TV - Movies
Why Fans Are So
Confused By The
Virgin River
Timeline
By K. THOMAS
THIS STORY CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR "Virgin River."
SPOILER WARNING!
"Virgin River" follows Mel Monroe, a nurse practitioner from Los Angeles who moves to a small town in Northern California for a fresh start and falls in love with restaurant owner Jack Sheridan. However, when one considers the rest of the show's storylines, it becomes confusing trying to figure out just how long Mel has actually been living in Virgin River.
Fans on Reddit have been trying to piece together the show's events, believing each season spans about a month in the show's universe. The Season 3 premiere specifies it has been three weeks since Jack was shot in the Season 2 finale, so, counting the time jumps between seasons; this means it has been a little more than four months since Mel first arrived in Virgin River.
This timeline stops making sense if you factor in Charmaine’s pregnancy which was first revealed at the end of Season 1 but still doesn't look all that pregnant by the end of Season 3. The character is already engaged to another man, which makes this confusing, as it implies she met him and got engaged in less than three weeks.
Another timeline issue comes into play when Jack is healed from his gunshot wound in Season 3, which doesn't seem medically possible in three short weeks. The confusion is compounded by the fact that Lilly's baby, who was born in Season 1, is still very young. It is easy to see why fans of the show have become frustrated with the timeline; as u/the_littlehobbit writes, "It's insanely annoying how off the timeline is on this show.”