Virgin River – Season 4 Episode 7 “Otherwise Engaged” Recap & Review

Otherwise Engaged

Episode 7 of Virgin River Season 4 begins with Mel’s baby absolutely fine. There’s not actually anything up, despite Mel’s concerns over a potential miscarriage. Jack is convinced everything is okay by this assessment but Mel is angry.

Jack was passed out after drinking and wasn’t able to drive Mel to the hospital. Jack promises that he’s going to be okay but Mel knows he’s not. “What you did really scared me,” Mel admits.

However, Mel is interrupted by her sister, Joey, who shows up with big news – she’s engaged. She’s getting married to Nate the next day at Clear River and they’ve only been together for a month! Mel is worried that Joey isn’t thinking clearly but Jack tries to convince her not to get involved.

Meanwhile, Mike rings Brady asking him to go to the sheriff’s office. Brie notices the messages on his phone and calls out Brady for his nonchalant attitude.

Eventually Brady does show, where he learns Jimmy has been released from prison. In fact, all pending charges against Emerald Lumber employees have been dropped. Now, if Jimmy testifies against Calvin, the charges against him will be dropped and they’ll also give him a new identity. Brady scoffs at the idea, believing he’s a psycho but loyal; there’s no way he’ll go for that. So Mike decides Brady should talk to him.

Brady heads in to see Jimmy and promises that he’s going to walk free, calling Jimmy a “dog in the cage.” Although Brady heads home, Mike follows and admits that they intend to double down on catching Calvin. Unfortunately, if they find out that drugs have passed through Emerald Lumber, then Brady is going back to jail.

Back home, Hope has trouble with the TV until Denny appears and manages to get the power on and record her favourite show. With this resolved, the pair head out to the bar together. However, that means they’re not around to hear Doc and Cameron have gone out on an emergency, with the former likely to be late heading home.

Cameron and Doc end up hiking through the woods together, eventually finding Charlie who’s looking the worse for wear with a nasty fracture.

Hope shows up at the bar and she’s back to her usual self, gossiping with the others. In the midst of this though, Jack comes up with a new business venture. He’s thinking about setting up an Airstream, and potentially doing some guided tours too. It would allow an extra source of revenue to trickle in and speed the process of building a new house for him and Mel.

Denny speaks to Lizzie, where he continues his hot/cold routine with her. However, Lizzie believes it goes deeper than conflicted feelings and is concerned that he could be hiding something from her.

Mel is worried that her sister is rushing everything and believes she should take it easy. Mel points out that Joey just doesn’t want to be alone, which obviously doesn’t go down too well with her sister. Mel continues to vent later on, speaking to Hope about how she’s worried about Joey’s recklessness.

Hope has a different opinion though, claiming that she and Vernon actually got together after a month and ended up getting married.

During aikido lessons, Julia asks about the picture, where Preacher brings up Paige and Christopher. She decides to rain-check on lunch, especially as Preacher refuses to open up. When he heads back to the bar, he’s a bit down-heartened, but perks up a little after hearing Jack’s business idea.

When Jack heads home, Mel calls him out for drinking again. Joey shows up to interrupt all of this though, hitting out at Mel for getting involved, pointing out that Nate has cancelled the wedding as a result.

Elsewhere, Lizzie ends up over at Denny’s place, where she spies a bottle of Klonopin. She doesn’t say anything though and stuffs it back in the cupboard.

The Episode Review

So it appears Denny’s medication is to treat anxiety and panic disorders (Thanks Google!), which makes sense if he is affected by his father passing away. It could well be that Denny isn’t actually a bad guy after all but it’s too early to make that judgment call.

Meanwhile, the drama of today’s episode revolves around Joey and her rushed wedding with Nate. If Mel and Joey bickering is enough for Nate to call off the wedding then maybe they shouldn’t be together. Of course, the chances are they’ll sort through their issues by the end of the next episode!

To be fair, the majority of this chapter is pretty good and there’s definitely some development with the issues involving Emerald Lumber too, which has been spread out throughout this season. .