Virgin River 6, the review of the Netflix series

They left us with the two Christmas episodes of the fifth season and the certainty of a sixth, the protagonists of the now super ensemble Virgin Rivera very successful Netflix series created by Sue Tenney and based on the novels by Robyn Carr. Christmas is the perfect season to find them also because now, for fans of the series, Virgin River It’s a warm embrace, and after 6 seasons, the residents of the fictional Northern California town are one big family that we truly can’t live without.

And what more familiar moment than a highly anticipated wedding to reunite with loved ones, friends, relatives? Virgin River 6 condenses the leitmotif of the city, a healthy add a place at the table that there is an extra friend giving viewers the real wedding, the one between the two main characters of the series: the nurse Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge) and the ex-marine Jack (Martin Henderson).

Virgin River 6: romance and loose ends

Regulars of the show will know, without even checking the synopsis of the 10 episodes that make up the season, that to get to see the two swear eternal love in front of the officiating mayor Hope (Annette O’Toole) the twists will be numerous and quite unexpected. Virgin River 6thanks to the “excuse” of marriage, finds its members faced with reflections on the future, on the relationships in which they are investing or have invested and on what they want from life but above all the real and biggest question is: does it make sense to worry about what will it come or should we learn to enjoy the present? live in the here and now?

There’s something for every palate in season 6: the timeless love story, theromantic love of second chances, the crime storyline, the thriller one, the triangle (which we expected), the ode to life, friendship and also a more in-depth insight into war veterans. To avoid feeling resolved with Mel and Jack’s marriage, Virgin River 6 makes sure to leave a lot of other things unsolved both from a romantic and thriller point of view with a cliffhanger that makes you exclaim a loud “nooo and now?“.

Love story within a love story

As per the custom to which he has accustomed us, Virgin River 5 left us with Mel receiving a visit from his biological father EverettJohn Allen Nelson (JD in Baywatch), discovered the great love of his mother Sarah, who has been missing for years and is greatly absent in the woman’s life. In meeting this man who has become alienated from everyone after losing the woman of his life and also his daughter, Mel not only embraces the idea of ​​a father figure beyond the one who raised her and Doc (Tim Matheson) , mentor and foster father but discovers, from the man’s stories, sides of his mother that he had never known and would have imagined. Hippie in the 70s, he had met Everett while hitchhiking.

The screenwriter and showrunner Patrick Sean Smith does not miss the wonderful opportunity and with the help of flashbacks, takes us back in time to the birth and growth of great love between Sarah and Everetta story told across almost all the episodes of season 6. The postcard romantic love between Mel and Jack gives way to the healing, immortal and self-sacrificing one between Sarah and Everett. Perfect for those who feared that after the marriage of the two protagonists there would be no more room for dream romance. .

Virgin River come Cabot Cove

Even if not at the levels of the other seasons, the 6th keeps the thriller level high while also following the previously well-established legal profile. The protagonist of the latter is Preacher (Colin Lawrence), accused of murder for the Paige affair and defended by Brie (Zibby Allen), the best lawyer in the city, determined to bring home her friend’s innocence and also do justice for all abused women. At the same time, we never get rid of the “bad guys” of the small town and while Calvin torments Charmain for custody of the twins by threatening anyone who helps him, including Mel and Jack, Brady’s new flame is not who he says he is.

In the past, all these narrative lines seemed too many, redundant, bulimic but, we will have become accustomed to them, we will have grown fond of them but Virgin Riverespecially in this sixth season, sees Patrick Sean Smith perfect master of puppets capable, with his team of screenwriters, of nourishing both the welcoming postcard atmosphere and that small feeling of restlessness of the “even in the small village there is something rotten”. He knew it well Jessica Fletcher and his Cabot Cove.

Different angles

Like season 5, season 6 also has a red threada great reflection that involves all the characters. If last year’s lesson was the power of the community, of the village, to heal and overcome the obstacles that life places in front of you, this time instead we discuss love, what it really means to love someone and love yourself. Quote Farewell to arms by Hemingway, Mel, underlining how much strength there is even in the fragility of each of us: “The world breaks everyone and then many are strong in the broken places“.” and then to Jack he says: “You are strong in those broken places“. It’s time for Jack to accept his past, his choice to become a Marine and go to war.

In a brief scene that at first glance might seem unnecessary, Jack looks at himself in a mirror that reflects him from three angles different angles. He breathes and welcomes these various versions of himself just as Mel will have to do before taking those few steps towards the altar. Even painful things were put in their path to get to where they are today. Nothing is random, perhaps not even a loss or the end of a love story. Mel and Jack understand this well as do Doc and Everett. Whether she is capable of accepting and loving just as much imperfection in herself and in the one she loves is the test that Brie must face, torn between her overwhelming passion for Brady (Benjamin Hollingsworth) and the stable security of Mike (Marco Grazzini). Too many question marks in Virgin River 6also on the health of its characters, to think that they intend to stop at the sixth season.