Now that they’ve broken bread and passed the turkey, the Villanueva family is about to hit the Black Friday sales on “Jane the Virgin.”
Baby Mateo isn’t the only Black Friday first-timer in the family. He’ll be strapped to a post-Thanksgiving bargain hunting virgin – his dad, Rafael.
Monday night’s new episode on The CW won’t just find fun among the retail aisles. This week, Justin Baldoni’s character is gearing up to take Jane (Gina Rodriguez) on a date. But, before he can wine and dine the woman he’s hoping to win back, the new parents will have to work together to accomplish a big task – finding a suitable babysitter.
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Justin spoke to Access Hollywood about all the fun and drama that awaits viewers at 9/8c.
AccessHollywood.com: Has Rafael ever done Black Friday shopping?
Justin Baldoni: (Laughs) No, Rafael has not. As you can probably tell by the promos, he’s only, I think, step foot in a Target with Jane when they were on a date before, and when he went to pick out some baby stuff, so no, he’s never done Black Friday shopping. He’s probably only sent people to do his shopping for him, so it’s a pretty funny experience.
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Access: How bad is it going to be for him, dealing with the crowds?
Justin: It’s actually kind of endearing the way Rafael deals with it. He just wants to fit in with the family, he just wants to be a good dad. He’s still trying to woo Jane and he wants [Alba] and Xiomara to like him, so he’s down for anything. That’s one of the things I love about Rafael. He’ll do whatever he can do to get on everyone’s good side there, and to be a good dad. … It’s funny. It’s cute, you know? It’s not too intense.
Access: He’s got Mateo [strapped] to his front side, but can we expect him to get into the thick of it? Black Friday shopping is intense, like, ‘Get out of my way, I need that copy of ‘The Walking Dead’ for two dollars,’ you know what I mean?
Justin: I know. I don’t think we got too into it as far as the crowds and everybody like piling on top of each other and fighting. You definitely see a little bit of him being confused [about] where to go, and there’s an unexpected thing that happens that kind of ruins the shopping experience.
Access: Let’s talk about something a little sweeter — when is Rafael going to get to take Jane out on the date?
Justin: I believe he’s taking her out this comingepisode. I think it’s all going to happen.
Access: Yay!
Justin: Finally, right?
WATCH: ‘Jane The Virgin’: Hiring A Babysitter For Mateo (Sneak Peek)
Access: So I assume that’s how the babysitter angle features into the episode. We have seen a sneak peek (above). How crazy is Jane going to be about babysitters?
Justin: She’s pretty crazy. Jane is very particular with, it seems like, everything in her life… she’s very, very particular, and let alone, here’s our son, so she’s not going to just let anybody take care of our son. And, in order for Rafael to take her on a date, we have to find a way to have somebody else take care of our son, and also, just in general, because she’s got so much going on, it’s helpful. But it’s a pretty comical experience that we go through to try and figure out who this person’s gonna be and we interview some very strange people in the process.
Access: Did you ever babysit when you were younger?
Justin: I didn’t. … No, I totally remember having massive crushes on some of my babysitters, when I was younger.
Access: Mateo’s a little too young for that right now.
Justin: A little too young for that, but the funny thing is, when I meet people now, they’ll often tell me, ‘Oh, my God. I took care of you when you were six months old.’ And it’s like they have this free reign to like touch my cheeks and do things that they could do when I was an infant. It’s like time never passed for them, and I’m like, ‘I’m so sorry, I don’t remember you, but I’m sure you took wonderful care of me.’
Access: Ha! So, the Petra situation – obviously, it freaked Rafael out that she’s carrying twin girls. Are we going to see more of a development of his feelings and how he’s preparing for that?
Justin: Yeah, you know, it’s very tricky. It’s fun to be exploring all this stuff with Rafael this year because he’s trying to get Jane back, he’s trying to learn how to be a dad to Mateo, and now, here is his ex-wife, who inseminated herself and now is having twins. So, it’s going to be interesting to see how he balances the two things and what’s going to be happening with Petra and Jane and how this is all going to work — is it going to be a family; the hot water she’s getting into. We are going to get to explore that a bit and see how he deals with it.
Access: How does he feel about the Petra and Jane friendship, which is kind of starting to take root?
Justin: I think Rafael is on the side of anything that isn’t dramatic because I think he’s had so much crazy stuff happen to him in his life. And Petra’s been a huge source of that, but with those two kind of being on the mend, I think it’s a positive thing for Rafael now that she’s carrying twins. I think he’s on the side of anything that creates unity at this point, while at the same time still being very cautious, because I don’t think he still can fully trust Petra, but I think he understands more of Petra’s motives and I think he sees her as more harmless now.
Access: Christmas is coming up – we’re going to have baby’s first Christmas this season on the show [in a few weeks], right?
Justin: We actually are, right now, I believe… shooting the Christmas episode.
Access: Are you just feeling all warm and fuzzy because it has to be sweet? A baby’s first Christmas?
Justin: But of course, a ‘Jane the Virgin’ Christmas is not necessarily going to be all sweet at the beginning. We just shot a really fun scene with a Santa and Mateo and Rafael and Jane and I’m very excited for people to see it because it’s definitely different than anything you’d expect. It’s going to be so much fun. And we have all these cute little babies playing Mateo. We have boys and girls playing him and they’re all dressed in these little cute Christmas outfits, which is just adorable. Gina and I went in to meet all the little babies before the shoot the other day and we were just surrounded by little infant elves everywhere. It was adorable.
“Jane the Virgin” airs Monday at 9/8c on The CW.
— Jolie Lash
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