Virgin River Season 3 Roundtable
Virgin River Season 3 landed on Netflix on July 9th. Now a few of us here at FANdemonium Network have watched, we decided it was time to break things down. Taking part in this roundtable are Clare, PurpleBrina, Sophie and Rike.
WARNING: This Roundtable review will contain spoilers for the whole of Virgin River season 3. Read on at your peril if you have not watched the show yet.
Virgin River Season 3 picks up right where we left off, with Jack (Martin Henderson) bleeding out on the floor of the bar when Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge) finds him after he’s been shot. Then we get a speedy time jump ahead 3 weeks. Was that what you were expecting?
C – I was expecting a little more drama over whether Jack was going to be okay actually. At least an episode or something of everyone worrying over him. I was quite surprised when we jumped ahead and everything was fine.
PB – I have never been a fan of time jumps in shows but this one wasn’t too bad. I guess they didn’t wanna bore us with months of recovery.
R – To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect in general. However, I have to admit that I already read about this time jump in advance so it wasn’t much of a surprise for me in the end. It was a great decision because I didn’t wanna see all this being pretty worried and scared stuff again.
S – No, I kinda wanted to see Mel actually give Jack triage and save his life. I did have a moment when I actually thought he had died and was tearing up already…. 5 seconds in.
Throughout Virgin River Season 3 we got a lot of conflicting information about whether or not Brady (Benjamin Hollingsworth) was the one who pulled the trigger. Do you think it was him or is the real culprit still out there?
PB – Even though he is a total dickhead, I feel like he still values Jack’s friendship from the marines. I don’t think he shot him but I think he was there.
R – Definitely not Brady. He might be an asshole sometimes but he would never actually hurt one of his friends or even try to kill them. Never. I don’t believe that. Right now I do think that Mike has something to do with it. Maybe he’s working for Todd? Maybe Todd wants Jack to be gone for good and he for sure has the money to pay someone to do the dirty work for him. Crazy theory I know. But I am super sure that it’s neither Brady nor his old bald guy friends. Someone we won’t expect at all. Maybe even Charmaine. She’s going crazy over Todd and is all into him. I’ll stop now before I come up with a theory including Mark.
S – I don’t think it was Brady but I think he knows who did it. I can’t figure out why he hasn’t told anyone what he actually knows, it may actually help him. Why hasn’t he tried to explain to Jack why he was there or even Brie.
C – I don’t think Brady did it, but I’m pretty sure he knows who did. By the end of the season, with Jack’s flashes of memories, we know he was there that night. I know Jack is pissed at Brady, but I am not sure why he doesn’t just come out and say who else was there, cos it’s looking an awful lot like he’s going down for the shooting.
I was a little sad that Hope (Annette O’Toole) was not around more this season, I love her meddling ways. Do you think she’s going to pull through after her terrible accident?
R – Couldn’t agree more with Clare. Amen. Doc needs Hope and Hope needs Doc. That’s just how it is. I can’t stand Muriel (Teryl Rothery) and seeing her with Doc is still a no for me. Please Hope come back and be a pain in the ass to Muriel again. We need you. Don’t know how I’ll react if the writers decide to just let her go like that. I do love Doc’s and Hope’s good cop and bad cop behavior. Please give me more.
S – She has to make it through, seeing Doc so destroyed over what had happened to Hope. They deserve a happy ending. Muriel can jog on.
C – I really hope so. I don’t want to see Doc with Muriel, I want to see Hope and Doc’s newly married life succeed. To see them both navigate the arrival of Doc’s grandson (more on that later). I want to see her meddling in everyone else’s lives again (although most of the town did a pretty great job of meddling in each others’ lives this season).
PB – I hope she makes it through. I did miss her nasty ass this season and I am not a fan of that homewrecker Muriel at all.
Preacher (Colin Lawrence) has had a pretty rough time this season, taking care of Christopher (Chase Petriw) with Connie (Nicola Cavendish)’s help. Last we saw he’d been drugged and left in the woods by Paige’s so-called friend so that Wes (Steve Bacic) could take his son back. Do you think Preacher will be able to save Christopher or not?
