After five unbelievable seasons – quite literally – Jane The Virgin has come to an end. The series finale aired on Netflix last night, and we’re not sure how we’re going to cope without one of the most heart-warming, and hilarious shows on the streaming service.
Jane The Virgin broke boundaries. With a majority Latino cast, the show - which starred Gina Rodriguez as Jane - has tackled the extensive representation issues in Hollywood since 2015, and themes within it continued to highlight the issues which arise from such racism throughout the series.
It had depths of self-awareness that we rarely see in TV. Bringing a Venezuelan telenovela to the US – and then worldwide -was no mean feat, and would likely be filled with road bumps placed upon the show by an audience who had never been exposed to that style of entertainment. And yet, in having one of the main characters narrative follow that exact issue – adapting a Latin telenovela for a US audience – writers could tackle the very problems they were presented with within the show.
It’s just one of many layered narratives within a show so often cast-aside as ridiculous -something that sits at the heart of what makes telenovelas so great – that showed the extensive thought and reasoning behind each plot twist on the show. And it paid off, the hilarious scenes that saw characters pretend to take cyanide only for it to be a tic tac were intermingled with heart-wrenching moments that expose the pain behind problems like US immigration law, the gender pay gap and sudden grief.
Striking that perfect balance is what made the show so much more than light-hearted entertainment, and it was also what made us root for the characters so much. Despite the need for constant drama and plot-twists, each character had a positive arc with redeemable qualities that made us not just love-to-hate them, but genuinely love them in the end. Whether it’s Rafael’s journey from constant f*ckboy to committed father or Petra’s transformation from an insecure and vindictive sociopath to a loving and supportive friend – all of the shows villains, bar a token few, developed their character to become fan-favourites we all want to root for.
This is what made Jane The Virgin so great, because underneath all of the fake faces and dramatic deaths rested the idea that family is more important than anything. And regardless of how entertaining the unbelievable plot-twists were, that heart-warming theme is what kept people coming back to this TV show for five seasons. At a time when the world is getting more and more grim by the day, the importance of entertainment like this cannot be underestimated - especially when it tackles the very issues so many people are facing day in their every day lives.
Honestly, we can only hope the genius’ behind the series are on the road to developing a new TV show – with the success of Jane The Virgin proving so strong, they seem to have the magic touch when it comes to creating great, and important, TV.
Read more: Netflix shows to tackle your Sunday blues...
Netflix sunday blues - Grazia
1 of 7The Good Place
Thanks to a celestial admin error, the not-so angelic Eleanor Shellstrop ends up in heaven (that's the Good Place of the title) following her bizarre accidental death. Desperate not to let her new neighbours discover the truth about her former self, she resolves to become a better person. Come for the entry level philosophy jokes and Jameela Jamil's acting debut, stay for the genuinely jaw-dropping plot twists.
2 of 7Queer Eye
If anything can ward off a Sunday night mood-spiral, it's the combined charm offensive of Queer Eye's Fab Five. In each episode of the newly rebooted makeover show, Jonathan, Tan, Karamo, Antoni and Bobby are tasked with transforming the life of someone (unlike the Noughties original, the show's subject doesn't have to be a 'straight guy') who's feeling a little lost, whether that means overhauling their wardrobe, teaching them to chop avocados or instilling them with some much-needed confidence. It's heart-warming stuff that'll encourage you to, in the words of Jonathan, 'just like own your own space, and stuff.'
3 of 7Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is televisual serotonin. It's hard not to be charmed by the relentlessly sunny Kimmy (Bridesmaids' Ellie Kemper) as she adapts to life in New York after being liberated from an underground doomsday cult, but best of all are the gang of supporting characters: her musically-inclined roommate Titus (Tituss Burgess), her erratic landlady Lillian (Carol Kane) and her glamorous trainwreck of a boss, Jacqueline (Jane Krakowski).
4 of 7Glow
Big hair, neon and a whole lot of spandex: GLOW transposes Flashdance's underdog story to the hyper-camp world of '80s wrestling, with an added dose of female empowerment. Alison Brie stars as Ruth Wilder, a struggling actress whose last-ditch attempt at success leads her to try out for an all-female wrestling league. Consider it the cheerier cousin of Orange Is The New Black (the shows share an executive producer, Jenji Kohan).
5 of 7Lovesick
An STI diagnosis forces Dylan (Johnny Flynn) to reconnect with his former partners: if the premise sounds familiar, that's because the show formerly known as Scrotal Recall was first broadcast on Channel Four a few years back. Happily, it was saved by Netflix, given a more, ahem, palatable name, and is now in its third season. Think of it as an extended, more foul-mouthed Richard Curtis comedy, populated with characters you've probably met on a night out.
6 of 7Crazy Ex Girlfriend
Don't be put off by the title. To paraphrase the show's theme song (yes, there's songs. Lots of songs), Crazy Ex Girlfriend is 'a lot more nuanced than' re-hashing boring relationship tropes. The brainchild of writer and comedian Rachel Bloom, the series follows compulsive over-achiever Rebecca (also played by Bloom) as she decides to pack in her high-flying city job and move to California, following a random encounter with a childhood crush. Even if you're not a musical fan, Bloom's songs and scripts have a knack of skewering everything from relationships to mental health.
7 of 7Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life
There are few things more reassuring than a chapter of Gilmore Girls, and the four feature-length episodes that make up Netflix's Year In The Life reboot, set ten years after the show's final bow, have all the qualities we love. There's the speedy script, delivered at break-neck pace by Rory (Alexis Bledel) and Lorelai (Lauren Graham), the soothing backdrop of Stars Hollow, the same low-stakes romantic dramas and coffee. So much coffee. Though the ending - spoiler alert - has proved divisive, it's still the perfect comfort watch.