(Latin Lover Narrator voice) Ah, friends. When Jane Gloriana Villanueva was 23 years, six months and 14 days old, her life was changed forever.
When I was 17 years, three months and 20 days old, my life was changed forever too, because “Jane the Virgin” had completely taken it over. I had binged the first three seasons of the hit CW show on Netflix and was finally caught up and could watch new episodes live. I remember walking into school the day after the season four finale aired — ending with a cliffhanger reveal about a favorite character — and immediately getting caught in a screaming match with two of my friends who also watched the show.
If the premise sounds like something straight out of a telenovela, that’s because it is. The show has all kinds of crazy drama, magical realism and swoon-worthy romance that is easy to get sucked into. As I’ve gotten older, all of those things still get me despite my countless rewatches. But I’ve also begun to notice and appreciate the care that went into portraying such an unconventional family.
“Jane the Virgin” centers around Jane Villanueva (Gina Rodriguez, “Someone Great”), an aspiring writer from a Catholic family. The promise she made to her grandmother, Alba (Ivonne Coll, “Instinct”), to wait to have sex until marriage is thrown out of whack after accidental artificial insemination leads to her pregnancy. The father of her baby is Rafael Solano (Justin Baldoni, “Con Man”), the playboy who owns the hotel where Jane works. Oh, and did I mention that the doctor who inseminated Jane is Rafael’s sister? The show also follows Petra Solano (Yael Grobglas, “Jeruzalem”), Rafael’s ex-wife; Michael Cordero (Brett Dier, “Schooled”), Jane’s fiance; Jane’s mother Xiomara (Andrea Navedo, “A Million Little Things”) and her father, international telenovela star Rogelio de la Vega (Jaime Camil, “Schmigadoon!”)
Let’s take a deeper dive into that family (it should be noted that spoilers are ahead): Xiomara and Rogelio had Jane when they were 16 years old. Jane is engaged to Michael but becomes pregnant with Rafael’s baby and has their son, Mateo (Elias Janssen, “The Mindy Project”). Jane is caught in a love triangle with Michael and Rafael throughout most of the show. Rafael’s sister, Luisa (Yara Martinez, “The Tick”), meant to inseminate Petra with Rafael’s sperm but obviously made a mistake. Rafael was married to Petra. They have twins together, Ellie (Ella Allan, “Parenthood”) and Anna (Mia Allan, “Parenthood”), because Petra deliberately inseminated herself in an attempt to stay with Rafael. Xiomara and Rogelio are also caught in an on-again/off-again romance for the first half of the show but eventually get married, becoming stronger through their many obstacles — such as Rogelio’s ex Darci (Justina Machado, “One Day at a Time”) having his daughter and falling in love with his mortal enemy Esteban (Keller Wortham, “Bajo el mismo cielo”).
Did I throw enough information at you? Believe me, this is only the tip of the iceberg. There are also international crime lord stepmothers, kidnappings, a strange devotion to public transport and amnesia storylines. This is a telenovela, after all. [love]
“Jane the Virgin” is literally about artificiality — accidental artificial insemination is the foundation of the series. There’s also deliberate artificial insemination, as I mentioned above. But the show’s treatment of this practice is more than a dramatic plot device (for the most part). Insemination is a way to treat infertility problems, the reason Petra wanted the original procedure. Despite the Villanueva women’s religious backgrounds — the Catholic Church teaches that such acts are immoral — the tension between certain characters comes more from other telenovela twists than their reproductive health decisions.
Mateo might have come into the world in an unconventional way, but his family doesn’t love him any differently, nor do they shy away from being honest with him about it. There’s a scene in season three where Mateo is called “artificial” by kids at school, which leads Jane and Rafael to explain his birth story to him. “If you think about all the things that had to happen, that’s pretty amazing,” Jane says. It’s a sweet scene that takes such a complicated story and boils it down to the simplest message: artificial practices can still lead to human connections.
Artificiality lies in the relationships between these characters as well, and in a good way. Within this huge family, there are a surprising number of people who aren’t actually related by blood. But on “Jane The Virgin,” that doesn’t matter. Co-parenting is taken to new heights — raising a child is hard enough, and adding in love triangles, surprise twins and international crime lords makes for an awkward Saturday brunch. But no character is ever doing it alone. There may be plenty of drama involved, but the show gives us several sweeter moments that prove how much everyone cares. It’s a prime example of the “found family” trope: These characters are there for each other when it’s needed most, because “family shows up.”
Even though the series ended in 2019, I still regularly rewatch and recommend “Jane The Virgin.” Maybe that’s because I see so much of myself in Jane: we have similar beliefs and life goals. Maybe I’m more of a sucker for a love triangle than I’d care to admit. But underneath all of the drama is a story about a messy but lovable group of people, and that’s what keeps me coming back. Family is at the heart of this show, and it doesn’t matter whether that family is made up of blood relatives, baby daddies or best friends.
Daily Arts Writer Hannah Carapellotti can be reached at hmcarp@umich.edu.