Jane the Virgin Season 5 Episode 12 Review: Chapter Ninety-Three
Lizzy Buczak
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It's love, love, love! Everyone, sing it with me now.
Who would have thought that Jane the Virgin Season 5 Episode 12 would top off the hour with the best musical number to ever grace our television screens?
I'm usually not a fan of musicals, but there was much to celebrate as Jane and Rafael finally got back together.
About damn time, right?
Julie (guest starring the incredible Sophia Bush) even got introduced as Rafa's new girlfriend to keep the suspense until the very final moment.
I love me some Sophia, but I just couldn't get on-board with her stealing Raf away from our girl Jane.
And what was with the Rafa nickname?!
Rafael: I don't know. Maybe it was what you said, that denying doesn't change it.
Jane: What is it?
Rafael: I was getting the papers ready, but don't rent the apartment.
Jane: What? Why?
Rafael: Because I realized that there was one dealbreaker with Julie that I couldn't get past. It's love. She's not you, Jane. I love you. I've tried to stop, but I can't. And I don't want to.
However, Julie needed to come into Rafael's life so that he could make sense of his feelings for Jane.
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After Jane broke Raf's heart by exploring her feelings for Michael, Raf never got over her. At least not completely.
He buried his feelings and moved on to protect his heart.
It was the "perfect woman" list he crafted that led him to the realization that while he may find someone who checks off every single quality, they won't ever compare to Jane, the love of his life.
I have to highlight how awesome it was that Rafael utilized making a list to arrive at his decision. Jane should be proud.
There were so many moments where Raf looked at Jane longingly that I thought their reconciliation would happen either in the office or at the hippie apartment they locked themselves in.
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But the moment I saw the tree and the bench, I knew he was going to pour his heart out. Team Rafael fans have been waiting for this moment!
You know how to old saying goes. First comes love, then almost-marriage, then platonic friendship, and then he's your real estate agent.
Jane
And while it was cute, I do think dialing down the cheesiness would have made it more meaningful.
I understand that this is a telenovela and the moment had to be happily ever after, but at least we could have gotten rid of the overly staged background.
Seeing it made me think that it's either a dream sequence (please, no) or yet another subtle clue that what we're watching an overexaggerated scene in Jane's telenovela.
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The tonal difference between the final scene and the previous ones was stark. There has to be a creative reason for it!
Hopefully, it isn't a dream because I'm glad we can put this "will they or won't they" storyline to rest.
With six episodes left, I was getting concerned that there wouldn't be a proper conclusion to Raf and Jane's storyline, and if there was, that we wouldn't have enough time to explore it in the ways we hoped.
The theme of musicals carried us throughout the episode with Mateo struggling to learn the choreography for his upcoming school musical, a storyline which further exploration of Mateo&'s ADHD diagnosis.
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Raf and Jane saw firsthand how much Mateo was struggling and eventually decided that medication was their best course of treatment.
Jane may have wanted to take a more holistic approach which is fine, but there's also nothing wrong with medication when it's necessary.
Mateo deserves to have a normal life just like all the other kiddos.
Seeing Mateo struggle to concentrate was heartbreaking, though I do think they've amped up his emotional outbursts since the ADHD diagnosis.
Xiomara was back to her old self after beating cancer, but while it was nice to see her lively and bubbly again, I couldn't help but think that it was all happening rather quickly.
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When she became overly concerned, I feared that she might have relapsed.
Jane: Maybe we should go out tonight. Meet people. See what's out there.
Petra: Sounds terrible.
Jane: It really does. I'm not a big fan of wearing pants after 9pm.
Instead, it was about a lack of passion and feeling guilty for not being constantly grateful for a second chance at life.
Xiomara has always been a headstrong woman with a clear passion so feeling lost is understandable.
Despite teaching Mateo to dance, it must be tough to accept that teaching dance is no longer something that brings her joy.
It may take some time, but Xo will eventually find her next passion project.
Related: Jane the Virgin Season 5 Episode 11 Review: Chapter Ninety-Two
The best thing that happened on Jane the Virgin Season 5 Episode 12, aside from Jane and Rafael's reunion, was the end of River and Rogelio's weird one-sided love story.
Many of us weren't feeling the "River Fields is obsessed and hellbent on revenge" storyline, and it seems the writers' room wasn't feeling it, either.
I was expecting River's need for revenge to consume a huge chunk of their storyline, but instead, she got a kick out of watching Rogelio torture himself because he assumed she was going to torture him.
Who's that woman in her profile picture with her? It's the twenty-first century, why haven't we figured out how to zoom in on a thumbnail?
Petra
It's kind of brilliant if you think about it.
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With that over, done with and forgotten about, River and Rogelio can go back the partnership that always worked: impassioned and vain co-stars who are more concerned about their wrinkle lines than anything else.
At the top of the hour, I wrote: "It's nice to see Krishna and Petra reunited."
Boy, that remark aged badly.
During Jane the Virgin Season 4, we suspected Krishna was the big bad, and now, she's morphing into one.
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I got blindsided when she willingly offered to work with Milos to take down Petra.
I've never cared much for the Milos storyline, but I'm intrigued to see Krishna break out of her shell.
What's she capable of?
Sure, Krishna has every right to be upset with Petra, the boss who made her life a living hell, but it's kind of hard to ignore the fact that Petra is a changed woman.
She been working on becoming a better person and even took cues from Krishna about how to treat her better.
It's unclear what Krishna and Milos are going to scheme up but it's not going to be good for the Marbella.
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Seriously, when Petra returned to the hotel drunk, and Krishna took care of her, I thought Krishna and Petra might have a romantic moment.
I cannot believe I was so off base!
While Krishna and Milos plotted to take down Petra, we once again didn't see any movement on the Luisa and Rose front. They weren't even in the musical sequence!
Maybe now that Rafael and Jane's relationship woes are no longer front and center, we can address the Sin Rostro shenanigans looming over the most of the series?
We know that will bring back Michael at some point likely to bring justice to the woman who gave him amnesia and ruined his life.
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Maybe he'll stick around for Jane's wedding while he's in town?
And maybe we'll finally get a reason for why Michael was brought back in the first place.
Other Marbella Musing
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It's a shame we won't get to explore this "single ladies" camaraderie between Petra and Jane for a bit longer. I wouldn't have minded if they played the field and wingwomaned each other for a few episodes before Jane finally settled down with her true love.
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Can we please see Petra go on a date from her Tinder or Bumble profile?
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Milos singing was something.
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"Laird of the Rings." Jane the Virgin always has the most hilarious hashtags.
- Is Julie gone for good?
Are you happy that Jane and Raf are back together?
What should Xo's next project be?
Has River moved on from Rogelio?
Make sure you watch Jane the Virgin online and share your comments on the episode below!
Lizzy Buczak was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in June 2021..
