Jane The Virgin, S03E14- Chapter Fifty-Eight

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Thank you again so much to Natalia for commissioning this episode!
So this episode is the one where Xiomara realizes that she's not actually ready to marry Bruce, and Jane lets her know that Rogelio has changed his tune about having kids. Meanwhile, Matteo has a new aid, Petra is getting questioned by police, and Alba is getting a makeover. 
Thanks so much to you all for listening, and I will see you again soon(ish) with a new episode!
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is an Unspoiled Network podcast. This is spoil Me
covering Jane the Virgin, Season three, episode fourteen, Chapter fifty eight.
In this episode, Jane decides that she is going to

(00:23):
try and be classroom mom and it is honestly the
worst job I've ever heard of and I would never
Oh my god, but also I really get it. And
on the other side of things, everybody is getting back together.

(00:43):
It seems like I don't know about this. Welcome to
spoil Me, Welcome to the show everyone. I am Natasha.

(01:10):
Thank you very much to Natalia for commissioning this episode.
So y'all, there is so much happening in this section.
It's so weird because it's actually like, on the surface,
it doesn't seem that way. But the more and more
I thought about it, the more I was like, we
are beginning arcs in this section of the season, I think,

(01:38):
which I should have realized because let me double check,
but I'm pretty sure these seasons have like twenty two
episodes twenty for this season, so we are over halfway through,
and that means that we are going to have to
begin our final arc. If we're doing like a sort

(02:00):
of three act structure, we're getting into the third act.
I feel like the next episode we will be good
and proper in the third act. And what has happened
here is so interesting to me, because you know, this
is just a great illustration of when a trope is

(02:22):
visible and predictable and you don't care that it's either
of those things because you like it. I know, I
know that because of what this show is, there's going
to be a lot of on again, off again, on again,
off again type stuff going on with all of our characters.

(02:45):
That's the nature of it. And normally I cannot fucking
stand that shit. Guys, I really can't. I normally hate it,
y'all know it. There have been so many things I've
covered where that kind of dynamic has been mentioned as
one of my personal least favorite. So imagine my surprise

(03:09):
as I am watching this and thinking to myself how
interested I am in seeing what happens and what the
show has managed to do in order to keep me
feeling that. I think it's a combination of one. Killing
Michael was a really great move one and this is

(03:32):
no offense to Michael. You know this, Michael, I actually
grew to quite like you, despite swearing I was never
ever gonna see it for you. I grew to like you,
and some of that was just because Jane liked you
so much, and so it was for her sake initially
and gradually your constant support and cheerleading of her. I
was like, okay, yes, But what it did was make

(03:56):
it so that Jane's romanticism and her feelings of love
and love for love were one hundred percent born out
as a character, but she was given and out so
we were able to see her actually happy, able to

(04:18):
see how committed she is when she's all in, and
also able to see that like this exists, this type
of relationship that we could very easily grow to fault
for expecting. When you live in the real world and
somebody is waiting, I'm sorry if you can hear that.
That's Pippen like scratching at his dogbed for some reason.

(04:43):
But when you live in the real world and you
are watching somebody who keeps turning down perfectly good relationships
because they are wanting the best, most perfect relationship, it
can be difficult sometimes because you want to be supportive
of them having high standards, but you also kind of
wonder if they're being realistic and for me, Jane manages

(05:09):
to get the thing that she is searching for, this
sort of perfect love, and it wasn't perfect, but that's
part of what works about it and prove to us
it's out there, it's doable. And then she has it
wrenched away and has to learn a new and different

(05:31):
lesson about grief, soldiering on and learning to cope with
that grief in healthy ways, and that is such great
character growth. It's actually like, I'm not at all claiming
that they fridged Michael, because he was much more of
a character than the women who get friged. But really,

(05:55):
in the end, what is everybody in this show for
but to make Jane's storyline feel richer and more lived in, right,
So I don't take any issue with that at all.
And then killing him freezes her up to date again,
which we're beginning to enter that phase of things for her.

(06:17):
But she has this really high standard now that she
did achieve at one point that now we have inserted
a different type of drama into her dating because one
she's got trauma from losing her husband. Two she has
this incredible relationship that she managed to have for a
while that very few others are ever going to live

(06:40):
up to. So her romanticism is actually based in fact
now and isn't just her being I don't want to
say naive, but idealistic, I guess. So there's nobody who
can try and be like, you're just being you know,
you're your standards are impossible. She can be like, no,

(07:02):
somebody'd met them once, like they're out there. I've done
it and it ended not because the relationship fell apart,
but because life is cruel and terrible sometimes. So I
really really like the fact that we did this and
then fast forwarded two years three years. I feel like

(07:24):
it's three years, right, I feel like I keep wanting
to say two years, but it's actually three. Whatever it is.
The whole energy of everybody has shifted in that time,
and so it has given us a new place to
begin with all of our characters. And that means that
the on again, off again thing doesn't feel so stale

(07:47):
because we have had people move into different phases of
their lives, learn different things, and start to change their
approach or their desires, and so it keeps it all.
It's not the way that it is on something like Friends,
where the on again, off again thing. Friends picks up
from where it has left off every season. You're just

