#emilio solano

[phantomstatistician]

Fandom: Jane the Virgin

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Source: AO3

[aparticularbandit]

do you know who i keep forgetting in pre-series solano family shenanigans?  magda. so here are some fun primarily magda + family headcanon for your pre-series solano family needs!

emilio doesn’t like magda.  he likes to pretend she doesn’t exist.  he drinks significantly more whenever she is at family dinners and he leaves significantly earlier so that he doesn’t have to deal with her.  it’s not her face or anything.  she just...reminds him of someone.

rose typically stays later than he does because someone in this family has to keep up appearances, and if it’s not emilio, it’ll be her.  like always.  this is probably part of why he married her.  it’s the whole lawyer thing.

rafael doesn’t dislike magda, but he does wonder why she has to live with them.

rafael and petra live on the top floor of their little house.  magda lives on the bottom floor.  she basically has an entire suite to herself, complete with soundproofing.

magda won’t let petra live completely separate from her, and they do their blackmail business why rafael is out of the house.

petra did slowly start to get out from under magda’s thumb during the first little bit of her and rafael’s marriage.

rafael’s cancer led her back to dependency on her mother because it was within the first five years and prenups probably would have sent all of his money back to emilio without a will.

rafael did make a will, but he split his assets between luisa and petra - luisa gets some of his assets because he loves and supports his sister and also she would probably fall off the wagon again if he actually died and then she wouldn’t be on probation anymore and she would lose her medical license.

madga doesn’t like rose.  something about her makes her uncomfortable.  she talks to her in very short sentences if she has to talk to her at all - and will go out of her way to not talk to her, if she can.

it’s a mutual respect thing.  rose got to emilio before petra could.  alas.  what a disgrace.  petra would’ve been better, but they’ll settle for raf.

she also doesn’t like that petra and rose get along surprisingly well (see below).

she is grateful when raf gets cancer because it kind of fucks with the whole solano family dynamic they had going on and it makes petra crawl back to her.

petra and rose are friends and you will have a hard time convincing me otherwise.

there are too many similarities here for them to have not at least pretended to get along and then just we are the only sane people in this entire family we’re friends now.

...because they really are the only sane people in the entire family.  except for maybe emilio, but he’s an art thief, so....

--and even petra and rose aren’t completely sane so.  they’re just better at looking like it.

magda doesn’t like this because the more petra has a life outside of her, the better petra can be and the more independent she can be, which means magda loses control of her.  even without the blackmail situation, magda’s control of petra has typically been fairly complete.  petra’s relationship first with raf and then with the rest of the solano family crumples that.

this is also another fun potential reason that rafael uses rose as his confidante - rose is a good go-between/mediator when he starts having problems with petra and is trying to figure out what’s up.

she’s friends with petra.

she’s a lawyer.

hubby needs the bestie to get the intel please and thank.

although i don’t necessarily think petra and rose were besties.  rose wasn’t around enough for that (except when raf had cancer, but we’ve addressed how this was problematic for petra).

petra hooking up with zazo was probably madga’s idea.  probably while raf had cancer.  so she had someone else to be with once raf died.

and i do think raf got pretty close to actually legitimately dying.

being put back under magda’s control is the real reason petra has the anti-anxiety meds she mentions in s1 - not because raf has cancer.

there is a real true fear that without raf all of these people will up and leave her.

which is funny because it’s entirely accurate but you know what--

except for luisa, but luisa has her own problems.

magda sees luisa as both the weakest link in this whole operation and her biggest threat.

luisa is always nice to her.  she does not know why.  people shouldn’t be nice to her.  her niceness must be a way of getting something out of her.  she doesn’t know what.

luisa is a doctor and she asks some questions sometimes about madga’s disability and scarring and brings up ideas with her sometimes about ways that therapy, etc. could help or maybe a plastic surgeon could help with her face--

luisa is being nice and helpful with her brother’s mother-in-law.

magda doesn’t actually have a disability and being found out is a problem.

