Breaking Point
Episode 7 of Virgin River Season 2 begins with Doc and Mel delivering a baby in the clinic. Meanwhile, Jack shows up late to work and brushes aside Preacher’s concerns. He’s going to make a birth plan with Charmaine later in the day and for now it seems like the pair are back on the same page and pressing ahead with becoming a family. When the sheriff shows up at the bar, he reveals they found a body up in the woods. Preacher immediately becomes concerned but manages to put on a better poker face this time as he learns the victim will be named later on once they’ve got the coroner’s report. At the clinic, Doc decides to take Hope out and although she remains hesitant, eventually she agrees to his date proposal. Ricky meanwhile heads back to the bar and it turns out he’s absolutely fine after their incident on the road. He even vouches for Lizzie too, telling Jack that she wasn’t with him. Jack tries to get through to him but Rick’s having none of it, lashing out at Jack for giving him relationship advice when he’s stuck in a love triangle. Jack shows up late to the clinic and the truth about Jack and Mel being together in the woods at night is revealed. Charmaine is understandably annoyed and calls Jack out for his lies. Things are obviously tense between them as they sit and stew over this news. Meanwhile, Connie visits Preacher who we see in a brief flashback disposed of Wes’ body by putting him in the car and pushing it down a steep hill to make it look like he had a car crash. With no tyre tracks to confirm braking and a dodgy injury on the back of his head, Connie is confident they can cover this up. Preacher decides that if the sheriff calls him in as a witness, he’ll admit to murder. Wait…what? Anyway, more on this in the review portion. Continuing on… Later that day, Mel confronts Jack about him lying to Charmaine. Jack admits that he did it to protect her feelings but that’s obviously caused some issues. Eventually Mel heads in and breaks some home truths of her own about the failed pregnancy and horrible ordeal she went through in the hospital. It’s a tragic story and one that sees her connect with Charmaine on a different level than we’ve seen previously. This helps them come up with an amicable birth plan that works for them all – even Doc who chimes in and listens to their plan. Afterwards, Mel catches up with Jack and thanks him for his support in Virgin River. He’s one of the reasons she’s still standing there and they obviously have a lot of respect for one another. Hope heads to Jack’s Bar and tries to reserve a table with Doc for that evening. She’s finally decided to open up about their relationship. While Hope has chosen the bar in town, Doc has a reservation somewhere a little more lavish which she hastily agrees to. When they get there, it turns out Muriel recommended the place and she takes a seat at their table too. She immediately causes a rift to grow between the pair and Hope excuses herself when Muriel continues to talk and doesn’t stop. Eventually she does though when Hope kisses Doc on the mouth. Later that evening, the sheriff reveals that the dead body they found is Leo, the man who attacked Mel earlier in the season with a knife. He allows Jack to keep the photo and it turns out they have no suspects right now. Because of that, they’re combing through the woods to try and find more clues. Of course, that could lead them to Wes. Mel receives a crucial letter at hers while Brady shows up at Jack’s bar asking for help. He wants Jack to try and convince Lilly to sell up her farm and believe Jack’s jealous because Brady’s now making more money than him. When Jack shows the autopsy photo, he suspects Calvin is involved and warns Brady about taking over given the sort of people he’s mixed up with. That evening, Preacher visits Connie again and together decide to go with Plan B – building an alibi for him and Paige. In the morning, Jack visits Mel and finds out what her mail says. Apparently it’s a life insurance letter, forwarded on from LA regarding Mark. As she begins sobbing, Jack holds her in his arms.
The Episode Review
So the contrived murder story continues as Preacher dives deeper down the rabbit hole he himself willingly tumbled down. Now he and Connie are concocting a whole elaborate scheme to explain what’s going on, it just makes the entire situation that much more contrived and ridiculous. And why have none of Wes’s fellow officers gone looking for him? And does no one care that Paige has just left her bakery and disappeared? Still, the love triangles continue to dominate large portions of this season. With Brady no longer an issue with Lizzie, she’s instead turned her attention to Ricky essentially quitting this love triangle before it even begins. Mel admitting the truth to Charmaine about her past though is a nice touch and arguably the big highlight of the whole season so far. It’s such a tragic story she has and with Charmaine now understanding her a bit better, all that’s left is for Mel and Jack to get back together again and cause even more drama. Even this far down the line you can see that’s where this season is going. Still, onwards we march!
