Out Of The Past
Episode 6 of Virgin River Season 2 begins at the clinic as Mel breaks the news to Jack that Stacie has gone home and she’s not being invited to the memorial. Just before Jack leaves, Mel asks about his time in the army but he remains cagey and refuses to open up. At Jack’s Bar, Doc and Muriel spend more time together but eventually he admits that he and Hope are together again. When Muriel leaves, Doc reveals to Hope what’s been said and that Muriel is a good woman. He tells her it’s not fair to string her along like this and doesn’t want any part of it. As Hope walks away, she rolls her eyes. When Mel and Doc shows up, Hope heads off to the kitchen while the pair happen to be on the same side given Lizzie’s prescription for birth control. This is definitely a very different Doc to the one we saw in the first season! Down by the shore, Jack wakes up all his army buddies but learns they’re heading back home soon. He wants to go kayaking before they go but given he reeks of alcohol, the expression these men give each other speaks a thousand words. Jack has continues drinking all night and they call him out for it, especially when he wants to jump in the water at a pretty gnarly spot up the river. Back at the bar, Preacher learns that Ricky has been stealing liqueur. He tells him it’s fine as long as it’s a one-time gig. Just as a reminder, this is a bit hypocritical given the issues he had with Brady last season. Anyway, Ricky doesn’t learn his lesson and decides to tag along with Lizzie to go shopping. Despite not having a license to drive, he agrees to drive anyway. Hope swallows her pride and heads over to Muriel’s. She apologizes for what happened between them but Muriel promises to be there to pick up the pieces when Hope blows her chances with Doc again. You can understand why she’s annoyed but at the same time, this reinforces that the triangle is far from over. Brady catches up with Lilly who asks about the contract and Calvin. Because of the man behind this, she’s loathe to sell the farm now thanks to Jack getting involved and filling him in on the truth. This continues back at the bar as Jack finds out from Mike that they don’t have anything on Calvin for the time being. Jack apologizes for his behaviour over the weekend, prompting Mike to tell him he needs to take care of himself. The rest of the guys echo these same sentiments too when they leave, telling Preacher to take care of Jack given how much stress he has right now. While Jack heads home to Charmaine’s, he finds the place full of baby stuff including teddies, cots and more. He’s obviously going through a lot of stress and this pushes him over the edge as he struggles to compose himself. Eventually he leaves Charmaine on her own again and heads back to the bar, claiming that Preacher is completely swamped. Down by the river, Hope and Doc help Mel with her tribute to Mark which includes a makeshift sailing boat. It’s a wonderful tribute and backdropped by truly breathtaking scenery. However, Mel receives a message forcing her to leave suddenly. She heads down to the river and finds Jack ready to go kayaking through the dangerous rapids. Thankfully she manages to get through to him and he opens up about his time in Afghanistan. He still feels bad for what happened to Lon and doesn’t trust himself. Back at the bar, Preacher and Jamie catch up again with her asking whether he’s going to take up her offer or not. Elsewhere, the final shot of Ricky and Lizzie seems to hint that they’re involved in a car crash. However, the scene suddenly cuts to the woods as the sheriff tells Jack and Mel that they’ve found a body out in the woods. Is it Wes? Leo? Or a new unknown character? We’ll have to wait and find out!
The Episode Review
With the drama continuing, the big talking point here comes from Jack hitting breaking point and preparing for the arrival of the twins. I understand he’s feeling guilty and struggling with the prospect of being a Father but him deciding to engage in white knuckle extreme sports isn’t exactly the best way of showing his support. Hopefully Mel’s interjection there has helped him back on the straight and narrow. Admittedly, Charmaine can be quite manipulative as we’ve seen across this season but I also can’t help but feel Jack’s problems would easily be solved if he just opened up and admitted the truth to everyone. Instead, he’s just going to settle down with this deal with Charmaine which he’s clearly miserable about. That isn’t doing anyone any favours. Ah well, for now things are left wide open after that cliffhanger ending so undoubtedly you’ll be scrambling to watch the next episode quickly!
