Hazards Ahead
Episode 9 of Virgin River Season 2 begins with Jack driving into the woods and uncovering a man named Adrian asking for help. Jack immediately phones Mel and asks her to get to Doc’s quickly. The man has a broken arm but while Mel is busy finding supplies to help him, Jack admits that he was really up at Pine Ridge to find Spencer. Mel tells Jack to phone the sheriff but he refuses to do so, deciding to go after Calvin on his own instead. Meanwhile, Hope continues gossiping and speaks to Doc about the Charmaine and Jack situation that absolutely does not concern her. He tells Hope to find another messenger before heading out for a consult. Hope tries to find out where but all she gets is “Seattle.” This is only made worse by Jack’s hand being forced into buying a house. Hope eventually shows up at the bar and breaks the news to Mel about the gossip. Given she’s not supposed to be involved, Hope drops this grenade in Mel’s lap and bolts before it can explode. When she does, she learns that Muriel and Doc are both going to be in Seattle at the same time. Coincidence or is there something more going on here? Anyway, Mel keeps quiet about the house and heads to see Charmaine. She’s worried about the food poisoning situation and given Jack didn’t tell her, Charmaine eventually tags along with Mel to a pot farm in a bid to find Jack who’s gone missing. With Wes’s car found out in the woods, Preacher believes his time is up and refuses to let Connie get dragged into this. Back at the bar, Lizzie continues to wrap Ricky round her finger, asking him to come over asap as she’s “scared.” Managing to take the time off with Preacher, he heads over to Lizzie’s and she admits that she doesn’t like being on her own and wants him to stay. That staying inevitably leads to them having sex and because of the amount of emphasis on birth control earlier this season, I think it’s safe to say Lizzie becoming pregnant could be a future story plot here. Anyway, Connie eventually catches Ricky at their house and is mortified as she realizes what they’ve been doing together. Jack shows up at Spencer’s caravan and finds it completely abandoned. Only, when Brady shows up on the scene Jack asks outright exactly where Spencer is… until he’s struck in the back of the head and knocked out. Dragging him away, the pair prepare to take him to see Calvin. Hope breaks into Doc’s office, completely distrusting of her partner, and deciding to check his voicemail and office. Honestly, Hope is the worst but she does have good cause to worry. The next scene shows Doc and Muriel meeting up in a restaurant in Seattle. Charmaine and Mel head out to try and find Jack. On the road, Charmaine breaks the news about the babies and how she’s thinking about taking them away from Virgin River. Eventually the duo meet their contact and manage to get directions to Calvin’s camp. For now they decide against going as they head home and decide on their next move. Back in town, Preacher meets the sheriff who conveniently spills details about Wes. The missed vehicle was registered to him and originally Wes had been down as a missing person case. However, he was a dirty cop and there’s a warrant out for his arrest. Given the limited resources the sheriff has up in these parts, there isn’t a lot else they can do so it looks like Preacher is in the clear. Jamie shows back up at the bar and asks about the food poisoning incident. Soon after she once again tries to encourage him to leave Virgin River and head up to LA with her. In order to do this though, he has 24 hours before the offer is off the table. Brady arrives back in the camp with Jack captured and sporting a pounding headache. There, he finds out from Calvin that Brady was the one who took care of Spencer. Just before he leaves, Calvin promises that if Jack shows up again he’ll kill him. When he leaves, Brady and Calvin talk business. Charmaine and Mel have a heart to heart, with her deciding maybe she shouldn’t be with Jack after all. She promises to talk to him about Oregon and asks Mel not to say anything until she has a chance to. Hope heads downstairs and finds candles everywhere. Doc’s back with a grand romantic gesture and reminds her that he loves her and always will. He even proposes to her. Again. Instead of saying yes though, Hope silently plays the voicemail from Muriel asking to meet together for lunch. Sadly, she turns and walks away as she believes Doc is having an affair. Eventually Mel catches up with Jack who reveals to her that Spencer is dead. Afterward, the pair start talking with Jack and Mel finally opening up about how they feel. Mel tells him she loves him and he kisses her back.
The Episode Review
Charmaine’s plan to take the twins away without even consulting Jack is pretty horrible and hopefully she breaks the news in the finale to him. I’ve said it before but communication is key here and I can’t help but feel if all our characters just talked about their feelings we’d be in a much simpler position. So it looks like the Wes situation has completely resolved itself too and if nothing comes in episode 10 regarding this it’s safe to say it’s been a complete waste of time this season. Sooner or later Wes’s body will be found and when that happens, Preacher may well be in the firing line again. Anyway, for now things are left wide open for the season finale with lots of unresolved drama. Will we get a decent resolution? Or is there the dreaded Netflix cliffhanger to contend with? We continue…
