Exclusive
Inside Mel & Jack’s ‘Virgin River’ Love Story With Alexandra Breckenridge, Martin Henderson (VIDEO)
Mel Monroe (Alexandra Breckenridge) and Jack Sheridan (Martin Henderson) are ready to step into the next chapter of their love story in Virgin River Season 6 with their highly-anticipated wedding. It hasn’t always been an easy road for this couple, but their love has prevailed.
While on the Vancouver set, Breckenridge and Henderson looked back at Mel and Jack’s biggest moments so far. Remember where it all started? When Mel showed up at Jack’s bar and ordered a Cosmopolitan in the series premiere? They knew that the first moment between these characters had to be memorable.
“The whole engine of the show was this meeting of this man and this woman, and what will this turn into?” Henderson explained. “And, of course, will they? Won’t they? Will she get over her dead husband? Will he [Jack] decide to commit to her? It had to be imbued with the sense of electricity and potential.”
Breckenridge added, “I remember we did a lot of staring into each other’s eyes as per the script.” Henderson quipped, “We did a lot more than ends up on the TV.”
The electricity between them was a throughline in the show’s first season. They shared their first kiss in Episode 8 after Jack renovated Mel’s shack into a cabin. “There’s a spark between them that happens pretty instantaneously, but she keeps pushing him away [and] pushing him away because she’s just not emotionally ready. But then he sort of surprises her with this grand gesture that sort of sweeps her off her feet,” Breckenridge said.
One storyline Breckenridge and Henderson did not like was Mel and Jack’s breakup. “I hated that so much,” Henderson stated, which made Breckenridge reply, “We both did.” Henderson continued, “I didn’t believe Jack would ever break up with her.”
Thankfully, their split was short-lived. However, the couple continued to face obstacles. Mel experienced a miscarriage in the middle of the town’s massive wildfire in Season 5. The tragedy ultimately brought the couple closer together.
“The miscarriage felt devastating for their relationship and for a lot of people watching the show, but there was, I think, a real bonding experience that happened between the two of them. They came together and supported each other,” Breckenridge said.
Henderson noted that this was a situation where they had to “overcome adversity together.” In the past, they’d “dealt with their own personal demons and their grief and their traumas, but it was interesting to see them actually have something that they both had to fight through as a unit and either be torn apart by it and lose their dreams and feel like that was a downer or actually be made stronger and get more united in what their future’s going to be.”
Mel and Jack emerged stronger than ever and looked ahead to the future with bright eyes. After getting engaged, they will be saying “I do” in Season 6 — finally! No one deserves a happy ending more than these two.
What’s been your favorite Mel and Jack moment so far? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Virgin River, Season 6, December 19, Netflix
