Virgin River – Season 5 Episode 9 “Angel’s Peak” Recap & Review

Angel’s Peak

Episode of 9 of Virgin River season 5 starts after Mel’s confession. Jack wakes up just as Mel heads out the door for a run. She isn’t ready to talk about the situation just yet. He asks to join her for a hike, and she agrees.

Elsewhere, Hope bakes scones before Rose’s visit, but she’s still angry at her. However, she remains civil when Denny and Rose arrive, although there’s obvious tensions still simmering away.

Preacher and Kaia share a quiet morning after their biking adventure, and she explains that she’s responsible for helping Jay through his healing until she ships out and returns home. Preacher is concerned, given it means Kaia might be leaving Virgin River. However, she shows up to support Preacher when he shows off his new menu at the bar.

After their kiss, things between Cameron and Muriel are awkward and stifled at the clinic, especially given it’s just the two of them working. Cameron wants to talk about it, but Muriel reveals she’s moving in with Lydie instead. She doesn’t want to be tempted by him if they’re sharing a house together.

Mel and Jack’s hike takes a sour turn when Jack makes a comment about the forest’s resilience after everything it’s been through. Mel knows exactly where this is going. Jack decides to take Mel to the vista at Angel’s Peak, believing this will change her perspective. A disagreement naturally occurs between them though, as it becomes clear that they’re in very different places right now.

Jack presses on though, suggesting other ways of having a baby, but the idea of surrogacy is not where Mel is at right now, and she wants to try and make the most of the path she’s been put on.

Hope and Denny leave Doc and Rose to catch up and have a chat about everything that’s happened. Doc asks why she didn’t tell him they had a son, but Rose throws it back at him, pointing out he never wanted to be a father. Doc is incredulous, telling her that he would have taken responsibility for this. Rose is insistent that she did the right thing out of love and respect so he could follow his dream. What is with the warped ideology from some of these women in Virgin River? First Char and now Rose!

Elsewhere, Mike and Brie naturally start flirting at the softball game. Shocker. Despite losing the game, Brie and Mike end up kissing afterwards. While this is going on, Brady and Lark spend more time together where there’s romance brewing for them too.

That night, Brady looks over company invoices and he seems to find something awry. He heads to the warehouse where Melissa runs her operation and takes a video, hoping that this will speed up their incrimination.

Back with Mel and Jack, the former opens up about the fact that she wonders if becoming parents is even on the cards for her. She’s had four miscarriages and a stillbirth now, and that’s before even mentioning the situation with twins. Jack understands and believes that they’re lost.

Rose arrives at the bar for dinner with Denny and Lizzie, and Hope notices Doc isn’t with her. Hope heads back home to check up on Doc, and convinces Doc to join the dinner for Denny’s sake. He agrees.

Rose pushes Denny to go back to college and live the rest of his life beyond Virgin River, but Denny hits back and claims that his dream was to be in love. In confidence, Rose tells Denny that he’s making a mistake.

Elsewhere, Kaia’s ex-husband Jay drops by the bar to tell her they’re being shipped out to Alaska the next day given wildfires have spread. Jay is going to be the Incident Commander, while Kaia has made the team lead. Kaia jumps at the chance to show what she’s made of and leaves to pack. In her absence, Preacher and Jay butt heads again.

Mel and Jack do eventually reach Angel’s Peak, where Jack confesses his true feelings to her. When he first came to Virgin River he felt lost. For much of his life, he repressed the death of his brother, and that caused him to move toward substance abuse. He came out of this on the other side and believes that they can do the same by starting a family.

They head back to town, and Jack drops blankets off to the families at the camp. However, he notices a light shining in one of the trailers. When he investigates, he finds Brady in the back sneaking about.

The Episode Review

The situation involving Jack and Mel seems to have come around and it’ll be interesting to see what direction the writers decide to take this. In many ways, their cyclical relationship has seen them constantly tackling issues from the word go and perhaps this will help them come out the other side stronger together. However, it’s still a tough pill to swallow, given how much of the past few seasons have been building to the pair having kids and now that seems to be falling by the wayside.

The other subplots continue to tick along, with the Rose situation resolved in a round-about away but still having its own set of issues regarding morality and who’s in the right here.

Everything has been building to this finale but aside from the wildfire situation, this season has really lacked that cutting edge to pick up the dramatic threads and really run with them. Hopefully the end of part 1 gives us something special to sink our teeth into.