Somehow, just like an actual telanova, missing a number of episodes does not make the storyline inscrutable.
Plus, if you missed anything, The Narrator will sum it up for you in a hilarious fashion at the beginning of each episode!
I like the Narrator, but it wouldn't work if Jane were boring.
Oh totally. Gina Rodriguez anchors this film with her performance. As written, Jane could have come off as too good to be real, but Rodriguez is so likable and warm and charming that you end up rooting for her every step of the way.
I didn't care for the mean girls subplot, though.
The evil twin step-sister plot? They redeem themselves later, but that episode struck one of very few wrong notes in the life of the show -- namely, Jane threatening to post unflattering / racy pictures of the little terrors online. I know it was Xio's idea, but Jane making those kinds of threats struck me as super-OOC.
But that ep had some amazing Rogelio lines, so I loved it despite my reservations. "I didn't own a car until I was 35. (32 if anyone asks.)"
Rogelio continues to give me visual dissonance, as he looks like Mark Ruffalo.
He does! Just, like, bronzed.
Oh totally. Gina Rodriguez anchors this film with her performance.
Absolutely. I want to clarify that I am totally rooting for Jane, and I love the wide variety of women characters on the show. There are so many women! It is a delight!
Not just women being present, but women driving the majority of the narrative! I love all three Villaneuva women to bits, but I also have a HUGE soft spot for Petra, which I would not have thought possible back when I watched the pilot. Suffice it to say there was a lot of screaming at TV on my part while watching the latest episode. Even Magda, who has all the markings of a typical gothic villain, has nuance and humour. (The entire subplot with Ivan the hostage! I hope we get to see him again. He was a fucking riot.)
Then you have Rose. I still can't think of that last episode without bursting into hysterical giggles.
I'm sad that we (presumably) won't see Carlo Rota any more. Though maybe he has an evil twin that will show up.
There has to be an evil twin at some point!
And yes, Jane is charming without making me nauseous. (Sometimes people who are too sweet make me want to throw things at them.)
I wish I knew I'd get a Pushing Daisies vibe before it started airing, because I would have watched it from the start. Instead I caught the first few episodes in reruns, the picked it up around episode 10.
A lot of Pushing Daisies and a whiff of The Middleman as well. The chyrons (which is apparently what those writings on screen are called) are an extension of the Narrator, I suppose, but sometimes it feels like they have a distinct personality of their own. Some of my favourite bits on the show have to do with a clever use of chyrons: #immigrationreform when Alba was in the hospital, and the latest with Rose brushing off letters from her chest, for example.
The show's been renewed for S2, so I'm curious as to what they're gonna do with the pregnancy. She's not far along enough to give birth during the season finale, I think, but they have to do it at some point.
Also, I love Gustavo Santaolalla, so the fact that he's had a hand in the music of JtV is just sweet.
