I’m one episode in Jane The Virgin and boy, that’s one jam-packed first episode. Think of any emotion you can practically feel in one show, I felt it. Think of almost every genre but horror, and this show, from just one episode, it embodies it.

Jane The Virgin follows, well, Jane (Gina Rodriguez), who was convinced by her grandmother at a young age to stay pure until basically, she was married. Janes mother herself, Xiomara (Andrea Navedo) got pregnant at 16, so her religious grandmother (Ivonne Coll) is pretty passionate about the subject. Meanwhile, Jane, a waitress at a hotel, is dating a police officer, Michael (Brett Dier) for two years now, and obviously, is yet to go all the way with him. Something doesn’t sit right with me when it comes to this boyfriend, but I guess we will continue to watch and see. A recurring fantasy character named Santos a.k.a. Rogelio De La Vega (Jaime Camil), a man only living in the hit Latino romance drama The Passions of Santos continues to reappear in Jane’s thoughts, and I believe this will be a reoccurring theme throughout the show. And just quietly, I get the feeling that everything isn’t as it seems. I am getting a soap opera vibe. A bit like the Villanueva women’s favourite show, The Passions of Santos. And, well, this is its intention.
Other characters we meet are Rafael (Justin Baldoni) and his wife, Petra (Yael Grobglas), together with Rafael’s sister, Luisa (Yara Martinez). Now, this is where the two worlds collide. Going in for a routine pap smear test, Jane is accidentally inseminated with the only frozen sample Rafael has. We eventually learn (and assume) he had testicular cancer and is unable to have children. The doctor who inserted Jane with Rafael’s sperm is Luisa. The reason she is inseminated is what kind of makes your mind up about Petra because it was her intentions to get pregnant, as a surprise for Rafael, but we can tell quickly she has shifty agendas. All this while it just happens that Jane works at the hotel that Rafael owns. Okay, and now I can exhale. See. Jam-packed.
So much is happening, and just when you think all this information is too much for a 40-minute pilot, you rush through all those emotions about each character that you have no time to think about anything else. You feel for Rafael, you want to support Jane, you hate Petra, you sympathise with Luisa, you’re frustrated over Michael, you’re intrigued by Xiomara, and you want a grandmother just like Jane’s grandmother.

It’s a drama, it’s a comedy, and it’s definitely got me locked in. Just writing this review has got me out of breath. But now that I can catch it back again, I’d like to get onto episode 2. And 3… and 4, 5, 6…