Virgin River season 5 part 2 ending explained and episode 12 recap

NOTE: This post contains spoilers for Virgin River season 5 episode 12, "Father Christmas"

Christmas is mostly merry and bright for Mel, Jack and co in the last episode of Virgin River's fifth season. But before presents are exchanged, there are still quite a few things people need to sort out.

What does the show have in store for its characters in this Holiday-themed episode? Let’s recap the events of the end of Virgin River season 5, part 2. And good news Virgin River season 6 is on the way!

Who needs a second father anyway?

Ever the helpful fiancé, Jack drives Mel to the address of her biological father, Everett Reid. She is a little hesitant to go knock on his door and reveal she is his daughter, but when Everett stands on his doorstep looking at this stranger’s car in his driveway, Mel has to rip off the band-aid. However, when she tells him she is his daughter, Everett argues he is not the man she is looking for. Mel is especially disappointed when he steps away and she sees his Lumberjack Games trophy in the hallway, proving the man is indeed her father. When Mel returns to the car, she is disappointed to tell Jack that Everett wants nothing to do with her.

Back at their cabin, it is clear that Mel is upset but she does not want to let this bring her down. It’s Christmas after all, time for joy and time for cheer! So she decides to focus on their celebration with the family that wants to be there, but the turkey basting will have to wait because Charmaine calls, complaining about Braxton Hicks contractions. Off to the clinic, Mel leaves Jack to deal with his own family drama. Over at Brie’s, he and the latter give a scolding to their parents, and tell them they better fix their attitude before Christmas or there will pretty much be no presents for them.

Joy to the world

To each their own traditions and we then find Preacher and Kaia do a Christmas eve polar plunge. The cold apparently gets Preach’s heart racing so much that he tells Kaia he loves her.

She is happy to hear it, but not ready to say it back. That’s okay though, because towards the end of the episode, she will tell him she is staying in Virgin River for good as she accepted a job as the town’s fire chief. Who knew Virgin River had so many job openings this season?

Over at the clinic, Mel meets Charmaine whose contractions are getting worse because she ran into Calvin, who insisted on driving her to the clinic. After getting rid of him, Charmaine asks if Mel now understands why she has been lying about the twin’s father identity, and Mel totally gets it. But as she tries to tell Charmaine she better not have her babies on Christmas Eve, the woman’s water breaks, meaning that is exactly what is about to happen. Doc, who is at home looking at his and Hope’s wedding album and talking about marriage with Denny, is called for help and makes his way to the clinic, but not before handing over to his grandson the lab results that contain the sex of his and Lizzie’s baby.

Speaking of which, Lizzie sits down with her mother for a chat about her pregnancy. Deirdre did not take the news very well and Lizzie wants to get her on board. It takes a little convincing, but her mother eventually comes around and accepts the fact that Lizzie is ready and wants to be a mother. In the meantime, Hope is rocking around her Christmas tree and trying to ignore Jo.

Ellen and Nick as they taunt her with their record of winning the decorating competition. Back at the clinic, Charmaine tells Mel how a cocktail of sadness, anger and alcohol got her mixed up with Calvin as Jack stops by and goes away as fast as he can once he sees his ex is in labor. Doc then arrives to help with the delivery of the twins. Charmaine’s blood pressure is a bit high but despite the show’s best efforts to create tension around the situation, we all know there is no way this delivery will go sideways. This is a Christmas episode after all. It turns out to be the fastest delivery ever and Charmaine gives birth to two healthy baby boys, and everyone cheers.

A bit later, Mel and Doc have a post-delivery chat during which he tells her he sometimes feels like a proud father working with her. This leads Mel to tell him what happened with Everett and prompts Doc to say he will always be there for her. That’s good, because Mel was wondering if Doc would walk her down the aisle when she gets married to Jack… and of course he will! He also reveals that he is about to be a great-grandad and all this Christmas joy gives him an idea, and he calls Denny for help.

And the winner is…

After Brie and Jack set up the table for Christmas dinner at the bar, and chat about how their family Christmases have been falling apart over the years, everyone meets back at the Christmas tree decorating competition. There, they find their parents who have been doing a lot of talking and have decided that they are ready to spend Christmas together. In fact, Sam has even met Javier and now the two men are pretty much besties.

As trees are lit up and judges walk around to pick the best of the best, Cameron tells Muriel that he has met up with his ex, who wants them to get back together and start a family. However, that’s not for Cameron, who wants to stay right here with Muriel. She is happy to hear it, but warns him that having children is no longer in the cards for her and insists that he really think about whether that is something he can live without.

While Hope awaits to find out if her Nutcracker-themed tree will wow the judges, she talks to Deirdre about Lizzie and reassures her that the young woman will need her help with the baby.

That’s when Denny and Lizzie show up to announce they are having a girl, yay! Then, Doc shows up saying he forgot to light up a part of the tree, and uses of Nutcracker to ask Hope to marry him again, which she agrees to right before we find out she is the winner of the Christmas tree decorating competition. Double yay!

Someone has been pretty much MIA these past two episodes, and that’s Mike, who is apparently on duty on Christmas eve. He only shows up for dinner and to give Preach a call to warn him the body found in the woods has been identified and “things are about to blow up.” But Mike’s absence is okay, because it gave us a chance to see Brady and Brie run into each other again. They have a heartfelt and sweet little chat and almost kiss under the mistletoe before they are interrupted by Jack. It feels like things are going a little too well on the Brady front and of course we later find out there is trouble brewing when Lark receives a phone call from a jailbird who seems to be in cahoots with her to somehow trap Brady.

All's well that ends well as Jack and Mel go ice skating and everyone has a merry little Christmas. After dinner with the family, and Mel receiving the jewelry she was hoping to get, the couple goes back to the cabin where Jack has one more surprise for her. He got her a puppy, a sweet little lab named Pony because Mel had said she always wanted a pony for Christmas.

They are fussing over the little furball when a car pulls up at the cabin and Everett Reid comes to tell Mel how much she looks like her mother. He admits being her father and gives her the letters her mother wrote him, before enigmatically adding that he has something important to tell her.

Of course, this is where the second part of Virgin River season 5 leaves us. What is it that Everett has to say? We’ll have to wait for season 6 to find out! In the meantime, all five seasons of Virgin River are available to watch and rewatch on Netflix (we have a best shows on Netflix guide if you want more series to watch).