Rafael Solano, owner and operator of the Marbella Hotel, father to Mateo, Anna, and Elsa, and on-again-off-again partner of Jane, might be the most complex character in Jane the Virgin. A playboy hustler in remission for cancer, Rafael’s arc goes from scumbag to sweetheart and back again at the drop of a hat. Because of his complicated moral compass, he’s got a lot of moments where he’s a great and loving partner to Jane, or to his ex-wife Petra, as well as many moments where his ego and anger get the better of him.
At his core, Rafael is a good guy, but a good guy with so many divots in the road it’s hard to keep a straight line of where he’s at. With half of the final season left to go, there’s no telling where Rafael will end this five-year journey, but here are some of the stops along the way.
(Spoilers for Jane the Virgin through the season five premiere!)
Good: Not Telling Jane He Loved Her (S02E22)
Sometimes the best way to show love is not to show love. On the steps of the chapel before the love of his life, Jane is set to marry Michael, and Rafael considers telling Jane his true feelings for her and begging her to call off the wedding. In a fantasy interlude, he does, laying it all out on the table in true romantic fashion.
But he doesn’t. Rafael smiles and encourages his friend to walk down the aisle and marry the love of her life. In this selfless action, Rafael is forgoing his own desires for the good of the person he cares for, which is one of the most earnest and noble things a person can do.
Bad: Baby Monitor Eavesdropping (S02E04)
Rafael’s always had a bit of a duplicitous side to him, and that comes out in small actions that have a habit of snowballing upon themselves. After Mateo’s kidnapping by serial killer Rose, Michael confides in Jane the ethically murky things he did in order to maintain Mateo’s safety and honor his friendship with former partner Nadine, who was being forced into working with Rose before Mateo’s kidnapping.
All of this, and Jane telling Michael she plans on choosing him over Rafael, were picked up on Mateo’s baby monitor, the other end of which was in the room where Rafael was "sleeping." While this moment spirals into many worse decisions (see entry 2), the starting action still reeks of dishonesty and distrust.
Good: Getting Jason (S04E17)
The full context of Rafael contacting and bringing Jason, a Michael whose death had been faked and his memories wiped, back into Jane’s life isn’t completely clear until a few episodes later. But it can’t be ignored how generous and risky of an act that was for his personal interests.
Days away from proposing to Jane and finally cementing his life with her and Mateo, the Rafael from season one wouldn’t have thought twice about Rose’s admission that Michael was alive, and just kept that information to the grave. But Rafael is a changed man by the end of season four, and he’s doing what’s right by those he loves. It may the boldest thing Rafael has ever done, and a shining example of the man he’s become.
Bad: Yelling About Katherine (S04E04)
Rafael’s partners that aren’t Jane or Petra have always been a dice roll, and Katherine was the most dubious one of all. A financier that Rafael was manipulating in a power play to get control of the Marbella back, Katherine was a dangerous influence on Rafael, and, therefore, on a rapidly maturing Mateo.
When Jane finally confronts Rafael about this, he lashes out at her in his typical Rafael way, making a huge fool out of himself that leads to him realizing he’s going down a dark path. While his growth from this episode is admirable, it’s one of the few moments that Rafael goes full dark, getting dangerously close to being someone Jane cannot trust around their son.
Good: Petra The Dragon (S03E14)
One of Rafael’s quieter moments of pride comes originally from a misunderstanding. Petra, still reeling from the months where her twin paralyzed her, took over her identity, and bonded with Anna and Elsa more than Petra ever had, finds a drawing her children made portraying her as a dragon. Heartbroken, Petra starts to wonder if her children will always see her as a vile, dangerous monster not to be trusted.
She breaks down in front of Rafael telling him this, and he comes to the rescue. He was the one who had described Petra as a dragon to their children—not because she’s a monster, but because she is a fierce protector, refusing any harm that would come to those kids. Petra’s smile in this scene is one of the most heartwarming moments in the whole show, and such a small genuine moment of co-parenting proves Rafael’s prowess as a partner to not just Jane, but Petra as well.
Bad: Pursuit of Infidelity (Season One)
What made Rafael so difficult to trust in the early seasons was how fervently he chased after Jane. He was right in noticing her feelings for him even before she did, but she was still in a committed, loving relationship with Michael, and Rafael had very little respect for that boundary.
As is talked about many times in the show, Rafael is a playboy, and when the audience first met him, his playboy traits were out in full swing. It’s a bad look for him, even if it did end with him and Jane being together for a period.
Good: “Be Brave” (Repeated)
He’s said it a few times over the 5 years that Jane the Virgin has been on the air, and there have still been few moments as beautiful and simple as when Rafael tells her to “be brave.” He says it the first time years before the events of the show when he told Jane to be brave and consider herself a writer, not an aspiring one.
Every time he’s said those words, it’s always been about Jane and her growth. Being brave to do what she needs to do, being brave to allow herself to fight for the success she so desperately wants. It’s a short mantra, but one that showcases the best aspects of Rafael: he is someone who will believe in Jane even when she can’t do that for herself.
Bad: The Drinking (Repeated)
It’d be unfair to call Rafael Solano an alcoholic because his moments of drinking only come sparingly throughout the show. But considering how quickly the creators of Jane the Virgin use Rafael with a drink in his hand as shorthand for him regressing, it’s something to be concerned about.
Whenever the hardest decisions come toward Rafael, the audience gets a shot of him with his blank dead-eyed stare, sipping down something brown and expensive. While we don’t often see him drunk, and never angrily so, he doesn’t need to be. When he’s drinking, he’s shutting down. Drinking Rafael is a pretty rubbish partner, and the cruel things he ends up saying are just a confirmation of that.
Bad: Fight with Michael (S02E05)
Despite everything, there has rarely been a moment in the show where Rafael comes across as a complete villain. Not that in the fight between Rafael and Michael early on in season two there’s only one villain, because they’re both at fault. Michael comes storming in, screaming at Rafael because Rafael just got Michael suspended from his job.
Michael does throw the first punch, but the animosity between these two had been building up for a year. So, while these two grown adults scream and whine at each other, neither of them are looking like great husband material. Even after he’s thrown through a glass table and a shard of glass flies out and injures Mateo, all Rafael does is talk about how much Michael hates him. He was provoked, sure, but Rafael still acted like a child at this moment—the exact opposite of the rock of solidarity that Jane so desperately needed.
Good: Reading Michael’s Eulogy (S05E01)
Looking back over Rafael’s growth, all the good and all the bad things he’s done, no moment could prepare a viewer for one of the most selfless things any character has ever done on this show. In a flashback to Michael’s funeral, a tearful Jane walks up to read something she’s written about her late husband. She gets maybe a sentence through before breaking down.
So Rafael, the jealous, scheming, jilted lover, stands up, grabs the paper out of the woman he loves' hands, and begins reading. He stands there, eulogizing his romantic rival and enemy all in the name of allowing Jane’s words about her husband, about the man she chose instead of him, could be spoken to the world. It’s a truly transcendent moment of television, and an act of pure, selfless kindness. It’s a difficult scene to watch without crying.