Jack and Mel face heartbreak (again!)
and rely on the kindness of their friends and neighbors (again!)
as the small-town romance returns to Netflix.
Alexandra Breckenridge on ‘Virgin River’.Netflix
When Brie (Zibby Allen) hears the news, she declares, “Ineverliked her.”
And despite his assurances to Mel (Alexandra Breckinridge), Jack’s not handling the news well.
It’s the closest betrayals you never see coming.
Martin Henderson and Benjamin Hollingsworth on ‘Virgin River’.Courtesy of Netflix
Public health and safety message!
But he’s wrong to get snippy when Doc asks him to make coffee now that Mel’s gone.
Better luck not having an abuser for a brother next time, Vince!
Martin Henderson on ‘Virgin River’.Courtesy of Netflix
I bet he’s wishing he hadn’t ended things with Julia quiiiiite so quickly now.
Was it toxic hat exposure?
Brie also has a scary night when someone tosses a rock through the front door of her new apartment.
Annette O’Toole and Tim Matheson on ‘Virgin River’.Courtesy of Netflix
If that woman turns up dead, we’ll all be forced to testify against him.
I mean, did youseethe murderous look on his face?
(Funny, that’s how she felt as she watched him fall in love with Mel.)
Annette O’Toole and Colin Lawrence in ‘Virgin River’.Netflix
And you’re allla la laforgive me??
He offers to be in court when she testifies, but she doesn’t want that big brother protectiveness.
Besides, Brady’s coming with her.
Sarah Dugdale and Kai Bradbury on ‘Virgin River’.Netflix
Jack doesn’t love it but agrees to give Brady another chance at dinner that night.
(The god of vexing side characters is, of course,Ellis.)
But Ava abruptly ends the conversation when Mel pushes her to make a treatment plan.
Gwynyth Walsh, Sarah Dugdale, Annette O’Toole as Hope, Christina Jastrzembska, and Nicola Cavendish on ‘Virgin River’.Courtesy of Netflix
No surprise, the clinic’s struggling a bit in Mel’s absence.
(Fellow educators, did you groan and nod vigorously at that familiar advice?)
Muriel finds Cameron moping and urges him to show Doc a little backbone.
Benjamin Hollingsworth in ‘Virgin River’.Netflix
Hopefully this gets them on a better path.
Alas, it’s not enough; she’s voted out by everyone but Muriel.
Brady tries to warn him off, but Jeb wants the extra money for his family.
Tim Matheson in ‘Virgin River’.Netflix
That’s a heaping helping of guilt he just got served for dessert.
One of her farther-flung patients was evacuating the wildfire danger zone and went into labor on the road.
Afterward, Cameron rambles to Mel about how great Muriel’s been.
Teryl Rothery and Mark Ghanime in ‘Virgin River’.Netflix
Are… are you all seeing this?
You’re all seeing what I’m seeing, right??
Preacher helps them prep, and Connie (Nicola Cavendish) contributes goodies from the bakery truck.
Sarah Dugdale on ‘Virgin River’.Courtesy of Netflix
(Props also to Lizzie for her matter-of-fact mention thatclimate change is linked to the uptick in wildfires.)
Lizzie asks for more time to decide.
Two more events of note come out of the feed-the-firefighters mission.
Preacher, meanwhile, hands over the last foil-wrapped banh mi to firefighter Kaia.
You’re making good choices.
He says spending time in nature can open doors of communication to everything around you.
That’s a mistake, Jack!
“I can handle complicated,” she tells him.
“What I can’t handle is being lied to.”
Alas, the truth does not set him free.
Brie tells him she needs a break and leaves him devastated under the twinkle lights in her backyard.
Episode 4: “Never Gonna Be the Same”
You know what’s missing this season?
Where’s the “what’s going on with Denny?”
The “who shot Jack?”
antennae vibrate even harder.
Kaia and Preacher also have a playful morning.
He even makes her repeat it out loud until she believes it.
Listen, I’m an unabashed four-and-a-half-season-and-counting Brady fan, and Ihatethat he and Brie are on the outs.
But even I can admit that Brie and Mike have great chemistry.
