‘Virgin River’: The story from a small Northern Californian town offers big messages about life, loss, and love
Netflix's original series ‘Virgin River’ -- an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Robyn Carr -- dropped on December 6 on the streaming platform. Although the book has gained recognition globally for dealing with contemporary romance, the series starring Alexandra Breckenridge as Melinda Monroe and Martin Henderson as Jack Sheridan in the lead has a lot more to offer.
The story centers on Melinda, who moves from LA to the remote town of Virgin River to get over the memories of an antagonizing past.
As it progresses, the 10-episode-long series takes us through the various facets associated with human relationships and throws light on the fact that everybody suffers at some point in life, regardless of their background, race, financial situations or any other factor that humans tend to get inundated by.
Even for the ones who have read Carr’s novel, the Netflix series makes for a good watch, by following a variety of characters, who despite their quirks and differences in social classes, have some of the deepest messages to offer which we assure will knock a good amount of enlightenment into you!
As the owner of the local bar, Jack states, “Perspective is most often the key to happiness”, and ‘Virgin River’ treats the same as its pivotal concept. All along, we explore the changes in our perception about the characters as we begin to learn more about their lives, struggles and, the dark past that each of them carries.
For instance, the doctor who at first comes across as a man who jangles everybody’s last nerve with his rude and demeaning behavior, doesn’t seem so bad when it is revealed that he’s moved to the small town from one of the most reputed hospitals in the city to lead a more humane life - only wanting to serve the people of the small town with his old-school medicine practices.
Similarly, just when we begin to form an image about Melinda as someone who isn’t a fugitive, capable of fighting her own battle, the series surprises us by exposing a much more vulnerable side to her.
Although ‘Virgin River’ comprises a handful of cast, it has imbued enough depth and focus on each of the characters, ensuring nothing is sidelined.
In the beginning, we are convinced that the small-town people and the pretty lady from LA would indulge in a never-ending war instigated by the differences in their ideologies as traditionalists and modernists. But our opinion is deeply influenced by what unfolds later; which involves a couple of kind-hearted people trying to help and find comfort in one another irrespective of the ideologies, which hold good only in textbooks.
‘River Virgin’ is real to the core from the start to the end. The makers haven’t tried creating a Utopian society that dismisses real problems, and that’s what makes Netflix series a must-watch for those who are on the lookout for something different from the usual everything-is-beautiful kind of love story.