Some Of These Reddit Theories About Michael On 'Jane The Virgin' Are Upsetting

This one seems kind of a given, since nearly all of the fishy goings-on in Jane the Virgin involve Rafael and Luisa's evil stepmother. Nevertheless, all signs seem to point to Sin Rostro, aka Rose. Reddit user ilovebroadwayy was one such Rose truther, saying, "Some of you may be forgetting she is the one that told Rafael that about Michael. So, did she say more the Raf on the phone other than what we heard? Because she is Sin Rostro, she knows better than to let them find Michael unless she somehow wanted to toy with them."

Many fans have had this amnesia theory, including hitmonchanlee, who laid out several predictions in a long Reddit diatribe. This would explain why Jane's husband has stayed away for the past four years. After all, Jane the Virgin even foreshadowed as much with the amnesia subplot on Rogelio's remake of The Passions of Santos telenovela.

Jane the Virgin has always been about the push-and-pull between Rogelio and Michael. But although Michael and Jane were technically married before this all went down, she's had four years to grieve and move on. And in that time, she and Rafael have created a life together.

A since-deleted Reddit user theorized that Jane would try and work things out with Michael but would ultimately go back to Rafael. This would make sense with the narrative arc of the show, although Team Michael fans may be displeased with this particular theory.

Do we smell a Biblical reference? Des1368 laid it all out in a thoughtful post, describing that the last day viewers saw Michael in Season 4, Jane told her husband that she'd packed him a lunch, which included an apple. "As he leaves the camera zooms out and slightly shows apples on the table, they are yellowish red apples," the user described. "In the scene where Michael looks at the picture of him and Jane, it shows the apple that Jane packed for him, its [sic] completely red. Then in the scene where he dies and the lunchbox falls there is no apple at all, so he ate it. I feel like maybe thats how Rose got to Michael and sedated him or whatever she did to kidnap him."

Rafael's sister has been hiding out, away from her dangerous ex-girlfriend/stepmother. But perhaps Rose stayed true to her word and brought Michael "back from the dead" after Rafael wouldn't give up Luisa's location. "Rose knows that Rafael loves Jane, but knows that Jane loved Michael, and married him," Dftbashley pointed out. "She spent a LOT of time around Michael, and understands the relationship he had with Jane. Undoubtedly Rose also knows (she has spies everywhere man) that Rafael and Jane are now happy together, and the one thing that could completely nuke that is if Michael came back."

It's a theory that's just ridiculous enough to be true.

Rose is in prison, and Luisa is seemingly safe from her ex-girlfriend, but what if this whole Michael disappearance is all an elaborate ruse to get her back? "When we think about Rose's ultimate motivation — Luisa — what are the lengths she is willing to go (title of the manuscript Jane holds while giving her last goodbye to Michael) to get her happily ever after?" user hitmonchanlee speculated. "The obstacles are Michael and Rafael, who at that point Luisa still wants to have a relationship with."

Lest we forget that Sin Rostro specializes in disguises, it's not outside the realm of possibility that this is actually someone else masquerading as Michael. "With all the plastic surgery and fake faces, couldn’t this be another one of Rose's people?" rjoyfult wrote. "In any other show I'd feel like that was too much of a stretch, but that could totally fit the storyline." Furthermore, ZaktheRipper said that perhaps this version of Michael is actually his brother in disguise.

"Since Michael has returned, what if Jane decides to not choose anyone?" MysticalFrost theorized. "What if this is just way too hard of a choice? The love of her life from the past, who she mourned and has come to accept that he was gone forever, and now her new love, the man she was so excited to marry and move forward with in life.... What if it's just too damn hard to choose anyone at this point, so she just chooses no one?"

It's a nice thought, but this theory may not hold water. As Reddit user Elia_M pointed out, Jane the Virgin showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman told Deadline back in 2018, "Telenovelas structurally end with weddings so ours will as well. Whether it's in the last episode or close thereabouts, that I can't quite reveal, but Jane will get married again."

Is it too wild to theorize that Michael was in on this whole thing? "Personally, I think Michael was so involved in the Sin Rostro case that it put him and his family at risk," Reddit user giannini3 wrote. "He has left once before to protect Jane but now he is married and it isn't that simple. If he was put in witness protection then he couldn't talk to anyone. He would have a new identity. Jane would be heartbroken and would want to go with him and take Mateo. Jane couldn't take Mateo without Rafael but he also wouldn't leave the twins. So Michael knew all this and then didn't want to put Jane through this so he chose the lesser of two evils."

To take it one step further, Redditor tangerines-are-tasty theorized that Michael was Rose's henchman from the very beginning of Jane the Virgin, and falling in love with Jane was a total accident.

"[Michael] has amnesia and doesn't/won't remember Jane at all," silpidc theorized. "While he was recovering, he fell for someone else (maybe a nurse?). He and Jane will try to make it work for a while but ultimately, he's not the same person without his memories and both of them are now in love with other people."

While this is not the ideal scenario for Michael fans, it sounds like a fairly satisfying ending for everyone. After all, Jane has moved on, so why can't he?

Like other theories, glo1770 starts by predicting that Jane and Michael will try to make things work, but that's where things deviate. "During this time, they will have sex and Jane will get pregnant," the Reddit user continues. "For whatever reason, maybe it doesn't work out because of Michael's amnesia. She goes back to Rafael but then finds out she's pregnant and Michael eventually gets his memory back and they get back together."

Would it be too far-fetched to predict that our protagonist will have one child from each of her love interests by the time Jane the Virgin is all said and done? It would certainly be a very telenovela thing to do, and as several articles have hinted, Season 5 goes back to the beginning. In fact, Urman said in an interview with TVLine that there would be a pregnancy this season — could that be Jane? What's more full-circle than a pregnancy at both the beginning and end of the series?

But whatever ends up happening in Jane the Virgin Season 5, it promises to be a story to remember. "It's some of our best stuff ever," Urman said in the same Deadline interview. And if there are still some loose ends, there's always the spin-off, Jane the Novelas, which can perhaps shed some light on any remaining questions.