Jane the Virgin boss breaks down [SPOILER'S] death and that kiss

Spoiler alert: This post contains plot details from the Dec. 8 midseason finale of Jane the Virgin.

And it all ended with a kiss.

Jane the Virgin‘s midseason finale saw the Villanueva women take a break from their romantic woes to enjoy a road trip and promote Jane’s book. But by episode’s end, they all walked away with some clarity: Xo asked Rogelio to go to couples therapy, Alba surprised even herself when she turned down Jorge’s marriage proposal, and Jane kissed Rafael.

But that’s not all that happened! Remember Anezka’s death? It was fake. But then, by the end of the hour, she died for real! Confused? EW spoke with Jane showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman about the hour and what comes next.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What was the idea behind Anezka’s fake death… and then real death?
JENNIE SNYDER URMAN: We wanted to give her a proper telenovela sendoff for a character that has been very impactful. I had read a story of a woman who had showed up at her own funeral to find out if her husband was cheating or not, and it was a real story, but it seemed like such a telenovela moment, so I was eager to have Anezka stage her own funeral to see who really loves her. Of course there’s the runner of the casket and she does end up on top of her casket at the end. [It was] a death fitting such an important, comic, and tragic character.

Now do we have a whodunnit on our hands?
You know that Anezka fell. What happened in that room at that moment is something that we will unfurl.

Anezka told Luisa that Raf was behind Carl. Will this bring Luisa back into the fold?
Yeah, Rafael is going to be searching for Luisa. They had had this really sweet reunion at the end of [episode] 6 where she said she trusted him and apologized, and now she believes that he was the one that was gaslighting her all along and made her think she was crazy, so she’s not that happy with her brother right now. Trying to right that statement that Anezka said is going to be a drive of Rafael’s. But he has to find [Luisa] first.

We have to talk about the Jane-Rafael kiss! Was that just a moment or is it indicative of something more you all will explore?
We pick up directly in the aftermath of the kiss in the next episode, so all of that you will find out.

I love the idea that Adam was what she needed to get to this point.
Yea, he was exactly what she needed then, and it takes her a second to process that amidst all of that hurt and feelings of betrayal, but he was what she needed to make that next step. I don’t think she would be open to the Rafael of it all if she hadn’t gone through the Adam journey. That said, the Rafael of it all is a very complicated and fraught relationship that they’re going to really dig into when we come back.

So are Ro and Xo going to couples therapy?
They do go to couples therapy in the next episode and they have some significant breakthroughs, some surprising breakthroughs. Rogelio, of course, thinks he’s just going to help Xo but he develops a fondness for therapy. It’s an opportunity to sit and talk about yourself so he takes to it quite well. He’s a natural.

Are we going to explore Alba’s thinking behind saying no to Jorge?
For sure, we’re going to unpack that and it takes her a few episodes to really understand what was underneath her answer to Jorge. I think when we finally unpack that and when she understands where it’s coming from, it leads us into a really interesting area that I’m excited for us to explore.