Just a quick warning - there will be spoilers for the last and current season of "Jane the Virgin" in this article! If you haven't watched the current season I wouldn't recommend reading this until you do. If you are current, don't care about spoilers, or are just interested in what I have to say please continue on.
One of my favorite TV shows, "Jane the Virgin" is finally saying goodbye after five seasons. I've loved watching Jane Gloriana Villanueva find love and lose it and then find it all over again. Her character, who is played by the amazing Gina Rodriquez, has grown into a strong passionate woman and mother. While the show focuses on a variety of characters and subplots, it seems that the show always comes back around to Jane's two main love interests, Michael Cordero and Rafael Solano.
Just in case you don't know, Michael is Jane's husband who she met on her 21st birthday following a noise complaint. After mistaking him for a police officer stripper and accidentally firing his gun into the ceiling, they share a kiss under a shower of "fake snow". Their relationship was something out of a fairytale and it seems like they were just destined to be. Things got a little confusing after she was accidentally, artificially, inseminated and becomes pregnant with Rafael's child. Even after all the craziness Michael stuck by Jane's side and supported her through her pregnancy, and they finally got married, much to the dismay of Rafael.
Everyone thought that Michael and Jane's relationship would end after he collapsed and "died" while taking his LSAT, but this is a telenovela. So it wasn't that shocking when Michael returned from the dead with no memory of his relationship with Jane, moments before Rafael was going to propose to her. This scene was heart-wrenching because Rafael had always felt like the second choice to Michael and feared that if Michael was still around Jane would choose to stay with her husband.
I'll be honest, I wasn't happy that Michael came back from the dead. I mean don't get me wrong I'm Team Michael all the way but I knew what the writers were trying to do. Rafael had always felt like the consolation prize. Jane chose Michael as her husband and would have stayed passionately married to him if he hadn't "died". Now Michael was back but different; it took him a bit to get back his memories of him and Jane, and then there was that whole other life plot where he had been living in Montana as a ranch hand named Jason. Even after all that he still loved Jane, but the changes were too much and this time she chose Rafael.
To say I was disappointed was an understatement, I felt like they just wanted to give Rafael a win. I was even more annoyed when Rafael turned into a colossal jerk after she returned from saying goodbye to Michael. I think this is what frustrates me the most about Rafael, is that he doesn't have any patience for other people but expects it from everyone else, especially Jane. I feel like Jane always had to rescue Rafael whether that be from his former "bad boy" self or from his own destructive behaviors. Even in this current season where Rafael and Jane are engaged and planning on getting married, he seems to have thrown himself back in work rather than his new life with Jane.
Michael and her clicked in a way that she and Rafael never have. Even when Jane and Michael weren't together, he supported her no matter what and didn't push her away or throw a tantrum like Rafael has a tendency to do. Jane and Rafael have had their moments, especially when he encouraged her to read the book about her and Michael's relationship. But in the end, none of those small sparks compare to the love between Jane and Michael.
While it may seem like Team Michael is no more, I will always remember how he and Jane were before the craziness of his resurrection. You can have more than one love in your life but I believe that what Michael and Jane had can never be replicated. I've chosen to remember their relationship before his return where I know she will always pick Michael.