In the early days of #MeToo, "Jane the Virgin" revisited a season two plotline in which Jane (Gina Rodriguez) dated her grad school professor Jonathan Chavez (played by Adam Rodriguez). In 2016, when the episode aired, their affair, which almost resulted in Jane losing her virginity, was largely seen as sexy and romantic. Jane thought of herself as a willing participant in a relationship that some might deem inappropriate. Two years later, Jane looks back at their encounter with new eyes, questioning whether his position of power blurred the lines of consent.
When she discovers that Jonathan is dating another student, she confronts him. "Even if a student says she wants something, she might really regret it when she's older and smarter and has more information about how it was a pretty gross abuse of power," she says. "Especially if it's a pattern." Now older and wiser, Jane sees it as her responsibility to speak to the woman, who, like her, may not realize the power imbalance at play.
"Jane the Virgin" creator Jennie Snyder Urman later said she believed it was her responsibility to revisit a storyline that fell into a gray area. "We need to be looking at these power dynamics and talking about them," she told Variety in 2018. "If you want to have a consensual relationship with someone that has more power than you, that's totally fine — that's a valid choice — but [Jane] felt like she didn't have all the information when she made that choice."
