Over the weekend, in a threaded discussion of Screener’s megahit guest post at Buzzfeed News last week (Feb. 16), writer Ashley Ford (@iSmashFizzle) offered this perfectly compact question to bring clarity and focus in conversations with people across a given ideological divide:
It’s obviously a question we should all make a part of our rhetorical arsenal, both as a tool for non-violent resistance and as one for self-reflection, but that’s more easily prescribed than accomplished… And Feb. 20, “Jane the Virgin” found Jane and her family stepping up to this very challenge: To show us (as always) exactly how to be our best — or at least, better — selves.
What are you afraid of losing, if another human being gets to have a thing they desperately want and/or need?
The first to have to confront their fears in response to someone else’s agenda are Petra (Yael Grobglas) and Rafael (Justin Baldoni), who join neighboring hotelier/Petra’s half-secret lover, Chuck (Johnny Messner) to face the official follow-up to last week’s skeletal kicker.
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What the police need are answers; what the Miami public and Scott’s family (including a mysteriously absent Anezka) need is justice. What are Petra and Rafael afraid of losing, should those parties get any of that? The end of the new Marbella, to put it bluntly.
While it turns out Scott’s body was found on Chuck’s side of their shared property line, it also turns out that owning a hotel with even the barest history of shocking murders (RIP Zaz/Bellboy/Emilio/Ivan) carries unique headaches — ones that Petra, guilty over her relief at Chuck’s misfortune, and Rafael, anxious over triggering any decision-making process that would tip him backwards into his pre-prison personality, aren’t fully equipped to handle.
As a result, Rafael doesn’t push his idea to get out in front of any gossip hard enough, and someone on the Marbella’s staff ends up leaking the investigation to the press. Petra, meanwhile, falls into such an intense guilt spiral over Chuck being implicated in anything suspicious that she bends over backwards to clear up any hint of foul play — by chasing down every recording from the Marbella’s premises on the day Scott disappeared. (And in the process, giving us the unexpected and joyous gift of an incredible “Who’s on First?” routine between herself and Rogelio, as they spend their first ever one-on-one scene together watching “De La Vega-Factor Factor” footage).
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Petra’s not the only one bending over backwards to avoid confronting/revealing a source of guilt: Both Rogelio (Jaime Camil) and Jane (Gina Rodriguez) are doing the exact same thing. Rogelio, continuing to hide his culpability in Xo’s bad reputation on his reality show, even after having promised Xo (Andrea Navedo) he knew nothing about it; and Jane, in groveling to her demonic boss (Maya Kazan) to get her terrible publishing job back after quitting too hastily in a blaze of righteous glory, rather than take Scott’s old job at the Marbella, and risk getting stuck, back outside her dream career path, again.
Jane has another fear she’s avoiding confronting this episode: A mysterious betrayal by Michael’s former partner, Dennis (Christopher Allen), who is back in Jane’s life as the head of the Scott Archuleta murder investigation, and has re-triggered her long-dormant panic attacks. She is so afraid of having to face what he did to her — using their friendship to sneak photos of Michael’s Sin Rostro/Mutter case notes out, under the guise of helping her clear out Michael’s things — that she repeatedly slaps him across the face rather than (as Mateo reminds her) use her words.
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Eventually, all our heroes recognize that avoiding their fears is only making their respective situations worse, and they allow pain and uncertainty (and in Petra’s case, a declaration of like-like and the promise of a date) into their lives. They don’t not lose things as a result — Jane, for one, loses a boxing match (Gina Rodriguez would never) — but neither do they lose the thing they feared losing most: The Marbella’s still standing; Xo is open to truly forgiving Rogelio, given time; Rafael is open to stepping back into a more active ownership role of his hotel, fears of returning to his playboy ways mostly assuaged; Jane is open to taking on the lounge manager job — as a means to her dream, not an obstacle — and even more open to forgiving Dennis, and putting her panic attacks behind her for good.
…And only two of those required either felony tampering with human remains or Justin Baldoni shaving his beard — honestly, seems like low stakes for the rest of us at home, taking notes on facing our fears. We’d better follow Jane’s example — and Ashley Ford’s advice above — and never stop asking what we fear we’ll lose, if someone else gets what they want.
“Jane the Virgin” airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
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