It’s the holiday season and you know what that means – holiday episodes from all of your favorite shows. Well, not all of your favorite shows but one of them at least. Of course we’re talking about Virgin River, which dropped not one but two final episodes for season 5 on Nov. 30.
They are episodes 11 and 12 called, “The More the Merrier” and “Father Christmas,” sequentially. Written by Erin Cardillo and Richard Keith and directed by Gail Harvey, season 5 part 2 wraps up most of the season’s most pressing questions, while leaving a sizable cliffhanger to keep everyone on the hook for next season.
There were quite a few major things wrapped up so let’s go through them all and obviously there are spoilers ahead, so read at your own discretion.
Virgin River has been on the air since 2019 and tells the story of a nurse practitioner named Mel Monroe (Alexandra Breckenridge), a woman looking for a new start following becoming a widow. She moved from the sunny skies of Los Angeles to the very different, very remote town in Northern California.
Here are all the main story beats explained:
Mel meets her real father and Charmaine has her twins, finally
One of Mel’s more prominent storylines is her heritage. She’s spent a lot of the season with Jack (Martin Henderson) trying to suss out clues about who her father is, and we finally get the answer she was looking for all this time.
As we know, Mel’s mom had an affair, and Mel’s biological father is someone she knows who goes by “Champ.” He wrote her mother love letters, and Mel surmises that her mother lost a child, and that might have kickstarted the affair.
Along with Jack, Mel’s investigation leads her to a man who plays Santa during the holidays, and who was also a postal worker in his previous life. He mentions that he remember’s Champ’s postcards, because they were all anyone could talk about in the office. But alas, Champ’s real name continues to elude him.
That is, until he remembers a specific memory: Champ is a nickname! A nickname garnered on the mysterious potential parental figure because he won a lumberjack contest back in the ’70s. With this new information in hand, mel and Jack track down an ornery man named Everett Reid.
Perhaps understandably, Mel is not given a hero’s welcome by the aforementioned Everett. He says he has no knowledge of Mel’s mom, much less the lumberjack contest (even though the trophy is in plain sight). While she’s disappointed, she moves on, and that would be the end of it, but it’s not.
Meanwhile, the world’s longest pregnancy finally comes to its inevitable end, when Charmaine Roberts finally gives birth to her twins. Pregnant since 2019? Someone call Guinness! When we first met Charmaine, she was Jack’s side piece/friends with benefits, but of course, that’s changed since Mel showed up.
Earlier we got the bonkers reveal that Calvin is the father of Charmaine’s kids, something that sets up some pretty interesting potential storylines for the future. What makes things even more interesting is the fact that Mel is Charmaine’s midwife.
Regardless, Charmaine gives birth to two healthy twin babies and the world’s weirdest pregnancy storyline finally comes to a close.
Brie and Brady aren’t done, and Preacher and Kaia heat up
Despite their efforts to move on from each other, Brie (Zibby Allen) and her ex Brady (Ben Hollingsworth), like those two cowboys in Brokeback Mountain, can’t seem to completely quit each other. After Mike (Marco Grazzini) has to go to work, Brie bumps into Brady at the very fun holiday talent show.
Instead of throwing daggers, they have a pretty deep conversations about their new significant others, and delve a little into the more uncomfortable parts of their relationship. That sets up a future meeting where they can’t help themselves, and express regret for the breakup, and open up wbout how difficult it is to move forward.
In true romantic holiday moment fashion, they’re standing under mistletoe — but then ol’ Jack comes in and ruins the fun. Something tells me next season has a lot in store for these two.
Now to Preacher (Colin Lawrence) and Kaia (Kandyse McClure). They mostly don’t interact during the episodes but when they do, oh boy. During a cold plunge, Preacher can’t help himself and in a moment of tenderness, reveals that he’s in love with Kaia.
He tries to backpedal, but it’s too late, and Kaia tells him that’s something she can just forget about. Then, she reciprocates and talks about taking a permanent job in the area. While things seem to be heading in the right direction for the two, things get incredibly more seriously when Wes’ body turns up, spelling doom for Preacher’s future.
Lizzie’s pregnancy and the return of Cameron’s ex
Pregnancy is always a good go-to story plot in Virgin River, and Lizzie’s (Sarah Dugdale) story is no different. She’s worried about telling her mother about the pregnancy, and skirts around the issue until Deirdre overhears her daughter and Denny (Kai Bradbury) talking about their little blessing together.
Everything turns out fine, though, because despite an initial reluctance, Deirdre gets on board and demonstrates how she wants to be there for her daughter, as long as she doesn’t have to be called a grandmother. We also learn that the baby is going to be a girl. Mom’s main concern is that Denny has Huntington’s disease, and how much of an impact that will have on Lizzie. This storyline ends with everyone excited about the future.
That brings us to Cameron’s (Mark Ghanime) former fiancée showing up to make some amends about the breakup, and reveal that she’s been sober for the past 6 months. Unfortunately, her timing isn’t great. Cameron reveals his true feelings for Muriel (Teryl Rothery) and lets his ex down easy.
Doc finally proposes to Hope, and that Huge Cliffhanger Ending
Few have a more storied relationship than Doc and Hope. The two were at odds at the start of the show’s run when Hope asked for a divorce. There’s been a lot going on since then, but they finally did find a way to come back to each other.
This of course culminates with a marriage proposal underneath the holiday lights display. Where will these two lovebirds end up? Time will tell. Now to the biggest bombshell of them all. Turns out Everett has a change of heart and reveals that he is indeed the father. He gives Mel a stack of postcards and right before those credits roll, he reveals he has something important to tell her.
As to what exactly that is, we’ll have to wait until season 6, which has officially been greenlit and will potentially premiere in 2024, although it’s not known how the writer’s strike affected the release date.