Hail To El Hefe

Though I certainly think it's true that watching Jane The Virgin is fun for people of all walks of life (and I would have added "of nearly all ages" if not for this crass "between my legs" phrasing that's come up three weeks in a row now), but this week's episode is the first I really wish I could have watched with someone who works in telenovelas for real. With Rogelio getting blindsided by the news that he's about to be written out of his show, I had to wonder whether even a peacock like him wouldn't have been, on some level, prepared: in this world, even having your character's name in the title of your series is no guarantee of his longevity! But in the end, it doesn't matter: in dealing with his career setback, Rogelio achieves something even more significant in his relationship with Jane.

A few months ago, that last sentence would have felt absurd to me to type. I mean, what could be more important to Rogelio than his fame? What even should be? After all, as the show has well established, The Passions Of Santos represents a gigantic leap forward for Rogelio's career, and has come relatively late in his life, after a couple of decades' struggle. (Exactly how late depends on whether you believe the ages and dates in Rogelio's official bio or not, and given other events in the episode, maybe you shouldn't call out the true facts you learned under privileged circumstances as Rogelio's assistant, Nicholas.) If Rogelio is leaning in to the perks that come with his elevated position, it's hard to judge him for it: he never thought they'd come.

As the episode progresses, of course, we learn that a lot of Rogelio's diva behaviour as experienced by Santos head writer Dina has been manufactured by Nicholas, who's been simultaneously undermining Rogelio and cultivating/fooling around with Dina in order to advance his own career -- or, as he might put it to Jane, "embrac[ing] the telenovela." And what we have seen, particularly in the past couple of episodes, is how Rogelio's priorities have changed since finding out about her. Knowing she has wanted to be a writer, last week's episode found him helping her land an entry-level job on the writing staff; this week, when he finds out she's already been assigned her first script, he's sure it's evidence that the vision board he made has already started working.

Amid the typical Rogelio stuff ("I love my hair," hee hee), what makes it so sweet is that it's a vision board for both him and Jane, together -- which may include a shot of Angelina Jolie and Jon Voight just because she's the most famous showbiz daughter of a previously famous father, but which has also had a cautionary "Stay Closer" gluesticked onto it. Now that Jane's in his world, Rogelio already trusts her enough to let her try to direct him in efforts that may convince Dina to change course with regard to killing off his character -- her suggestion that he try to be humble should work: "Considering my immense gifts, I'm one of the most humble men in the world!" ...Clearly!

When Dina stands firm, Rogelio insists that Jane follow through on the assignment and write the episode that will culminate with his death scene. What he can't know is the way Jane has admitted him into her world by borrowing a meaningful speech from her own childhood and lending it to El Presidente when he's just been stabbed by his treacherous son (Nicholas, not acting much).

In the end, the magic of the moment lies in the collaboration of father and daughter, Jane's sweet if incongruous speech helping Rogelio to elevate his last moments on his eponymous show. As they celebrate after the cut, Jane is so moved that...she calls Rogelio "Dad" for the very first time. Rogelio can't quite understand the emotions that overtake him -- "I have this feeling in my chest now! Feels kind of warm, but mostly, it wants to explore!" -- but he can call on this sense memory...

...in his next, even more spectacularly star-making role, whatever that turns out to be, and remember that it was his most important fan who got him there.