(08:08):
sort of, you know, it all feels kind of consecutive
to each other. There's no time jumps, and so the
on again, off again thing gets to be all the
more tedious because these people don't feel like they're really
changing or learning anything. The passage of time doesn't feel
quite the same. But and obviously that's not the priority
in Friends. It's comedy, so you get why I'm citing

(08:31):
this though, as like one of the prime examples of
an on again, off again thing. There are so many
out there, But what what's going on in this episode
with Shamara and Rohelio. I really love this, guys, I
actually because you know, Rolio's talking about having kids being

(08:55):
a deal breaker. I had a lot of mixed feelings
about that. The last time. I was feeling really sort
of because I believe that I had mentioned there was
a person in my life who had felt this way,
not toward me, but toward my mother, and I was

(09:18):
just sort of like not entirely sure how seriously to
take it, Because sometimes people can say things like this
are the game changer, but really they're looking for an out,
and they're just sort of finding excuses to get out
that sound valid and sound like, well, I'm just thinking

(09:40):
long term, and I'm just thinking about what i want
for my life. But really they're using it as as
a means of escape. And eventually the guy who had
said this to my mother changed his tune and said
he finally realized that raising kids really isn't what he wanted,

(10:01):
and he came crawling back. And they've been married twenty
years now, you know. So I kind of wondered if
this was going to be something that Rohalio went through,
But it is different with him because what winds up happening,
as he points out, is he gets this hole, as

(10:25):
he puts it, this desire to raise a kid filled
by caring so much for Matteo. And I actually really
really like this as a development, because one if Michael
had still been alive, I don't know if Rohalio would

(10:45):
have been as involved with Matteo as he winds up
being were short one of his parents. And granted, Raphael
is his father and is around, but Rafael has two
other children and he lives somewhere else, and it's just
a different thing. So I like Michael's death actually has

(11:07):
helped facilitate a bunch of changes in the routine of
people's lives as well. That has been really interesting. And
I also love this because Matteo being what sort of
fills this hole for Rohelio. It's perfect because honestly, you
guys know that I was sort of unconvinced that Rohealeo

(11:30):
understood the assignment that he was signing up for, Like
a big part of me was kind of, I don't
know if you're fully prepared for this, And having this
go this way with Matteo for me is like, of
course this wound up filling that hole because you wanted
the fun parts of having a kid, but I don't

(11:53):
think you were prepared for the real work. And so
he gets that as a grandfather, and it's enough for
him and probably it's enough actual real life with a
small child to realize how intense this can be, and
especially considering that Matteo is as much of a handful

(12:15):
as he is. It's a reality check. You're not going
to have a perfect child necessarily, and I mean you
won't anyway, because there is no such thing. But one
would argue that there are children that are easier to
deal with than others. And it's very very likely Rahelio

(12:36):
raising a kid would raise a monster because as well
intentioned as he is, he is the most self absorbed
person to ever walk the earth. So I can't imagine
him raising a child anyway. I just really love him
coming to this realization. And all of this is mixed in,

(12:56):
of course, with this weird energy of jealousy over Bruce
and knowing that he gave Shamara up, so he's not
trying to put himself out there to her, but he

(13:16):
can't help but put feelers out and see how she's feeling,
which eventually happens with Matteo where he suggests that she's
probably not happy with Bruce and it's a whole thing.
So Jane, after talking to him and realizing like what

(13:38):
is going on here, the fact that he still has
feelings for Shallmara and that he is, you know, he
has had a huge change of tune, she decides to
tell her mother because throughout the episode we see Shamara
being really what's the word, I want not twitchy, but

(14:02):
she's just not wanting to plan the wedding. She's not
getting super excited about everything, and I really love the
very first moment that this happens is Jane trying to
give her jewelry because Jane goes into that gift shop
on premises for an excuse and comes back with you

(14:24):
these earrings that she allegedly winning there for of course
we know this is a huge lie, and her she
says these could be or something blue, and her mom
immediately is like, I just got engaged a little early
to be planning accessories, and you see Jane just give
her a sort of like huh, what's going on here? Look?
And this continues repeatedly throughout the episode. It's just her

(14:48):
having reactions to things that are not the behavior of
a person who is excited or in the planning stages
in any real way. I you, guys, this feeling that
she has. I really love that Chamara has grown to

(15:09):
a point that she interrogates what she's feeling and is saying,
you know, I understand that I haven't been in a
lot of relationships for quite long enough. I haven't experienced
that fall off of passion because I have had all
short term relationships, so I'm trying to factor that in. Also,

(15:34):
I can tend to self sabotage. So there's that aspect
of things as well that I'm trying to be aware of.
And this is all just wonderful growth for her. This
is it's just so solid and so much fun to
see her aware of her own patterns and going through
this cautious moment of reflection and awareness and then eventually

(16:00):
beginning to realize, like, oh, I see what's happening here.
It's that she still has feelings for Rohelio. And it's
so funny because last episode I was saying how I
had just started to really like Bruce and that a
major factor for me in like growing to love him
was that he was able to mediate this thing with

(16:22):
her and Rohelio in a way that felt very objective.
He wasn't getting possessive of her, there was no feeling
of like him being threatened by Rohelio. And then immediately
the next episode, it's not exactly that that all goes
out the window, because what I was talking about was

