‘Jane the Virgin’ Starts a Strong Third Season
The third-season premiere of Jane the Virgin, airing Monday night on the CW, reveals the fate of shot cop Michael (Brett Dier), and you won’t catch me revealing that life-or-death-or-something situation. What I can tell you is that, against the odds, Jane the Virgin has managed to sustain the premise that began the show — a variation on a telenovela for the CW network — with an admirable degree of inventiveness. Satire on television just isn’t supposed to last this long, let alone continue to be so resourceful and clever.
Related: 6 Things to Know About Jane the Virgin Season 3
The show, created by Jennie Snyder Urman, has shown notable sustaining growth for what could easily have been a one-season wonder of a series. Certainly the show built a solid foundation with Gina Rodriguez’s Jane, her mother, Xo (Andrea Navedo), and biological father, Rogelio (Jaime Camil), among others. All of the wild plot twists are grounded in Jane the Virgin’s believable, lovable, often troublesome family.
Last season, the show became even more daringly loopy with the adventures of twin sisters Petra and Anezka (Yael Grobglas). Anezka will continue to try to keep the comatose Petra in that paralyzed condition to further her scheming ideas. There’s also a prominent ongoing plot line for drug lord Rosa (Bridget Regan), the Michael-shooter with nothing to lose when it comes to villainy.
This season, the first two episodes made available for review suggest even more complicated fun and intrigue. Among the most promising notions is Rogelio crossing over into American television. He is probably my favorite character. Which reminds me: There’s a very good Erik Estrada joke in the season premiere. Listen for it.
Jane the Virgin airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on the CW.
