Chapter Eleven is the 11th episode of CW dramedy Jane the Virgin.
Summary
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT – When the nuns surprise Jane by offering her a permanent teaching position, she's excited, but things become complicated when Rogelio offers Jane a writing internship on his telenovela. Alba encourages Xo to keep the promise she made to God about Rogelio. Meanwhile, Michael is convinced of Rafael's involvement with the mysterious Sin Rostro and disobeys his boss' direct order to leave Rafael alone.
Plot
Let’s rewind a bit: This episode, Jane faced a major dilemma over her career. Though she’s totally prone to tears on the job (blame it on the pregnancy hormones, okay?), she’s been a fantastic teacher at the Catholic school and as a result, Sister Margaret has offered her a full-time teaching position. Jane should accept, right? After all, she’s studied hard and invested lots of effort in preparing herself for this very moment. That is, until she heads to visit Rogelio on the set of his telenovela, and he delivers some unexpected news: He’d like to make her intern on the writer’s team. Truth be told, Jane never saw this coming and doesn’t even know if she has what it takes to become a telenovela screenwriter. Of course, Rogelio thinks otherwise. “You’re my daughter. Talent courses through your veins.”
So what shall it be: respectable teacher or risqué dramatist? Jane is hesitant to make a decision—as the narrator kindly informs us, our titular heroine has always loathed confrontation—and so she tries to juggle her waitressing job at the hotel, teaching and getting to know some of the telenovela writers (among them? Judy Reyes as a wholly unexpected, but completely delightful guest star) as a temporary intern. Jane’s juggling some other stuff this episode: namely her mom and Rafael. These two just aren’t getting along; and truth be told, it’s largely because of Xo. Since she knows that Michael is still head over heels for her daughter, she’s not exactly peachy keen on accepting Rafael as Jane’s new beau. Though Jane manages to gather everyone around the table for dinner, it’s hardly a success, and afterward Xo decides to go for the jugular and tell her that Michael still l-o-v-e-s her. You can tell Xo is regretting that decision just as she delivers the news and when Jane presses her for details, she declines to do so. In Jane’s mind, Michael has moved on.
Michael definitely hasn’t moved on, though he is still carrying on with Nadine as though he’s not totally in love with his ex. That’s right: these two are canoodling over Chinese food and plotting their next steps in the Sin Rostro case. They don’t actually have much to go on until Rafael—prompted by Rose—decides to start meeting with contractors to learn whether his dad purposely built the underground tunnels attached to the hotel. The first contractor that Rafael meets with insists he had nothing to do with it. He suggests Rafael meet with the project subcontractor and so Rafael—dressed in a sleek leather jacket, because that’s what guys do when they want to be tough, right?—takes him up on the suggestion. Raf’s meeting takes place in some type of crowded warehouse and Rafael greets the subcontractor with a wad of cash, meant as a reward for information. “I was hoping you could tell me who hired you… I can make it worth your while,” he says. But that’s not what this shady subcontractor has in mind, as he takes the cash and ominously warns Rafael to “get the hell off of my property” (seriously: this scene was so over the top and I loved every minute of it).
And guess who else was enjoying the events at hand? Michael, who was covertly observing the tête-à-tête from his car. After Rafael leaves, he goes to check out the scene—without a search warrant of course, because that’s how homeboy rolls—when he finds a cell phone used by the subcontractor and copies the last phone number dialed. It could be a major clue, Michael thinks—that is, until this mysterious and menacing subcontractor knocks him out cold. Which leads us to one of the biggest moments of the night: Jane’s car crash. She’s headed home, resolute in her decision to turn down the writing internship—after all, moments before, Rafael told her that a scene she had turned in lacked the passion, drama, fight, yelling, and crying he deems necessary for a telenovela—when she suddenly nods off and rear ends the car in front of her. She’s taken to the hospital, where she and the baby are given a clean bill of health. And even better: Xo and Rafael’s relationship is okay too, having found something to agree on: the fact that Jane is definitely taking on too much during this stage in her pregnancy. Everything is fine and dandy—everyone feels the baby kicking for the first time!—when Jane receives a call. It turns out she’s still Michael’s emergency contact, and she learns he’s in the hospital.
Michael may have a few bruised ribs and a small concussion, but the physical pain he’s in after his run-in with the subcontractor is nothing compared to the emotional hurt he experiences when the love of his life confronts him about his feelings.
Jane: “You’re not waiting for me, are you? For us?”
