Warning: This post contains spoilers for Season Four of “Virgin River.”
The fourth season of “Virgin River,” which dropped on Netflix on July 20, answers many long-awaited questions — including whether Jack (Martin Henderson) is the father of Mel’s (Alexandra Breckenridge) baby, or whether Mark (Daniel Gillies), Mel’s deceased husband, is.
After watching the Season Three finale of “Virgin River,” there’s a good chance you wanted to throw your computer (or TV, or phone, or however you watched the show) across the room.
Why? Because finally, just when Jack and Mel seemed to be in a good place as a couple they were handed yet another “Virgin River”-worthy twist.
Jack was about to propose when Mel revealed that she was pregnant — and he might not be the father. How, you ask, is that possible? Thank modern medicine.
Recapping Mel and Jack’s relationship, up until now
Let’s catch up. Mel, a nurse practitioner, moved to the small California town with the intention of recuperation. She recently suffered the loss of her husband, Mark, who died in a car accident, and a miscarriage.
Not a single day into her relocation, she met Jack (Martin Henderson), a Marine veteran and bar owner. They had an undeniable connection — and he also had a girlfriend.
From their, Mel and Jack’s relationship has a few on-again, off-again patches, made more complicated by the fact that Charmaine (Lauren Hammerlsley), Jack’s ex, is pregnant with his twins.
Mel and Jack break up in Season Three because they have different ideas for the future: Mel wants a child; Jack says he’s overwhelmed by the idea of having three children and running a business.
Mel returns to Los Angeles and decides to approach motherhood in a different way. She returns to the clinic where she and Mark had been undergoing IVF and requests to use the last two embryos.
Not long after, she returns to Virgin River and gets back together with Jack. These events, which happened in close succession, lead Mel (and, clearly, all of us) to wonder: Who is the baby’s father?
Who is the father of Mel’s baby? Tell us!
We know, right? The suspense. So: In the finale of Season Four of “Virgin River,” Mel gets paperwork back with information about the child she’s carrying — including the identity of the father.
Mel, at first, is not keen on opening the paperwork. She says she doesn’t need to know. Jack, on the other hand, wants to know. Before opening the email, they have a grounding conversation in which they affirm the contents of the email don’t matter: They’re in this together.
Jack, like many of us “Virgin River” fans, can’t decipher the “medical-ese.” Here, Mel’s medical degree comes in handy for the nth time.
Drumroll, please: Jack is the child’s father — and they’re having a girl. Jack’s reaction? “Oh, holy crap. We’re having a little girl? I’m so happy right now.”
But about Charmaine’s twins…
Until now, Jack had been under the impression that he the was the father of Charmaine’s twin sons. (We don’t know how time works in “Virgin River,” but they haven’t been born yet.)
At the end of the season, Charmaine appears at Mel’s house in dire straits. She’s having a panic attack and is struggling, believing she’s going to lose her babies.
While she doesn’t explain how she got into this position, it may have to do with her husband, Todd (Patrick Sabongui), whom she married after three weeks. Todd appears to be controlling, forcing them to move to Eureka, Calif. without Charmaine’s approval. Jack doesn’t hide his distaste for Todd, who displays hallmarks of emotionally abusive relationships like love bombing and gaslighting in his treatment of Charmaine.
“This is karma. I’m being punished. It’s because I lied,” Charmaine says, before revealed that Jack is not the father, without saying who is. The season cuts to black, leaving us with another paternity question to uncover in Season Five. Let’s hope Charmaine gets the care she needs in the season to come.