Entertainment

Catch Up On All The 'Jane The Virgin' Drama

by Rosie Narasaki

Oh, Jane the Virgin: Few shows currently on air can beat it in terms of plot points per square inch, no? I mean, even the premise is bursting to the gills with story — a committed virgin/college senior/waitress/teacher's assistant/aspiring writer gets accidentally artificially inseminated by her old crush/boss/rich playboy, who is, in turn, married to a beautiful Czech identity thief on the run and out for blood. Oh, and then, Jane's engaged to a cop, who happens to be embroiled in investigating a murderous crime lord, who happens to be her baby daddy's stepmother? That's not even taking into account her aspiring songstress mother, who's living out her own telenovela-worthy romance with Jane's father, a telenovela mega star. Suffice it to say, there's a lot going on, and I think we all need a Jane The Virgin Season 1 recap, since Season 2 will surely deliver even more drama on top of it all.

Of course, we can count on the show's ever-sassy narrator to keep us in the loop, but in case you were on the hunt for a little Season 1 primer to get you safely prepared for Monday night's season premiere, look no further. Here's a break down of the most important storylines from Jane The Virgin so far.

The Love Story

A lot happened in the love department on Jane the Virgin. Over the course of the 22-episode season, Jane went back and forth between her two very eligible suitors, Michael and Rafael, and the show kept us all guessing who she would end up with on an episode-to-episode basis. It was about as finely-tuned a love triangle as they come, and high points included proposals from both boyfriends, serious wavering on the whole concept of waiting until marriage, and some seriously cute meet-cutes. That said, by the time we hit the end of the season, Jane had effectively broken up with both boyfriends — though that's not to say they weren't still jockeying for number one as she went into labor.

Luckily for fans, we can expect the love triangle madness to increase to the nth degree as we head into Season 2, as showrunner Jennie Urman told TV Guide that Jane will be getting married this season!

The Family

As much as we all love Jane the Virgin's signature love triangle shenanigans, I think we can safely agree that the three Villanueva women's bond is what makes up the backbone of the show. And a lot certainly went on with the family, what with Jane's abuela being in a coma after being pushed down the stairs by Petra's not-actually-paraplegic mother (and subsequently almost getting deported), and her mother rekindling a decades-old relationship with Jane's endearingly egomaniacal telenovela star father, Rogelio.

When we last saw them, things were as dramatic as ever — Rogelio and Xo had just drunkenly gotten hitched in Vegas (!!!), so there's sure to be a lot more telenovela-worthy accidental marriage plotlines to come. Plus, Ivonne Coll hinted to the Huffington Post that we'll be coming back to Alba and the need for immigration reform in Season 2.

The Pregnancy

From accidental conception to ultra-dramatic delivery (complete with traffic jams, cross-country flights, and a laboriously long labor), Jane's pregnancy was fraught with just as much drama as you'd expect. Not only did she weather multiple pregnancy complications (she worried about finding she was at risk for miscarriage, and Mateo was almost born breach), she also dealt with custody drama, and then, of course, there's the fact that mere hours after giving birth, her child was abducted... by her baby-daddy Rafael's ex-stepmother.

Urman told The Hollywood Reporter that Mateo will be safely returned pretty quickly, but also warned that the abduction will have far-reaching consequences for all parties involved.

Petra

Rafael's now ex-wife gets her own special recap, because Petra's life is just as telenovela-worthy as Jane's, if not more. When we first met her, she was having an affair with her husband's best friend Roman Zazo. After he was killed, it was revealed that his identical twin was actually dead, so the real Roman kidnapped Petra to the Everglades — and long story short, both twins ended up getting impaled.

Before all that, Petra also held a Czech crime lord hostage for several episodes, gained and lost control of the Marbella several times (and with the help of several unsavory ex-lovers), did her darnedest to escape her pre-nup with Rafael, and last but not least, may try to have herself artificially inseminated with Rafael's sperm. Yep, when we last saw Petra, she was at the gynecologist's office. Only time will tell if she ends up pregnant as well, though Urman rather ominously told the Hollywood Reporter, "She's a young woman; she doesn't need him to get her pregnant" — ruh-roh.

That about brings us up to date on Jane the Virgin. Going into the Season 2 premiere, we've got brand new mother Jane grappling with the fact that her baby was just kidnapped, Rogelio and Xo coming home from Vegas as newlyweds, Petra up to no good with a frozen sperm sample, and Michael on the hunt for Sin Rostro once more. "Chapter" 23 is going to be quite the episode, isn't it?

Images: Danny Feld (2), Patrick Wymore (2), Greg Gayne/The CW