EP about sex scenes, intimacy coordinator, cliffhanger

WARNING: This post contains spoilers for season six of Virgin River, now streaming on Netflix.

It’s officially wedding season in Virgin River. While the 10 new episodes, which began streaming on December 19, focused on Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge) and Jack’s (Martin Henderson) wedding planning, they also stayed true to the world of “Virgin River.” That means love triangles, shocking marriage proposals and a surprise baby.

Below, showrunner Patrick Sean Smith explains all the twists and cliffhangers and gives a taste of what’s to come in Season 7.

Before we get to the many cliffhangers, overall this season was a bit more heated than previous seasons. Was there a conversation beforehand? about it?

I think there was. All the love that precedes a wedding felt organic. It’s my second season on the show and I’m still learning every aspect of it. There are so many plates you’re spinning, from character relationships to romance, crime, medicine, and now fire to intergenerational (themes). So there was a lot going on and we delved a little more into the sexual relationship of some of our couples. I’m proud of them all. The most surprising thing was probably the discussion in the sewing circle about her sex life, which I am so incredibly proud of. It just felt real. It felt organic. It felt true to the characters.

Absolutely. There were plenty of love scenes this season, including one at the pool table between Brady and Brie. Do you use an intimacy coordinator?

We always offer. In this case, Ben and Zibby declined, but a lot of thought went into it. We work with RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) and I had a face-to-face meeting with them just to educate myself because we knew we wanted it to be physical, somewhat sensual and aggressive in some ways. That was the part that made me nervous, as far as how far this went. I was reminded that sexual assault and sexual violence is never so much about aggression as it is about mastery of power. I think we were really respectful. I think both Zibby and Ben, through their research, have raised a certain level of awareness that they sort of coordinated it themselves.

While we’re talking Brady and Brie, let’s dive into the love square. While Brady and Mike (Marco Grazzini) made their feelings clear, the question is, is Brie dating Mike because he’s a good person or because she believes he’s her person?

I think it’s probably more the former. I think she’s trying to make something work that should work on every level. I think what’s confusing them is why that’s not the case. Given her experience and the fact that she survived sexual assault by a partner, I think it left her with doubts deep down about whether she could trust herself to make the right decisions. I think she makes the obvious choice with Mike and tries to force it, and therein lies the struggle.

Lark (Elise Gatien) obviously showed her true colors in the end, but for a moment it seemed like she was actually falling in love with Brady. Was this all a ruse?

We’ll reveal everything in season 7, but in my opinion, she actually fell in love with him. I think she heard loud and clear that she would always come second to Brie, which is a bit of a contradiction. And Brady wasn’t very good at lying to her when she confronted him about it. He hid that truth, so I wanted to make sure she felt right, because it’s one thing to cheat on someone in cold blood, and there’s something more interesting when someone cheats on someone just out of emotional revenge.

I read that Zibby said that there were originally two alternate endings for Brie. We saw Mike propose, her revealing she slept with Brady, and him saying, “I know.” What was the other ending?

When we were filming it, we started toying with the idea of ​​having him then say, “I know.” It felt interesting to me and I felt like I’d never seen that before. I was worried it would feel like a hat on a hat. When we shot it, we watched it with the writing team. They didn’t know we added that line that day. So when we got to that scene and he said that line, everyone screamed. I thought, “I think we’ll stick with this line.”

I definitely gasped! OK, we see the cliffhanger where Mel wakes up after her wedding and possibly has a baby. Can you talk at all about what Mel thinks about this as we start Season 7?

Yeah, what I found interesting was waking up the next morning after getting something you’d wanted for so long, and then this other thing was laid at your feet. Do you accept that immediately? Circumstances are complicated since Marley (Rachel Drance) is her patient. She’s not sure where she’s operating from. So there’s a lot to unpack there.

Will there be a time jump in season 7?

We pick up pretty much exactly where we left off – it’s about an hour later.

Got it! One of the other big cliffhangers is what happened to Charmaine (Lauren Hammersley). She wasn’t around much this season, probably due to time constraints and her larger role in Sullivan’s Crossing. Will she be back next season?

That’s the plan. Part of a creative shift was an attempt to pull back from the crime stories that had previously existed in the series, which started to overshadow (other things), and I think for some viewers it started to get darker . In Season 6, we had the opportunity to personalize the crime element through the relationship between Charmaine and Calvin. So there was a small effect of that. But I love Lauren so much. She is so incredibly talented. I know people are divided about Charmaine, but I feel like she was a great villain. It was our intention in Season 5 to rehabilitate her a little bit to understand why she did some of the things she did. I feel like we still have a character that, even if she’s not in every episode, resonates with audiences.

Cameron (Mark Ghanimé) returned briefly and was really there for Muriel (Teryl Rothery), but then headed back to San Diego. Will we see him next season?

Unfortunately, Cameron will not be appearing on the show again next season. I love Mark and I loved Cameron. I think he will always be part of our Virgin River world and family. So if history presents itself, I would like to see him again.

I know you introduced the cast of the prequel at the beginning of the season, but do you have any idea how long the flagship Virgin River might last? Seven seasons is quite an achievement.

As long as the fans keep coming and there is an appetite for it. I think it’s a show that’s about human experiences and it’s cross-generational. It would be a dream to continue living and growing old with these characters. The show seems like the kind of show that can do that.

This interview has been edited and condensed.