Jane The Virgin, you are savage. After having Michael (Brett Dier) survive the season 2 gunshot that many fans assumed would claim his life, the series gave #TeamMichael a television blessing. The detective survived the injury, and went on to marry (and have sex with!) the no-longer-virginal Jane (Gina Rodriguez). Alas, we all got our hopes up for a happy ending too soon. In a cruel season 3 twist, Michael randomly died of gunshot-related complications — because, apparently we actually can't have nice things. Now, showrunner Jennie Urman is explaining to fans why the whole thing had to go down.
Urman took to Tumblr to share an open letter to fans about the Michael business, and she's just as bummed as you are about the whole thing. (Of course, she's also the one who okayed Michael's death so... take that as you will.)
"[Even] in season one, I knew it would be a hard thing to actually do, which is why there was a line (which many of you noticed) about how Michael would never stop loving Jane. And the Narrator confirmed, 'For as long as Michael lived, until he drew his very last breath, he never did.' Honestly, I put that line into the script at the last minute to hold our feet to the fire, to make sure we went through with it. Because even back then, the writers could all see the magic of Jane and Michael together. Not to mention Rogelio and Michael!"
Okay, okay. Killing Michael may have been a great decision creatively, but it doesn't make it any easier to mourn Jane's ride or die. (Ugh, that metaphor hurts now.) It's not just our grief that Urman is worrying about: The TV writer writes that the show decided to utilize a three-year time jump in order to speed through the grieving process. She writes:
"We’ll be flashing back to those three years and filling in gaps, but mining emotions realistically is something we work hard on and we knew the immediate pain of that loss would overwhelm our storytelling. After talking to grief counselors, this felt like the right time to reenter Jane’s journey."
That sounds fair: while Michael will never be forgotten, I agree that showing Jane having just lost her husband would, as Urman puts it, "overwhelm" the storytelling. Jane the Virgin isn't always happy-go-lucky (uh, hence that whole "Michael's death" thing) but seeing Jane move on from tragedy and start over? Now, that's a story we should all get behind.
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