Jane the Virgin SAG-AFTRA Conversations:

[youtube s62zsxkSwBE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s62zsxkSwBE youtube]

Jane the Virgin at PaleyFest 2015:

[youtube hb6dQXODHBI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb6dQXODHBI youtube]

Jane the Virgin gag reel, S5:

[youtube jaXBT28aVTY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaXBT28aVTY youtube]

I am so sorry, I don't know what is up with the Intense Debate interface, it won't do more than one video per comment.

So:

Jane the Virgin gag reel, S1:

[youtube YSfng1mUmxA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSfng1mUmxA youtube]

leads to the kind of big extended family that Jane always wished for

And through that wish, the kind of family Rafael always wished for. It's so lovely!

(Esteban proposing to Darci is probably my stand-out instant because WEDDINGS amirite? I love how it's just tossed in there with the photos as they grow and grow in size.)

I'll be forever sad that Jane just... abandoned her novel about Alba's early life.

I don't think she did, though! in the episode where we see all of her novels' pages flying around her, we learn that her second novel will incorporate all three novels that she had been trying to write, and spans the three generations of her matrilineal family. That's the novel that nets her the $500,000: the story of a family, starting with Young Alba and ending with Jane married to Raf. That's the telenovela we just watched.

Also the callbacks in the finale to the pilot are many and varied: the narrator listing what Jane's passions included at this moment in time (pilot: her family, God, and grilled cheese sandwiches; finale: her family, God, grilled cheese sandwiches, writing, and Rafael Solano), the billboard on the side of the bus featuring Rogelio in a TV show (pilot: Rogelio in Passions of Santos; finale: Rogelio et al in This is Mars), the music as Jane walks down the aisle toward Rafael is "Una Flor" by Juanes, which is featured in the pilot when Jane kisses Michael goodbye as he leaves for work, and on and on. Rewatches are so rewarding.

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Yes, for me (and pretty much everyone who watched) that was the "oh... oh no" storyline in terms of NO BAD STOP, but I categorize it as only one storyline in the five-year run with multiple storylines going at the same time, so I can safely put FNL up top with my all-time faves. But yes you're right 100%.

OMG was Pyotr also played by Grobglas, lol.

YES HE WAS I loved that so much.

1) Luisa's "you're welcome." I get it, I get the laugh, but no. If Luisa had not made that life-altering mistake, had not wrapped Jane up in the Solano family, it's not just that Jane and Rafael wouldn't have Mateo or their happily-ever-after -- Michael wouldn't have been shot, made fake-dead, tortured with shock therapy, and lost his existence. Jane wouldn't have suffered that grief. Michael's parents wouldn't have suffered that grief. It's not a cute, throw-away line to me. (I know I know, he was a police officer on the Sin Rostro case either way, but the stuff that led to what happened to the character of Michael Cordero was all tied up with Jane being dragged into Raf's life through the pregnancy.)

2) The Mexican wedding lasso. Again, I know, it seems like nothing much, just a nice way for Rogelio to show his love and support for Rafael and Jane & Raf's marriage. But I call no way. Because, if Rogelio had had this Mexican wedding lasso, he would have given it to Michael--his best friend--and Jane to use in their wedding. Since that didn't happen, the lasso is just a clumsy, last-minute bit of exposition the writers came up with to tell the audience how much Ro loves Raf without ever doing the real work to develop their relationship. There's no reason for Ro to bring it to Raf, since Raf is not the person who would be bringing it to the wedding--it's just a "you're a good cop, Falsone" scene. It's the most disappointing thing in the mostly-wonderful finale, to me.

I don't want to end my thoughts on a sour note, so I'll say Jane the Virgin is one of my all-time favorite TV shows from beginning to end, and I've watched it through more times than is probably good for me. I really didn't think I would enjoy it when I first heard about it (that premise!), but I was pleasantly delighted and am a full-on hardcore fan of legitimately like 95 of the 100 episodes. That's an amazing batting average for a TV show (all I can think of that compares w/r/t my love of each episode would be Leverage or Friday Night Lights.) I'm SO glad Mark chose this show to do. I knew he would love it.