From the moment Mel walked into Jack’s bar in the first episode of Virgin River, he has known she was the one. That didn’t make the path to marrying the love of his life less complicated, with the demons of his past, especially his years in the Marines, often getting in the way. That happened again in the lead-up to their wedding in Season 6, culminating in the bachelor get-together with his friends from the unit.
Jack got to be a true romantic lead in Season 6, riding a horse and galloping with his bride-to-be when she was befallen by doubts and fears moments before she was to walk down the aisle. In one of the most romantic scenes on the show to date, Jack delivers the perfect vows in the picturesque spot of their first date.
In an interview with Deadline, Henderson, who also made his directorial debut on the show this season, speaks about Jack’s journey seeking closure — including on his service and his first marriage — as he prepares to start a new chapter. He also shares the biggest concern he had about Season 6 and the tweaks he made to Jack’s riverbank speech. Henderson talks about riding a horse and the prospect of Jack becoming a father. He also reveals what he saw in the final seconds of the finale when he entered the nursery at Charmaine’s ransacked house and what would be a sign that he is done with the show.
You can watch a couple of Henderson’s answers on video throughout the story. He also gave Deadline his take on weather he would return to Grey’s Anatomy. You can read it here. For a deep dive on all of Season 6’s burning questions and what to expect in Season 7, read Deadline’s interview with showrunner Patrick Sean Smith.
DEADLINE: You may be one of very few people who know what actually happened in the finale cliffhanger, because the last thing we see is Jack’s face.They must have told you what you’re looking at to have the proper reaction. So what can you tease about what happens in that nursery?
HENDERSON: I don’t know if this is going to be disappointing to audiences or not, but I still have no idea exactly what I was seeing in that room. It was written that Jack, oh, where’s Charmaine? She wasn’t at the wedding. Oh no, she left the message, okay, I’ll go and check on her. So Jack, being the good guy, does his wife’s bidding and goes out and makes sure she’s okay.
He enters the house. It’s written that he walks down the hallway, comes into a room, there’s evidence of some kind of struggle or rush exits, we’re not sure which, but it piques his curiosity. Jack then hears something, and he opens the door, and we end on Jack’s face. I don’t remember what the actual adjective was, maybe it was shocked. But it was never stated what he was looking at.
And when they went to shoot the scene, there was nothing in the room, so I said to the director, you want me to have this expression, but what am I looking at? And she said, I don’t know. They haven’t written that part yet. Which was terrifying as an actor. What if I give the wrong reaction? And then in Season 7, we find out it’s something different. So we opted to go for something that was a blend of shock and concern.
DEADLINE: In the final stretch of Jack’s journey to the long-awaited wedding to Mel he confronts his past one more time, including during the bachelor party activities with his Marine friends. It feels like he finally reconciled with it by putting on that uniform at the wedding. What is your take?
HENDERSON: I think what’s nice is you have Mel and Jack publicly expressing their undying love and commitment to one another in their vows. They’re on the eve of this giant commitment, through that sacred union of marriage, they’re now to be man and wife. And so in a sense, I think Jack was meditating on the idea of, well, so this is the next chapter of my life, and he had to close the door on the last chapter. And in doing so, as he says to Preacher, I thought about who is the man that Mel is marrying? Who am I? If I’m going to stand up there and make this massive declaration of love and commitment, am I also going to honor this other huge part of my life that was being a Marine and the commitment that he made when he had that duty, and the way he showed up with honor, yet knowing that it was also the thing which ultimately ended up causing so much pain and grief and loss.
He had so many struggles that came out of that, and his inability to deal with it. He’s been on this big journey, and now he’s come through that as a more mature, hopefully healed person, so that he can make this commitment to Mel. But he’s still not sure at the beginning of the season what does XXX mean to him. He tries to close the door on that chapter: you see him find the uniform in a box, he just puts it under the bed, and we’re led to assume that he just doesn’t really want anything to do with that past.
