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In recent episodes, it's seemed like Jane The Virgin was losing its telenovela edge. But the Season 4 finale was a brutal reminder that fans are never safe from highly dramatic surprises. Major spoilers for the Jane The Virgin Season 4 finale ahead. In the last moment of the episode, Michael returns to Jane The Virgin. About four years in the characters' timeline have passed since his death, so it was a huge shock to see Brett Dier back on the series. These theories about Michael on Jane The Virgin may help explain just how he (or someone who looks like him, at least) has ended up back in Jane's life again.
What viewers know for certain is fairly limited. In "Chapter 80," Rose told Rafael that she had information that was going to change his life forever. And based on that epic Season 4 ending, Rose presumably tells Rafael in "Chapter 81" that Michael is still alive. It's likely that Rafael then seeks out Michael for himself without telling Jane. So when Jane arrives at Rafael's apartment to be proposed to, she sees her dead husband standing there.
Michael doesn't say anything and no one ever says specifically that Michael is alive. So there is a chance that Dier showing up doesn't really mean that Jane's husband didn't die for real in the middle of Season 3. Fans will have to wait for Season 5 to find out what exactly is happening, but one of these theories just might be the solution to Michael's reappearance.
1He Was Deep Undercover
In Season 2, Michael disappeared for six months after he was fired from the police department. But his firing was an elaborate coverup so that he could investigate Sin Rostro. Once Rose presumably died, Michael came back to Jane and confessed he had pushed her away to protect her. Could he have been doing the same thing again, but this time for years? Before his death, Michael was off the police force for not being able to pass his physical. And Jane wasn't present for his death — she just received a phone call that he died after he took the LSAT. Perhaps his death was a ruse for him to go deep, deep undercover. But, if that's the case, could Jane really ever forgive Michael for hurting her like that? Even if it was done in an effort to protect her and Mateo?
2Side Characters Have Been In On The Coverup
Remember Michael's partner Dennis? Rafael's girlfriend Abbey? Rafael's private investigator Elvis? Well, even before the Season 4 finale, people had theorized that these characters from Season 3 were involved in covering up the fact that Michael was still alive for police business. Hypable theorized that Michael's partner Dennis was in on it since he used his friendship with Jane to look at Michael's files. And blogger Nelou Keramati proposed Abbey and Elvis entered Rafael's life as a way to get information for Michael too.
3Elvis Was Michael
Keramati theorized that Elvis could have even been Michael — and she's not the only one. A writer for The Unbalanced suggested the Elvis-is-Michael theory a few months earlier. Michael may have gotten himself hired by Rafael using one of Sin Rostro's face masks to investigate Rose without revealing that he was alive. After all, Elvis was helping Rafael track down Rose by monitoring Luisa.
4It's An Imposter
Speaking of Sin Rostro's face masks, Rose is the one who told Rafael that Michael was still alive. She's far from trustworthy — and she's also the master of fake disguises. So is the Michael in Rafael's apartment at the end of Season 4 even really Michael? Could it be a person wearing his face to further trick Rafael and Jane?
5He Has An Identical Twin Brother
Michael has a brother named Billy, who appeared back in Season 1. But could he also have an identical twin brother? It's a classic telenovela twist that has been utilized by Jane The Virgin a number of times, like with Roman and Aaron Zazo and Petra and Anezka. The man being Michael's twin brother seems kind of outrageous, but the narrator has said before that "Michael and Petra's fates are linked." So maybe, Michael's twin is impersonating him like Petra's twin impersonated her ... that is until Petra killed her.
6Rose Had Kidnapped Michael
When Jane almost loses Mateo on the bus in the Season 4 finale, she tells Rafael over the phone how it brought her back to when Rose kidnapped Mateo as a baby. Rafael seems simultaneously angry and in pain when Jane says this. This might be too literal of an interpretation, but maybe he has that reaction because Rose tells Rafael that she had kidnapped Michael. So rather than Michael being undercover, Rose had been holding him hostage this whole time.
Anything is possible in a telenovela, so any of these theories could pan out. Until Season 5 airs, Jane The Virgin fans can debate whether or not their beloved Michael has really been alive this whole time — and what that means for the rest of the show.
