This article contains spoilers up to and including the first 10 episodes of Virgin River season five.

The fifth season of Virgin River has arrived, and it’s more action-packed than ever. The hit Netflix series leans into the soap opera-style storylines, as the new 10-parter explores how adversity affects the close-knit community in the picturesque mountains. 

From wildfires to miscarriages and sexual assault, season five examines a wide range of sensitive topics, all of which are handled with the care and nuance that we’ve come to expect from this show.

Season five, part one, picks up straight after the events of season four. Mel and Jack are preparing themselves for parenthood, while also coming to terms with Charmaine’s betrayal that Jack isn’t the father of her twins. Hope is still adjusting to life after her car accident, while Doc tries to run the clinic with his difficult new hire, Cameron, and they just can’t seem to see eye-to-eye. 

With two more festive episodes on the way in November, let’s recap the most dramatic moments of the season ahead of season five, part two. Be warned, spoilers ahead!

Most of season five’s events take place around the raging wildfire that arrives in the northern Californian town of Virgin River. It’s a tragedy that too many communities have faced in recent months and one that inevitability forces the locals to set aside their differences and work together to tackle it. 

There are several fire-related near misses: Mel runs into Lilly’s farm, which is up in flames, to save Ava, who is unconscious after an endometriosis flare-up caused her to fall over and hit her head. Thankfully, Jack arrives to save the day, before the house crumbles down. 

Denny and Lizzie’s relationship is also tested when they get caught in the car in the blaze after helping residents evacuate their homes. For a moment, we thought this was the end of the young lovers – until Bert arrived and broke through the tree blocking their road, allowing them to escape. 

After four long seasons of Charmaine being pregnant, the twins’ real father is revealed. 

In season one, Charmaine told her ex-boyfriend Jack that she was expecting his children in a ploy to win him back and destroy his blossoming relationship with Mel. Naturally, this failed, as those two are unbreakable.

In season four, when Charmaine is still only five months pregnant (seriously how is this possible?), Jack is heartbroken when she casually lets slip that he isn’t the father of the twins.

After another 10 episodes, it seemed as though we still weren’t going to be fed this vital piece of information in season five. However, Calvin showed up at the fair and dropped a major bombshell, saying to Charmaine: “I want to be a father to my boys.” It could not be a worse reveal, as the former criminal mastermind is also Jack’s nemesis. More drama is inevitably on the way… 

Episode 10 is packed with plot twists that we didn’t see coming, including Lizzie telling Denny that she’s pregnant. In season five, Lizzie became a firm fixture in the town, outside of her relationships too, as she started to forge her own life and career as Hope’s assistant.

By the end of the series, Lizzie is on board with the community spirit and has in many ways become a Hope-in-training, as she organises the local fair for her. Now, that she has a baby on the way, it seems that Lizzie won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

Sadly, this might cause an issue in her relationship with Denny, as he admits he’s ready to travel the world and wants her to come too. We hope this young love lasts, but the final episode of season five part one sets them up on very different paths. 

One of the most heartbreaking moments in Virgin River is Mel’s miscarriage. As the fire reaches the town, it’s all hands on deck as Mel quickly pops to the toilet. She’s panicked by the sight of blood and rushes to perform her own ultrasound, standing alone in the examination room. There is no heartbeat.

This devastating moment is only made worse as she does up her jeans, stifles her tears and gets straight back to work. Agonisingly, we watch as Mel does what she does best – helps others – and even saves Ava from the burning house. Finally, she has a moment alone in the medical tent to start to process what’s happened and let her grief out. It’s an incredibly well-written and poignant moment that’s rounded off by an emotional embrace with Jack. 

In one of the most vital moments, when operating on an impaled firefighter’s leg, Doc’s vision drops out. His condition, which he manages in private, creates a clouded spot over his vision so he is unable to safely perform the procedure.

The tense moment is only heightened as he asks Cameron to step in for him, who is enraged to learn of Doc’s visual impairment and the impact it could have on his patients. Their heated exchange is one of the turning points in Doc’s future, as he starts to accept that he won’t be able to continue working much longer as his sight deteriorates. 

Jack’s sister Brie comes into her own in this season. Most of her storyline revolves around standing trial against her former partner and colleague in court, after he raped her. Her testimonial is an incredibly powerful moment as she recollects that “one in six women” experience sexual assault and “more women are killed by domestic partners than men killed in wars”.

Brie stands up to her abuser, and though the conviction doesn’t feel as satisfying as she’d hoped, or give her the closure she needs (and deserves), it’s explored in a nuanced and realistic way that reflects the fear victims feel about speaking out against abusers. 

After Brady gives Jack a brief explanation of Melissa’s criminal exploits out of his caravan park, he’s kidnapped by her thugs. Jack follows in his truck and sees that Brady is telling the truth about working as a double agent for their marine friend and detective, Mike. He arrives just in time to arrest the criminals, but Mike is shot in the process.

Brady’s redemption comes at a cost. He loses his relationship with Brie after she discovers his lies about his new job and Mike is severely injured. Thankfully, he does wake up from his gunshot wound, as the future could have been pretty bleak for Brady otherwise, as the police questioned him about his involvement. 

If there weren’t already enough bombshells in episode 10, Preacher’s new firefighter girlfriend, Kaia, tells him that a body was found after the fire. Thankfully, the death didn’t come from the fire; instead, it seems this unknown person had been buried and the fire scorched away the earth to reveal them. Got that feeling of dread in your stomach? Us too.

It seems extremely likely that this body will be identified as Paige’s abusive ex-husband Wes, whom she accidentally killed, while Preacher helped cover this up as he buried him. His detective friend Mike mentioned at the start of season five that without a body no one would listen to Wes’s brother’s wild claims that Preacher and Paige killed Wes, but if it turns up… well that changes things. 

It wouldn’t be Virgin River without a time jump, would it? In the final episode of season five, part one, the story skips forward four months. As Mel and Jack decorate their rural cabin for Christmas, Joey calls to tell her she found letters to her mum from a man in Virgin River. What are the chances?

She suspects that this mystery man could also be Mel’s father. It raises the question, who are the letters from and could he really be Mel’s dad? 

Images: Netflix