if she can, madga gets luisa to drink.  or she brings up allison.  or she brings up petra’s miscarriage and how unfortunate it was.

magda makes luisa feel bad so that luisa gets distracted with feeling bad and can’t see her for the fraud she really is.

and before you tell me that luisa wouldn’t have caught on, let me point you to s2 and luisa catching onto lachlan’s schemes regarding the soil, whatever, etc. of the other hotel (and then didn’t get to say anything because mutter kidnapped her, which is beside the point) -- she is the only one who caught on and can catch onto things that other people don’t.

this is more than within luisa’s skillset.  i think it’s likely she would’ve caught on eventually.

probably would’ve caught on faster without the whole rose issue, but you know what, these are primarily magda headcanon so.

tl;dr: magda - another reason solano family dinners would be fun!

[iamteamrafandmyteamwon]

It is so sad that Emilio didn’t give a shit about Rafael because he suspected he was not his biological son, and yet Rafael is the one who still mourns him and hates the woman who killed him. And Luisa who Emilio loved and coddled sleeps with his killer and doesn’t give a shit that she killed her father. 

[kengha]

Emilio: I love my sweet little Luisa when she calls me “daddy”.

Rose: Yeah, I know, she's adorable when she calls me daddy, too.

Emilio: What?

Rose: WHAT?

[aparticularbandit]

i know i've talked at length about how supportive rose is of luisa, but i think it's also important to mention how much emilio is as well. what emilio does is focus on the positive - she's not drinking - he makes sure she knows that she's not getting kicked out of the family so that she still has a support system - as opposed to raf, who didn't invite her to emilio's party, and that's something else to unpack - and when she gets out of rehab he's gentle with her.

i have no reason to believe that emilio was unsupportive of luisa.

[aparticularbandit]

[1/2] Hey, do you mind if I ask you about some headcanons you might have for Luisa? I've been rewatching earlier JtV and started wondering about her marriage with Allison, though we don't see much of it. Do you think Luisa stayed with her to get over Rose, or that they really did love each other? Obviously Allison was a sore spot between Roisa, but it surprised me that Rose didn't know about their breakup, because it meant Luisa didn't tell Emilio either!

[2/2] In fact, we never see anyone comfort Luisa about her (assumed) divorce. I know a lot of this is because Luisa’s not a main character, but it made me wonder how close Allison was to the family, and (coupled with the flashback in ch 77) whether Rose ever even met her, since she apparently wasn’t invited to their wedding? It’s so weird that Allison basically never comes up again despite being a huge part of Luisa’s life for years. Anyway, just wondered if you have any thoughts!

i think allison is a particularly, ah, hard spot in terms of general headcanon, for me.  a lot of my thoughts on her have shifted depending on fic or thinking about it too much or writing the characters so long that stuff just changes. and headcanon really should find its roots in canon, so, when looking at allison, we should be looking at the two episodes where we see her and what we learn about her from those episodes (as well as what we hear about her from luisa in chapter fourteen).now, this gets long, so placing it beneath a read more.  and, again, apologies to those of you on mobile if that doesn’t work for you.

as far as canon facts about allison, we get this:

luisa was in a relationship with allison when she met rose.

rose wasn’t there when luisa and rose got married.

allison had an affair.

luisa guessed she was having one.

allison told luisa she was crazy like her mother.

allison tried to apologize the next morning.

allison and luisa did not live at the marbella.

after the divorce, luisa lives at the marbella (or at longbourne or at wherever she is this season) - she doesn’t live in their apartment/house/etc.

additional facts worth remembering:

emilio solano got married and divorced multiple times.

the show doesn’t tell us how many, but this is apparently a frequent occurrence.

petra and rafael’s marriage assumed that she would get nothing from rafael if they got divorced within five years.

rafael tells luisa to leave his marbella party to go home to be with her wife.

luisa was 34 days sober when she met rose.

we don’t see luisa wearing a wedding ring.

additional fun thoughts:

with the exception of rose and allison, luisa has a type.

