JANE THE VIRGIN is back!!!!
Okay, I was a bit late on the Jane train. I think the word “virgin” threw me off. I knew the premise was that somehow a chaste Latina got knocked up but the story I picked up from the promos was that maybe she was hiding her sexual activity from her traditional (read: anti-sex) Latinx family and I was just not into that story.
But y’all. Jane the Virgin was not actually about that! It’s a telenovela that manages to be about family, about love, about ambition, about America, about face-stealing murderers and evil twins and snow in Miami and… it’s everything. I cried last season. Hard. I also laugh and get inspired and I have concluded that the best character is Rogelio De La Vega.
I know, it’s a crowded field. This could be a controversial opinion. I mean, there’s the title character, Jane. Her abuela, Alba. Her mom (oh how I love the flawed and brave Xiomara). The ever-hotness of Rafael (see below). The perfect man-next-door-ness of Michael. Hey, I’ve even warmed up to Petra, Our Lady of The Eternal Short Shorts.
But despite Mr. Sexy Pants right there, Rogelio is THE BEST. (And he would agree with me.)
And really, every single writer in the world needs to watch Jane the Virgin (returning to the CW, 10/13, 8/9 CST) and take notes on confidence and hustle from Rogelio.
Why? He believes in himself.
He really loves his art.
He gets knocked down in the tabloids, gets second billing under his nemesis, loses everything and keeps hustling (with the support of his best friends Oprah and Charo, claro.)
And he just owns who he is, in all his lavender, spray-tan, new pants glory.
And really, that’s what all writers need to do. Embrace your inner Rogelio De La Vega. You’re hot, you’re inimitable, you’re YOU. And the world needs more of all of us. And all of YOU.