S – Connie is totally gonna save Christopher, Preacher will wake up in time to save the day, Paige will come back and they can finally be a happy family. Right?! Right?
I’m sure that guy is Wes’ twin but for the life of me I can’t remember his name. Maybe they were both called Wes.
C – He bloody better. I still think there is more to Paige’s story than we know, and I’m hoping that maybe this brings her back for some more revelations.
PB – Isn’t that guy Wes’s brother? I think Preacher will wake up and make it back but I have a feeling Connie is a fighter. Like she is gonna hit the dude with a frying pan or something.
R – First of all why the hell did Preacher fall for this pretty easy trap in the first place? Believing every word of Paige’s so-called friend? Didn’t he learn some stuff while being in the armee? Be careful. I mean, he keeps telling Christopher all about this “safety and don’t trust anyone thing” and yet here we are. However, I do hope for god’s sake that he’ll be able to save Christopher. He better do it.
Okay, hands up, who sobbed when Lilly (Lynda Boyd) died? I was not expecting that tragedy.
C – Yep. Me. There were some outstanding performances from Lynda Boyd and Stacey Farber as her daughter Tara. Especially coming after Lilly’s story with the baby
PB – As a cancer survivor , I will always tear up and cry when I see stuff like that. But don’t tell anyone, I am not a softy.
R – Better question is who didn’t start sobbing? I know I’m quite the emotional person anyways, but this scene with Tara trying to wake up her mom broke me. My heart isn’t made for this. Truly.
S – both my hands are up. OMG I sobbed, I didn’t want her to die, I loved her character and she had such a young daughter! Virgin River literally grabbed me by the feels and sucker punched me.
Charmaine’s new partner Todd (Patrick Sabongui) – what do we think? Does he genuinely care about Charmaine (Lauren Hammersley) and the twins or is he just a controlling asshat?
PB – I feel like he is a total asshat that is using Charmaine to better his career. He is upto something I am just not sure what it is yet but he doesn’t love Charmaine at all. And she is so damn desperate for love that she doesn’t see the red flags flying high.
R – What do we think? You really wanna know that? He is even worse than an asshole. Jesus christ. I wanted to punch him in every single scene. Can he just go, please? Leave everyone alone and just wallow in money like Dagobert Duck. No one wants you in Virgin River, don’t you get it? Charmaine is truly better off with someone else. Hopefully one day she’ll understand that herself.
S – I genuinely thought she had hired him to make Jack jealous to begin with, I think I would have preferred it that way. How can someone be that much of a douche? I find it completely shocking that she is happy to keep Jack’s kids away from him.
C – Controlling asshat who doesn’t know dick about whisky (it’s pronounced LagaVOOlin not LaGAvulin). He only cares about money and appearances. If he actually cared about Charmaine and the twins he’d be asking what she wants to do, about the birth plan she already has in place, and about the life she has with the salon etc. He just wants to be able to brag at his fancy ass country club.
We met Jack’s sister Brie (Zibby Allen) this season, what did you think of her?
R – She truly isn’t a pain in the ass like some other characters. Gotta admit I do like her. Or at least I don’t have anything against her being in Virgin River. But I still don’t know what to think of this love story between her and Brady. My mind didn’t tell me yet what to think of it. We will see. But I hope Brie will stay a bit longer so that we’ll have the chance to explore her storyline a bit more.
S – I love her! I thought her storyline was quite interesting but a little confusing at times, like when she freaked out because someone walked out of a store behind her but then we didn’t see anything else for a couple of episodes. The pacing was a little off for me.
C – I think for her, as for most of the residents of Virgin River, life would be a whole lot easier if she talked to someone. It seemed like she and Mel were getting on great, but she was hiding a pretty huge secret. I understand that sexual abuse is not something many people feel comfortable talking about, but given she was taking medication, and with Mel’s position as a nurse practitioner, it would probably would have been a smart move.
