Jane the Virgin? and other streaming rec's

[untonuggan]

At the risk of spamming everyone's feeds today (hi, I haz been posting a lot in lots of places!), I keep hearing that Jane the Virgin is good but I have no idea what it's about (in like a short non-spoilery way) or if there's any really obvious triggers I should know about (the first scene starts with someone being assaulted/murdered/mainsplained to).

So come at me -- should I add Jane the Virgin to my list of things I'm watching?

FWIW, current list of ongoing shows includes but is not limited to:

• Grimm
• Elementary (but have not seen current season yet because moniez)
• Lost Girl (but not current season yet because SyFy)
• Criminal Minds
• Broadchurch (which I just finished but cannot stop talking about)
• Last Tango in Halifax (which I watch except for when the family drama gets too much)
• Dr. Who (almost caught up, done with season 7)
• Torchwood
• White Collar (on the fence about this, just started)
• Grace and Frankie (love it!)
• Turn (my game is spotting anachronisms, but I'm getting to the end of the season so I've paused before the inevitable cliffhanger)
• Marvel's Agents of Shield
• Marvel's Agent Carter
• Haven (have not seen latest season for reasons)
• Foyle's War
• The Fall
• Orphan Black (only seen first season because of paywall)

Netflix keeps being all: Here are more mystery shows! and I'm like, "No I'm overloaded on mystery shows!" or it's like, "Here are sci-fi/fantasy shows full of white dudes!" and I'm like, "No I think I'm good with those, got any starring women or POC or with disabilities or anything?" So, yeah, if you can rec me some things like that or like period stuff is something I will watch even if there are problems (like the new Upstairs, Downstairs and also Downton Abbey I watch even though I am mentally picking them apart, because reasons)'.

I also haven't watched much anime on Netflix, partly because it all seems to be dubbed (?), and also I haven't really explored the options much. I am kind of an obligatory but devoted Studio Ghibli fan, though I prefer Takahata to Miyazaki. I also love love love The Vision of Escaflowne and They Were Eleven, just to give you a quick sampling of my taste. My favorite Ghibli film is probably Pom Poko, followed closely by My Neighbors the Yamadas.

Comments

[jadelennox]

YES YES YES YES YES


Okay, so. There's some murder but it's played a little cartoonishly. Like you see a guy with a knife in his chest, but it looks staged and theatre-y.

You end up liking almost everyone, even the bad guys. It's heartwarming and loving. It's about a three-generation Latina family living together and they love each other, but it's never treacley. It somehow manages to address themes of Catholicism and abstinence and pre-marital sex without offending or annoying anybody. The grandmother is undocumented and the show is not pulling punches about what that means to the family.

The premise: it's a comedy telenovela, based loosely on a Spanish-language telenovela of the same name. Jane is dating a white cop and waiting for sex until marriage, but one day she goes in for a pap and -- for ridiculous telenovela reasons -- she gets artificially inseminated with the sperm of rich hotel scion Rafael. Hijinks ensue.

I suppose the treatments of disability and mental illness are not ideal, but they aren't in-you-face upsetting. The show is rife with female agency and great female characters. There's only three major male recurring characters.

Also, Rogelio and the Narrator are both amazing.

[lynnoconnacht]

To add a little to this: all the bilingualism. <3 So much bilingualism. You know how many (if not most) treat bilingualism as... something that only shows up for plot or narrative reasons? As flavouring?

From what I've seen, "Jane the Virgin" doesn't do that. It treats the language switching like something as natural to the characters as breathing and it is seriously one of my favourite things about what I've seen from te show.

(Beyond that, to the extent that I've seen the show, I also agree with this comment wholeheartedly. I'm sad I failed to keep up with it.)

[st_aurafina]

Rogelio gives me life!!

[the_rck]

I haven't watched Jane the Virgin, but I've heard a bit about it-- The title character gets artificially inseminated when she goes in for her annual gynecological exam due to a case of mistaken identity. It's the father's only chance to have a child (or something like that), so she agrees to carry the child to term. She's young. She doesn't believe in sex before marriage. She's engaged to marry a different guy.

My impression, based on what people say, is that it's kind of a comedy and kind of a soap opera. My guess is that the style of plot can be inferred from that.

[phlox]

I've really enjoyed "Murdoch," from the CBC. No idea if it's streaming, but probably. Set at the end of the 1800s in Toronto. Definitely some mansplaining that happens--but it usually goes badly for the person doing the mansplaining, and they generally learn that it was not the best choice they ever made. :) There's a recurring character who I *don't* like, but that person is avoidable, if needed (I can give you the name if you want it, but I don't want to give spoilers if you don't want them!)

I've not seen the most recent few seasons (I think I am partway through season 6, haven't watched any of 7, and 8 is just being released on DVD), but my mom (to whom I introduced the series) has and continues to really like them (other than that one character I mentioned--interestingly, she's been watching the series with some friends who are *much* less disturbed by psychological scary stuff and violence than Mom is, and they don't like that character either).

Bonuses: the main characters is sometimes clueless and sometimes a bit dense, but generally well-meaning and has a strong moral core. It doesn't always agree with current cultural norms, but I find it very interesting how the writers, director, and actor deal with complicated issues (birth control, premarital sex, things other than heterosexuality, gender norms, religion, bigotry--religious, racial, sexual).

There are also some kick-butt female characters (yes, one is a love interest for Main Character, who is a white dude--but at least he's a Roman Catholic White Dude in a protestant city at a time when that was a big deal), and I love some of the supporting characters--Crabtree is wonderful (and the actor, and how amazingly good he is at that character, is apparently part of why the character got a rather larger role than planned), Dr Grace (doesn't show up for a few seasons) is wonderful, the clueless (and progressively less-clueless) chief constable.

tl;dr: Mysteries set in Canada in late 1800s, early 1900s, main character is a (not-completely-socially-normal) White Dude but there are lots of really good female characters. Frequently tackles challenging social and cultural issues with both awareness of current mores and without discounting historical realities (mostly ;) ). Not generally bloody, sometimes a bit psychologically spooky for those of us who don't do well with that. Oh! Also great costumes, and a number of really amusing guest characters (like Tesla and Alexander Graham Bell and Emma Goldman--who was an US-based labo(u)r organiz(s)er about whom I knew nothing before seeing the show!).

[st_aurafina]

I tentatively like/love Jane the Virgin - I tripped up in the first episode on medical mismanagement (which forms the basis for the plot device) and I still sometimes get embarrassment-squicked at some of the set-ups, but it's worth hanging in there for the amazing women of Jane's family.

There's one episode with some school-level bullying triggers, that's the only one I would have skipped if I'd known before hand. I'm about halfway through the season, I think. Still enjoying Jane's amazing family. And Jane. She's amazing too.

[sincere]

Jane the Virgin is great! Though I haven't watched it in a little while. Elementary is also faaaabulous, and I've been meaning to watch Grace and Frankie! I have it on my Netflix queue.

Sorry that you are being drowned in white dudes. :( I'm pretty bored of them myself. I don't have a ton of recs because most of what I watch now are comedy sketch shows and the like, but I might add The 100 to your list? I have a friend who loves it and I recall hearing from her that the protag is a canonically bisexual lady. It's in my queue as well, I just haven't gotten around to watching it yet.