(16:44):
a kind of irrational territoriality, and that's not what winds
up happening. Bruce's feelings of being threatened are legitimate and
well founded in the behavior of Shamara, so it's not
him like, you know, lashing out in this Macha. He
genuinely has a moment of like real conversation with her

(17:05):
where he straight up asks her, what a concept do
you still have feelings for him? In this very gentle
I don't want to have to do this, but you know,
we have to kind of way. And it just made
me like Bruce even better, to be honest, Like he's

(17:28):
just been so understanding and so rock solid that a
part of me can't help but feel like maybe he
is the guy Shamara like, I don't know, man, he
just rolled with this so beautifully. And it's like we
haven't seen the fallout yet because they get interrupted after

(17:50):
this conversation almost immediately by Rahelio walking in. So it
may be that there will be some bad behavior from
Bruce and we just haven't gotten to see it yet.
But as of now, the way that he understands the
reality of what Shamara is saying because they're doing like
a mock jury thing here, and he asks her, what

(18:14):
did this reality show do to your relationship with Rhelio?
And she explains he was one of the most important
people in my life and I missed my friend and
he says something obviously not actually necessarily part of the
script he's prepared of, like, but you weren't in a
romantic relationship at the time, were you, And she's like, no,

(18:39):
but we have a child together, and we are in
each other's lives, and I thought about him every single day,
and there's just this emotionality and she's making this eye
contact with Rhelio throughout and Hilio's like very moved by it,
but tries to play it off because I don't think

(19:02):
he can quite tell how serious Chamara is and he
doesn't want to get his own hopes up, so he
does a well amazing performance. I definitely bought it, and
then Bruce does the yeah, I bought it too. And
you know, it could have gone either way after that moment.
He could have lashed out at her, he could have
been really shitty, and instead he decides that he's going

(19:23):
to just have a heart to heart and that is
a really it isn't like a difficult conversation, and I
just love what it says about him and it makes
me simultaneously, I would like for Shamara and Rahelio to
just be together, of course, but I don't really know

(19:46):
about what the show would do with that. I feel
like there is so much to be gotten from the
antics of Rhaleo on the dating scene that I could
see them not really wanting to give that up. I

(20:07):
also could see it being a whole thing if he
and Schallmara decided to start a reality show together, and
there being a lot of antics with that, because Shamara
has wanted to be a singer. Now she has sort
of given that dream up, but sometimes reality TV can

(20:31):
offer you opportunities. It doesn't necessarily mean that she's going
to just like become a full time, professional, famous singer,
but it might be that she could start to do
something with that that maybe wouldn't have been offered to
her otherwise, at least as a little bit of a
part time thing. You know, She's had such a bad

(20:52):
experience with his reality show that it may be that
she doesn't want to touch that shit with a ten
foot pole. But that's the sort of thing where I
feel like Jane would have that response, and Chamara is
a performer and Jane isn't. And Shamara deciding if I
get to be on the show in a real way
where I'm not going to be used as the target,

(21:14):
then yeah, I'm on board. You know, I don't know.
All of this is just like me theorizing on what
would be the most interesting move for the show to make,
because there's no real stakes in Bruce. We don't know.
The only person that we have met is his daughter.
Don't really know what like if she finds out that

(21:36):
her father asked Shamara to marry him Shamara said yes
and then backed out, I could see her being fucking
livid because she has a feeling of Shamara having ruined
her life in the beginning, you know. Otherwise, though, like
she and she's like small potatoes. I don't really She's
not even old enough to have connections anywhere, so I

(21:57):
don't really I'm not worried about her anymore than I
of like just the basics of the annoyance that she
would pose. But uh, overall, I feel like we've got
to get Bruce an angle that keeps him really in
the mix in order to create some more tension here.

(22:19):
Him being the lawyer that Rahalio has hired definitely a factor,
But so far that case doesn't feel like it's taking
up a lot of space, So maybe we need to
expand on that anyway, Oh, April's here, high April. So okay,
that's the whole thing with Hilio and Shamara. I'm like

(22:41):
jumping around here, guys. Forgive me, let's talk about the
school thing, because I just kind of want to get
this out of the way. To be honest, I have
said already and I will say again how much I
love that Mateo is such a fucking terror. I really
really enjoy it. It is so fucking It's just a

(23:03):
great direction. Story wise, It's fascinating to watch. It's frustrating
because on the one hand, you get why Gene is
handling it how she is, but you also hate it
because it's like you've got to do something more than this,
you know, I get every time I watch this show
and I see these moments with her and Matteo, I

(23:26):
am reminded why I decided not to have children. When
he cuts off a big chunk of her hair, I
know that I would have slapped that child. I would
have lost my shit. Am I proud of it? No?
But I also have the self awareness to realize I'm
not fit to have children. I can't take it. And

(23:49):
later on, when she's going into the school and he
has wrapped himself around her and she's having to walk
with him like wrapped around her leg, or he's climbing
on top of her, the way that I would have
grabbed him and yanked him and screamed in his face.
You do not even like nobody would have let me

(24:10):
go home with that child after they would have been
immediately like this woman cannot handle being a parent. That's
why I'm not But as much as I've recognize my
behavior is not the answer, clearly Jane's behavior isn't the
answer either. You know, it's just tough because like what

