An ode to Jane the Virgin
When it comes to saying goodbye, 2019 is not really a top year. Saying goodbye to series, that is. Of course, the year started with the last episode of Game of Thrones (although it left quite a hangover because the last episode was not entirely up to standard, according to many), not so long ago the very last season of Orange Is The New Black went online (I will really miss those inmates) and now yesterday was the very last episode of Jane the Virgin on TV. Now, I'm not really a hero when it comes to emotional TV, but that pack of issues has really gotten to me. It's high time to thank Jane. A somewhat dignified farewell is in order.
Gina Rodriguez (who you can now also see in the Netflix movie Someone Great: doing) has been playing the role of Jane the Virgin since 2014. That's a whopping hundred episodes, so the very last one was aptly titled ‘Chapter 100’. Quick recap: Jane became pregnant at 23 while she was a virgin. How? By accidentally getting inseminated in the hospital. Nine months (in TV land) later, there is Mateo. That insemination was accidental, but luckily that little accident got good genes. Daddy Rafael is really a nice guy. But Adam was also there, with whom Jane is even engaged. I can't recap all five seasons for you, but I do want to talk to you about that damned very last episode. Spoilers ahead, you have been warned.
Okay, BIG twist in the last episode. Since the beginning of the series, I found the voice-over really fun, and now it turns out that narrator is an adult Mateo. Hats off, writers, I really didn't see that coming. It's a really nice touch to bring the series full circle. And that twist was also kept secret from the actors; the voice-over (played, until then only spoken, by Anthony Mendez) was quite shocked during the table read of the last episode.
And then of course love. Well, I am a hundred percent satisfied that she ends up with Rafael at the altar. If you've been following a series for a while, you're always afraid that the very last episode will disappoint (see the backlash from Game of Thrones or How I Met Your Mother – I refuse to ever rewatch the last episode of that one), so it's really nice when that last one is a funny, enjoyable, tear-jerking episode. I give it a 9/10.
What actress Gina Rodriguez has to say about it? Just read her Instagram post below. Crying.
