We live in stressful times, people. If it’s not the presidential election, it’s four papers and an exam in one week, and if it’s not that, it’s the fact that you have four meetings and only a half-hour dinner break, or the fact that your mother won’t stop bugging you about your post-grad plans. To destress, I usually pick out light, easy TV to watch–stuff that’s not high-stakes. In other words, comedy that doesn’t really have much of a message.
But last semester when I was bored one day, I remembered some NPR coverage I had heard on The CW’s Jane the Virgin. The radio station had nothing but good things to say about it, so I turned it on. And while I was expecting something pretty similar to the stuff I already watched, I definitely didn’t get that. JTV is smart, funny, and emotional, and above all, it’s refreshing.
This is a show that explores faith and religion without making light of it or demonizing it. A show that makes just about all of its characters sympathetic by exploring their backgrounds. And there’s representation, too. It’s a show chock-full of strong, primarily Latina women, based on the structure of a telenovela.
Balancing the light and the dark is what Jane the Virgin does best. It’s fanciful and fun, but has such gravity to its emotional moments, which showcase each character’s depth. Probably my favorite example of this is the way the show deals with pregnancy. In Season 1, Jane opts not to get an abortion despite the unplanned and frankly absurd nature of her pregnancy, and that’s fine. And then in Season 3, we get a very different reaction. Jane’s mother, Xiomara, gets pregnant, but she decides to terminate the pregnancy. And that’s also fine. Xiomara had already expressed her desire not to have any more children, and the show respects her feelings. She’s allowed to feel that way, and it’s refreshing, to say the least.
Anytime anyone I know is looking for a new TV show, Jane is the first one I recommend. In a world where what we watch on TV can actually make a difference in what studio execs choose to portray, JTV is a great show to throw your support behind.