(24:33):
feedback she winds up getting from this professional that she
has observing Matteo later he is he's the new aide
that she's hired. He says that Matteo sees her and
Raphael as like these rock solid supports in his life,

(24:53):
that Raphael is his hero. He like trusts Jane and
feels very stable. There's no sense a fear of abandonment
or trauma. Really, so clearly she's doing something right for
her child to trust her like this, And to a degree,
Mateo's behavior is just how he's wired, as this guy

(25:18):
puts it, So it's just there is also the instilling
in somebody of like, you aren't the only person in
the room, and you have to learn to acknowledge what
you're doing to interfere with other people's opportunities in like
to learn to rest to whatever. But that is just

(25:41):
something that isn't really in kids' language. That's the nature
of children, is that the world revolves around themselves, and
really that's like kind of how it should be initially.
So it's it's just a you know. I admire Jane's patients.
I admire her recognizing that her kid is far from

(26:04):
perfect and wanting to work on it. But I feel
like there is more of a firm hand that she
could be taking than she is that wouldn't be as
extreme as what I have described my own behavior would
have been. All of this eventually wraps up in this
like there's there's, like I said, the scene where she's

(26:25):
doing a life check on him and he just begins
to like weirdly lick the sink and says that he's
cleaning it. She's been instructed to ignore like bad behavior,
so she decides to ignore it. He chops her hair
off when he's searching her hair for lice, just one

(26:47):
chunk of it in this really weird spot. So she
eventually tries to play off that chunk of hair as
like an intentional choice for fashion, which it like, I
don't actually think it's that bad, but I also felt
like it's pretty obvious this wasn't intentional. If you're going

(27:08):
to show this as purposefully as you are, you need
to go a little further with it and make it
more of a like. You have to go shorter and
do more of it. It's just got to feel like
you decided to lean into it rather than you're just
letting it be what it was when he did it,
which is not enough. So she's wanting to be because

(27:34):
Matteo says, you're not around as much as the other
moms are. She at first tries to do that, well,
I have a job and they don't, which as somebody
who grew up with a working class mom in a
neighborhood full of moms who are stay at home, I
know very much what it's like to watch all the

(27:55):
other kids be with their moms and you not have
your mom there, and it really sucks, like it really does.
I do not blame my mom one bit because she
did what she had to do, but it is unfair
and it's just like another thing about class that people
don't like to fucking acknowledge. And she takes it like

(28:17):
to heart when he says, I just missed you. You know,
everybody else gets to see their moms more than I
get to see my mom. So she decides that she's
going to attempt to be the same as the other
moms and be super involved, even though she does have
her own job, and starts to get into this whole
war with Petra over being class mom or a classroom mom. Predictably,

(28:48):
they at first are going to try and work together,
and they have completely diametrically opposed viewpoints on almost everything.
And Jane does keep doing the thing that I mentioned
last time as like not a winning proposition, where she
is approaching things. She's approaching things like a poor She's

(29:12):
talking about wanting to change up how they handle certain
things in order to save money, when Jane, I do
not know how to be more clear, nobody here is
worried about money. That is not a concern for the
type of people who go to the school. You continually

(29:34):
bringing up that you should ask for volunteers of parents
to do like the parking duty and stuff. One, they
will see that as demeaning and wonder why you didn't
just hire people. And two, part of going to a
school like this is the flex of having parking attendance
that you hired. That's what they like to do is

(29:58):
flaunt the fact that their school can have a Monte
Carlo themeed fundraiser and it be very legit actually, because
they have the money to do this. So she just
keeps trying to come at certain aspects of it with
the wrong attitude. And I understand that she thinks it's

(30:20):
smart though, this is the way to be more efficient
about our But that's how you know she is out
of touch with her audience. Though. I think what she's
doing and saying makes a lot of sense coming from
my perspective of somebody who is always worried about the
cost of things. But if I am surrounded by people

(30:41):
who seem unbothered by it, why am I going to
worry about it? Especially if we actually do have the budget.
That's the main thing. She's not trying to cut back
on budget because they don't have it. She's doing it
for the principle of it. When they do have it.
And of course nobody's going to like that. That's just
one aspect. But suffice to say, she and Petra get

(31:07):
into like this whole yelling match in front of a
bunch of women because Petra does the ultra petty thing
of having a bunch of the moms come to lunch
when Jane is working and having a table at the
restaurant she's working at, so that Jane can see all

(31:29):
of these women flocking to Petra and listening to her,
and all of these women can see Jane as an
outsider who caters to them when Petra is one of them,
Like it's very obviously meant to sort of put Jane
in her place, and it's like a pretty ugly look
actually for Petra, Like it's very very shitty. So Jane

(31:53):
deciding I'm going to take a seat and you know,
join in with you, I was sort of like, all right,
you know what, I like this as a flex Actually
this is a really good way to like acknowledge what
she's doing and be like, but I am one of
you guys, and you, actually, Petra, have made it. You

(32:17):
made it so that I was one of you because
you were the one who got me in so I
am going to thrust myself in there. Since you decided
I was one of you, I'll take you up on it.
But of course it descends pretty quickly into I'm going
to insult your parenting, and at one point Mateo draws
us Jane terribly and with only half her hair, and

