A heartbroken Hope kicks off episode 10 of Virgin River Season 2 as she drinks wine before bed. A solemn Doc shows up at the doorway and wants to talk. Doc admits that Muriel had a friend in Seattle and they went for lunch together as a thank you. It turns out she hooked him up with a special jeweler to get Hope an engagement ring. Hope tells him not to keep secrets in the future, which he eventually bites back and tells her not to look through his voicemail. Eventually she apologizes and agrees to remarry him. They even decide to do it with a big blow-out for the whole town. To start with, Hope makes a guest-list of people to invite. Meanwhile, Jack and Mel get cozy and enjoy their time together. With Charmaine now presumably out the picture, Jack struggles to comprehend what happened to Spencer. For now, Jack heads out to see Preacher while Mel makes a decision to see Brady and get to the bottom of what happened. Jack arrives at the kitchen and has it out with Preacher. He brings up Lon and how stressed Jack has been, who bites back and tells him he’s got so many problems. Preacher suggests Jack make him a partner at the bar and that could solve both their problems. Charmaine messages him with an emergency, prompting Jack to bolt out the door. As he does, he hurriedly tells Preacher that taking him on as a partner could complicate things. When he leaves, Preacher makes up his mind and leaves a voicemail for Jamie, confirming that he’ll take the gig. Meanwhile, Lizzie and Ricky are forced to admit they had sex at Connie’s house. Given they’re both adults, Lydie sticks up for Ricky and admits that Lizzie is lucky to have him. Connie is having none of it though and walks out with her, forbidding the pair from hooking up again. Connie shows her face at the bar and learns that because Wes is a dirty cop the police are after him and believe he’s gone on the run. This solves both their problems but Preacher remains spooked and concerned after believing he saw Wes in the bar last episode. Charmaine finds out from Jack that he’s thinking of buying a house and it seems like she’s having second thoughts about leaving. After clearing her pipes (which happens to be her big emergency) Charmaine thanks him for taking care of her and buying the house. And kisses him. Jack pulls away, telling her he’s been completely clear with her from the start that he doesn’t want a relationship with her. Eventually Charmaine snaps and bitterly tells Jack that she’s going to marry someone else and whoever that is, will be the twins’ new Father. Then she’ll figure out what part Jack will play in this family set-up. What a horrible thing to say. Mel rings Lilly and gets an address for Brady. As she heads up to the site, Brady takes her away and asks to meet him in secret. He takes her to a secluded spot and she admits no one knows she’s there. Brady takes her to Spencer’s grave and just to reinforce everything, opens the glove box to show a handgun stashed inside. Meanwhile, the Wes doppelganger shows up at Jack’s bar. It turns out he’s Wes’ twin brother Vince. He’s on the hunt for Wes and knows he was in Virgin River. He’s tracked Wes down to Jack’s Bar and it turns out he’s a detective and knows about Michelle. Just before he goes, Vince promises that Paige is going to pay for what happened to his brother. Later that evening, Mel admits to Jack that she visited Brady in secret. It turns out Spencer didn’t actually die though; he got on a bus and skipped town. Brady lied to Calvin but managed to get Spencer all the way across to LA. Brady has been desperate to find a way out of Calvin’s business and this small mercy is his first step to redemption. Upon hearing this, Jack and Mel make love. Twice. The good news continues to roll in for Jack as he receives a call from Mike afterwards confirming that they’ve busted Calvin courtesy of Spencer’s confession. Calvin was transporting cash in hollow logs to Mexico in exchange for a large stash of Fentanyl. Given the cartel were involved too, they planned to move the drugs in animal feed supply trucks; Lily’s farm was key to this operation being kept under wraps. Only, it turns out Brady is also going to be arrested for his part in all this too. With Preacher ready to leave, Sally – a friend of Paige’s – shows up with Christopher who asks to stay with him. Well that’s a massive spanner in the works and throws Preacher’s career prospects off completely. Meanwhile, Doc looks set to break some news to Hope but suddenly the doors swing open and a surprise celebration for their engagement leaves this wide open and unknown for now. At the bar, Mel finds Jack on the floor bleeding out after having been shot in the stomach. As he starts to fade, Mel scrambles to phone an ambulance.
The Episode Review
So who shot Jack at the end? Calvin would be the most obvious answer here but I think it’s a little too obvious. I know this show isn’t great with its twists, orchestrating a lot of obvious narrative turns very early on, but my money is on Charmaine. She’s angry she can’t have Jack to herself and may well have shown up and got her revenge that way. And what of Doc too? What could possibly be wrong with him? Could it be that he has cancer? Gosh I hope not but it seems likely that this is the way that story is going, especially with how likable he’s been during season 2. If there’s one character who’s had a torrid time with the writers though it’s Hope. She’s been incredibly unlikable all the way through this season, untrusting of Doc and generally pushing him to do things he doesn’t want to do. That’s to say nothing of the contrived Lizzie and Ricky romance too which sees Lizzie go from the bratty city girl early on to a sudden switch and liking Ricky, quoting Romeo and Juliet at the end. Maybe it’s just me but I feel like it’s a little too convenient. Anyway, the cliffhanger ending can only mean one thing – a possible cancellation in the wings from Netflix’s infamous chopping block. It’s always risky business to leave things open like this and to be honest, if Virgin River is cancelled I’ll probably grab the books to find out who shot Jack. For now though, season 2 bows out with an okay season, one not much better than the first but with a few good moments to make it worth the watch. Those who were big fans of season 1 however, will absolutely be in their element with this melodramatic follow-up.
