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After the big questions left by the Season 5 ending, Virgin River returned right before Christmas to deliver more drama, the wedding we’ve all waited for and numerous surprises, along with some hotter than ever sexytimes to keep fans glued to one of the best streaming services with their Netflix subscription. I thoroughly enjoyed Virgin River Season 6, but was wowed to see that one character was really pulling out all the stops to the point where they became the season’s (and possibly the town’s) MVP.

mel and jack on virgin river season 6

There Really Was A Lot To Love About Virgin River Season 6

Virgin River has never disappointed when it comes to romance, small town shenanigans or dramatic developments (remember when Jack got shot and we didn’t find out who did it for like two whole seasons?), but Season 6 really did set the bar even higher. Mel and Jack were finally on their way down the aisle, and made their love official in the finale, but they had a number of trials big and small to get there. These included a misplaced male stripper, growing tensions between Mike and Brady that nearly ruined Jack’s bachelor party, and, of course, Everett almost dying literally the night before the wedding.

We also got Hope overstepping her bounds as officiant and planning a super-big wedding that Mel and Jack didn’t really want, Preacher finally being freed after his part in Wes’ death, shocks in Muriel’s breast cancer diagnosis, Brie cheating on Mike with Brady (and Mike proposing to her even though he knew about the cheating), and Charmaine’s disappearance or death (depending on the Season 7 result of that cliffhanger.)

Basically, everyone and everything hit just right this season, but there was one character who came out on top to me, and that’s none other than Hope’s new(ish) chief of staff.

denny and lizzie before mel and jack’s wedding on virgin river season 6

But Lizzie Is the MVP Of Season 6 For Me

Lizzie (played by Sarah Dugdale) had a lot to deal with in Season 6. Not only was she helping Hope coordinate Mel and Jack’s massive, dove-filled, two-chocolate fountain wedding and reception to fit the whole town into the festivities, but she’s also now hugely pregnant, and she and Denny were dealing with some pretty heavy stuff concerning their unborn daughter and Denny’s Huntington’s disease.

But! It turns out that all of the pressure of adulting in such a major and pretty sudden way is likely what helped make Lizzie such a game-changer this season. She’s always been at least kinda spicy (which I’ll get into more in a bit), but because she was pregnant, stressed and understandably emotional about the potential of outliving both her partner and their baby girl… well, Ms. Lizzie was just over it this season.

Lizzie had no time for anyone’s bullshit in Season 6, and I freakin’ loved it! She hilariously called everyone out anytime they seemed to be making things more difficult than they had to be. For example, you can see this when Hope tries to change the town’s drive-in movie night pick at the last minute because she just found out about Muriel potentially having cancer. When she tells Lizzie they can’t screen Love Story because someone has cancer in it, Lizzie is visibly annoyed and responds with, “So! That’s like a third of all movies!”

She also freely lets people know when they’re annoying her or taking up too much of her time. A prime example of this is when Jack and Mel disappear literally right before they’re supposed to walk down the aisle and leave everyone wondering where they are. When they finally return, Jack dares to ask for five more minutes (to surprise Mel by wearing his Marine dress uniform for the ceremony) and Lizzie says, “Sure, why not? We’re only an hour behind.” And she doesn’t course-correct to a smiling “I mean, it’s your special day. Take all the time you need,” until she realizes everyone is staring at her in disbelief.

I simply adore Lizzie with an attitude!

lizzie annoyed on virgin river season 6

Lizzie Came To Virgin River As A Shit-Starter, So It Was Nice To See Her Get A Bit Of An Attitude Again

When Lizzie first showed up in Virgin River, she was a troublemaker of the first order. She’d been sent to live with her aunt Connie because her parents couldn’t handle her anymore after she was busted for shoplifting, and as soon as she laid eyes on Brady she tried to get with the much older man, which he thankfully put an end to when he realized she was only 19.

She then started “bonding” with Ricky (seemingly the only other person in town who’s their age) and took advantage of him, leading the good kid to start getting into all kinds of trouble. I liked having a shit-starter in town who wasn’t actually a full-fledged murdering criminal, so I was kinda bummed when her character started to soften after Connie banned Lizzie and Ricky from seeing each other. I was fine with her becoming a better person, but she was hanging out with the senior citizens in the sewing circle, and I wanted to see her still have some youth-adjacent fun.

This is why I was disappointed when she realized she was pregnant. But, it seems like all those fierce mama-bear emotions have actually led us back to a Lizzie that feels truer to the character we first saw, and got us back to the young woman who pulls very few punches, but in the best instead of worst ways.

lizzie talking to ricky on virgin river season 6

However, Lizzie Is Still Maturing Nicely For Someone So Young And Dealing With So Much

While so many fans were complaining about how long Charmaine was pregnant, and it was finally confirmed that the seasons mostly take place back-to-back, so very little time has passed story-wise over the course of six seasons, it can be hard to believe that Lizzie is still very young. In fact, at the oldest she’s probably only 22, and she’s already trying to make serious decisions like whether or not to have her baby with Denny tested for Huntington’s disease, and how they’re going to handle his care as he gets sicker while raising that baby.

Even though she’s gotten some of that old, dearly missed Lizzie-tude back, we can see that she’s still maturing nicely. While she’s not totally happy about everything that being pregnant has meant (having morning sickness, getting hungry every 45 minutes when she isn’t sick…), she quickly decided to keep the baby and is excited about being a parent, despite being fully aware of how hard it’s going to be.

She’s also done a very good job of being in a real relationship with Denny, and has taken to some of the finer aspects of it better than some who’ve been at it for much longer. Which leads me to my last point.

denny and lizzie at mel and jack’s wedding on virgin river season 6

Lizzie And Denny Might Be My Favorite Couple Now

Yup. I wrote it down for all to see and I’m not taking it back! Lizzie and Denny are very close to being my favorite Virgin River couple right now, even though I know that idea is probably borderline sacrilegious to Mel and Jack fans.

Honestly, Denny and Lizzie are both still so young, and they have some rough stuff to deal with (which will only get worse), but are handling it like champs. Yes, they had some lapses in communication in Season 6, with Denny wanting to have their daughter tested for Huntington’s as soon as possible and Lizzie not wanting to think about it, but they also pretty quickly fully opened up about why they were feeling the way they were about the many difficult life choices they’ll be making soon.

There are grown folks in their 40s and 50s who wait months, years or simply never have the hard conversations they need to have with their partners, and here these two are just dealing with all the difficult stuff head on within a couple of weeks! I don’t know how far beyond Season 7 Virgin River will go, but Lizzie and Denny are bound for great things if they keep living like they did in Season 6!

Virgin River will eventually return for Season 7, until then check out the 2025 TV schedule and 2025 Netflix movie and TV show premieres to see what else can entertain you in the meantime.