(32:41):
the little girls draw Petra as a dragon, which of
course she sees as insulting, like I'm scary, they're frightened
of me. So Petra throws Matteo's behavior in Jane's face,
and Jane throws that Petra frightens her own children in

(33:04):
Petra's face, and then they each go to their separate
corners and lick their wounds and reflect on the fact
that actually neither of them really wants this job. Actually
it's too much. It's not what they were like they
it's it's partially the uh, I don't I'm trying to

(33:26):
think exactly how it's like obviously the ego and control.
For Petra, it's Jane wanting to connect with Matteo. But
then like later on when she's talking to Rehalio, he's
like Jane, he's like four years old. He doesn't know
what he's saying you're taking it too to heart. If

(33:49):
he were to ask you whether he would rather you
be classroom mom or eat chocolate, I'm sure he'd pick
eat chocolate. Like kids aren't thinking about the things they
say the way that we they aren't considering it's going
to actually influence your actions. And you don't need to
put this kind of pressure on yourself, because this isn't

(34:09):
what he actually is seeking from you. It's just that
he likes to be around you and know that you
are involved and care about him, and you do that,
and you know there's only so many hours in the
day and there's only so much you can do. You've
got to take it a little easier on yourself, So
she decides to let it go. Petra finds out that

(34:31):
the reason they drew her as a dragon was because
her daughters had a nightmare, and Raphael went in and
comforted them by telling them their mother is the fiercest
protector of anybody, and they don't need to worry about
a thing because she will always have their back. So
when they drew a dragon, it was actually meant to

(34:52):
be like you are such a badass kind of thing,
which I think actually suits Petra quite well, and both
Petra and Jane realized they don't want the job, and
they both try to give it over to the other,
and eventually you get this moment where they're both seeing

(35:14):
Raphael glad handing with all the other parents and clock, oh,
you know who would be great for this job, because like, honestly,
Raphael doesn't have a whole lot to do right now.
He's managing the hotel to a point, but really he
doesn't seem to be as involved or care as much
as Petra does, and this I think would probably be

(35:35):
pretty good for him. It is kind of annoying that
it's like, you know, a role that is usually meant
for a woman being given to a man, because that
feels like a type of statement. But I also really
like men being more involved with child rearing because it's
often seen as women's work that it's just completely out
of the question, So I'm trying to view it more

(35:57):
in that way. So, yeah, this whole thing ends up
with Raphael with the position, and I approve and I'm
interested to see how he winds up handling everything. So
finishing up with Petra, she's got this whole thing with

(36:17):
mister gator whose name actual name I do not remember.
I'm so sorry, guys. I have a really hard time
caring what his real name is because I just don't
really care about this guy. It's like he's fine, you know,
he's like good for the role he serves in this story,

(36:38):
but he's not. I'm not rooting for her relationship with him.
I don't really care about it. I appreciate that she
has found somebody who is able to turn her down.
Patrick just has had so much control over so many
men in her life that there is something refreshing about

(37:01):
a guy who, despite being very attracted to her and
despite admiring her, is still like, you can't just do
whatever the fuck you want those sweetheart, you know. So
I like that aspect. Otherwise I don't really whatever you know. However,

(37:21):
last episode, when we were talking about this journal, I
don't know how I missed it, Guys. I think that
I must have just not seen when Michael's ex partner
opens the journal that it specifically said that it had
been Scott's. So somehow, by missing this, I was just like,

(37:43):
what is this journal? Though I don't know what, you know,
I know that it's got a bunch of like info
in it, but I was not realizing it was Scott's
until this episode, and all of a sudden, I was like,
oh shit. And the the thing that I am confused
by is the fact that Rafael's ex buddy from the

(38:05):
Clank has snuck into Petra's room to put that journal
in the vent and hide it there, right, and Raphael
is behaving about the journal being found and sent to
the police like it's all Petra's fault. And granted they

(38:30):
found it because Petra had it out and somebody spotted it.
But Rafaelle, you planted it in her room poorly, and
now you're acting as if she was like so irresponsible
about the whole thing, but you are not being honest
with her about your involvement in it being in her
room to begin with. And I really don't like seeing

(38:52):
this from you. That's the thing that kept coming back
to me was that I was thinking he was going
to finally like spell it out for her that here's
you know, the reason that it was even in your
room to begin with was because and you know, there
would be something in that and he doesn't ever confess this.

(39:13):
I don't know, like, are we gonna find out eventually
that the whole journal thing was his friend's deal and
actually not what Raphael had sent him in there to do.
What else could it have been. I feel like that
has to be what it is. I don't understand why
Petra doesn't explain to him he was in my room

(39:36):
and there was the journal, because Petra has an issue
with this guy in like, in the first place, she
didn't want to keep him. Rafael was the one who
argued to hold on to the dude, so if anything,
this would be a perfect opportunity for her to press
her case and be like, you see, something is up
with this guy. He'd put this in my room. I

(39:59):
don't know where he even found it, you know. So
eventually we find out that there is a page missing
from it, and mister Kroc he tells Petra that he

(40:19):
doesn't believe her when she says she doesn't know what
happened with the page, she doesn't know where it is.
And Raphael comes in just as this dude is starting
to get pretty loud with her about it and tells him,
I think you better fucking leave, And then when he leaves,
Petra says, thank you for believing me, and he says,

