Let's Be Real: Why We All Love to Hate on Virgin River - and Can't Look Away
There's just something about it.
The hit Netflix romance series about L.A. nurse Mel, who leaves the hustle and bustle of the big city for a small California town after losing her husband and child, has managed to gain quite a bit of fandom over the past four years.
People love to watch Mel build her new life and meet new people, but after the fourth season came out, most of them began to realize that the series is by no means that good. And surprisingly, it didn't bother people one bit.
As many claim, even as they started the show, they all had great misgivings about the quality of Virgin River, as it was based on a successful but frankly undeserving series of novels. Hopefully, fans have learned to love the silliness of the plot, finding happiness in laughing at the series with other people.
It feels like every bad aspect of Virgin River isn't actually that bad thanks to people laughing at it, giving the impression that it's an intentional creative decision on the part of the writers.
People laugh at the huge subplots that took an entire season to develop, only to be dropped in the next, poke fun at the odd forced drama and the overall timeline of the series, in which Charmaine's pregnancy took up all four seasons that came out.
Yes, and the main character himself is often ridiculed by the fandom, as the show's attempts to make Mel the best person in town look hilarious. Even if Mel behaves objectively badly, no one seems to notice this, just as no one notices that Jack has a big drinking problem.
So why watch Virgin River at all?
It's a difficult question to answer, but some fans admit that if you watch something bad and make fun of it, you can eventually love it. That seems to be why Virgin River is still a hit, and many people look forward to the fifth season's release.