Michael: “Of course I am. I love you, Jane. I love you now and forever. Whatever is going on with Rafael, it’s not going to last.”
This is not exactly what Jane wanted to hear and she tells him so (you gotta love her: when she’s feeling heated, there’s no holding back). But Michael—wonderfully stubborn, obstinate Michael—presses on. “So you’re trying to tell me at the end of the day, that’s who you see yourself with?” Jane confirms as much, with Michael (with a painful expression) resolving to remove her from his emergency contact. Suddenly Nadine came into the picture. She was observing the entire scene as it unfolded from behind the glass window of Michael’s room and let me tell you, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. You know she was thinking something along the lines of “oh hell naw!” and swiftly makes a call that might have severe consequences on Michael’s career.
Nadine calls her and Michael’s investigative supervisor and utters a single sentence. “He disobeyed your direct order.” It’s clear that though this episode was concerned with Jane’s choice of career, it ended with an event that could impact Michael’s in a totally unexpected way. He could be disciplined and temporarily pulled off the case, or even worse, reassigned, leaving the matter to Nadine (whom myself and some fans suspect could be Sin Rostro).
Elsewhere in “Chapter 11”:
– Oh, Petra. Our resident bad girl decides to tell Lachlan about Milos and her fear of being discovered by him. She even discloses the fact that in the past, Milos would send her yellow tulips as a sign of his return from a business trip. So are we really all that surprised when later in the episode, Petra finds a bouquet of tulips in her hotel room? The audience knows Lachlan is behind it—but when will she?
– Jane’s twin stepsisters reappear as happy, if slightly cynical students who can attest to Jane’s talent as an educator: “Even though you’re a nerd who thinks its okay to wear sensible shoes, we think you’re a really good teacher.”
– Remember last week when Xo made a vow to stay celibate in exchange for Alba’s health? She began to reconsider her promise as she found her attraction to Rogelio growing stronger. Luckily, once she gathered the courage to tell Rogelio about her celibacy, he was okay with it (kind of). It was a great reminder that Xo’s romantic struggles are just as prominent as Jane’s in this series: Just because you grow up doesn’t mean you automatically have life figured out.
– Jane sported a sizeable baby bump, and we learned that the baby is now the size of an avocado!
– Just when we thought the series couldn’t get any crazier when it came to plot twists and dramatic turns, a curveball came out of nowhere: Dina Milagro, the lead writer of The Passions of Santos, lies to Jane about her potential as a writer. Why? It’s so that Jane can unknowingly sabotage her father, which would give his assistant Nicholas, a shot at nabbing the lead role and fulfilling his own dreams of becoming a soap star.
– Also, there were two mentions of Sabado Gigante during the episode. How’s that for cultural authenticity?Starring
- Gina Rodriguez as Jane Villanueva
- Andrea Navedo as Xiomara Villanueva
- Yael Grobglas as Petra Solano
- Justin Baldoni as Rafael Solano
- Ivonne Coll as Alba Villanueva
- Brett Dier as Michael Cordero
- and Jaime Camil as Rogelio De La Vega
Recurring cast
- Bridget Regan as Rose
- Azie Tesfai as Nadine Hanson
- Priscilla Barnes as Magda
- Montse Hernandez as Teen Jane
- Michael Rady as Lachlan Moore
- Judy Reyes as Dina Milagro
Guest starring
- David Castaneda as Nicholas
- Vanessa Merrell as Valeria
- Veronica Merrell as Victoria
- Leslie Simms as Sister Margaret
- Greice Santo as Blanca
- Alex Loynaz as Steven
- Will Bethencourt as Ricky
- Jack Guzman as Dean
Trivia
- There is a flashback to when Jane was 16.
- Jane has Rafael over for dinner at the house so Xo can warm up to him.
- Rose mentions that Emilio took 5 million dollars to Croatia.
- Magda wants to go to Beijing.
- Jane takes her pupils to see Romeo and Juliet.
- Milos forgot Petra's birthday twice.
- Sister Margaret offers Jane a permanent job.
- Rogelio offers Jane to write for The Passions of Santos.
- Rogelio and Xiomara met in Biology class.
Locations
- Miami
- The Marbella
- Villanueva residence
- Investigation room
- Our Lady of Sorrows High School
- Set of The Passions of Santos
Photos
- Promotional
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| 2 | 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 |
| 3 | 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 |
| 4 | 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 |
| 5 | 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 |