(40:41):
I don't, where is the page? And I was like,
oh shit, because like the I don't. I kind of
thought was him being accusing about the journal itself, and
I was like, you put the journal there, though, dude,
what is this? And then I realized it was specifically
the page, and it's a page about how he isn't
actually his father's son, not biologically, and she hid it

(41:06):
because she knew that it was going to hurt him
to read. Again, my question is, if you had this
journal planted, didn't you know this already? You know, like
I don't. I don't understand. This is why I'm wondering,
did this guy go to plant something else that you

(41:29):
that you know, like, wasn't Was this not the job
that you actually sent him on? Because Ralphael is really
behaving as if this whole, uh, the whole thing with
the journal is news to him, and I don't He's

(41:50):
never been as good an actor, you know. I just
don't really understand why he would even pretend. I don't
get what the angle was in hiding in her room anyway,
especially because it seems like there's no ulterior motive with him,
so I don't feel like he was setting up Petra

(42:13):
to take a particular fall, and Petra immediately is like,
I know who it is too who sent this to
the cops, because she remembers that his girlfriend saw her
stuffing in a drawer. So she comes to the correct
conclusion immediately, And it doesn't seem that Raphael is pushing

(42:35):
back about her assumption there at all. He's just sort
of like, oh, wow, well that's fucked up, you know.
So this whole thing with this journal. Obviously, the cops
come to visit her, they want to know about the
missing page. She and says she didn't do anything with it.
She didn't, you know, blah blah blah. This is all

(42:56):
very much still in the air. Things with mister Gator
are kind of on hold, and Raphael is throughout this
episode like really emphasizing because she is taking people's ballots
to just get a feel on whether or not she
might win this election. She takes it for granted that

(43:20):
Raphael is going to vote for Jane, and he's like,
what the fuck And she says, come on, man, ever
since we've known Jane, you've taken her side on everything,
and he very carefully says, okay, but it's been a
long time. I'm undecided still, and I knew when he

(43:44):
sort of went in this direction that he was eventually
going to hook up with her, because it just felt
in the air, you know, it was it was written
on the wall that yeah, they're going to least hook up,
if not actually like really get back together, because we need,

(44:06):
like number one, we need an interruption between her and
Gator Man, we need him to be involved with her
so that now that Jane is ready to date again,
he isn't really an option for her. Him being Raphael,
They're just, you know, we need to throw in some

(44:27):
things that are an obstacle for her because if he
is going to be somebody she decides she's still interested in.
Then you have the added drama of him having been
hooking up with Petra and Petra finally feeling like, oh
my god, he's actually actively choosing me over Jane, which

(44:49):
is not something that he has done before, which will
be extra heartbreaking when he chooses Jane, or if he
chooses Jane, which personally I like kind of hope he
doesn't do, because I don't feel like her and Rafael
work as a couple. I feel like he has more

(45:10):
in common with Petra and more chemistry with Petra. But
nobody asked me. I guess you asked me by commissioning
me to watch and talk about this, so I'll tell you.
So that's pretty much everything with the school stuff, with
the journal thing, Raphael's whole deal, Like I've pretty much

(45:36):
talked about it in the context of the rest of them.
But uh, I will say that the one scene with
him and Jane meeting with the AID and talking to
the AID, you know, I just am kind of whatever
about Rafael until he gets a moment to be different
from his usual like self assured, swaggered itself. And so

(46:03):
this scene where he gets really emotional at hearing that
he is Mateo's hero was so moving, you guys. It
was like, I got so fucking teary eyed. You do
not understand I was. So it was hard to like
because it's just some real vulnerability from somebody who he

(46:29):
does vulnerable more often these days, but it always is
accompanied by this really deep pain. A lot of the time, earnestness, confusion, whatever,
And this is a vulnerability with just pure joy in it.
Of he couldn't have asked for somebody to tell him

(46:51):
that something he wanted to hear more. You know, if
he had written the script himself, it couldn't have been
more exactly what he wanted and needed. And that was
just really it was just such a refreshing thing to
see on his face. I just loved it so much.
I really did. So anyway, that's pretty much it with

(47:17):
Raphael for now. It's kind of fun in my opinion,
the way that he has decided or not decided, but
the way that the show has sort of pushed him
back a bit and made him the side character to
Jane and Petra. I like it personally. I'm a big

(47:38):
fan of the fact that he feels more like an
accessory right now. And I'm sure the way the storytelling
goes is always sort of cyclical, and that we will
come back around and there will be a moment where
I'm like, Okay, now he's sent front and center again.
But as of right now, I'm fine with him being

(47:58):
sort of sidelined because I find Petra more interesting. Her
story is more engaging, and her dynamic with Jane is
a little bit more fascinating because of the fact that
they have this like competitive thing, but also both are
like growing up enough to see when they are putting
competition ahead of their kids' welfare. So they're at odds

(48:23):
a lot, but they always are trying to, like really
hard to work together again. And I just this whole
storyline of I'm trying to do better, I do know better,
and sometimes I forget and I fuck up is very relatable.
It's very relatable. So okay, want to jump over to

(48:46):
talking about Abuela. This is so great you guys. So
I had wondered, you know, when we were going to
get on this whole thing with her having a crush
on the dude in the gift shop. And eventually Jane
hears him telling somebody because he has a girlfriend. But