juicy, susanna, and eileen are all blonde.

juicy and eileen both appear to be spiritual people on the same level that luisa is.

similar.

eileen may be a construct, but she fits the type that rafael would expect from luisa so this is still relevant.

juicy and susanna are both physically active.

juicy is a wrestler.  she’s ripped.  this is obvious.

susanna is a police investigator.  she has to be in shape.

she can also catch fish barehanded.  like yo that’s got to be some physical prowess right there.

and, like with eileen, susanna may be a construct, but she still fits a type and luisa didn’t know she was a construct.

so, all of this together can give us a fairly good idea of some things, assuming we extrapolate from there.

either luisa loved allison or allison fit into her type somewhere (or both).

i tend to think that allison was athletic.  i tend to think she’s a runner/jogger.  she’s fit.  so, in my head, she at least in part fits luisa’s type.

but she’s not blonde, so….

luisa and allison may have had an open relationship.

luisa seems to have no qualms having sex with rose multiple times while in a relationship with allison - and that’s just talking rose and luisa’s first meeting, that’s not including any other trysts throughout the five years between that meeting and the beginning of the series (and going off of luisa’s comments, it is likely there were other trysts, but that’s not part of your queestion).

luisa guessed that allison liked the other girl she was with.

i think luisa was more upset that allison was not open with her.

open relationships rely on trust; allison breaks that trust by 1) lying to luisa about it and 2) implying that luisa is crazy for considering this a thing.

luisa and allison may have had a rocky relationship.

luisa has a girlfriend.  she is 34 days sober.  why is she in a girl bar by herself when she first meets rose?

we can also guess that luisa is only four days out of rehab if we work with the assumption that a rehab would keep her the first thirty days.  not necessarily always true, but tends to be my headcanon.

it is possible that she was supposed to meet allison there, which leads to the following possibilities:

allison stood her up

allison ran into work issues that kept her from getting in touch with luisa

allison and luisa were having the first date post-rehab

which would mean that maybe they were dating before luisa went to rehab

maybe, if they were dating before luisa went to rehab, luisa was unsure of the nature of their relationship post-rehab.

maybe she caught allison with someone else when she got back (not likely, in my opinion)

maybe she wanted to see if she could still hit it off with someone even though she wasn’t drinking

luisa and allison may have had a really quick marriage shortly before the start of the series

if rose wasn’t at luisa’s wedding, then it’s likely emilio wasn’t there either

emilio would have been at luisa’s wedding if he’d had the opportunity

this implies that their marriage was likely both quick and unexpected

rafael told luisa to leave his party to go be with her wife

this is something people say to someone who is newly married

then again, it may be that he’s newly recovered from cancer and she’s been spending time with him instead of with her wife, but i don’t think that’s likely

the solano/alver family is super prepared for divorces but allison still got something out of her divorce from luisa

their residence

although it’s possible that it was allison’s from before they got married - but even so, it seems to me that allison got to keep pretty much everything they, as a couple, had together

allison made bank on that divorce

but not money, probably

if this had been better planned, luisa likely would have had an agreement with allison similar to the one rafael had with petra (which is likely the same one emilio has with his wives)

however, we can also use this to guess that allison and luisa have been married for five years, but given what we know from chapter fourteen and rose’s comment about luisa’s marriage, this is really unlikely

luisa loved allison

i don’t want to say it, but luisa loves easily

as with rose, allison (as we see her in chapter seventy-seven) seems to go against luisa’s type, which means there’s something more than that keeping her around

luisa doesn’t really talk about her mother or her own mental instability often

she talks about a lot of other things, but this seems to be something she keeps close to the chest

luisa told allison

more to the point, luisa seems to have downplayed allison’s comments that she was crazy like her mother, and we know that this phrase is especially problematic for luisa - although it may be that this is just as much as a reminder of allison’s words as it is an indicator of what she’s afraid to be - she does not display this phrase with rose or rafael, but she seems to have done so with allison, so

