(Spoiler warning: Don’t read this if you haven’t watched Monday’s “Jane The Virgin” season premiere.)
The CW’s “Jane The Virgin” returned for Season 2 Monday night, and did not waste any time jumping right back into the the show’s signature telenovela-inspired craziness.
The big cliffhanger of the Season 1 finale, the kidnapping of Jane (Gina Rodriguez) and Rafael’s (Justin Baldoni) newborn baby son, was resolved in record fashion, and Mateo was back in his mother’s arms 15 minutes into the episode.
“The point was never to steal a baby and raise a baby,” showrunner Jennie Urman told TheWrap. “Sin Rostro had something very specific she wanted. Once she got that back, I always knew Mateo would be returned.”
That something she wanted was a pin in the possession of her ex-girlfriend, Rafael’s unstable sister Luisa (Yara Martinez). The pin contained photos of all the criminals whom she had performed facial reconstruction surgery on — both pre- and post-op. Michael (Brett Dier) was contacted, an exchange was made, and Jane was free to worry too much over Mateo for the rest of the episode.
Elsewhere, Rafael’s ex Petra (Yael Grogblas), with a little liquid courage, decided to use the last sample of his sperm to artificially inseminate herself — right in the middle of her living room.
Meanwhile, the kidnapping draws the attention of a new mysterious baddie, who is glimpsed from the back in the very last scene of the premiere, seemingly setting up another threat to Jane and her family.
Speaking to TheWrap, Urman broke down all the biggest twists and turns of the Season 2 premiere and how they launch the rest of the season.
Mateo was only gone for 142 minutes, and on the show it was only about 15 minutes. Why did you decide to wrap it up that fast?
A few reasons. We’re a comedy and I couldn’t imagine Jane doing anything but crying until she had her baby back. I really wanted to get into nursing and motherhood and what it’s like in the beginning, and if he was gone for much longer than he was, all those stories would have been in jeopardy as well. The point was never to steal a baby and raise a baby, Sin Rostro had something very specific she wanted. Once she got that back, I always knew Mateo would be returned. The challenge was also making sure that event wasn’t wrapped up in Episode 1, but had emotional strings and consequences for Jane and also launched the rest of the story for the episode. The paparazzi comes as a result of Rogelio (Jamie Camill) tweeting an amber alert; Jane doubles down on the intensity in her need to figure out how to feed her child, a direct result of her feeling guilty she let her child go in the first place. I wanted to wrap up the event of missing Mateo while still opening up the aftermath of something as traumatic as that.
Jane seemed to have different reactions to Michael and Rafael. Where is she in terms of that decision after this episode?
I think she’s just gotten her new baby back. She’s been through a trauma and she has to learn how to be a mom and what that looks like for her. There’s a million different versions of what a mom is and Jane has to find what works for her. She’s not feeling particularly romantic at the moment — I can’t imagine a woman feeling romantic in the hours and days after giving birth! Your whole world is turned upside down, and you’re exhausted. So we just wanted to hint a little bit of a connection with both guys at the end, and in the next episode we jump ahead two weeks, Jane’s got a little bit of a groove, and some of these issues become more present. Not so much due to Jane, because she’s still in the baby bubble, but maybe other people in her life are getting a little impatient.
Petra actually went through with it!
Yes! You know that old saying, you can’t have a gun in the story if it doesn’t go off, here it’s you can’t steal the sperm if you don’t use it. We’ll have to see if it works. She definitely had her beer goggles on, got a little drunk and just decided to go for it. The ramifications of that decision will definitely play a big part in her story-line.
That definitely didn’t seem like a very scientific method, I was thinking, ‘there’s no way that’s going to work, please tell me that doesn’t actually work.’
I have done so much research into online at-home insemination. It’s a real internet wormhole, I will say!
So that tag at the end of the episode. That was Sin Rostro, right?
That was not Sin Rostro! You’ll get a little more of a hint in the next episode. It has to do with Sin Rostro, definitely, and it had to do with the events in the premiere.
“Jane The Virgin” airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.