Virgin River has always been a show that has relied on tried and true tropes to move its emotional, romantic, and overly dramatic stories forward. We can't fault the series for leaning on some of the basic pillars of its genre, especially as a show based on a series of best-selling novels. But season 7 included two specific twists that fell too far into a frustrating trap.
Throughout the season, the characters navigated intense situations, from postpartum anxiety to heartbreak to cancer treatments. In the Virgin River season 7 finale, two of the season's biggest storylines receive what seem like happy endings, but right when we're getting comfortable with the prospect of the characters getting what they want, the rug is pulled out from under them.
Sure, television shows need conflict, but sometimes Virgin River can pile the trauma on a little too thick for its characters in the name of a good plot twist, Obviously, season 7 isn't the first one to partake in this narrative strategy, but the season finale proved how it's gotten irritating. Can't anyone in this town just have something good happen without life-or-death stakes?
As it turns out, Mel and Jack can't. After finally learning at that top of season 7 episode 10 that they will adopt Marley and Eamon's baby, Mel and Jack then also learn that the baby has a rare heart defect that requires surgery. They can hardly enjoy welcoming their son into the world before they're all whisked away in an ambulance for the baby's procedure.
While it's a very real situation that new parents have unfortunately had to face, it's yet another instance of Virgin River pushing Mel and Jack around and making every little thing difficult for them. Their journey to have a child hasn't been easy. We watched Mel's pregnancy loss in season 5 and the emotional and physical ramifications of that traumatic event.
And don't forget, the series began with Mel ending up in Virgin River after the deaths of her husband and child. It's a lot of loss for one person to handle. It's highly unlikely that anything devastating will happen to Mel and Jack's son, but the immediate focus on his health rather than the joy of the show's central couple finally starting a family casts far too dark of a shadow.
It's not the only long-time-coming storyline that gets whacked with an unnecessary plot twist in the season 7 finale either. Virgin River fans have watch season by season as Brie and Brady orbited around each other, unable to make their intense attraction work as a real relationship. She started a new chapter with Mike, but even then, she still couldn't let Brady go.
We love a good will-they-or-won't-they, star-crossed lovers situation. The slow burn for Brie and Brady has been so effective, the stuff good romance novels are made of. The pair finally — finally! — manage to end up on the same page and get together. But you don't think it's that easy for them, do you? That they could have a happily ever after just like that?
On his way to Brie's house for breakfast on his motorcycle, Brady gets into a bad accident. While he doesn't crash into a car or have what looks like an immediately devastating situation, it's clear from the way that he fell and tumbled onto the road that when we catch back up with him in season 8, he will be recovering from a serious injury. A serious injury that will have Brie worried about his life.
Again, it's another circumstance of giving characters what they have been working and fighting for, what they really want, and tossing in a fork in the road (which is almost literal in Brady's case) just for the sake of prolonging them actually obtaining what they want. It's an exasperating television trap to play into, like Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown when he's about to kick.
If there's anything we should take away from the Veronica Mars season 4 finale, which found Veronica and Logan getting married before Logan was killed the next day, it's that writing trauma for characters isn't the same thing as crafting a well-rounded twist. Let's hope that Virgin River can work its way out of these traps in season 8 and avoids falling into them all over again.