either allison has to be some level of super important

or luisa is used to allison making these kinds of remarks offhand - which leads back to the rocky relationship point

allison, to some degree, loved luisa

she was around for five years (if we assume they kept in touch throughout the five years between when luisa met rose and the beginning of the series)

either she cared about luisa or she was just after the money

allison doesn’t seem like a gold-digger to me, and since rafael’s struggle with cancer (as well as petra’s miscarriage - which luisa did blame herself for) are both during that time period, allison staying around for all of that (and luisa went back to rehab.  twice) is a pretty clear indicator to me that she did care - it’s important to recognize that, i think

allison was a rock in terms of her relationship with luisa

when luisa turns to rose, rose asks her why 1) she didn’t talk to rafael or 2) she didn’t talk to her wife

this implies that allison is equal to rafael in terms of her relationship with luisa.  she trusts them both equally.

rose comes after the two of them

luisa only turns to rose for things when she cannot turn to rafael or allison - that’s the implication here

now, i do want to go a little further in terms of - i think allison and luisa had a shotgun vegas style wedding and i think they were both drunk.  i think luisa turned to allison for something, and i think she was already drinking (or allison was less firm on the no alcohol at all front than we tend to believe rose is or, if we want to take this in conjunction with luisa still getting drunk when she was with rose, we can see this as luisa is just extraordinarily good at getting alcohol and getting herself drunk even when other people don’t want her to be drinking)–i think the marriage wasn’t intentional.  i think they woke up the next morning hungover and married and they did already love each other so they made the best with what they could.  (or luisa impromptu proposed and did the let’s just get married thing and they just got married with no notice because she didn’t want to deal with the lawyers she knew emilio would want her to get involved as far as prenups.  either of these work.)  i think this is likely why luisa doesn’t have a ring - and, like, it’s blatant that she’s not wearing a ring - in the scene with the party at the marbella where raf tells her to go be with her wife, her left hand is very clearly seen.  no ring.i think allison had met the family but that most of them were preoccupied with other things: emilio got married to rose; rafael got married to petra; petra had her miscarriage; rafael had cancer; rafael got the marbella - i think she was around but she was luisa’s person in a way that kept her…separate.  if that makes any sense.i do think she and rose met, because it’s hard for me to imagine that luisa and allison were together that long without them meeting once - but if we go direct quote, rose says she would like to meet her (in chapter seventy-seven), so this would imply that they probably haven’t met - which, i mean, this could be consider indicative of the strength of luisa and allison’s relationship (maybe its strength isn’t that good, since she hasn’t met rose) or it could just be indicative of rose avoiding meeting allison for as long as possible or luisa keeping allison away from rose for as long as possible (and of these, i think this latter is most likely).as far as comforting her on her divorce - it was a quick marriage and they likely didn’t expect it to last, even if luisa and allison had been together (or in even just in touch, as friends) for five years.  the solanos (and probably luisa, to some degree) don’t seem to put much stock in marriage lasting.  luisa was also basically ostracized from the family - rafael didn’t want anything to do with her (because jane), if the pilot script is anything to go by petra hates her (who knows why? and i don’t necessarily think this is the case - but they rarely have scenes together where petra’s not trying to manipulate her for whatever reason) and let’s be real petra’s having her own problems (getting her own divorce from rafael, the murder of her boyfriend, she’s being blackmailed, etc.) - emilio probably did comfort her to some degree - but given that rose seems to be the only one who understands everything that luisa is going through and noticing it (rafael’s nonchalant “oh, yeah, luisa’s probably on a bender because she hides when she drinks” as though rose wouldn’t know that - who in this family cares about luisa?  emilio does as much as he can, but his ways of helping don’t really work with luisa or rafael, which leaves rose.  and we know how rose comforted her.  like, the solano/alver’s history of emotional support is shitty at best, and whatever happened may have been off-screen if at all.possibly during the two weeks that we don’t see while we wait for jane’s artificial insemination to take root - there was a two week time jump there, even if luisa does still refer to allison as her wife immediately after that (so - not a super quick divorce, but there’s no reason to believe they dragged it on).  but i feel like that would have been the time most likely for family members to have comforted her, and since we did skip that time period, that may be why we don’t see it on-screen at all.  after that, everyone’s so caught up in everything going on that they wouldn’t have even thought of it (emilio, at least, makes sure that luisa knows she’s still included in the family and that he’s glad she isn’t drinking).–i think that covers what you wanted?  i hope?  maybe?  if not, feel free to ask for more.  ^^

