#river fields

His first reaction after discovering he had a daughter is going absolutely crazy needing to see and interact with her. It’s not running away, it’s not being scared or neglectful. He loves and supports Jane even after he learns that she doesn’t share his artistic passion for show business and continues to give her his best interpretation of love and support, even if it fails to actually help her - he’s by far the most vocal of her immediate family in how great of a writer she is, even if it’s a skill he can’t immediately relate to. When she didn’t feel comfortable calling him “dad”, he didn’t push. He just wants to be there for her, he just wants to be her father. He never ever uses her as his emotional support tool, despite how dramatic he can be. She’s his daughter and he’s her father.

There are so many reasons any other show would’ve portrayed Rogelio and Alba as bickering frenemies who are barely civil - but Rogelio respects her. He respects her not only as Xiomara’s mother but as an individual in her own right. They have a special bond and connection as people who have had firsthand experience with the exclusion and prejudice first generation immigrants face. They’ve experienced real poverty and though they’ve made very different life choices they both respect each other so much and there’s so much kindness and shared pain between the two.

Though we don’t see much of Valeria and Victoria in the later seasons, we know that Rogelio keeps contact with his stepdaughters and they’re an important part of his life - which, again, is uncommon to see a stepfather embrace in media. He’s not scared of being “stuck with them” but cares about them and their feelings and when Jane points out they might feel left out by their new connection, he goes out of his way to correct it - even if it’s in a way that doesn’t deal with the heart of the issue, he had good intentions. I wish we’d seen more of them later.

Sure, he has his flaws, but he always tries his best to be there for Baby. He loves her just as intensely as he loves Jane and we can see that while they may be apart, and it seems like Darci has primary custody, he longs to be with her and appreciates her and sees her as a gift, not a burden or an accident!

Even if the relationship was short and tempestuous, Rogelio never once doubted Darci as a mother and how much she loves and cares for Baby - he’s respected her and her boundaries when it comes to childcare more than some of the other male characters in the show.

Sure, his professional relationship with River Fields is also complicated and they’re bickering rivals - but when the chips are down, they really do respect each other as artists and decided to come together to promote equal pay for artists in both racial and gendered grounds. They’re both bombastic and a little self-involved, but at the end of the day, there’s a kinship there, even if begrudging.

And of course, saving the best for last, Xiomara! They ar some of the healthiest straight relationships I’ve ever seen, period. He just. She’s so much to him. You can tell he truly sees her as beautiful and irreplaceable and no matter how many times there’s been circumstances where he had to abstain from sex for her sake he was perfectly willing to do it with no follow-up questions. Sure, he expects her to be there for him, and he’s there for her in return. There’s so much love in his eyes when he looks at her and I can’t even talk about it because frankly if I’m ever loved by someone half as deeply as Ro loves Xo I should could myself lucky.