This romantic drama is based on the sequence of novels written by Robyn Carr which were then adapted into a Netflix series by Sue Tenney. The storyline of Virgin River revolves around Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge), a recently widowed nurse practitioner, who moves to the beautiful hilly town of Virgin River from Los Angeles. She is looking for a fresh start & finds love, friendship and warmth in her new abode.
The series explores Mel’s association with trauma, her seeking love and friendship with Jack (Martin Henderson) with her career as a nurse, working with the local doctor Vernon (Tim Matheson). The series highlights the importance of a community and shows multiple unrequited love stories. Season 2 of Virgin River had a nail-biting end with Jack getting shot.
Season 3 shows a fully recovered Jack, with little to no information about the attacker, an absent Hope (Annette O’Toole) and a tragic loss for Virgin River. This season also shows an engaged Charmaine (Lauren Hammersley) & Preacher (Colin Lawrence) looking after Christopher and Ricky (Grayson Maxwell Gurnsey) navigating his career and relationship.
The first two seasons created a lot of mystery that had kept one hooked onto the screen. While Tenney follows the same pattern of ending each episode on a cliff-hanger, it is not quite enough to rescue the latest season. Season 3 feels dragged out with more focus on the supporting characters who are unfortunately inconsequential to the main plot. As interesting as the parallel stories may be, fans of Mel and Jack are bound to feel starved for more of their favourites.
Virgin River started a conversation about miscarriages, post-partum depression, non-consensual sex within relationships, grief, friendships, and love. The beautiful view of the mountains, sunrises and sunsets, makes me want to pack my bags and move to Virgin River at the earliest. The show in its latest season once again hits all the right spots of warm and fuzzy at a lot of intersections but also lets us down by overshadowing the main characters.Â
While Season 3 ends on another massive cliff-hanger, Netflix has not yet announced a plan for Season 4.
You can watch this latest season of Virgin River on Netflix.
