This post contains spoilers for Virgin River season 5 episode 9, Angel’s Peak.
The heroes of Virgin River have a lot on their plates in the penultimate episode of season 5, part 1.
Between Jack who begs Mel to explain her change of heart and Vernon who wants to find out why Rose hid his son from him for 50 years, people are looking for answers. Will they all get to hear what they want?
Let’s recap this new episode of Virgin River season 5...
Out of the darkness
As much as Jack wants to give Mel space to heal, he is also eager to talk and figure out what is going on inside her head. After she told him she no longer wants to try to get pregnant, Jack can just feel Mel pulling away and wants her to open up instead. So, when she gets up early to sneak out of the cabin and go for a solo run, Jack manages to convince her to go on a hike with him.
Jack took a page out of Denny’s book and is trying to use nature’s therapeutic vibes to get Mel to work out her feelings. He makes a not-so-subtle comparison between the resilience of the forest and hers, and finally makes her say out loud that she feels awful. She is devastated about the miscarriage and also about tearing down Jack’s dream of being a father. He reminds her there are other ways to have children, but Mel confesses that she always wanted to have a biological child and isn’t thrilled about the idea of adopting or going through surrogacy.
The hike goes on and Mel pours her heart out to Jack, explaining how the loss they just went through (literally, it’s been merely DAYS) is different for her. It’s her fourth miscarriage after all, and she feels like now is the time for her to find out what her path is meant to be if she isn’t meant to be a mother. Jack keeps trying to push the topic and at some point Mel is fed up with it. As their argument seems to be at a standstill, Jack realizes they have another problem: they were supposed to be hiking towards Angel’s Peak… and now they are lost.
Soon enough the heavens open and rain starts pouring down on the couple, and Mel wonders why they seem to only attract misfortune. The two of them end up laughing in the rain and when the weather clears up, Jack notices the trail’s sign and they continue making their way up the mountain.
When they reach Angel’s Peak and take in its gorgeous view, Jack tells Mel about the state he was in when he first moved to Virgin River. At the time, he was immensely depressed but found his way out of the darkness. Convinced she can too, he tells her they can still have the future they wanted, it will just look a little different. It looks like nature-therapy worked, because Mel admits she still wants them to have a family as they embrace.
Leaving the past behind
While Mel and Jack are off into the woods, Doc and Hope prepare for Grandma Rose’s visit. Hope is getting all worked up about it and ready to serve Rose her most burned up scones, but Vernon begs her to be cordial. When Rose arrives, Hope gives her a stern welcome and is still struggling to keep her cool when she, Doc, Denny and Rose are all sitting awkwardly in the living-room a few moments later.
Seeing that Vernon and Rose need some space to talk, Denny and Hope leave them to it and plan on meeting them later at Jack’s bar. As much as Denny is happy to have his family all in one place, Vernon and Rose are struggling to get on the same page. When he asks why she kept his son from him for 50 years, she tells him she kept this secret because he dreamt of being a doctor, not a father. That’s not a good-enough reason for Vernon, who insists all he wanted at the time was to be with her and that he would have stood by her side, no matter what. The two of them can’t see the other’s point of view, and they end up unable to resolve the issue.
When Rose shows up at Jack’s bar without Doc, Hope comes to find her husband, who tells her that he is glad of the way his path unfolded because it led him to her. Hope then points out that he does not have to forgive Rose and honestly, it’s a fair point.
Back at the bar, Rose meets Lizzie and can see why Denny is all about her. She wonders if he is sure about not going back to Stanford though, but Denny insists being with Lizzie is all he cares about. Hope and Vernon arrive and he declares that all he cares about now is that Denny is part of his life, so it seems the past can now stay in the past. It’s all nice and well until later that evening, Rose takes Denny aside and tells him she thinks he is making a mistake by staying in Virgin River. Uh-oh, what is Denny going to do now?
Relationships are hard, y’all
This episode of Virgin River is all about people working out their feelings or making their way out of complicated situations. For instance, Cameron and Muriel, who are holding the fort at the clinic while Doc takes care of family matters. The two of them are tiptoeing around each other since their kiss the night before, and doing their very best to convince themselves their connection isn’t worth exploring.
Except it is! Muriel even decides she better move out of his house to avoid temptation!
What are the odds the two of them would find someone they like this much in a town this small! Plus, if they can’t date anyone that has anything to do with the clinic, it reduces their dating pool dramatically, so why not give this a go? The only obstacle in their romantic way is Doc, so they decide to figure something out.
Romance is also very much in the air between Preacher and Kaia, who are preparing for her to leave Virgin River for another assignment. They know it’s coming and want to savor the time they have together. Preacher even goes all out in the kitchen to make her a meal that would make his mother proud and leave Kaia very impressed. But she hardly has time for a bite before Jay shows up at the bar to inform her they are being shipped to fight fires in Alaska. He is even making her team leader! Kaia goes off to pack and she is barely through the door when Jay smugly pulls the “I told you so card” to Preacher, but the latter rises above this and tells him it doesn’t matter who Kaia works with, only who she comes home to. Oh snap!
Brady the good guy
What about the Brady/Brie/Mike love triangle, you might ask? Well, Brie and Mike are busy playing softball while Brady is doing some bookkeeping at the glamping site. He is interrupted by Lark who invites him for dinner and a board game with Hazel later on, and he accepts before taking off to investigate an auto-shop that is retrofitting Jack’s Airstreams. Smelling something fishy there when he looked at the receipt, Brady checks the place out and sees Melissa and her minions building suspicious storage spaces in the seats.
After Brie and Mike got caught up in the rain, and shared a kiss that had viewers collectively sighing “FINALLY”, Brady dressed up as a princess for game night with Lark and Hazel. The young mother is everything but subtle in the way she flirts with Brady, gushing over how he’s good at everything and should be with someone who accepts him for who he is. She doesn't really have time to fully make a move on him before Brady takes off again though, as he clearly isn’t quite over Brie yet, and still has some investigating to do.
Under the cover of the night, Brady sneaks into one of the Airstreams to see what the heck Melissa has been up to. That’s where Jack, back from his hike and making sure everything is alright at the glamping site, finds him: pulling bags of drugs out of the seats. That’s not a great look and Jack only has one question: what the hell is Brady doing?
How is Brady going to get himself out of that one? Will Denny change his mind about staying in Virgin River? Can Kaia and Preach keep seeing each other?
Find out the answers to all your burning questions in the next episode of Virgin River season 5, part 1, now available on Netflix.
