Virgin River season 1, episode 9 recap: Everybody Has a Secret

Jack and Mel have their first date, but there is a secret looming on the horizon. Preacher confronts Paige and Brady considers alternate employment on Virgin River.

The morning after their kiss on Virgin River, Mel comes into the bar and Jack asks her out for dinner. She doesn’t know if she’s ready, but she likes him so he’s able to convince her. They are pretty cute about it.

Mel’s trial period is almost up, so she has a talk with Doc about their expectations of each other. She says that respect needs to run both ways in order for them to continue working together, which means she is not Doc’s assistant and she is not in charge of making coffee.

A family rushes into the clinic. Their daughter is having trouble breathing and her inhaler isn’t working. Doc examines her while Mel looks at the husband, who is also having some symptoms. The whole family has been feeling unwell lately and didn’t think anything of it, but Doc and Mel suspect it may be poisoning.

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The daughter’s condition is serious, so Doc and Mel drive them all to the hospital and diagnose along the way. They think it may be groundwater contamination from Calvin’s pot operation. They give the girl some medicine that helps keep her alive until they reach the hospital.

Doc decides that he and Mel make a pretty good team, so he asks her to stay. They come to an agreement and shake hands. The good mood is tempered by some of Doc’s own traumatic memories about the night a young boy died under his care. This has been hinted at throughout the season and given as one of the reasons an emotional Doc reached out to Charmaine’s mother for comfort all those years ago.

Preacher confides in Jack about Paige having changed her name. Jack says that people change their name for all sorts of reasons and that he should just ask her about it. He does and assures her that he’ll protect her from whatever trouble she’s in. He knows that she’d never hurt Christopher.

Brady and Preacher butt heads again and it turns out that Preacher doesn’t like Brady because he blames him for the death of a comrade. He’s nothing but a damn liability. Brady walks out of work and goes drinking. Jimmy, Calvin’s lieutenant, comes courting Brady for a job. He says that they’re always looking for reliable people with a certain skill set. It doesn’t hurt that Jimmy is flashing a wad of cash and buying Brady’s drinks. Brady is all about easy cash, so it won’t be long before he joins Calvin’s gang.

Hope confronts Charmaine about her letter to Jack and as predicted, she tells Hope to mind her own business and just give the letter to Jack as she asked. So she hands the letter off to Jack and makes him promise to read it, but Brady is late again, the bar is busy, and Jack is preoccupied with planning his date with Mel, so he puts it in his desk to deal with later.

Jack meets Mel at her cabin, but she’s a little late because of the poisoning emergency. They have a fancy dinner in Eureka where they turn a conversation about Kierkegaard into a romantic discussion about fate and free will and the serendipity of them being together in this moment. I appreciate the intellectual moment, but it feels forced and scripted. I don’t for a second believe that this is an organic conversation.

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After their date, Jack and Mel share a kiss on her porch and say goodnight. It’s obvious they both want more, but they’re going to take it slow. But Jack’s happiness is quickly compromised when he goes back to the bar and reads Charmaine’s letter. Big shocker, she’s pregnant.

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