"But you feel like you lost something, and you didn't. You just gained something. A whole new dimension of your life, your relationship."
— Xiomara to Jane
Jane and Michael move on to the next phase in their relationship — they're officially cleared for sex, but this is complicated by moving house. Jane also interviews her grandmother for her novel. Xo finds herself at a crossroads with her singing career, while Rogelio makes a move to become a crossover star.
Tropes:
- As Himself: Gloria Estefan and Emilio Estefan show up at Xiomara's show as a favor to Rogelio.
- Bait-and-Switch: The opening has Jane and Michael making a lot of sex noises, but it turns out they're just moving boxes. The narrator lampshades it.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor:
- For the show's network The CW, which none of the characters have heard of.Rogelio: The CW is interested in doing an adaptation of The Passions of Santos.
Jane: What's the CW? Like a, like...a streaming thing? - Rogelio even takes an affectionate potshot at the Arrowverse when buttering up the execs.Rogelio: A superhero for every night of the week — what programming genius!
- For the show's network The CW, which none of the characters have heard of.
- Erotic Eating: Done by "Horndog Cecilia" with a banana while advising Jane to turn up the seduction.
- Fake Orgasm: While Jane loses her virginity to her new husband, Michael, she lies that she finished to Michael as not to disappoint him. After learning some lessons about spontaneity, communication, and processing one's loss of virginity, Jane and Michael are able to have mutually satisfying sex.
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Alba and Cecilia's complicated dynamic is implied to be something like this. Cecilia was gregarious and the life of the party, while Alba (from what we see in flashbacks) was more sensible and down-to-earth.
- Killed Offscreen: Derek, in-between seasons, by Rose's doing.
- Madonna-Whore Complex: Jane's struggles with losing her virginity are reflected in her struggle to write her great-aunt Cecilia (who revealed to Mateo Sr.'s family that Alba wasn't a virgin). She goes from imagining a sex-motivated Cecilia as a Spicy Latina, later as a "horndog" when struggling with her own experiences with Michael, to a non-sexually motivated Cecilia as a nun. Also deconstructed, as Jane has spent so long identifying herself as a virgin that she has internalized the Madonna-Whore Complex and feels weird without her "purity." When she starts getting over it, she gets a fuller grasp on Cecilia as a character.Cecilia: Now, can we finally stop with that virgin-whore nonsense? (in Spanish) There are so many other interesting things about me!
- Medium Blending: Jane and Michael's sex scenes are replaced by animated scenes of the two of them flying around in a rocket.
- Race Lift: In-universe, the CW is willing to adapt Santos but starring Rob Lowe in the titular role.
- Sexual Karma: Played With. The good Jane doesn't have such a good experience her first time, having to fake an orgasm, and she and Michael take time finding their groove as a couple. On the flipside, the villainous Rose is a Sex Goddess who has a very healthy sex life with Luisa. Jane and Michael later get their groove back.
- Sibling Triangle: Jane figures that her great-aunt Cecilia was in love with her grandfather, and that was why she told on her sister Alba, and writes this into her story. Alba later confirms it to actually be the case.
- Shout-Out: Posters of fellow CW shows The Flash (2014) and The 100 are shown when Rogelio and Dina visit the network office.
- Their First Time: Jane's first time having sex. The Unspoken Plan Guarantee element is both played straight and deconstructed: their plans are derailed by constant interruptions, and it's only when they are able to be spontaneous that they succeed in consummating their marriage. The deconstruction happens when they fail at Idealized Sex, and Jane isn't particularly satisfied. Ultimately, good sex requires both spontaneity and planning.
- Two Words: I Can't Count:Rogelio: Two words. No, four words. Gloria Estefan and Emilio... Estefan. They deserve five!
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: Jane's great-aunt Cecilia is portrayed by Gina Rodriguez.
- You Killed My Father: Namedropped several times as the reason Luisa is hesitant about entering a relationship with Rose.
