Spotlight On Rogelio -- No, Literally

Much as "Chapter 3" of Jane The Virgin impressed me by refusing to prolong plotlines artificially by making characters lie to each other -- replacing this soap staple with a whole bunch of radical honesty -- "Chapter 4" also brought to a relatively swift end what could have been a season's worth of Three's Company-esque farce by letting Jane's father inform her of his relationship to her. This is bad news for Xiomara, since now Jane is furious at her for keeping this secret Jane's whole life. But it's good news for the viewer, because: more Rogelio.

Because Jane is a human being, her concerns about her first father-daughter date with Rogelio are emotional: will he like her? will they have things to talk about? Because Rogelio is a cartoon, his standard for what will make the encounter perfect are pretty much all presentational. He enlists the stylists on his show to help make sure he comes correct with regard to his hair and shoes. He sends his assistant to find Jane when she arrives at the set, and also to bow to her -- you know, normal stuff. And he choreographs everyone on the soundstage to provide a warm audience for his extremely grand entrance.

Fortunately, the stage comes pre-equipped with a grand staircase.

It's just, like, maybe a longer staircase than Rogelio realized when he (presumably) conferred with the show's lighting designer about where to start his follow spot.

The reproachful look Rogelio shoots at the staircase for being so inconveniently long is for sure my favourite tiny moment in the episode.

The potential danger in having Jane and Rogelio's biological relationship out in the open is, of course, that producers will be tempted to run Rogelio into the ground. But I'm hopeful that they'll be able to use him judiciously. This show's other plotlines are so scandalous that it could really us a Kramer; it does NOT need an Urkel.