Virgin River season 1, episode 6 recap: Let’s Mingle

The community of Virgin River comes together for the annual Moonlight Mingle, where all the drama of the town’s residents comes out in the open.

After witnessing one of Jack’s night terrors, Mel becomes concerned about his mental health and tries to subtly address it with Jack. He’s a let sleeping dogs lie kind of guy, so she doesn’t get very far and she doesn’t get much support from anyone else on Virgin River.

Meanwhile, Hope is running around organizing the annual Moonlight Mingle dance, a sort of meet-and-greet for the community where people change dancing partners all night. It’s the perfect set up for lots of drama. Plus, Mel’s sister Joey has unexpectedly come to visit.

Joey disapproves of Mel moving to Virgin River and thinks that she made a mistake. She obviously needs to come home because that’s what would be best for her instead of living in denial. Mel makes a cutting comment about her life being about more than a Barney’s mid-year sale, and Joey says that at least she’s honest about who she is and what she wants. Although, I’m pretty sure Mel is pretty genuine about those things.

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After a breather, they apologize to each other, but there is clearly something going on at home with Joey that she’s not telling Mel. Joey is getting flirty with Brady and things get even more intense once they both get drunk at the Mingle. It turns out that Joey and her husband are on the rocks. Mel and Jack try to break it up between Joey and Brady. Jack says that Joey is a married woman, but when Brady points out “So is Mel, but that hasn’t stopped you,” Jack punches him in the face.

Doc makes an appointment with a lawyer to draw up new divorce papers, but Hope purposefully misses the meeting. She claims she was too busy with the Mingle and forgot, but really she just doesn’t want to go through with it anymore. Hope gets jealous when she sees Doc dancing with another woman at the Mingle. Doc finally realizes how deeply he betrayed Hope’s trust with his indiscretion.

Paige’s son Christopher plays matchmaker with her and Preacher. They have a nice time dancing and refuse to switch partners when the Mingle is called. Paige thinks she sees her husband and freaks out when she can’t find Christopher, but he’s just mingling along with everyone else. She decides to leave the Mingle, leaving Preacher concerned and confused.

Jack finally has to tell Charmaine he’s still not interested in a committed relationship with her, although he’s pretty wishy-washy about it. She tells him that if he doesn’t love her, she needs to know so that she can move on with her life. Despite this intense moment, the second Charmaine walks away Jack’s attention is drawn to Mel. Neither of them has had a good night, but they share a dance together and have an intimate talk. It’s becoming pretty obvious that Jack is falling in love with Mel.

What did you think of this episode of Virgin River? Be sure to tell us in the comment section below!