If Virgin River is going to broach the topic on such a cozy show it could at least use terminology. The scene has potential. Related Preview - This Is Us Season 1 Episode 13: Day of the Wedding Brie can mix booze and pills, but she’s not allowed to utter the words, “he forced me to have sex?” Virgin River is in the more family-friendly division of Netflix, but using euphemisms and talking around rape is irresponsible. But in the scene she confesses this to Mel on the season finale, Virgin River fails to use the words “sex” or “rape.” VIRGIN RIVER (L to R) MARTIN HENDERSON as JACK SHERIDAN and ZIBBY ALLEN as BRIE in episode 307 of VIRGIN RIVER Cr. Then the payoff falls short.īrie was raped by her ex-boyfriend, which adds layers upon layers of difficulty to the fact that she’s miscarried a baby. Instead, more time is spent on showing us that his sister Brie, whom we’ve just met, has trauma to overcome. That part is mysterious enough by Virgin River standards. It makes sense to devote a little bit of time to his recovery, even by just making him walk with a cane for a few episodes. Jack is a character we are conditioned to care about since Virgin River Season 1 Episode 1, “Carry on.” We are already emotionally invested in him. It’s just baffling that he doesn’t have any lingering physical injury to overcome.

But there is a thread throughout the season of Mike trying to identify Jack’s shooter. There is never meant to be any doubt that he lives. It lasts all of one minute, and then abracadabra, Jack is healed. Virgin River Season 2 ends with Jack getting shot, and Season 3 begins with a short montage of him at the hospital receiving treatment. Nearly every episode ends with a huge cliffhanger that is essentially forgotten or resolved within the first few minutes of the next episode.īelieve it or not, this pattern begins on Virgin River Season 3 Episode 1, “Where There’s Smoke…. Season 3 follows the same episode structure as Virgin River Season 2. So, that must mean that Virgin River gets the conflict element of the genre correct, right? Wrong. Virgin River is still a beautiful place to behold, but we barely have time to take a breath and enjoy the simpler moments of the season before the next person experiences trauma. VIRGIN RIVER (L to R) ALEXANDRA BRECKENRIDGE as MEL MONROE and MARTIN HENDERSON as JACK SHERIDAN in episode 302 of VIRGIN RIVER Cr. But so much screentime is devoted to characters we barely know long enough to remember their names, let alone care about. We get to spend time with characters we love, sure. In other words, we watch them for everything Virgin River Season 3 fails to provide us. We watch small-town dramas to spend time with beloved characters, feel the comfort that comes with the quaint surroundings, and yes, for the drama the residents keep encountering between enjoying mugs of hot chocolate with marshmallows every night.

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