The latest episode of The CW’s addictive new comedy Jane the Virgin had quite a few crazy reveals. Petra’s backstory comes to light, Michael begins to suspect Rafael, and someone comes up as another goes down. Let’s recount some of the events that happened in “Chapter Nine.”
TRUE DETECTIVE | Jane’s ex-fiance Michael (Brett Dier) and Nadine (Azie Tesfai) continue their hunt for the Sin Rostro and Michael becomes convinced that the man they’re looking for is Jane’s new love, Rafael (Justin Baldoni). With the help of his brother, Michael sneaks into Rafael’s office to find incriminating evidence, and they do find some — a big wad of cash, and several passports. When Michael returns with a warrant to legally search the office, Rafael opens the safe, and to Michael’s surprise and disappointment, the evidence had been removed. Michale warns Jane (Gina Rodriguez) of Rafael’s suspicious activity and she dismisses his accusations.
CZECH YOURSELF | With the help of a flashback, we finally learn what put Petra’s mother Magda (Priscilla Barnes) in the wheelchair and what scarred her face. 5 years prior in the Czech Republic, Petra (Yael Grobglas) and her mother were walking down the street, when her first love Milos — who didn’t take their breakup well — planned a scarring attack on her. The hydrochloric acid he had thrown, meant for Petra, instead landed on her mother. Writhing in pain, Magda wandered onto the street and got hit by oncoming traffic. While her mother is being wheeled into the ambulance, a strange man named Ivan (Christopher Corbin) — the man currently being held hostage by the two women — offers her protection and a new identity under the name Petra, a young woman who had died suddenly. This is also where we learn that Petra’s real name is Natalia!
RISE & FALL | Jane and Rafael discover that Petra isn’t who she says she is and uses that information as leverage to get her to sign the divorce papers. Upon hearing this news, the insanely drunk Abuela Alba (Ivonne Coll) decides to go up to Petra’s room to give her a piece of her mind. What she finds instead, is Petra’s mother Magda and a shackled Ivan shouting for help. Terrified of what she witnessed, Alba runs for the elevator, and when it doesn’t come fast enough, she heads for the stairwell. She takes a deep breath and tries to maintain her balance for the long trek below, and just then she is pushed.. hard! Abuela Alba goes tumbling down to the bottom of the stairwell (no!!!) and we see that the person responsible for her fall is Magda herself, standing upright! She shrinks back into her wheelchair and rolls away. (Scandalous!)
OTHER NOTES:
• Many fans have long suspected Magda as being Sin Rostro, and after seeing her push Abuela Alba down the stairs, it is quite possible she was also responsible for pushing Zazo off the balcony. But that would be too easy.
• We loved that the normally self-obsessed Rogelio (Jamie Camil) took the time to get Xiomara’s (Andrea Navedo) idol Paulina Rubio to talk to her and tell her not to give up on her dreams.
• The Rogelio hashtags were quite hilarious! #GoRo #RogelioMyBrogelio #VivadelaVega
• After learning of Petra’s (or Natalia) backstory about her abusive first love and her absent father, we hate her a little less.
• Michael payed his brother for help to search Rafael’s office, but we believe his brother also tipped Rafael off for a price, which then lead Raf to remove the evidence.
What did you think of the episode? Were you surprised that Rogelio didn’t win the Paloma award? Were you shocked that Magda can walk? Do you think Abuela Alba survives the fall? Let us know in the comments below!
Jane the Virgin airs Mondays at 9pm on The CW.