copied from my medium account. published April 26, 2018
In the past week, I have found myself in complete and utter shock watching television, and I watch a lot of television.
[Spoilers ahead]
The first was watching “Episode Eighty-One” from Jane the Virgin. More specifically, the last ten seconds of it. I was watching it the day after on Saturday at my boyfriend’s apartment. He was working with his 3D printer but would stop and sit with me, watch a little bit of the episode, react. I explained everyone’s relationships as characters interacted, just like Xo did with River Fields. When they revealed Michael standing in Rafael’s apartment, I gasped, froze, then immediately snapped out of it and screamed “WHAT. NO. OH MY GODDDDD.”
It came out of nowhere, for me. Now, let me interject my own self by saying that am bad at keeping away from spoilers and it entirely my own doing. I have no self-restraint. I actively seek out spoilers, if you will. I like knowing if this episode or movie I’m about to watch is worth it. I went on Twitter as the episode started to see some initial responses. I had seen Alanna Bennett’s tweet before watching and tried to erase it from my head before it stuck around too long and I get too in my head to which could possibly refer. Then I saw Jennie Urman’s more telling tweet that I definitely regretted seeing, BUT my whole philosophy with spoilers is that you can hint or even straight up tell me little bits of what happens in a movie or TV episode and I won’t rip your head off, because it doesn’t ruin the experience — it enhances it. Yes, in my head I’ll know what has happened, but I don’t know exactly what or how it happened. I haven’t seen it play out, I haven’t experienced the emotional reaction of watching the event myself. [That being said, of course, if anyone spoils any part of Avengers: Infinity War, then we’ll have a problem].
Back to the semi-spoilers. With Jennie’s tweet, I was expecting a flashback with Michael. Just like everyone else has pointed out, and especially this perfect piece on the finale, the show has been laying groundwork all season for this one moment. Maybe not all season, but yes, when Jane writes about Michael again after finally falling in love with Rafael, we feel the way Rafael does — confused. Why bring Michael up again now, after we have mourned him and seen this love story and growth happen for Jane and Rafael? But ultimately I let that instance go — creatives find inspiration in the people and events of their lives and I’d be lying if I haven’t used my past experiences as the basis of my soon-to-be-written pieces of work. Memories and experiences are tools and can be compartmentalized to something such as that. But anyway, I thought that Jane would have a flashback of Michael, which I think she does? (I have a terrible memory) and have it inspire her book or act as the final blessing before accepting a marriage proposal from Rafael. I had forgotten about Jennie’s tweet since I was so wrapped up in the episode.
With Alanna’s tweet, I thought that her told-ya-so came when it was confirmed that Jane is indeed writing the book that ultimately becomes this TV show. Of course, there is still some debate as to who is the actual narrator, but I thought, “Oh, cool, I guess that’s what she was right about. Glad it was about something not ‘shocking’.” BUT BOY WAS I WRONG. Just from Alanna ’s and Jennie’s short tweets, I could’ve assumed that Michael would come back, but here I was thinking, “Naw, they couldn’t do that. He died. He’s dead! We mourned him, for God’s sake, you FUCKING MONSTERS”.
Okay, pause. Now I just had a sickening thought that Michael is the Narrator and he was spying on Jane and everyone else the past few years… but that he amnesia and was brainwashed by Sin Rostro. Michael could be the Bucky Barnes of Jane the Virgin. Amnesia is the main prediction others have given in order to make Michael forgivable to all the people he had left behind for all those years, Jane especially. They’d have to forgive someone with amnesia, right? But how creepy and Pretty Little Liars-esque would that storyline be if Michael watched Jane from afar in service to some really creepy, evil person (aka Sin Rostro)? That is not a path I want to go down with Michael.
Now, for UnReal. First shock, that the finale was two episodes. Second, but not the shock, that Serena chose neither guy. Might not have been the “I choose myself” route, but I was content with the handling of that ending. The shock I’m talking about was the preview for next season. RACHEL IS A SUITRESS. (I later learned that it was a Bachelor in Paradise situation, not a classic format of The Bachelor.) Also, she looks so good and unhinged with her blonde and Suitress-wear. The audacity and cleverness of the show, UnReal, and Quinn to choose Rachel to be a contestant, along with other familiar faces who were also unknowns when their seasons started (the suitor/suitress was always a super successful, prominent public figure) work but still rocks me to my core. I don’t care that neither season 2 nor season 3 had been able to live up to the magic and juicy drama of season 1, but this show still “goes there” in a way that CW (read: WB) teen dramas used to be.
Side note: how AWFUL and utterly confusing was the writing for Dr. Simon (Brandon Jay McLaren, who I enjoyed on Graceland, but was shafted hard) this episode? When he confronted Rachel in Connecticut, I wasn’t sure if he was trying to get her to snap or react with these outrageous claims of being into her, but shit. It was shit and bad and so disappointing to see.
I guess another soapy drama shock I had was watching the previews for Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance. It was a shock in mainly the fact that Lifetime has no shame nor conscience in making a movie about real people as they’re still relatively young and basically still living such moment that Lifetime is trying to cover? Cart before the horse? Anyway, I’ve never been excited to watch a Lifetime movie (I watched the first Flowers in the Attic movie. Much ragrets.) but I’m excited to watch this movie. PS — The actor playing Harry is so much hotter than IRL Prince Harry.
All this to say, and to echo River Fields from Jane the Virgin,
“I love telenovelas so much! They surprise you and move you and make you feel alive!”
I love the soapy dramas of Jane the Virgin and UnReal that we’ve been sorely missing ever since the CW transitioned into Warner Brother’s superhero/supernatural/sci-fi channel. I loved the aforementioned primetime teen dramas of One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, and The OC (on FOX, but still) that I was too young to experience the first time around. In this new generation of television, however, Jane the Virgin and UnReal take the inspiration and direction of their objects (telenovelas and dating shows, respectively) and give it an even deeper post-modern interpretation. There is much more financial and cultural value placed on television shows now. Humor and drama have evolved. Television shows now revel in their drama and outrageous plots and characters. And it makes me feel alive watching them.
