All’s Faire
Episode 6 of Virgin River Season 4 begins with this season’s annual themed event. Yep, it’s the Renaissance Fair. Whilst there, Jack ends up running into Chris’ brother, Tim. He’s got a letter Chris wrote for his parents before he was killed. He hands it over and admits he wants to help Jack alleviate some of his guilt and find peace with his family. Meanwhile, Hope shows up with Vernon to the fair. Hey, remember when Hope has said all season long that she doesn’t want to be sociable and head outside? Anyway, she’s absolutely fine now and meets Denny, all smiles and charm. In fact, she decides to let Denny stay at theirs now too. Hope has almost done a 180 and even starts talking to Connie again, who warns that if Hope doesn’t stop blaming Vernon for her problems then her relationship won’t last. Eventually she apologizes for what’s happened and tells Vernon they need to get back to UAW (us against the world), she even promises to attend her meetings from now on too. Denny arrives to tell Lizzie the good news, as well as promising to watch Lizzie with her upcoming performance with Ricky. And they do their performance – finishing with a kiss – they get a standing ovation. Denny is there to watch from afar and later on the episode, ends up kissing Lizzie for real. This time it’s Ricky’s turn to watch and he looks heartbroken. Brady and Brie are also at the fair, with the latter dressing up as Anne Boleyn. Brady isn’t in the mood for games though and doesn’t want to see Jack after the grilling he received at the lumber yard. However he receives a message from Calvin, asking to meet at 4pm. In his absence, Brie speaks to Jack and urges him to make an effort. Julia also shows up with her niece Mia, who are both dressed up and meet Preacher. Now, if you’ll remember Julia actually spied a drawing of Preacher with Christopher while out on their date, but for now that’s not elaborated on further. Mel is conflicted over what to do regarding Denny. It turns out he lied about the drug cabinet, claiming it was left open and he was a good Samaritan decided to shut it. Mel doesn’t believe him but after some confliction, unveils the truth. Unfortunately, this also comes after Denny has agreed to stay with them, which only complicates matters further. During the knights duel, things take a turn for the worst when Jack notices Tim in the audience and has a bit of a breakdown. Jack flashes back to his time in the war with Lonergan, and it takes Preacher to help him out. He encourages Jack to get professional help. Back home, Mel also echoes Preacher’s concerns, urging Jack to start talking to someone as he’s clearly hurting and beating himself up over what happened. Jack shrugs it off, believing he just needs to move on. Noticeably, Jack is drinking a lot more to “take the edge off”. Mel is concerned, but that night, under the dancing light of the fire, Jack takes some time alone to read Chris’ letter. In doing so, he ends up crying, burning the remnants of his past in the fire and gulping down more alcohol. On a side note, Netflix please sort your subtitles out, someone forgot to press the spacebar through this entire segment! Anyway, Mel ends up having stomach problems that night in bed and awakens with a start. She hurriedly calls Doc, worried that there’s something wrong with her baby. That night, Calvin shows up to see Brady, deciding that it’s business as usual at the lumber yard. However, after-hours his operation moves in and starts dealing drugs. Brady agrees, on the condition that he stays away from Brie. Of course, if Brady refuses, then he could end up back in prison again and Brie could get hurt.
The Episode Review
The latest episode of Virgin River brings back old storylines, involving Jack’s problematic past from the frontlines and the tepid triangle between Denny/Lizzie and Ricky. However, the more concerning part here comes from Hope. Are we to believe that Hope – who so adamantly didn’t want to be around anyone and has vehemently declined to see anyone and had trouble socializing all season long – is suddenly now more than happy to see everyone? And she’s happily letting Denny move in too? I get that there’s going to be character growth but there must have been less than 24 hours since the last episode (in-show time) it just feels a bit sudden. We’ve also got drama involving Brady and the Emerald Lumber gig, not to mention the drama involving Preacher too. So far though, there really hasn’t been a lot to this season, which has meandered its way through simple melodramatic beats. Anyone else want to bet Mel’s baby is absolutely fine and this cliffhanger is just a false alarm?
