Why did Mel resign?
Here’s hoping you remember last season’s cliffhangers, because Virgin River drops us right into the thick of them.
Jack’s (Martin Henderson) still reeling from the news that Charmaine (Lauren Hammersley), aka the worst person on earth, lied about him fathering her twins.
When Brie (Zibby Allen) hears the news, she declares, “I never liked her.” Same, sis. And despite his assurances to Mel (Alexandra Breckinridge), Jack’s not handling the news well.
Mel’s dealing with her own stress and decides to step away from her job at the clinic because of her high-risk pregnancy. Cameron (Mark Ghanimé) offers to leave — remember, he awkwardly hit on her last season — but she insists that she’s the one to go.
Did any of us think Mel could stay away from the clinic for long?
One of her farther-flung patients was evacuating the wildfire danger zone and went into labor on the road. A firefighter named Kaia (Kandyse McClure), in town to fight the blaze, calls the clinic for help, so Mel and Cameron talk her through the difficult delivery over Facetime, including a terrifying round of CPR to jumpstart the baby’s tiny lungs.
Afterward, Cameron rambles to Mel about how great Muriel’s been. Are… are you all seeing this? You’re all seeing what I’m seeing, right??
Muriel sent Doc home for the day because his calendar was light and his vision was bothering him, so he helps Hope, Lizzie, and Denny do some “spiteful philanthropy” by bringing lunch to the firefighters to show up Mayor Pro- Tem Nick.
Preacher helps them prep, and Connie (Nicola Cavendish) contributes goodies from the bakery truck. The distribution goes so well that the local media show up, and Hope gives Lizzie all the credit for having the initial idea. (Props also to Lizzie for her matter-of-fact mention that climate change is linked to the uptick in wildfires.)
This doesn’t impress Lizzie’s mom, who’s in town to tell her daughter to get back to college or to say goodbye to mom and dad’s checkbook. Lizzie asks for more time to decide.
Two more events of note come out of the feed-the-firefighters mission. First, Hope learns that Jo Ellen (Gwynyth Walsh) told her husband Nick about Hope’s fender-bender when she wasn’t cleared to drive, which is how he ended up as the interim mayor. Hope’s livid.
Preacher, meanwhile, hands over the last foil-wrapped bánh mì to firefighter Kaia. The two are all charming and bantery, and later that night, a soot-free Kaia appears at the bar to drink tequila and use Preacher to work off the adrenaline of the day. Yes, girl. You’re making good choices.
When Jack starts dreaming about his dead brother again, his therapist suggests a calculated-risk activity to remind Jack how to give up control.
