Fire and Rain
Episode 10 of Virgin River Season 4 starts with Brie and Mike unharmed from the exploding boat. As a result we cut forward one week later. What in the Stranger Things time jump is this?! We then cut to Jack’s Bar where Jack decides to help Char with her upcoming baby shower. This also means he needs to rearrange the meeting with Barry, his therapist, for later in the day. Mel isn’t going to be around for a while, as she’s meeting Mark’s Mum in Grace Valley. She may be late for the shower. She’s concerned that Mark’s mum is going to file for custody of the embryos but Jack tries to reassure her that Cassandra wouldn’t stoop that low. Well…she will. Cassandra meets with Mel, having learned that she’s pregnant. The thing is, in Mark’s will it clearly states that when he passes, full custody of the embryos pass to Mel. “If you are pregnant, that’s my grandchild. And I have rights.” Cassandra says. When she walks away, Mel is disappointed in her mother-in-law but knows the woman doesn’t stand a chance if this goes to court. Meanwhile, Melissa catches up with Brady. She wants to offer her condolences now that Calvin is dead. She wants Brady to pick up the slack and take control of the drug shipment, imploring him to “fall in line.” The thing is, the police haven’t found Calvin’s body either, at least not yet anyway. Brady heads back to see Brie, where she’s pretty shook up. It turns out she was sexually assaulted by her ex in the past and the memories are too much to bear. Brady agrees to stay with her for the night. Mike speaks to Preacher. He’s done some digging and found Sally. Apparently she drugged Preacher initially because Vince threatened to kill her if she didn’t help. Sally also knows where Vince is but she’s too scared to say anything. Mike suggests that he could arrest Sally and try to squeeze the truth from her but that’s going to take a while. For now, Christopher is still missing and Preacher remains dead-set on trying to find him. Denny’s big reveal last episode is developed further here, as we learn he takes medication for his anxiety. Between getting on well with Hope and growing closer to Lizzie, there’s drama between him and Vernon. The latter isn’t comfortable with his decision to pay off the mortgage and he messages his grandfather, asking to talk that night. Given time has passed, Ricky is on the verge of leaving for boot camp. However he’s distracted by Denny and Lizzie chatting and laughing together at the bar. That night, Jack heads to see Barry, where the conversation steers toward his family relationship during their session together. It’s a tough subject and he struggles to get his words out. While this is going on, Preacher meets with Julia, where he admits it’s hard for him to open up. A knock at the door though sees Paige show up out the blue.
The Episode Review
So this episode we get a time jump, thrusting forward for a week that almost feels like an epilogue of sorts. Despite these later episodes being more dramatic, this one peters all of that out completely as there hasn’t been a whole lot of substantial drama to chew through in episode 10. Sure, the series has its moments but on the whole, there really hasn’t been that much movement on the plot. I mean you could probably summarize all of it in a quick paragraph. This episode moves the attention across to the drama involving babies and, more specifically, Mark’s mum wanting to sue Mel for the embryos while Jack is helping Charmaine with the twins. Beyond that though, there is absolutely nothing of note going on in this episode. It’s almost borderline dull, in terms of development, with one of the more “exciting” moments coming from Hope being taught how to play backgammon. Yay? Hopefully this is just a blip and the rest of the episodes can pick up.