(49:06):
she overhears him talking about how they broke up and
the spark had been gone for a while and he's
not even really sorry. So Jane goes home reports this
excitedly to her grandma and Alba is like, yeah, so
I guess I'll tell him I'm very sorry, and she's like,
oh my god, are you serious. You are interested go

(49:27):
for it, And it's so cute, guys. Alba has this
like afternoon where she comes home and she's like, well,
I tried to go for it and it went really poorly,
and they're like, well, what do you mean you tried
to go for it? What? Exactly? Like? I loved that
it is Shamara who asks the relevant question because it

(49:49):
turns out al but just like while wrapping a thing
at the gift shop for somebody, like just brushed her
pinky finger against his hand and he pulled away. He
was in the middle of a conversation with a customer
and you were also doing your job. This is not
the fucking time, Like, what do you think? It was

(50:09):
just so funny. I couldn't like, thank you Shamara for
fucking asking. I needed these details because honestly, Alba, you
cannot tell me with a straight face that you think
that was going for it. Get out of my face,
stop it. So they say, you know what we need
to do is give you a little makeover and get

(50:30):
him to see you differently. And Alba honestly has like
a kicking body for her age and is dolled up
with her hair and like heavy eye makeup and these heels.
The whole nine yards looks incredible. I love Jane's mouth
literally dropping open when she walks out. So she shows

(50:54):
up at the gift shop and is like, oh, I
just wanted to pick up my check looking incredible, and
it's all going so well, and then, in one of
the most relatable moments of all time, she simultaneously begins
to like blink in one eye because her fake eyelashes

(51:14):
came unfastened and are getting in her eyes, and trips
and falls because she is in these sky high heels
and assumes, Okay, well, he'll never want to date me now.
And I was in like the way because she's talking
about how humiliating it was, and I will not argue

(51:35):
it is humiliating. This is the kind of thing that
will just haunt you. I know, I know. I'm not
trying to pretend. However, anybody who has dealt with men
should know they don't care. They don't care that you
fell on your face, if you looked like that right
before you did, it doesn't matter. They don't care. It's fine.

(52:00):
And I knew, oh that's not He's totally gonna ask
her out anyway, and indeed he does, and it is
just adorable. I'm excited to see like how this goes
the way that they handle Alba. I wouldn't mind seeing
more of her in the mix, and I get that
they may not really know what to do with her,

(52:20):
but uh, I'm hoping that because like you know, you
just don't see older romance in things, and I wouldn't
mind it. I think that it's a combination of getting
older myself, but also just like it's interesting because so

(52:41):
many things are very different when you get older that
I hadn't really thought of, and so now it adds
different Like I imagine what it would be like for
me if I were on the dating scene again as
a forty year old woman. You know what if I
got divorced and I was like twice two time divorce,

(53:01):
what would it feel like to be out on the
market again? And I like all but having her reservations
about religion and you know, like the way all of
this sort of factors in, plus her own family dynamic,
plus the fact that, like Jane has moved out, I

(53:26):
think at this point, Shamara has moved out, so she's
alone in the house in a way that she hadn't been,
which gives her some opportunities while dating that she hadn't had.
So there's just a lot that we could play with
here about the changes of that she herself has been
going through in the past few years because this jump

(53:47):
in time is affecting everybody obviously, So yeah, the episode
eventually we get to the fact that she is has
been asked out after all that it worked, and she
hadn't wanted to even like speak to Shamara because it
had been so humiliating, and Chamara is profoundly apologetic, but

(54:10):
also just like, I was so excited for you because
I know that he would be interesting, you know, and
Alba eventually coming to tell her, never mind, it worked,
I forgive you was really great. There are a couple
like small jokes that I just wanted to touch on.
One of my favorites is Petra is arguing with the

(54:33):
crocodile man and the scene ends with them like her
thinking he's gonna kiss her and him coming real close
and then saying I'll think about it and walking away.
And then you cut to Jane who's reading a story
to Matteo, and she says something like and that's how
the porcupine and the alligator made up. And honestly, that

(54:59):
was very funny. I'm sorry, but that was very funny.
Just the idea of like Petra being a porcupine in
this scenario with like liking him but not really wanting
to like him and just kind of holding him back,
and all of that just feels like very much on point.
And of course him being in the crocodile or the

(55:20):
alligator or whatever it is in the story, Yeah, one
hundred percent. There's also a point where Raphael or Rohalio
is sending Bruce all of these pictures of him in
a suit, different suits, and asking like which one he
thinks the jury would prefer, And he's sending them as

(55:41):
he's thinking the way that I definitely do, where he'll
be like, what do you think of this? Or what
about this one? Actually? You know what? Nevermind not the
first one. And I if you are somebody who's like
a real close friend and I am in communication about
a decision that I'm trying to make, this is what
I am like. It is endless. I'm so sorry, but
also not sorry, because you're welcome. I'm very fun. But

(56:05):
it's a lot, and I can understand how in a
professional like with a with your lawyer, they would be
sick of you very quickly. I don't blame you, Bruce,
I just encourage you to engage fully with his goofiness,
and I think it will all go a little bit

