Jane the Virgin: Chapter One

October 20, 2014 4:24 PM - Season 1, Episode 1

Through a series of plausible accidents, Jane gets pregnant through artificial insemination. Now she has to make some decisions.

She works through her feelings with her fiancé, her single mom (and whether she wants to be like her), and her religious grandmother.

posted by Margalo Epps (7 comments total)

I really enjoyed this show--it's managing to be telenovela dramatic, but take itself seriously enough that I actually cared about the characters. And I really appreciated that the show actually took the whole abortion thing seriously, even if she's obviously going to not have one.
posted by leesh at 4:32 PM on October 20, 2014 [1 favorite]

I was really impressed with this show -- the whole family (Jane, Mom, and Abuela) feels believable and lovable. I like how they all talked about abortion with realism (including Mom's decision when she was sixteen) and let Jane know that she was supported in her choice.

I also just adore Jane already. I want everything good for her. (Though I'm also curious about fiancé's dark past.)
posted by Margalo Epps at 4:39 PM on October 20, 2014

I wanted to like this a lot, but I feel torn. Jane is adorable, and I love the "feel" of the show; like a mix of Ugly Betty and Wonderfalls. But I'm having trouble seeing where things will go and why I should care. How will things be paced? Pregnancy only lasts so long. Hoping the second episode will suck me in!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 6:38 PM on October 20, 2014

Well, maybe Jane will want to still be in the child's life, especially since his wife is terrible so far? Plus they're clearly setting up romantic drama with the baby daddy. And he's her boss! There are ways to stretch it out past the birth without it feeling (super) forced, I think. Anyone know how the source material telenovela went?
posted by leesh at 6:48 PM on October 20, 2014

And also let me second the love for Jane and her family--really great casting and great job by the actresses.
posted by leesh at 6:49 PM on October 20, 2014

This show is great, and I just love that it knows what it wants to be and commits to its style while still managing to be quite moving. It plays with style well but it works without that too. It's weird that it shares a timeslot with Sleepy Hollow since, even though they are both very different, both shows have premises that should not work at all, but somehow do in execution. And most importantly, both are just plain FUN!!!

If Gina Rodriguez doesn't become a huge star, we should just burn the American entertainment industry to the ground.

And, no spoilers, but as someone who watched last night's episode, it really doesn't fall into the "bad second episode after a strong pilot" trap.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:55 AM on October 21, 2014

Having finally gotten around to watching this...yeah, it's pretty good. I'm really enjoying it.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:56 PM on November 3, 2014