Once Again
Episode 11 of Virgin River Season 4 starts with Preacher taken aback by Paige appearing at his door. She meets Julia, briefly, who decides to ditch so the pair can talk in private. Alone, Paige admits that she’s phoned Vince and has cut a deal. She’ll give herself up in exchange for him releasing Christopher. Vince is also staying at the mountainside cabin in Trinity County. When Preacher finds out, he gets a hold of the coordinates and scouts out the area. When he heads back to the cabin later in the episode, Preacher finds Christopher waiting for him. It turns out Paige willingly went with Vince and he handed over the boy without an issue. In a letter, Paige urges Preacher to raise Christopher. Oh. 11 episodes of build up and that’s it? Jack wakes up from his nightmare, having seen his brother on the roof with him as kids, the latter falling off. It’s a painful memory he’s kept repressed for a while and it all comes tumbling out in a flurry of emotion. When Jack composes himself, he brings up to Mel how he has unprocessed grief, and Barry’s sessions appear to be helping to bring that out to the surface. Jack also admits that the day of Joey’s wedding, he found an old photo and that brought up painful memories, which could well be what set him off and why he missed the wedding. Mel promises to support him, as the pair are clearly back on the same page. At the clinic, a distant Cameron decides to stock up the cupboards and fridge. He’s also brought a fancy fan for the office too. Being distant with Mel is actually as a result of him overhearing about Mel’s pregnancy. He’s been awkward about it and didn’t know how to bring it up. It’s clear he’s jealous, especially if his face is anything to go by. Anyway, he eventually oversteps his boundaries and speaks to Mel about Jack’s alcoholism. Cameron is concerned that Jack won’t be a good father, worried that he won’t be there for the kids. Given his own ex-fiancé was an alcoholic too, he has experience with this. Mel has heard enough and walks away, telling him they should be just co-workers from now on. Brady shows up at the clinic and talks to Mel about Brie’s past. Brie doesn’t know he’s there. Brady admits that he has a lot of pent-up rage but he doesn’t know how to help Brie work through her issues. Mel hands over a pamphlet that has useful information for rape victims and encourages him to be supportive to whatever Brie wants to do. Over at the bar, Jack tells Brie that Mel is pregnant. Brie is happy for her brother and encourages him to open up if she needs anything. Outside, he speaks to Nick who decides to invest triple what he initially agreed to help him out with the glamping business. Lizzie confronts Denny about his hot/cold behaviour toward her (which is still going on after 11 episodes!) but he refuses to tell her what’s going on. In fact, he decides they should just be friends and shies away from telling the truth. When he heads home, he collapses in front of Hope and Doc. Meanwhile, Doc takes Hope to the doctor, who confirms that Hope’s injury is affecting her decision making. The doctor suggests a home aide (which she shoots down completely) and then the potential of going to a residential home that specializes in neural trauma. Hope just raises her voice and vehemently declines. Doc is adamant this is going to happen though and warns Hope that this is one argument she is not going to win. Hope speaks to Muriel and vents about this predicament, but she takes Doc’s side and urges her to be grateful that there are people actually caring for her. She should at least give this a chance. Hope decides to rethink her position as a result of this. As the episode closes out, Jack proposes to Mel.
The Episode Review
This season has really been an endurance test of patience. There hasn’t been a whole lot of substantia drama to sink your teeth into, aside from a bit of a spike around episodes 8 and 9 along with the cliffhangers in episode 1. Most of what we’ve seen is formulaic character-driven drama with conflicts that are resolved super quickly without much pizzazz. Elsewhere, we have characters like Hope who have outstayed their welcome and have barely anything to do in the plot now. Most of what we see with her involves Hope being grumpy and distant before conceding. The sudden change in her character around episode 6 or 7 is pretty egregious too, leaning back into how she was before the accident, and there’s just not a whole lot of substance to this angle. Likewise, the drama involving Denny and Cameron have both been dragged out, with the implication for the latter to be a potential love interest for Mel completely petering out without much of an angle. I wouldn’t be surprised if he leaves at the end of the season to be honest. Still, Virgin River continues to meander through its drama and if you’ve made it this far, we’ve got one more episode to go!