(56:26):
more easily for you if you do that, that's all.
And I'm trying to think if there was another joke,
because I feel like there were a few this episode.
Oh my god. There's also the whole thing where they're
like they talk about the election between Petra and Jane,
and Jane says something about how like in this time
without Russian interference, and the narrator goes, oh my god,

(56:49):
don't remind me, and I was just like, oh, when
they made this, they had no idea like how all
of this was going to get so much worse. And
there's a bit where she is uh on the like
they're they're on the podium next to each other and
debating and doing the whole like I'm fear mongering and

(57:11):
she's using absolutist terms to paint me in a certain way.
And it was just like, I get the bit they're doing.
I'm not mad at it, but also I am so
over all of this like politics stuff. I feel like
I'm gonna have a fucking seizure these days. I can't,

(57:35):
I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't. Oh God, y'all.
It's like, at one time I would have found this
to be a funny joke, and these days I'm just like, Nope, nope,
don't don't do it, don't do it anymore, turn it off.
So I think that's about everything this episode. I really

(57:58):
really liked this one. I'm very curious, like because Chamara
is she's moved in with Bruce right if there she
gives him his ring back, And I had just been
talking about her having moved out and what that means
for Alba. But if she is moving back in with Alba,

(58:18):
that could cramp Alba's style. Now, maybe Alba got used
to being by herself and was thinking about how much
fun it would be to date and now her daughter's
going to be back in the mix, or maybe she's not,
Like maybe Schamara won't want to move back in with
her mom. Maybe she'll feel like, really, I'm going back
to square one after all this. I don't know. And

(58:40):
it's not like she gives him the ring back, but
she doesn't tell Grhelio that she's done that. The end
of the episode comes and he isn't aware they've split up,
or that she is. That she knows that kids aren't
a deal breaker for him anymore and has like been.
He doesn't know that Jane told her. So there's all

(59:01):
kinds of things here with like the uh, the future
between her and Rohalio that I'm sort of like behaving
as if it's a given and what if. I mean,
I think that it's pretty clear he still has feelings
for her and would be open to trying again. But

(59:22):
it's also possible that, like he's going to feel like
you just came out of an engagement, don't you think
that you're moving a little bit too fast? Or which
one could argue is true. But it's also like you
have known Rohelio for so long? Are you going to
put it off even more? At this point, I feel

(59:43):
like you've gotten to the point where jumping into something
with him won't even feel like a jump because it's
been such a long time coming. I don't know. Yeah,
I kind of don't want us to pump the brakes
on that because I think it'll feel tedious when it
seems sort of inevitable that we're going down this road again.

(01:00:04):
And I also think it's inevitable that they won't stay together.
But I don't know this in terms of like, are
they going to break up? In some this is what
it keeps bringing me back to her being part of
a new reality TV show with him, because I feel

(01:00:25):
like it could be a pretty good way to keep
the drama and the antics going but also find something
to wedge between the two of them that will make
them realize they have just got different priorities for how
they want to live their lives. And then there's of

(01:00:46):
course what's her name who unfrozen egg who's still in
the mix because of this lawsuit and her finding out
that he has maybe gotten back together with Shamara the
way that the fans reacted to begin with when they
thought Shamara was getting between the two two of them,
and now maybe she is with Rahelio again. I feel
like that's gonna cause quite a stir I think this

(01:01:09):
is I mean, it could be something that winds up
getting Rohalio's career sort of tanked because he has been
painted as the guy who's like, what a great husband,
he loves her so much, he always bears with her
on things and is like there for her, and then
find out, oh he went back to his ex. What

(01:01:32):
a liar? What a faithless sound? You know? Like it
could be it could make things so much worse. I
don't know. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
But yeah, I really really liked this section. I really
love this show, guys. I'm so glad to be back.
Let me check and see when the next episode is,

(01:01:54):
because I hope I don't have to wait too long
before the next one September sixteenth. Oh, I gotta wait
over a month. I got so excited. Oh that's too bad. Well,
I'll be looking forward to it though. So yeah, if
y'all are interested in commissioning an episode to keep me going,
it's Patreon or not Patreon. Go to Unspoiled podcast dot

(01:02:14):
com and there is a link to commission to spoil
the episode on there. Because yeah, I think September is uh, like,
I'm booked out into October at this point, and so
if the last one is in September, then that means
there's going to be at least another month wait before

(01:02:35):
the next episode, even if somebody books today. So this
is getting spaced out quite a lot at this point.
I don't know, guys, I don't know. Like we're in
season three and it has just been so irregular that
I'm worried about it because I don't know if it's
going to be like the if the coverage is going

(01:02:56):
to be this erratic, how over the course like a while,
with a plot that goes in as many directions as
this does, how well I'm going to do and keeping
it all straight. But this year we had a bunch
of episodes in a row in April and then nothing
untill July thirty, first August fifth, and then September sixteenth,

(01:03:18):
So yeah, it's sort of all over the place. I'm
looking at my calendar now, and yeah, I am booked
through the beginning of November at this point. Oh well,
keep your eye on it, friends, if you're able to,
and jump in there and help me, because I want
to watch more of this very much. All right, appreciate

(01:03:39):
you all, and I will see you soon with a
new episode. Until then, to the Loo, Motherfuckers. That was

(01:04:15):
an Unspoiled Network podcast.