"Surprise!"
"As I studied for my citizenship exam, I learned about 'E pluribus unum," "out of many, one." It is said that it originated by the famous Roman writer Cicero about family and friends. When each person loves the other, as much as herself, it makes one out of many. And as I look around this room, I understand what he meant. Out of many, one. You are all part of my journey. I spent so many years, worrying about being separated from all of you. And I am so grateful that I will never have to worry about that again."
— Alba
Jane discovers Rafael is keeping a secret from her; Alba's big day finally arrives; Jane, Xo and Rogelio are ready to celebrate, but Alba has other plans; Petra and JR make a decision about their future that neither of them saw coming.
Tropes in this episode:
- Accidental Misnaming: River is under the impression that Alba's name is "Abla" for most of the episode not out of malice per se, but out of being completely self-centered.
- Bait-and-Switch: This episode leads up to what the Narrator deems a major, life-changing surprise, the audience is baited with the possibility that it is something about Rafael's parents, but it turns out that Michael is apparently alive.
- Bury Your Gays: Subverted. Jane R. tackles the person about to shoot Petra. The latter looks horrified at the offscreen gunshot, but Jane R. is quickly revealed to have survived.
- Callback: Jane finally comes up with the idea to merge all the books she was trying to write together in one multigenerational story, and she begins with "Our story begins 13 and a half years ago". Just how "Chapter One" started.
- Citizenship Marriage: Alba marries Jorge on the night of her citizenship party, so Jorge can return to Mexico to see his dying mother and return to the US without being disturbed by TSA.
- Cliffhanger: The fourth season ends with Jane, under the impression that Rafael was going to propose, she meets Rafael and a seemingly alive Michael. Krishna called J.R to tell her that someone was going to kill Petra. J.R comes in to save Petra and ends up shooting the person trying to kill Petra.
- Decoy Damsel: Jane R. accuses Petra of being this, as she pretended to be a wronged innocent so Jane R. would fight for her. Petra insists that she didn't intend for that to happen.
- Foreshadowing: The twist that someone else was behind Petra and Jane R.'s blackmail is blatantly foreshadowed when Jane R. announces that Krishna turned herself in, and the show immediately cuts to Jane deriding a weak plot twist.
- I Should Write a Book About This: Near the end of the episode, Jane decides to combine her manuscripts into one Generational Saga, starting with the very first words the Narrator used to kick off the show.Our story begins 13 and a half years ago...
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: After Jane R. tells Petra that Krishna confessed, the show cuts to Jane at lamenting that the plot twist she's working on is weak. She then pauses to fill Alba in on who Krishna is, and then goes right back to her writing, admitting that the exposition helped but it didn't make the plot twist more effective.
- Method Acting: In-Universe; River temporarily moves in with Xiomara and Rogelio to better understand how it would feel like to be married to the latter. Later, it's revealed that part of it was her own desire for a tight-knit family.
- Not Quite Dead: Michael appears to have been alive all along, but the circumstances of his survival are so far unknown.
- The Reveal:
- Petra did in fact kill Anezka.
- Krishna wasn't the blackmailer after all.
- Michael is alive.
- Shout-Out: "Who did J.R. shoot?" is a reference to the famous "Who shot J.R.?" from Dallas.
- Surprise Party: Jane and her family throw one for Alba following the latter's citizenship ceremony. She's forced to tell Alba about it, but Alba pretends to be surprised enough to fool most of the people in the house (except Petra).
- Surprise Incest: Discussed. Alba mentions that if this were a telenovela, Rafael would turn out to be Jane's brother. That turns out to not be the case.
- The Unreveal: Who did Jane R. kill to protect Petra? Petra is horrified at the sight of them, but their face is not shown.
- Wham Episode: The narrator straight-up warns that this episode is full of surprises.
- Alba becomes a citizen and marries her Jorge in a Citizenship Marriage.
- Petra and JR's relationship is derailed by the revelation that Petra was guilty all along, but this plot thread ends on a Cliffhanger as JR shoots someone to protect Petra.
- And the whammiest of all: Who would have suspected that Michael was still alive?
- Wham Shot:
- Anna and Ellie play dress-up in Petra's clothes...only for the heel on one of the shoes to break, cementing that Petra was lying about them.
- The final scenes of the episode features Michael, who turns out to be alive.
- Would Hurt a Child: In a flashback to the night she died, Anezka threatened to harm Anna and Ellie, which was the cause of Petra killing Anezka.
