Virgin River’s sixth season was a whirlwind, with everything from a picture-perfect wedding to scandalous betrayals and medical emergencies.
While Mel Monroe (played by Alexandra Breckenridge) and Jack Sheridan (Martin Henderson) prepared for their nuptials, Jack’s best friend Preacher (Colin Lawrence) had to clear his name.
Supported by his new girlfriend Kaia Bryant (Kandyse McClure) and hot-shot lawyer Brie (Zibby Allen), Jack’s sister, he was put on trial for the murder of Wes (Steve Bacic), the abusive ex-husband of Preacher’s ex Paige (Lexa Doig).
Jack, initially brought in to testify against him, defends his best friend’s character and, thanks to a winning speech from Brie, he was cleared of murder and walked free with some community service.
Fans were no doubt thrilled by the outcome, although one baffled viewer couldn’t help criticising how easily Preacher got out of the sticky situation.
Jack Sheridan defends his best friend
They took to Reddit with a post titled “One day murder trial”, setting up how ludicrous the scenario was out of context.
“I got such a good laugh at the one day murder trial,” the fan continued.
“In another show maybe they could have pulled off a murder trial in one episode.
“But in VR, a woman was pregnant for [five] seasons and here is something that would normally take months boiled down to one episode and what appeared to be one day in the characters’ lives. Lol. Timelines on this show are so funny.”
The lengthy pregnancy of Jack’s former flame Charmaine (Lauren Hammersley) has often been a point of contention for Virgin River fans, as it wasn’t until the end of season five that she finally gave birth to twins.
As murder trials usually last weeks if not months in the US, some viewers were clearly nonplussed when the whole ordeal was swept under the rug in a single episode.
Another baffled fan replied: “I laughed out loud when that episode ended with a mistrial and then Brie just being like ‘How about 300 hours of community service?’ and the prosecution being like, ‘eh, okay sure.’ WHAT!?”
Preacher’s trial seemed to only last a matter of hours
Someone else commented: “And he gets to be home the whole time! No way.”
To which another fan exclaimed: “Without even an ankle monitor!! Did he spend ANY time in jail?!”
“Don’s sexual assault trial lasted longer than Preacher’s murder trial! LOL,” they wrote.
They also pointed out: “It was so unrealistic that Paige was not there. It was in the prosecution’s interest for her *not* to appear so they could pin it on Preach, so I get that part, but any good defense attorney would have told him that they didn’t care how badly he wanted to protect her, she needed to show up.
Brie messed up in more ways than just missing the voicemail from Jack’s phone.”
Although fans are certainly happy not to see Preacher behind bars, what could have been a gripping subplot throughout the entire season clearly disappointed some viewers by wrapping up the whole trial in a matter of minutes.
