'Virgin River's Doc and Hope Make No Sense, According to Reddit
Of all the romantic pairings on the Netflix's hit TV series, Doc (Tim Matheson) and Hope (Annette O'Toole) relationship is the most complicated – at least that's what fans think.
A curious view on Doc and Hope relationship was offered by Reddit user conquestofroses, suggesting that "Doc is only with Hope because he's trauma bonded" and their willingness to actually stay together makes little sense characters-wise. Hope is a pretty difficult person to be with, to say the least: she's displaying some abusive and controlling behavior on the show, and her personality is not very nice either. So the only reason for Doc to decide to keep working on this relationship stems from guilt: after all, he cheated on her and now feels like there's some sort of obligation for him to make things right with Hope. Some fans prefer Doc dating Muriel and "move one" rather than staying in unhappy relationship with Hope.
"I don't see romantic love between them. It's more like he's over compensating for his cheating. I also think Muriel is the right partner for the doc. She is someone who makes him really happy unlike Hope who is like a grown up child," Reddit user sins90skid admitted.
It's not like Hope is essentially a bad person; at least some of Hope's abrasive attitude towards Doc is clearly due to her unresolved issues: inherent bitterness combined with inability to really forgive and move on from such traumatic experience as having been cheated on. It's not all that surprising that Doc cheating on her actually jaded Hope somewhat, and fans believe that back when they first met, Hope was a different, much nicer person.
Doc and Hope have very complicated history: cheating aside, for decades their marriage and subsequent separation having been kept a secret, and this strained, painful relationship prevented both Doc and Hope from finally severing the connection and finding partners they were better suited to.
Some fans suggest that logically, Doc should've ended up with Muriel rather than still being in a relationship with Hope, because Muriel is much nicer and more caring as a person – and Doc deserves being with a sweet and lovely person, not controlling and borderline abusive one. Overall, Muriel is a far better match for Doc, not to mention the fact that romantic relationships that are not built on guilt are much healthier.
Production is already underway for 'Virgin River ' season 5, with new episodes expected to drop sometime in July 2023.