She accepts them but says she doesn’t want him in court with her when she testifies.
Doc and Denny are also out in nature today for a little fly fishing.
He also encourages Denny to grab Lizzie and travel the world, like he’d once planned.
And she’s right!
Hope shouldn’t have been driving!
It breaks the mood and gets the hugs flowing.
She’s a consistent delight.
Did you think I forgot about Jack and Mel?
But babysitting starts to stress her out when Jack seems content to be nothing but good cop.
Mel promises that they’ll be fine raising their kids with structure and freedom and love.
Episode 5: “Trial by Fire”
It’s day seven of the Grace Valley wildfires.
Doc and Cameron leave to help the firefighters, and Mel sends Muriel to triage the waiting patients.
(Muriel had anunder-five roleas a nurse onGeneral Hospital, so she’s up to the task.)
There’s no fetal heartbeat.
I didn’t think the show would go there, but it did.
It absolutely went there.
Jack’s been tasked with evacuating the drug camp, and he grabs Brady to help.
Everyone, that is, but a woman whose 6-year-old is lost in the woods.
(Just kidding; everything I know about firefighting I know from the title of the movieBackdraft.
I actually have no idea what that’s called.)
With no clearance to cut him free, they have to lift him straight up, which ishorrifying.
He barely hesitates before texting, “Wanted you to know I’m thinking of you.
You’re all I’m thinking about.”
As feelings declarations go, that’s a pretty great text.
Nick snaps that this is why Hope’s unfit to be mayor.
The nerve of that guy.
Then again, he’s not wrong about the danger.
As the world burns around Virgin River, Brie’s testifying in her ex’s rape trial.
He’s testifying in a different courtroom, and she’s relieved to see him.
As she talks, we see that heroism happening in Virgin River.
There’s Brady and Jack finding Hazel (Ava Anton) in the middle of a burning forest.
There’s Lizzie and Denny, terrified but still driving through the flames.
There’s Doc and Cameron working to save Jay’s life.
There’s Hope and Preacher watching helplessly as fire consumes everything around them.
Things continue to go south in Virgin River.
The episode ends with Mel wetting a handkerchief and charging into the burning house.
Episode 6: “Heroes Rise”
Things looked dire there, didn’t they?
But Lizzie and Denny are going to be okay.
So are Ava and Chloe and Jay and Hazel.
Also he’s in love with Lizzie.
The good news is that she loves him too, so they’re in it together.
He sends the three of them ahead to the clinic while he lets the animals out of the barn.
Mel doesn’t tell him about the miscarriage.
At the clinic, Ava frets about delivering the news to Tara that the family farm is gone.
We all have our gifts, and identifying the musculature ofOrphan Blackstars is one of mine, I guess.
It’s a burden to place on a grandchild, but sweet Denny agrees.
Yep, she and Jay are married.
Sacramento may be free of wildfires, but the mood’s tense at Mama Sheridan’s house.
Mike kindly says Brady would be there if he could.
At lunch, Amelia raves about Jack’s strength until Mike points out that Brie’s tremendously strong too.
When her mother fails to acknowledge that, Brie gets upset, and Amelia calls her selfish.
Can you blame Brie for storming outside to cool off?
By the end of Mike’s visit, Amelia’s all “Brady who?”
and Brie tells Mike she’s glad she had someone there she could trust.
That plane’s also to blame for dropping a few liters of tears in my eyes.
With that, Nick promises to give Hope back the mayorship.
All it took was a massively destructive fire!
But it’s also full of people who’ll rebuild.
Mel sleeps with the unfinished baby dress in her arms while Jack holds her.
Hope, backed up by Nick, talks to the town about their plans to set things right.
Doc and Cameron also hash things out.
Doc thought he had more time before his eyesight affected his work and stepped back immediately when it did.
That’s a huge commitment, Doc!
Let the man sleep on it!
Cameron then does an amazing double-take at Muriel’s cheesy cat sweatshirt.
Cam says he’d love to have Muriel stay in his guest room, and she eventually agrees.
Speculation corner: where the heck was Tara this season?
