Virgin River season 5 recap guide: All 12 episodes explained

Season 5 episode 9 recap: Angel’s Peak

After Mel’s confession the night before, Mel and Jack seem to be at an impasse. As Jack wakes up, Mel’s heading out the door for a run to clear her head, but she isn’t ready to talk about the situation just yet. He asks to join her for a hike, and she agrees.

Hope bakes scones in preparation of Rose’s visit, but she’s no less full of goodwill and welcoming spirit. She’s mad enough for her and Doc combined and offers a motto to live by: “If you don’t have anything nice to say about someone, say it behind their back.” Denny and Rose arrive, and they’re cordial — with a touch of tension.

Following a day of getting to know each other better, Preacher and Kaia share a quiet morning, and she explains she’s still responsible for helping Jay through his healing process until she ships out and he returns home in Colorado. Preacher seems to already be worrying about the future when Kaia might be leaving Virgin River. But for now, she’s showing up to support him for his new “just like mama made it” menu at the bar.

Considering the last time we saw them they shared a kiss, the vibe between Cameron and Muriel at the clinic is kind of awkward, especially since it’s just the two of them for the day. Although Cameron wants to talk about what happened, Muriel cuts him off and tells him she’s moving in with Lydie. She thinks they spent enough time together at work without the added temptation of being together in a shared living space after hours.

Mel and Jack’s hike isn’t peaceful for long. The topic of starting a family naturally comes back up when Jack comments that the forest is resilient after everything it’s been through. He’s not as subtle as he thinks he is. Jack wants to take Mel to the vista at Angel’s Peak, hopeful that it will help change her perspective. A disagreement emerges about the intricacies of the situation, including Mel’s grief from years of trying, Jack’s newfound dream of having a family with Mel, and Mel’s feeling of letting Jack down.

Jack suggests that there are other ways of having a baby, and she explains that she’d always wanted to have a child of her own. Thinking about surrogacy is physically and emotionally taxing on Mel, and she can’t put herself through that again. She wants to embrace (or at least attempt to embrace) the new path she’s been placed on.

Hope and Denny leave Doc and Rose to catch up and have a long overdue chat. Naturally, Doc asks why she didn’t tell him they had a son. She gives the reason that he told her he didn’t want to be a father. He pushes back by saying he would have taken responsibility, but Rose insists she made the decision to keep their son from him out of love and respect so he could follow his dream of becoming a doctor. Still, she made a lot of choices that left Doc feeling hurt.

When Mike hits the field for Brie’s company softball game, there’s some apparent flirting between the two of them. Unsurprisingly, Mike and Brie are both great at softball, and a few of her teammates and coworkers tease her about being into Mike. Still, they lose the game, but it’s not the game that’s important. Brie and Mike finally kiss!

On the glamping site, Lark invites Brady over for dinner and game night, but before he can enjoy his evening with a romance that’s clearly blossoming, he looks over invoices for the company and he seems to find something shady. He later goes to the warehouse where Melissa runs her operation and takes a video of their sketchy happenings. Meanwhile, Cameron and Muriel are still awkward at the clinic, though they talk themselves into giving their budding relationship being somewhat of a good idea and trying to make it work.

Back on the hike with Mel and Jack, she opens up about the fact that she wonders if becoming parents is part of their plan. She’s had four miscarriages and a stillbirth, and that’s what’s weighing on her. Jack says that he understands, but Mel presses that he doesn’t know what it feels like to be in her position. She agrees that she’s been running, and if she hadn’t run to Virgin River, she never would have met Jack. Adding to the symbolism of their situation, Jack informs Mel that they are lost. Just then, it starts to pour down rain. They just have to laugh!

Rose arrives at the bar for dinner with Denny and Lizzie, and Hope notices Doc isn’t with her due to where they left things after their conversation. Hope goes home to check on Doc, and armed with the realization she received from her friends (that you don’t have to like or forgive family to live with them), she convinces Doc to join the dinner — not for Rose but for Denny.

Mel and Jack reach Angel’s Peak, where Jack lets her in on what he’s been holding back. When he first came to Virgin River, he was lost. For much of his life, he was repressing the death of his brother, but when it came back around, the grief caused him to enter a darkness. He believes that he and Mel can keep pushing to get out from under their grief, to start a family in some form. It might not be clear-cut, but they still want to chase that dream. Later while sewing on the porch, a bird sits on the chair opposite for a few seconds. She takes it as a sign.

While tasting Preacher’s new menu, Kaia’s ex-husband Jay drops by the bar to inform her that there are wildfires in Alaska and they’re shipping out the next day. Jay, still being on crutches, has been made Incident Commander, and Kaia will be the team lead. She jumps at this career opportunity and immediately leaves the bar to pack. Again, Preacher and Jay lock horns.

Even though Rose pushes about Denny going back to college and living the rest of his life beyond Virgin River, she pulls back when he tells her his dream was to be in love. After their dinner with Lizzie, Hope, and Doc, Rose gets back on her agenda with Denny. She doesn’t mince words when she drops the bomb that she thinks he’s making a mistake.

Jack drops extra blankets off to the evacuated families at the glamping site, and he notices a light shining in a particular trailer. When he enters the trailer with a flashlight, he finds Brady in the back hovered over something suspicious. Brady has been caught!

Written by Reed Gaudens