‘Jane the Virgin’ recap: Right on target

Let’s talk a little bit about product placement.

Recently, “Empire” garnered a lot of attention for a slightly convoluted plot in which one of its characters is filming a Pepsi commercial, which exists in both the world of “Empire” and the real world and is directed by the co-creator of “Empire,” Lee Daniels.

Like I said, it’s slightly convoluted.

The problem with the plot isn’t that it’s odd for an up-and-coming music star to compete for sponsorship deals, but rather that the product placement doesn’t feel like it adds anything to the show.

This is not the case with “Jane the Virgin,” a show that’s always been very upfront (if overzealous) about its relationship with Target.

Jane is obsessed with Target, as plenty of young women in her age and income bracket are. To her mind, it provides economy without sacrificing quality and serves as a dependable constant in her life.

It’s a deeply relatable construct, but perhaps one I am biased toward, given my own crippling dependence on the retailer.

But what’s more interesting than “Jane the Virgin” featuring accurate retail obsessions is the fact that the show uses the retailer to underscore the economic dynamics constantly in play in the show’s universe.

In “Chapter Twenty-Nine,” the Villanueva women (and Mateo) ready themselves to tackle Black Friday at Target, an annual tradition, replete with rules and regulations. Rafael, a Black Friday virgin, will be joining them, and he looks a little overwhelmed by the sheer crush of people around him.

One of the rules of Villanueva Black Friday shopping, as Alba explains in Spanish, is that you must never look in a family member’s cart, lest you see what they’re giving you for Christmas and ruin the spirit of the holiday forever.

From all of this, we can gather that the Villanueva women are thrifty and organized and that they’ve spent many a year scouring Black Friday sales in order to secure a merry Christmas at the best possible price. They are frugal and they know what it is to be forced to live within their very modest means, but they find a way to make the best of it.

Notably absent from the Black Friday shopping trip? Rogelio.

While generally the Villanueva finances are thrown into contrast with Rafael’s millionaire status, this episode it’s Rogelio who provides the wealth disparity. With the death of his Spanish-language “Mad Men” comedy, Rogelio has lost all of his wealth (save for his retirement funds) and is forced to reevaluate his lifestyle.

At first the plot seems designed merely to tweak the ridiculousness of Rogelio’s lifestyle, including “New Pants Wednesdays” which he is loath to do without, but eventually it comes out that Rogelio knows about living a small life on a budget because he has been there before and doesn’t want to go back.

Unlike Rafael, who’s never known poverty in his life, Rogelio is all too familiar with the ramen-eating, efficiency apartment way of life. He is living paycheck to paycheck (granted, the paychecks are for $50,000) but never knows when his next payday will come.

“Jane the Virgin” finds a way to examine both sides of the economic coin, including the panic that accompanies uncertainty either way, and does so in large part thanks to its partnership with the big-box store.

But, given that this is an episode of “Jane the Virgin,” there were also roughly 1,000 other plots going on, including Jane and Rafael trying to find an acceptable babysitter to facilitate their date night, Xiomara selling a song, Michael showing up after six months away (as well as revealing he’s actually working undercover), and Petra having to abandon her blossoming friendship with Jane in order to protect her murderous mother.

All of which led to the final moments, which revealed that Luisa’s mother is not actually dead and is probably at secret war with Rose (which suggests some deeply twisted Oedipal/Electra issues with Luisa, honestly). But more than that, thanks to a handy nanny-cam, Jane learned that Rafael really was responsible for ratting out Michael, so the love triangle is in shambles yet again.

“Jane” returns Dec. 14 for its winter finale. Only time will tell how wacky things will get but it’s a comfort to know that Jane will always have her one true love: Target.

Follow me on Twitter at @midwestspitfire.