I also think that she and her brother have more in common than they would probably like to admit, they both keep their demons squashed way down inside until they explode in dangerous fashion.
PB – I like her but I feel there is a lot more to her storyline that we didn’t get yet. And who was the father of the baby?? Not that it matters much now but I kinda hope she stays in Virgin River. She was good for Brady.
Do you think Ricky (Greyson Maxwell Gurnsey) will join the Marines, or will Lizzie (Sarah Dugdale) realise her old boyfriend and old ways are not for her and try to win Ricky back?
S – I find Lizzie incredibly irritating, I hope Ricky does join the marines. It will be really good for him.
C – I kinda hope he does. Lizzie has her moments where she is nice, but she’s mostly kinda not good for small town boy Ricky. I think joining up, even if he only manages Basic training, would be really good for him and his confidence.
PB – He is in. Once he signs there is no turning back. I think Lizzie is up to no good as always. She likes danger too much, so she is totally gonna hook back up with her old boyfriend.
R – Their storyline is my least favorite so I wouldn’t mind him joining the Marines to be honest. His whole behavior this season was kinda a no go most of the time. But maybe it will just click in his head soon and he’ll realize that this isn’t it at all. Who knows.
There were a LOT of cliffhangers in the final episode – let’s talk about the bombshell of Doc (Tim Matheson)’s grandson. Did you expect that?
C – NOPE! Did we know Doc had a child even? Cos if that’s been mentioned before it slipped my mind.
PB – Who is the mama?!? This is gonna be a great storyline. I was in shock for sure.
R – NOT AT ALL. What a handsome grandson. Why didn’t they bring him in earlier? Can’t wait for this storyline and Doc’s reaction. This is going to be everything. Hopefully. Maybe they also don’t get along quite well. That would be sad though. But again, I can’t wait. Gimme Season 4 now!
S – I was so shocked. How? When? Who? Doc you got some explaining to do and I can’t wait to see it.
And the biggest cliffhanger of Virgin River Season 3 – Mel is pregnant! Who do you think is the father, Jack or is it the result of her fertility treatment using the embryos she froze with Mark (Daniel Gillies)?
PB – I totally think it’s Mark’s baby. She really wants a baby and she still misses her husband. But I am not sure if Jack will still wanna be with her once he finds out. He is just barely coming to terms with being a father of twins. He will not be ready to be a daddy to 3 babies. And Rike, just because his family has money doesn’t mean anything when it comes to a Mother and her child.
R – As much as I would like to have more flashback scenes of Mark and Mel (which will hopefully get anyways) I don’t want Mark to be the father because this would mean his sister would be back. Hell no. Mark’s whole family would be like: This baby belongs to us.” And they sadly have the money to get what they want. I don’t want Mel to suffer even more, you know? But I also don’t want Jack to be the father because I think, like Clare already said, it would be too much to handle for him one day. I know the writers do like an immense amount of drama and heartbreak so maybe Mel had a one night stand with a guy and he’s gonna be the dad. To be honest I don’t wanna see Jack’s reaction to this scenario. Could be all or nothing in the end. Truly don’t know which option would be less painful. I’ll let myself be surprised.
S – I was really surprised by Jack’s reaction to this announcement. Just a couple of days ago he’s like ‘no more kids for me thanks’ and then Mel says she is pregnant and he’s like ‘OMG this is fantastic!’ WTF?
I would imagine as Jack didn’t want more kids that they were using some form of contraception, so my guess is it’s’ Mark’s baby. Which is a little disappointing but at the same time I can imagine it’s what Mel would want because then she would have another connection to him.
C – I want it to be Mark’s, purely from a selfish point of view cos I want more flashbacks of Mark and Mel also because Jack is going to be dealing with enough with the twins and the custody battle, I feel like throwing in another kid that’s his is going to be A LOT.
Virgin River Season 3 is streaming now on Netflix.
UPDATED: This article has been updated to fix an error in the scale of the time jump to weeks not months.
