We FINALLY Know How Michael Survived on 'Jane the Virgin'!!!!
This post includes SPOILERS from "Jane the Virgin: Chapter Eighty-One" and "Jane the Virgin: Chapter Eighty-Two"
Update 3/28/19: Yes, Michael Cordero is still alive. But...his name isn't Michael anymore. His name is Jason. Well, at least he thinks his name is Jason.
Sin Rostro, the villain behind basically every bad thing in this series, faked Michael's death and then put him through a bunch of electroshock therapy, which caused amnesia. Upon his return into Jane's life, Michael Jason's earliest memory is waking up in a field in Montana with no idea how he got there. He also now has a dog named Bo, and hates cats and jokes. He's a completely different person.
And before you spiral into a web of theories about how Michael might just have a secret twin or something (which wouldn't be crazy for Jane the Virgin...it's happened before), Rafael made sure to get a DNA test to confirm that it's really him.
Original post: Michael Cordero, the Michael Cordero who supposedly died in season three's "Chapter Fifty-Four," appeared in the final moments of Jane the Virgin's season-four finale.
Are you okay? Do you need a minute? [Extreme Jane the Virgin narrator voice] I know! Me too! Now where were we?
Ah, yes. Bearded Michael. The episode ended with Jane showing up at Rafael's apartment expecting a marriage proposal but coming face-to-face with her dead husband instead.
But was it really Michael? At this point, all we know is that Sin Rostro told Rafael about Michael's existence - "What I know is going to change your life forever," she told Raf at the end of last week's episode - and she's not exactly trustworthy. She's also a master of disguise.
Remember when she was Michael's partner Susanna?
Or when she was Luisa's girlfriend Eileen?
Remember the thumb drive that was secretly embedded in Michael's leg? The one that Mateo was kidnapped over? It included the names of hundreds of criminals who Sin Rostro helped undergo plastic surgery to escape the law. Like this guy.
So, yeah, "Michael" could just be an imposter who looks like Michael. In which case, who is the imposter? One guess, if you care to play, is Derek, Rafael's half-brother - or, more accurately, son of Elena (a.k.a. Mutter), the woman Rafael thought was his mother.
He's got the shaggy hair. The beard. And even though he's supposed to be dead, we never actually saw him die. Luisa merely told Rafael and Michael that his name appeared on Rose's kill list, along with Elena's - and then the scene cut to Elena dying in jail, holding a Bible and saying "my son." What proof do we have that Sin Rostro actually killed Derek? Furthermore, how do we know that when Elena was saying "my son," she was referring to Rafael? We were lead to believe as much because the Bible contained vital information about Rafael's adoption. But what if she was referring to Derek because he'd teamed up with Sin Rostro to have her killed?
This is admittedly a rough theory, especially since it doesn't account for Derek's (or even Sin Rostro's) motive. "Wanting to wreck Rafael's life" seems weak, no?
Which brings us to the possibility that Michael really is Michael. "But we saw him die!" you say. Not exactly. "Chapter Fifty-Four" shows him collapsing as he leaves his LSAT exam. Then Jane gets the call. "Your husband's death was ultimately the result of his gunshot wound..."
From there, the show jumps forward three years. How do we know that sometime between him collapsing and Jane getting the call, he wasn't kidnapped by Sin Rostro? Or that he didn't willingly go along with Sin Rostro to protect Jane and Mateo (something he would definitely do).
If it really is Michael, the show will have to account for a major hospital/morgue coverup, because we know he had a funeral.
And we know Jane collected his belongings because the photo booth strip she packed in his lunchbox the day of the LSATs reappeared in "Chapter Fifty-Five."
It's worth nothing there were several references in "Chapter Fifty-Four" about unreliable narration and distorted memories. Maybe those were hints that the information we were getting wasn't accurate.
Whether Michael is really alive or not, you can expect the return of the Jane/Michael/Rafael love triangle for at least a few episodes of season five. This is a telenovela, after all.
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