Was Farber busy with other projects, so the show created another daughter to carry this farm plot?
Afterward, Kaia forces Preacher to stop ignoring her texts and talk to her.
Preacher wants that too, and they get to kissin'.
Hey, there’s Jay on crutches!
I’m already wondering which Virgin River lady he’ll pair up with once he’s divorced.
Sorry to the single women of Virgin River!
This man thinks he’s still taken.
Virgin River has a mayoral chief of staff?
Apaidmayoral chief of staff?
Isn’t this a town of like 600?
That can’t possibly be an actual position, let alone a paid one.
Heck, I assumed the mayorship was basically a volunteer thing as well.
Regardless, Lizzie’s thrilled, Denny’s job-hunting, and they’re gonna be together and happy.
Cameron’s also making career moves, accepting Doc’s offer after deciding that small-town life makes him happy.
Well sure, now that Muriel’s his roommate… Jack does and reflects on the loss of the father-daughter dances and Little League games that never were.
He was angry with Charmaine about the twins, but there’s nobody he can blame for this.
He agrees for Brie’s sake.
Mike then brings Brie the news that her ex was found guilty on all counts.
She’s glad, although it doesn’t wipe away the trauma she experienced.
Still, how great that she found somebody to talk to.
His past is costing him the relationships he’s fighting desperately to keep.
It’s exactly what Melissa wants, so Brady accepts.
When he lunges at Mike, Brie’s had it and ends things with him.
I get it, but I also hate it.
Episode 8: “Full Moon”
Beware that Virgin River full moon.
It’ll put ideas in your head and might even make you run a little wild.
Mel, for example, begins the day with an energetic solo dance party to Lizzo.
Uhhh, pardon me?
How much time has passed since her miscarriage, a couple of days?
A week or two?
Take a seat, Jack.
The woman needs time.
Fishing with Doc helps.
It’s quiet and there are no expectations on her.
She catches a fish and agrees to come back to the clinic as part of the Cameron take-over plan.
At lunch, the gossip is all about Muriel moving in with Cameron.
And then they kiss.
IT HAPPENED!!!
Preacher and Kaia are also facing a work dilemma.
(Preacher wouldnever.)
Lizzie’s living her professional dreams in tweed dress shorts on her first day as mayoral chief of staff.
Wait, her first day’s gotta be close on the heels of the clothing drive, right?
Y’all, I CANNOT.
Denny’s created a slogan for their partnership: “Hope and Liz mean biz.”
Denny’s search for a job in Virgin River isn’t going well.
Despite him researching the 40 different types of wrenches who knew?
his interview at Bert’s auto shop is not a success.
(At least it isn’t a total loss; Bert’s wife sends him home with cobbler.)
The bigger news from Denny is that Grandma Rose wants to come and visit.
Time for another cop/CI lakeside meeting!
Mike, in turn, swears he didn’t engineer that courthouse run-in with Brie.
This is clearly going to become A Thing, isn’t it?
I guess Brady’s boarding a new ship, too.
When Jack discovers Lark and Hazel, he decides to let the displaced residents move into the empty trailers.
We don’t know when or why he decided to ditch the recording gear, butwhew.
Lark wants her daughter to grow up around good men.
“They can’t all be like you,” she tells Brady admiringly.
He can’t handle her high opinion and bails.
Brie’s having more luck moving on with Mike over a Dodgers game at her place.
Wasit an overreaction though?
Violence is no bueno, but his hurt and anger come from a completely understandable place.
They write down what’s in their hearts and take turns burning them in Brie’s little fire pit.
For Brie, it’s saying goodbye to Brady.
And for Mel, it’s her fear of getting pregnant and losing the baby again.
“I think I’m done.”
Things do not improve from there.
She scoffs at his unsubtle metaphor.
As Mel drags herself through the woods, Jack makes her explain her change of heart.
So she’s trying to get on board with the new plans fate has for her.
And then it opens up and pours.
But the rain breaks the tension, and soon they’re laughing together.
Jack navigates them to the summit of Angel’s Peak, where Mel is suitably impressed by the view.
He tells her that in the middle of his darkest moments, he decided to keep going.
