Netflix's Virgin River season 5 ending explained

Christmas has officially come to the town of Virgin River, with the final, festive episodes of season five of the Netflix drama dropping on 30th November. So, what happens to Mel, Jack and the rest of the town?

The series follows nurse practitioner Mel who moved from Los Angeles to the small town of Virgin River, and there was some shocking revelations, family drama, babies and more in the latest episodes, which came two months after part one.

Thankfully, season six is on its way, but before then, here is everything you need to know about what happens in the final episode of Virgin River season five.

The final episode in season five part one, 'Labor Day', opens with Jack (Martin Henderson) confronting Brady (Benjamin Hollingsworth), and Brady trying to convince Jack it is in fact Melissa Montgomery (Barbara Pollard) who is the real bad guy. And she definitely proves she's the bad guy as she turns up and kidnaps Brady at gunpoint, while Jack watches on from the caravan.

Jack follows Melissa, Brady and her henchmen, calling Mike (Marco Grazzini) for backup who tells him to stay out of it. Melissa interrogates Brady in a warehouse and Jack rushes in to help, and together with Brady they manage to fend off Melissa and her cronies.

They manage to catch Melissa, but just when it all seems to be going well Melissa's right hand man, Gene, jumps out of nowhere and shoots Mike, who was trying to help the situation.

Mike is taken to the hospital while the rest of the town gets on with the important stuff: setting up the carnival.

Mel returns to the clinic where she's welcomed by cupcakes (jel) and pitches a birthing suite to the team, which is accepted happily.

Back at the hospital Brie (Zibby Allen) has some good news; Melissa has been sent to jail. The slightly bad news? Brie tells Brady she can no longer be with him but is grateful for everything he's done.

Together with Jack, Brady heads over to the glamping site, which has been taken over by the FBI who tell Jack all the evacuees of the fire have to be moved out by the end of the day. Thankfully, Nick is able to offer them a place at his B&B.

Mike awakes and while he tries to get a moment alone with Brie, who suggests their first date, the FBI have other plans and instead have to interview him. Guess they'll have to wait a bit longer for that date.

The romance continues with Doc (Tim Matheson) giving Muriel (Teryl Rothery) and Cameron (Mark Ghanimé) permission to date, but to keep it out of the clinic. And that's not all, Kaia (Kandyse McClure) returns and surprises Preacher (Colin Lawrence), telling him she's found a job nearby as she didn't like the idea of being away from him.

Finally the moment we've all been waiting for arrives, the carnival. At the festivities Ava (Libby Osler) tells Mel she is going to have the hysterectomy, but will freeze her eggs too, just in case. She also drops the bomb that she's going sell her farmland to build a golf course.

In the hospital, Brie and Mike have their first date and Muriel and Cameron make their relationship official at the carnival. Doc reveals to Hope he has been selected to take part in a clinical trial in the hopes of saving his eye sight. Denny (Kai Bradbury) asks Lizzie (Sarah Dugdale) to go travelling but she reveals she think she's pregnant.

The shocking revelations don't end there. Kaia gets a text at the carnival from her brigade who have found a body in the forest. As a heavily-pregnant Charmaine (Lauren Hammersley) reaches her car, she gets the shock of a lifetime when Calvin (who she thought was dead) shows up behind her and says he wants to be the father to his boys, heavily implying he's the father of her children.

Mel takes Jack to Lily's farm and suggests they should buy it from Ava and build their dream home and life together, which Jack of course agrees to and says they should hold their wedding there.

The last few minutes of the final episode skip forward in time to Christmas, where Mel and Jack are busy decorating, when Mel receives a call from Joey (Jenny Cooper).

On the phone, Joey reveals she found a number of letters in the closet which revealed their mum was having an affair with someone living in Virgin River, who Joey believes could be Mel's father. The series ends with Mel's very shocked face. Er, talk about a cliff-hanger of an ending!

In the newest episode, titled 'Father Christmas', Mel and Jack try to find her father and come across a man named Everett, who worked in the post office around the time Mel was born. But, he insists it's not him.

Lizzie is pregnant with Denny's baby and struggles to tell her mother, who was super upset at first, but soon she comes around to the news with her, Hope and Doc eventually being super excited at welcoming a baby girl into the family.

After what seems like forever, Charmaine finally gives birth to twins boys on Christmas Eve at Doc's office, with Mel assisting with the delivery. Meanwhile, Cam’s ex comes back to town, sober and wanting to make things work, but he turns her down to stay with Muriel.

For Kaia and Pracher, she gets a job as the new fire chief in Virgin River meaning they can finally be together and all seems well, until we learn that Wes' body was discovered after Preacher hid it, meaning he could be in some serious trouble.

Plus, Brady has a new girlfriend, Lark, but he still has feelings for Brie and they almost kiss underneath the mistletoe at Christmas before they're interrupted by Jack. Plus, we learn that Lark isn't being honest with Brady and is actually working with Calvin’s right-hand man, Jimmy.

The episode ends with the Everett admitting to Mel that he is, in fact, her father! He also says that he has something important he needs to tell her, which we won't find out until next season. Virgin River sure does know how to do a cliffhanger.

Virgin River season 5 is streaming on Netflix now.