explored in many of her scenes throughout this chapter as Alba takes her anger out on Rogelio for not putting Xo first. And it is a struggle realistic to many people that have experienced any kind of grief.

That feeling of wanting to blame someone is very real, and it is one you can’t help but resonate with when it is translated from the script to screen with such authenticity and weight.

Usually, Alba’s most heartfelt moments are accompanied by Jane or Xo, who convey their feelings with more ease than the oldest of the Villanueva women. But “Chapter Seventy-Eight” pairs Alba with Rogelio, who struggles with his own problems when it comes to conveying his feelings.

This makes for an episode that may not be the best work this season has produced, but sure is interesting to watch as the topic of cancer forces tough but important conversations to happen.

Of course, Xiomara has her own screen time to process the diagnosis which ends up taking an odd turn for the better.

At first glance, “Chapter Seventy-Eight” looks like it is going to be a rather dull pity party overflowing with tears. But that is not the case at all.

Xo is the one diagnosed with breast cancer, and she hardly wallows over the possibility of dying because she is too preoccupied with choosing whether to lose both her boobs or just the cancerous one.

Many boob jokes ensue as she decides for herself what the best option is going forward.

This opens up a great discussion as Xo struggles with the fact her body has defined who she is for so long.

Jane the Virgin attempts to show grief from new perspectives, and this is an important one because for some people the way they look and their bodies are the most important thing to them. Threatening to strip part of someone’s identity away causes a kind of grief one wouldn’t necessarily think of before now.

This is not a type of grief we usually see from characters on television, which is why Xo’s storyline in this episode may come off as strange at first. But the fact that she is offering a new type of representation for cancer patients who experience this type of grief is so unbelievably important.

We should be applauding Jane the Virgin for “Chapter Seventy-Eight.”

Delivering one strong episode after another is difficult, but managing to take a concept that is used in television regularly and present it with fresh perspectives is even more difficult. Yet the American telenovela executes its portrayal of grief with ease.

What did you think of this episode of Jane the Virgin? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Jane the Virgin airs Fridays at 9/8c on The CW.

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