Jane the Virgin Review: Chapter Eighty-Nine (Season 5 Episode 8)
Jane the Virgin knows you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette — but let’s be honest, a well-timed Justin Hartley cameo can be just as effective.
Yes, Jane the Virgin Season 5 Episode 8, “Chapter Eighty-Nine,” pulls out all the stops.
There’s an abundance of This Is Us references, glowing CGI hearts, and wholesome character development. Most importantly, there’s lots more family bonding as this show remembers most of these characters have kids and should probably talk to them more.
Jane the Virgin finally finds a clever way to integrate the kids into their parent’s crazy lives and of course, it would involve meddling in their romantic endeavours.
Using Mateo’s recent struggles to read in school as an excuse for Jane to see Rafael more without things getting creepy feels like a smart segway into this complicated new relationship between the two recent ex-lovers.
We also need to see more of these two co-parenting with their child actually present in the scene where said parenting is taking place.
The flash card scene with Jane and Rafael is something to admire as they bond beautifully with Mateo over silly words like fart and inadvertently bond better with resentful viewers over the controversial Michael incident.
With Rafael restricting Jane to co-parent interactions and nothing more, it’s possible we will be seeing more of their relationship as parents in the back half of this season and rightfully so.
Growing as parents first and foremost will open more people up to accepting these two romantically again once they inevitably get back together — because let’s be honest with ourselves, they are getting back together.
Sorry to the Michael fans still hanging on by a thread.
Petra covers a lot of ground within the confines of a single episode.
She gives us several adorable makeout sessions with J.R. in a closet (yes the irony), she spends some time with her two terrifying assassin twin daughters, and even squeezes in some quality face to face time with co-parent Rafael.
Petra is feeding fans well, that’s for sure.
Although she does try to break up with J.R., prompting some considerable eye rolling.
Just because Jane and Rafael have sworn off relationship drama doesn’t mean Jane the Virgin needs to create more in places where it doesn’t belong.
J.R. and Petra have too much to worry about, including whether or not the twins from the shining will murder them in their sleep. We do not need to break them up again for added conflict, there’s enough of that when Rogelio simply enters a room.
Shows like Jane the Virgin worry they will not be able to function without a back and forth relationship. But the back and forth isn’t cute when it becomes the foundation for every relationship on a show.
J.R. and Petra have done the relationship conflict having broken up twice now. Let some murder investigation complicate their lives, not lazy writing.
Xo is another bright spot of “Chapter Eighty-Nine”.
It is really satisfying to see how far she has come from an inexperienced teen mother to the wise woman telling her daughter not what she wants to hear, but what she has to.
Xo’s bluntness with Jane is unexpected but appreciated as she rightfully puts Jane in the wrong for disrespecting Rafael’s boundaries. Sure, stalking is always creepy and forcing someone to love you isn’t a great move either, but Jane is still our protagonist and sometimes we need a supporting character to validate the concerns we are having with our leading lady.
Jane may be acting problematic but Xo plays the supportive yet honest mother perfectly.
We’re not the only ones that have noticed how awesome Xo is. Alba, in a sweet moment, tells her daughter how much she regrets trying to change her and that she is grateful for being at a point in their relationship where Alba can lean on Xo for support as well.
It is a relationship development we may have overlooked had Alba not addressed the fabulous growth we have witnessed between this mother and daughter over the years.
Xo may be against Jane pursuing a romantic relationship with Rafael, but she does a wonderful job of helping Alba and Jorge fall back in love.
While I have never been a fan of this direction for Alba’s character, the rekindling of her relationship with Jorge happily gives us whimsy and romance where we least expected to find it. The romantic void has to be filled until Jane can win her man back and I would happily see it filled with more wholesome Alba and Jorge moments.
“Chapter Eighty-Nine” feels like the first step to recovery after that wild Michael storyline ended in devastation for many of us.
Ironically most of this episode centers around Rogelio and the promising career prospects his cancelled pilot has created for Jane. While her future is looking bright, Jane the Virgin’s is not with the show’s own spin-off pilot Jane the Novella passed on by The CW network.
While that may be disappointing news for fans wanting to see Jane’s stories continue, a solidified end to this telenovela-verse means there won’t be any do-overs or new beginnings for Jane the Virgin moving forward.
So let us hope this promising episode is the start of a memorable and justifying end.
Top Lines from “Chapter Eighty-Nine”:
Rogelio: Oh, I love This Is Us. And I’m good friends with Justin Hartley. Maybe Hartley could make a cameo.
*Hartley makes a cameo*
Narrator: Pssh. Yeah, right. Hartley doesn’t do cameos.
Alba: I lost so many good years trying to change your mother instead of celebrating the amazing person she is.
Xo: Leave him alone.
Jane: But I love him and he’s making a mistake!
Xo: Can you even hear yourself? Just because you love someone doesn’t mean you get to have them. Imagine if the roles were reversed and you were a man acting like this.
Petra: I love you J.R. but my children are my priority.
J.R.: You fought for us time and time again. Now it’s my turn, let me show the girls I am not a bad guy.
Petra: I want that more than anything. But I have to be a mother first.
J.R.: Agreed and if I am hurting the girls in any way, I’ll walk away.
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Jane the Virgin airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW.
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Alicia Gilstorf
Alicia is a Rotten Tomatoes Certified Critic and a Critics Choice Association member. She credits her passion for TV to workplace sitcoms, paranormal dramedies, and coming-of-age stories. In her free time, Alicia loves to curl up with a good book and lose herself in a cozy game. Keep a lookout for her coverage of Ghosts. You can also find her work on Eulalie Magazine and Cool Girl Critiques. Follow Alicia on social media: @aliciagilstorf