"You seemed a little stuck in your own perspective."
— Jonathan to Jane
Still reeling from their fight from last episode, Jane and Rafael attempt to come to something of an understanding over Christmas. Jane attempts to afford next semester's tuition as Rogelio tries to find his next passion project. Petra tries to deal with Ivan's murder. Michael makes some progress on the Mutter case.
Tropes:
- Christmas Episode: Jane and Rafael take Mateo to see Santa, and a minor subplot revolves around the Villanueva Christmas tradition.
- Fake Relationship: Luisa claims that Susanna is her wife, nominally to get her into the mental institution where they think Mutter is hiding, but mostly just so she (Luisa) can keep flirting with her (Susanna).
- Feed the Mole: A variation. Rogelio screens his assistants with what he calls "The Prince William Test" — he feeds them bogus information to see if it shows up in the press. If it doesn't, they can be trusted. Subverted, as his intern didn't spill — the pedicurists at the salon did.
- Frame-Up: Magda frames Petra for Ivan's murder.
- Guilt-Ridden Accomplice: Petra is clearly uneasy with her mother's murder of Ivan and spills everything to Rafael.
- Hallucinations: Petra starts hallucinating Ivan after helping cover up his murder.
- High-Pressure Emotion: Steam comes out of Jane's ears when she's angry.
- Internal Reveal: Rafael learns everything that Petra's been up to since they broke up.
- Narrative Profanity Filter: When Jane tells off Wesley, the narrator chimes in and says that while he would normally tell the audience exactly what Jane said, he's too much of a gentleman to do so here.
- Not That Kind of Doctor: Lawyer variation.Jane: So, if I refused to give him Mateo for Christmas, can a judge use that against me in a custody case?
Alba's Lawyer: Sorry, I'm an immigration lawyer. - Right for the Wrong Reasons: Jane assumed Rafael got Michael fired because he was jealous, but when they are in couple therapy, Rafael reveals he did this because Michael was emotionally compromised in the case which got his father killed.
- Pop-Up Texting: Jane and Rafael's instant messaging pops up on the screen.
- Significant Anagram: Apparently Jane got the "Elodea Gale Vigor" scholarship, which is how she was able to pay for grad school. When it doesn't come in for the second semester, she realizes that "Elodea Gale Vigor" is an anagram of "Rogelio de la Vega." Which means that, now that he's broke, she's going to have to pay her own way.
- Trickster Mentor: Professor Chavez lies to Jane about the conditions on a contest he wants her to enter, to get her to experiment with genres she's not used to writing in.