[aparticularbandit]

EMILIO WAS REYNALDO RAFAEL SOLANO AND HE WAS IN HIS EARLY SIXTIES.

i feel so validated with these ages also EMILIO IN EPISODE ONE WOULD HAVE BEEN INTERESTING?

[aparticularbandit]

imagine luisa alver and rafael solano knowing the entire thriller dance by heart and whenever it turns and they’re together they just break out into the motions and end up back to back and just laughing when they bump into each other but it’s this entire routine. this is of course played at rafael’s wedding and would definitely be played at luisa’s if she has a reception, especially after emilio’s death - a brother-sister dance to take the place of the father-daughter dance she will never have.

imagine luisa alver teaching the thriller dance to a tiny rafael solano so he grows up knowing it and in fact cannot remember a time when he did not know it because it was ingrained in him from the time he could walk. somehow elena didn’t notice. she was on the phone a lot. sometimes rafael would try to pull her into the room with his chubby kid fingers, but she wouldn’t dance that with them, as much as she loved him. emilio would come into the scene of them dancing, and while he wouldn’t do thriller with them, he would do other things. luisa and rafael would begin their dance parties with thriller as a show for whoever was watching, and then they would all dance together.

imagine luisa alver, five years old, sitting in the living room with her mother, watching tv as the thriller music video comes on for the first time ever and she’s terrified and doesn’t want to sleep by herself. she sleeps with her mommy, but the very next day mia alver and luisa alver learn the dance because while luisa slept, mia found her vcr recording of the music video (because she’d gotten in the habit of recording michael jackson’s music videos because she loved them and she had a silly celebrity crush don’t judge her) and painstakingly learned all of the motions so that whenever luisa heard the song again she wouldn’t think of the scary video but of dancing with her mom. emilio came home to them perfecting the dance and mia roped him into dancing with them and as she grows up this is the way that luisa remembers the dance, her parents dancing together only a few months before her mother begins hallucinating and dies.

imagine rose solano has heard the song a thousand times but it came out while she was still a toddler and so she never learned the dance. there’s not much partying - not like that - while she’s married to emilio, but rafael tells her about it so that she can cheer luisa up while he’s in the hospital with cancer. someone has to make sure she’s okay and not drinking again, and rose is the best option for that. she is her sponsor after all. rose fumbles through trying to learn the dance and luisa catches her at it. rafael thought it would help, but it doesn’t.

imagine luisa alver making sure to teach rose all of the motions while they live in the caymans because she wants to do the thriller dance with her brother but he hates her and she’s stuck on that island unable to see him except for moments at a time.

imagine luisa alver teaching little mateo the thriller dance the first time she’s able to have him over to see her, the first time she’s allowed to watch him by herself without rafael’s supervision, and he goes home and immediately shows his mommy the new dance he just learned and luisa’s not a tooth fairy but she becomes a real person and when jane makes sure mateo shows his daddy the dance, too, rafael remembers that he doesn’t remember a time knowing that dance. and the next time the family is together, mateo says he has to show auntie luisa a dance and the whole villanueva family - by which we mean jane and xiomara and rogelio - end up doing the dance with them (because xo was seven and rogelio was close and they remember) and it’s a huge family bonding moment. but there is no rose, just like there was no rafael, just like there is no mia, so it isn’t as amazing as she knows that it should be.

imagine luisa alver knowing that the thriller dance means that someone isn’t there dancing with her ever since her mother died.