When the leaves start to change, and there's a slight chill in the air, it offers the perfect opportunity to stay inside, cozy up with a hot mug of tea, snuggle up under a big blanket, and turn on your favorite streamer for a comforting binge-watch of your favorite show. But what if there was another fall alternative to your annual revisit of Gilmore Girls?
Netflix’s cozy romance Virgin River provides the perfect autumnal comfort watch with a story that evokes the same warm feelings from Gilmore Girls' classic mother-daughter duo. Virgin River follows Mel Monroe, played by Alexandra Breckenridge, who answers an ad to work as a midwife and nurse practitioner in a remote Northern California town. Believing it to be a perfect place to start fresh and escape a life of trauma, Mel soon discovers that small-town life is not what she expected. Virgin River is a low-stress, heartfelt romance that offers Hallmark vibes on a Netflix budget.
Right from the start, it's evident that Virgin River's main character will fall into an emotional and romantic entanglement with Jack Sheridan (Martin Henderson). As her source of introduction to the town, Martin takes an early interest in Mel, serving as a close confidante. As the series goes on, their relationship deepens and becomes even more romantic than it was at the beginning. Not only are Mel and Jack the central couple we root for, but their journey shares similarities to the greatest love story of Gilmore Girls: Luke and Lorelai (Scott Patterson and Lauren Graham). Like Luke with his diner, Jack owns the local bar, which serves as a familiar haunt for our characters to convene, gossip, and vent. Both men have hard exteriors, but deep inside, they are big softies. Lorelai and Mel have overcome major personal challenges, but don't let their past prevent their future. In the end, love wins, though Mel and Jack make it to the altar much faster than Luke and Lorelai.
Move over, Jack, there's a new favorite in town.
Most strong comfort shows keep romance central. Rather than push a will-they-won't-they narrative through multiple seasons, Virgin River allows two individuals with personal baggage to understand that they need one another to be whole again. The tension may be comparatively occasional, but Virgin River has other stories of struggle to tell instead. There are certainly complications in Mel and Jack's relationship, something viewers can relate to, but their enduring love is the epitome of romance — and becomes the show's primary draw.
Once you're pulled in by Mel and Jack's relationship, Virgin River is filled with wonderful and endearing supporting characters. The series boasts a close-knit community where their primary purpose is to support one another. Unafraid of exploring deep, personal struggles, including trauma, illness, and loss, Virgin River is an idealized portrayal of small-town life where everybody knows your name and your problems.
Four love stories, four completely different ideas of what it means to be somebody's person. This is the one that matches how you actually fall, and what it would ask of you.
You do not fall for strangers. You fall for the person you have already been talking to for years, which is the slowest and by some distance the most durable way anybody has found to do this.
You want a partner, not an audience. Somebody who wants their own life as badly as you want yours, and who would never ask you to be smaller to make the relationship easier.
The intensity was never the problem. The secrecy is. You are drawn to a love that lives entirely in private, and to the particular ache of wanting somebody you are not supposed to want.
You do not do this cautiously. When it happens for you it is immediate and total and it rearranges everything, and you would not accept a smaller version of it.
You might be questioning how you can classify Virgin River as an underrated series, but the reality is, despite seven released seasons and an eighth on the way, as well as consistent viewership, it's rarely mentioned in the same category as other mega hits on Netflix like Squid Game and Stranger Things. As one of the most comforting options out there, Virgin River is escapism at its finest. It's sweet, charming, and while it does push those difficult conversations to the forefront, it's an easy watch.
Virgin River has been one of Netflix's steadiest series thanks to its picturesque cinematography and wholesome charm. You almost wish you could be whisked away to the titular town and its mountain views yourself. With seven seasons to treat yourself to, you could truly spend every weekend on your couch watching until Christmas.
