For 23 years, Jane’s had her life on track: she’s a hard worker, she’s finishing up school and she’s almost never gotten into trouble. And most importantly, she’s never had sex — she’s worked hard to resist temptation because she was taught from a young age to save herself for marriage. But due to a very unfortunate, very major mistake, Jane goes into the doctor’s office for a pap smear and comes out artificially inseminated.
The whimsical romantic comedy-drama Jane the Virgin, debuted in October 2014 and aired its second season this past fall. Set in Miami, it follows the story of hardworking Latina woman Jane Villanueva (Gina Rodriguez) as she tries to keep her life on track and manage her newfound pregnancy.
This show is one of the most ridiculous things that I’ve ever seen, and I’m in love with it.
With about 50 different plot lines happening at once, you still manage to understand what’s happening the entire time, thanks to its in-show recaps, which are some of the best I’ve ever seen. One of the strongest parts is the jaunty narrator (voiced by Anthony Mendez), who’s fantastic at keeping you updated — he makes sure you know what’s going on and reminds you of what’s happened in previous episodes. Whenever a character comes up and there’s important information about them that you need to know, the show pauses and flashes a list of the essentials on-screen, narrated by Mendez. Those lists are almost always sassy and ironic, and even though the action is paused, you’re still doubled over laughing.
The narrator knows everything that’s going on, and he’s eager to let you in on the drama. And boy, is there drama.
The drama in all these family relationships is absurd and hilarious. Who did you say was sleeping with her step-mother? Jane was artificially inseminated with whose sperm? And what did you say about that time the two met five years ago?
I’m used to shows moving pretty slowly through their characters’ lives and using as much fodder as they can. For example, I watch a couple shows where the main characters have been high school seniors for about six seasons (see Pretty Little Liars). But in Jane the Virgin, there’s so much happening and the plot moves forward so fast that I found myself constantly wondering how quickly the writers were going to run out of material. They burn the fuel so rapidly that it would be hard to keep up if not for our trusty narrator. It keeps the show extremely fast-paced, and you never ever get bored. There’s always a new twist, usually several per episode, that keeps you glued to the screen.
The characters are completely fleshed out and three-dimensional, most of them so silly they’re not believable, like a certain drama-fueled telenovela star who comes into the mix, but you find yourself not caring. You’re eager for more. The show constantly makes fun of itself and its ridiculous plots. Plus, more than one of the characters has a dark secret, and the skeletons in their closets don’t wait long to come out.
Aside from the drama and absurdity of the show, though, it also has a lot of serious elements that are portrayed realistically and respectfully, like Jane’s faith and her struggles with her sexual relationships. It’s also a great representation of multicultural households. Jane’s grandmother is Venezuelan and speaks Spanish to her daughter and granddaughter, who speak English back to her, and all three of them understand one another just fine.
The show has great stories about family, both serious and silly. You watch Jane deal with her mother, who refuses to give up her wild days, her overbearing but loving Catholic grandmother and her mysterious father who suddenly takes an interest in Jane and drops back into her life. There are Jane’s wavering love interests, the drama that ex-lovers bring into the mix — oh, and there’s a drug lord on the loose, and it’s someone you know.
Actually, it’s my favorite character. And you have to watch the show to find out who it is.
Engagements, breakups and affairs are everywhere, and poor Jane is stuck in the middle of it, trying to get on with her life. She wants to be a writer and her entire life has been on track — that is, until this terrible accident.
Jane does her best to navigate these shenanigans, and it’s such an adventure to watch. The first season is on Netflix, and I for one am excited for more.
I wonder why there are so many changes to the original versions of Americanized shows. There are several differences between the more culturally-correct show, but for some reason we feel like the US market won’t go for it? I wish, just like they do in for all of our productions in english, that we dubbed over their movies because to be honest their cinematography is far more interesting than American.
In the telenovela original, Juana is a 17 year old minor. Jane, however, has been given an age-up for the American version: she is 23 years old at the start of the series. The age difference not only lends itself to completely different scenarios, since Jane is not a juvenile, it places the characters at completely different stages in their lives. Juana was at the end of her high school career and was hoping study journalism abroad, while Jane was already going to school for her teaching degree when she became pregnant.
The original telenovela continued for a whopping 153 episodes—the equivalent of seven 22-episode seasons in the American market. While the show’s creative team probably wouldn’t object to continuing for 7 seasons, they have significantly upped the pace of the storyline to better appeal to American viewers, who (unless they are soap opera fans) are not usually keen on TV shows dragging storylines out for so long.(source: http://cabletelevisionbundles.s9.com/blog/differences-between-jane-the-virgin-and-the-telenovela-original/ )
Kelsey, you are completely right. This show is something we still need to see, though it is a washed down version of an even better opportunity for the us market to learn about others. The over-acted characters give it something not every show has. Other cultures are also more colorful than our own.