4 Questions Going Into Jane the Virgin Season 5

*Major spoilers for the season four finale of Jane the Virgin*

Y’all, I’m still shook over the Jane The Virgin season four finale and it aired over 10 months ago. Sometimes I have moments where I find myself staring off into space, seriously thinking about the show and everything that went down in this finale. With the fifth and final season premiere just a few weeks away, here are a few questions I still have:

What actually happened to Michael? Is this really him? 

The final seconds of season four find Jane opening the door to Rafael’s apartment and seeing Michael again. Yes, you read that right. Michael — who has supposedly been dead for four years — is apparently alive. When watching this scene for the first time, my jaw actually dropped. I was just as stunned, confused, and shocked as Jane looked to be in that moment.

So what actually happened to Michael? I have many theories floating around in my head.

First off, Sin Rostro is the one who told Rafael about Michael in the first place. But she’s proven time and time again that she’s unreliable and shouldn’t be trusted, so I don’t buy that she doesn’t have anything to do with it. Did she kidnap him? Alter someone else’s face to look like him? So many possibilities.

Second, part of me thinks that maybe Michael has been working the Sin Rostro case undercover this whole time and faked his death as a way to protect Jane and Mateo from more harm. Before he “died”, Michael made the Sin Rostro case his biggest priority; on more than one occasion, he got so caught up in it that it threatened his future as a detective and the safety of his family. But if Michael was alive and just working this case undercover this whole time, I don’t see any scenario where Jane forgives him, nor do I think she should.

Third, Michael could have gotten amnesia. In that last scene, it seems that Michael has a confused look on his face, almost as if he doesn’t recognize Jane. Amnesia is a popular novella storyline, so it’s definitely on the table. Also, Rogelio mentioned amnesia several times when pitching his new show, The Passions of Steve and Brenda, and often times what’s happening in Rogelio’s show parallels what’s going on in the larger world of Jane the Virgin.

Where does this leave Jane and Rafael’s relationship?

One of the reasons I loved season four so much is that Jane and Rafael finally found their way back to each other. I’ve been on Team Rafael since the pilot, but it hasn’t been an easy road for them. Part of the reason they didn’t work out the first time they got together was that they were both young and immature and had a lot of growing to do, both as individuals and together. A lot of that growth stemmed from Michael’s death and what they both went through in the months/years after that.

However, they’ve done that now and it’s been really fun to see them finally get the chance to fully explore a romantic relationship together, without other factors complicating the situation. She is madly in love with Rafael; she told him when he was upset over the identity of his birth parents, “Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it together. Because I love you and you’re it for me — forever.” Hell, she expected to walk into his apartment that night Michael re-appeared and accept his marriage proposal.

But Jane’s world has now been thrown upside down with Michael’s return — so where does this leave my favorite couple? I’m honestly not sure. In an interview with Deadline at the time of the finale, Jennie Snyder Urman said, “In some ways it’s the most heroic thing that Rafael could’ve done to bring [Michael] back, but also it’s his worst fear that if Michael was still there he would be Jane’s second choice.” It’s clear that their relationship moving forward will be heavily influenced by the Michael situation and the real reason he’s re-appeared after all of these years. But I’m confident in knowing that, regardless of what happens, these two will continue to love and support one another and amicably co-parent Mateo.

Who did JR shoot?

Right before everything with Michael went down, Petra’s blackmailer attacks her, prompting JR to shoot him/her. Judging by Petra’s reaction, she knows this person and may even be slightly upset that JR has shot them dead.

So who could it be? I have a couple of theories. Petra’s mom is always causing her grief and given how much of a role she’s played through the show, it would surprise me if she wasn’t apart of this last batch of episodes in some way, shape or form. Scott and Anezka are both supposedly dead, but judging by what has gone down with Michael, anything could happen. Plus, they would have legitimate reasons to want revenge on Petra. Two more kind-of “out there” ideas that have crossed my mind at some point were Milos and Chuck; but in the grand scheme of things, these two have no real motive to go these lengths to blackmail Petra.

Will Alba and Jorge’s marriage stay strictly business?
In the finale, we saw Alba, who is now a U.S. citizen, and Jorge get married so that he can go visit his dying mother in Mexico without worrying about whether or not he’ll be able to come back. It’s not meant to be a romantic marriage — strictly platonic and nothing more than a business agreement. But I don’t see it solely being about business for long, especially considering they both have considered getting married to one another at some point. Also, I can’t imagine feelings not resurfacing when they’re having to convince Immigration Services that they’re actually married. These two clearly belong together and I’m hoping season 5 will bring a happy ending for Alba and Jorge.

The fifth and final season of Jane the Virgin airs March 27 at 9/8c on The CW.