(Spoiler alert: Please do not read on if you have not watched Monday’s Season 2 finale episode of “Jane The Virgin”)
“Jane The Virgin” has wrapped up its second season, and it turns out, Team Michael had reason to worry after all.
In the shocking final seconds of the episode airing on The CW Monday night, Michael (Brett Dier) is shot by Susanna (Megan Ketch), who turns out to have been Rose (Bridget Regan) — aka the drug lord Sin Rostro — all along.
Jane (Gina Rodriguez) remains a virgin as her new husband’s life hangs in the balance, while Petra (Yael Grobglas) is in even more dire straits, rendered paralyzed but totally conscious as her twin sister Anezka impersonated her and bedded Rafael (Justin Baldoni).
Meanwhile, pregnancies are still all the rage and Xo (Andrea Navedo) finds herself with child this time, the result of a one-night mistake with Rogelio’s (Jaime Camil) nemesis Esteban (Keller Wortham).
Below, showrunner Jennie Urman breaks down each of the biggest shocking twists that happened in the episode.
Michael’s fate: Jane’s new husband’s fate rests in the balance between Seasons 2 and 3, but fans shouldn’t give up on Michael just yet.
“They were right to worry about Michael. Who knows what will happen, is what I would say,” Urman said. “We don’t know what happened to Michael, we don’t know if he’s living or he’s dead, that’s part of the tension of the finale, and something we will pick up right away at the beginning of Season 3. It will pick up same day. You’ll know in the first episode what’s happened to him. If he’s alive or dead, you’ll know right away.”
Rafael’s selfless act: As Rafael appears to try to stop Jane from marrying Michael by confessing his own feelings, it’s revealed that was actually all in his head, and in the end he congratulates the woman he loves and steps aside as Jane finally weds Michael.
“I think that was very important for his character,” Urman said. “We really wanted to give him a character-building moment in the finale. He loves Jane and he saw that she was happy so he doesn’t try to ruin her day. It’s one of those moments that defines you, changes you, and it’s the first selfless thing he’s done in a little while. He’s a good dad and he’s trying to balance this very complicated life, and he’s lost the girl where he’s never lost the girl before — I felt like it was the most selfless thing he could do. I like that we saw his heart and saw what he wanted to say, and then he didn’t say it.”
Petra’s state: Petra is left in a comatose state — but with full consciousness — as Anezka impersonates her and beds Rafael.
“It’s horrific, it’s shocking, I know! That was something else we were building to from the beginning,” Urman explained. “As we were breaking the season, we knew she would end up ‘Petrafied.’ We were just taking our time dropping hints that there would be a twin, and then introducing Anezka and slowly revealing the plan.
“Anezka’s going to take her home from the hospital and rehab her there so they’ll both be there, and who will discover and how soon will they discover she’s not Petra is going to provide a lot of the tension for the first few episodes of Season 3.”
Xo’s pregnancy: Jane’s mother is pregnant again, but his won’t be a rehash of Jane’s pregnancy storyline, or Petra’s.
“This will be a much more different story,” Urman revealed. “We’ll be tackling it in the first few episodes. The question will be, is Xo going to have this baby? Xo doesn’t want a baby, so there’s that.”
Sin Rostro’s return: There was never a real Susanna, and she’s been Sin Rostro all along, revealed Urman.
“We talked and talked in the writers’ room and we settled on that she had fabricated this character and invented all her references, and would be inserting herself right at the beginning,” she said. “So that was the telenovela part of it, but we were also trying to build a way for Rose to win Luisa back since she’s so upset that she killed her father [laughs]. So the way to win her back was to fall in love with her as a different person, then she would realize they were meant to be all along. Rose believes, and Luisa believes on some level, that they are soulmates.”
As for the “Rose” that appeared to have died in Episode 12? That was a double Sin Rostro made, so the cops would stop looking for her. Diabolical!
Jane’s virginity: Urman and co. have a plan for how to deal with the show’s title once Jane is no longer a virgin — run the title card as usual, then cross out “The Virgin”– but they won’t have to worry about that just yet.
“I’ve said it before, but the loss of her virginity is imminent,” Urman reiterated. “We’re not holding it until the end of our series, but I never wanted it to be in a season premiere or finale. I feel like that puts too much pressure on her virginity as this sacred thing that the show is about, and it’s really not about her virginity. It’s about Jane and her journey to motherhood and her family, so I just never wanted to do it at the end of a season or the beginning. That was my only personal rule. And we knew this would be the wedding, at the end, and what would happen afterwards would complicate that. People will not be waiting forever for Jane to lose her virginity.”
Urman declined to specify whether it would definitely happen in Season 3, saying only, “It’s coming soon.”
“Jane the Virgin” airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on The CW.