And so can she.
Their family might look different or be on a different time frame, but it can happen.
“I still want it,” Mel agrees.
Sooo… yay for hiking?
A bird lands on the chair next to her as a cover ofSongbirdplays.
Was it a message from her mom?
A symbol of her renewed hope?
Nature telling her it’ll all be okay?
Mel has an answer to that in her heart, and I bet you do too.
Doc’s direct about wanting to know why Rose kept his family from him.
Also, this is a weak argument.
Why not reach out to Doc after he’s done with med school and has established his practice?
And Hope reminds him that he’s not obligated to forgive Rose.
Doc and Hope show up next to slide into the booth, and everyone apologizes and makes nice.
Unspoken is “with that dark-eyebrowed hussy,” but the implication is there.
I do not like Grandma Rose.
Leaving Virgin River’s also the elephant in the room for Preacher and Kaia.
She scampers off to pack.
Geez, lady, could you not take five more minutes to finish your meal?
Preacher worked hard on that!
I wanted to love you, Jay.
Why you gotta be like this?
The problem, of course, is Doc.
Brie and Mike are also moving forward thanks to his performance at her company softball game.
The man played varsity ball and shows up guns out in a tank top.
Brady’s also moving forward, playing a princess board game with Lark and Hazel.
(I love it when you’re able to tell that an actor likes working with kids.
And again I ask, how much time has passed since the clothing drive and now?
Weren’t Brie and Brady exchanging “I love you’s” just a few episodes ago?
Take some time to be single, you two!
Buy yourself flowers and hold your own hand and all that!
Lark is… fine.
After leaving game night, Brady does some CI work.
While he was entering the receipts into a spreadsheet earlier Brady’s an Excel guy!
Not a great look for someone trying to prove he’s turning over a new leaf!
Episode 10: “Labor Day”
Last episode (for a bit)!
Jack follows the vehicle, calling Mike en route to the auto body shop.
He declines that offer, so she tells her goons to make it hurt.
Not my curly-haired boy!
The truck driver who accidentally fentanyl’d Bert grabs a gun and tries to make one last stand.
He and Mike fire at the same time, and they both drop to the ground.
When Brady peers into Mike’s room, he’s hurt to see Brie holding his hand.
She follows Brady into the hallway, and the two of them break upfor realfor real this time.
It was your new boyfriend!
She says she’ll love him forever, but everything’s changed for her after this.
Brady accepts her decision and leaves.
Because this feels awfully haphazard.
Justice for Brady, is what I’m saying.
At least life at the clinic looks promising.
Doc’s silence turns out to be excitement, which is such great growth for him.
As long as they’re profesh at work, he says, they can go for it.
Apparently Jay went ballistic when she told him, which is satisfying to hear.
More good news: Mike wakes up, so everyone can hit the Labor Day carnival without guilt.
Mike insists that Brady’s the real hero for volunteering to go undercover to bust the drug ring.
Brie’s all “that’s cool, but it changes nothing.”
Brady looks like he’s having a ball riding rides with Lark and Hazel.
So that’s great!
Congrats to all the new happy couples!
Excited for these two.
Get after it, ya crazy kids!
Hope vows to stay by his side, declaring “Your life is my life.
Your heart is my heart.”
Wishing nothing but the best for these crazy kids too!
Denny and Lizzie’s night goes in a different direction.
But Lizzie’s got a bombshell of her own: she thinks she’s pregnant.
Wow is thatnotthe storyline I was wanting for them.
Although it does support Mel’s birthing center idea, I suppose.
The bigger question is how Kaia’s going to react when she inevitably learns the truth.
You want a little more truth?
And are you ready for this?
(No, but seriously, I do think he’s actually dead.
No conspiracy theories here!)
Calvin (David Cubitt) is alive, and it looks like Charmaine’s coming back for season 6.
Heck, they could even get married there too.
Jack’s all in.
But we’re not done yet!
So the show leaves us with another paternity cliffhanger, to be resolved (we hope!)
on Nov. 30, when Netflix drops a pair ofVirgin Riverholiday episodes.
