Holy. Mother.
Warning: Spoiler alert! Do not proceed if you have not watched Friday's season four finale of Jane the Virgin.
Holy... Did Jane the Virgin just pull off the ultimate shocker?
In Friday's season four finale, Jane (Gina Rodriguez) and Rafael (Justin Baldoni) seemed destined for an engagement. But in classic telenovela fashion, a huge, unexpected bombshell got in the way of a happy proposal. After all, they still have another season of drama to come!
Things came to a head once Rafael reluctantly paid a visit to Sin Rostro/Rose (Bridget Regan) in prison. See, Rose was desperate to tell Rafael an important piece of information -- at first, it was presumed to be the identity of his real parents (spoiler alert: it was not) -- in exchange for Rafael sharing the whereabouts of his sister, Luisa. But of course, he wasn't going to do that.
So, when Rafael finally learned what major intel Sin Rostro was dangling in front him? Everything changed -- including his blossoming romance with Jane. "I lied before, Jane," Rafael said, before taking a deep sigh. "Rose didn't tell me about my parents." Taken aback by his confession, Jane asked, "What did she tell you?"
Instead of telling her, Rafael showed her: Michael (Brett Dier), who died from complications from a gunshot wound in an episode that aired last February, is alive. Jaw, meet floor. But how? Why? When?
Rafael revealed the shocking news when Jane stopped by his apartment with the intention of popping the question herself, if Rafael wasn't going to go through with his original plan (and fair to assume, he wasn't going to now). Michael's re-emergence sure jeopardizes that plan now.
Several years have passed since Michael's death in the timeline of Jane the Virgin, so if we are left to believe that the Michael -- with a full head of hair, a goatee and looking as alive as ever -- seen standing in Rafael's bedroom is indeed the same Michael from yesteryear, we have so many questions as to what the heck happened in the past few years.
Last February, when the season three episode where Michael died aired, Jane the Virgin executive producer Jennie Snyder Urman penned a letter explaining the decision to kill off one of the show's beloved main characters, saying it was “a decision made very early on." The narrator, in fact, hinted in the series pilot -- via the line, "For as long as Michael lived, until he drew his very last breath, he never did.” -- that Michael's demise was woven into the fabric of the show.
“I put that line into the script at the last minute to hold our feet to the fire, to make sure we went through with it. Because even back then, the writers could all see the magic of Jane and Michael together,” Urman wrote at the time. “If the writers and actors loved Michael so much, then I knew it would be devastating for the fans. So then, the only surprise we had left, was when."
Urman took to Twitter following Friday's surprise return, tweeting simply, "SURPRISE," and tagging Dier.
Urman also shared video of the moment the cast found out Dier would be returning to the show during the finale table read.
Here you go! The video of the cast finding out that @Brettdier is back... pic.twitter.com/uhUeNp5cIQ
— Jennie Urman (@JennieUrman) April 21, 2018
But now, the ballgame has changed again. Ever since the episode of Michael's death aired, Dier has returned only once to the series, and Urman and the writers did a damn good job leading fans into believing that Michael's story was over for good. It'll be interesting to see how the writers explain this soap opera reveal as the aftermath of Michael's resurrection begins to spill out -- if it does at all -- and affect all the characters, not just Jane and Rafael.
What did you think of the shocking Michael bombshell? Tell us your theories by heading over to Twitter and sharing your thoughts with @etnow!
Jane the Virgin will return for season five on The CW.
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