Virgin River – Season 5 Episode 6 “Heroes Rise” Recap & Review

Heroes Rise

Episode 6 of Virgin River season 5 starts with Mel saving Chloe from the fire and struggling to wake up Ava, who’s passed out inside.

Back at the clinic, Doc and Cameron work together to keep Jay alive. Unfortunately, Doc’s eyesight prevents him from seeing clearly during a very tricky decompression procedure, prompting Cameron to take the reigns and do this.

Elsewhere, trapped in their car surrounded by fire, Denny freezes and Lizzie suggests they “make a run for it.” She shouts at him but thankfully, right in the nick of time, Bert drives his tow truck into the car blocking their path. In doing so, Denny drives them off to safety.

Jack shows up at Lilly’s house and helps Mel save Ava. They take Chloe and Ava to the clinic, and immediately check on Chloe’s lungs due to smoke inhalation. Jack meanwhile, Jack stays back and saves the animals from the farm.

Hope is super relieved when Lizzie and Denny arrive unharmed and there are hugs all round. Denny though is still hung up over freezing in the midst of chaos. Lizzie tries to talk to him about this but Denny is reserved and doesn’t reveal his true feelings.

Hope and Nick decide to work together as a team to help get the community through this disaster.

Cameron confronts Doc about the procedure, and he admits his eyesight is degrading. He’s not happy about him keeping such a massive thing a secret all this time, especially to find out in the middle of saving Jay’s life. The pair continue to fight but Muriel interrupts and asks them both to help with Ava and Chloe.

Cameron takes charge and later confronts Muriel about keeping Doc’s eyesight a secret, who tells him that it’s not her place to share that information. As for Doc, Mel talks some sense into him as he’s wallowing in self-pity and tells him to get his act together, given they need to monitor Chloe together.

Mel and Jack finally reunite and he reveals that Lilly’s house has burned down. As for Mel, she wants to tell him about the lost baby but keeps quiet given it’s not the right time to share the news.

Elsewhere this episode, Mike and Brie hang out together in Sacramento watching the news about Virgin River. There’s a bit of an encounter between Brie and her mum who butt heads over Brady’s commitment, but more importantly, they notice that the evacuation zones have been expanded in Virgin River.

Mike is convinced that Jack will pull through given his experience of being in dangerous situations. This prompts Brie’s mum to take another jab at her daughter and the pair get into a bit of a fight, with Brie bemoaning her mother’s lack of support and care. However, later in the episode they end up having a heart to heart and resolve their issues.

Back in Virgin River, Preacher lashes out at Brady for acting like a “war hero” for saving Lark and Hazel, while Brady hits back and brings up unresolved issues from their time in Iraq together. Jack interrupts in the middle of this and brings them outside, showing that the fire continues to spread and is near the bar.

Naturally, those who have been evacuated here begin to panic but Hope steps up and calms them down, deciding to had over to the Kid’s Camp field. As they do, Jack, Brady, and Preacher lead a group by the river to fight the fire.

Preacher initially pushes back against Brady’s instruction to start a backfire because it will turn the fire away from the bar. Jack stands by Brady’s idea though, reinforcing that it’s the only one they have so they may as well try.

Back at the clinic, the group need to make a decision about the patients. Jay can’t be moved because they won’t have the supplies out in the wild to keep him alive. As a result, Doc and Cameron decide to stay with Jay while the rest transport Chloe to the safety zone.

Hope and Jack try to organize water planes to drop water on the fire and slow down its spread. They speak to a guy called Charlie who eventually lets them use the plane. However, he won’t be flying. Jack will. While Jack prepares for this, Hope calls other farmers to get more planes to join.

Over at the Kid’s Camp field, Denny comes clean about his feelings to Lizzie. He had come to terms with dying given his condition but being there, in the middle of the fire and facing death head on, he realizes he’s not ready for this. He turns to Lizzie and admits he’s in love with her. She says the same back.

Elsewhere, Kaia and the firefighters arrive and commend the backfire plan, leaving Preacher to swallow his pride as he realizes Brady does have a good head on his shoulders… sometimes.

The water planes fly overhead across the river to the fire. Nick admits that Hope has acted as a better mayor than him throughout the disaster and decides to step down and give her back the mayorship at the next town council meeting. Muriel takes Hope aside in the middle of this to tell her about Doc’s self-doubt and issues at the clinic earlier on.

In the morning, the wildfires have finally stopped but parts of the town has been burned. Preacher does the right thing and thanks Brady for saving the bar, but Brady tells him he needs to believe that he’s changed. After this, Preacher’s world comes crashing down when he learns Kaia is married and the injured firefighter, Jay, is her husband.

As the episode closes out, Hope speaks to her husband and reassures him, while Jack reunited again with Mel. This time, Mel finally opens up and in a heart-breaking revelation, she starts crying and utters “I’m so sorry.”


The Episode Review

Remember what I said before about drama being raised and then resolved in the same episode? Brie and her mum are a perfect example of that. But then we also get the Hope Mayorship issue too. This could have been an interesting angle as she comes to terms with a lower role in the town but nope, Nick steps down and Hope is back reinstated again after several episodes of initial drama surrounding it.

More interesting however, is what’s going on between Mel and Jack. These two have been through the wars together but there’s still hope that Mel may still have her baby right? I mean, Charmaine has been pregnant for what? 4 years now? And after a full season toying with Mel’s paternity issues to then write in a miscarriage, forcing her to work through it last episode and this one just seems callous and cruel. And I’m not even a huge fan of the show, I can only imagine what massive fans must be thinking here!

The wildfire is just what this show needed to actually step it up a gear and hope the second half continues with that momentum.

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  • Episode Rating
    (3.5)
3.5

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