When Calls the Heart nails one essential thing Virgin River never has

What’s the one thing you don’t need in an already complex small-town drama? More confusion. Yet, When Calls the Heart and Virgin River are at loggerheads over the most crucial detail of them all.

Think of the Charlie Day conspiracy meme. That’s basically anyone who watches a small-town drama that has more than three seasons. It’s also me coming to work every day and pitching stories like this to my constantly baffled editors. 

In a remarkably short period of time, a lot of lore can manifest in these sleepy places. Townsfolk hook up with people they shouldn’t, someone is probably being killed off-screen in a freak environmental accident (ahem, Mountie Jack), and there’s likely a nefarious crime ring that’s incredibly out of place. You basically need a Google spreadsheet handy to keep up with all the plots.

As 2025 kicks off, two shows are dominating the sub-genre – Virgin River and When Calls the Heart. If you’re a faithful Jasmine Valentine fan (Editor’s note: There are dozens of you I’m sure), you’ll know I literally broke my brain single-handedly covering Virgin River Season 6, and I’m about to do the same for When Calls the Heart Season 12.

There might be over 100 years between the two fictional worlds, but there’s something else about them that bothers me. It’s all about the passage of time: while one binge-worthy TV show moves slower than a snail, the other is smashing its pacing out of the park.

When Calls the Heart moves through time how Virgin River should

Netflix

There’s no prizes for guessing which is the metaphorical kid finishing the 1500m race at Sports Day while everyone else is being forced to pose with their medals by their parents. With Season 7 official, Virgin River has become Netflix’s longest-running original series… and God, does it feel like it. The series has understandably packed a lot of narrative into its 64 episodes, but it’s also strung some plots out far too much.

You don’t have to look far to find an example of this – in fact, you don’t actually have to log into the streaming service. One look at star Lauren Hammersley’s Instagram bio, and you will find the sentence “Second longest pregnant woman on television.” Her character Charmaine was pregnant for the best part of five seasons, released over a four-year period. 

She’s popped her twins out now, and in its defense, Season 6 had a much slicker timescale of three weeks. But jaws dropped when showrunners revealed the entirety of the show hasn’t even covered a year in real-time. All of the haircuts, arguments, and whimsical montages of Mel and Jack skipping rocks across the lake have happened in less than 12 months.

It almost goes without saying that you have to suspend belief in order to fully invest in these things, but this is the one element of Virgin River that takes away from its beauty. It’s beyond far-fetched and doesn’t do much to alleviate fan complaints about things taking their damn time. With the hype for Season 6 starting to die down now it’s out, When Calls the Heart can show Netflix how it’s done.

Hallmark

It’s worth pointing out that the Hallmark show aired nine years before Virgin River was even a thing, and obviously has five more seasons. When we start in Season 1 it’s 1910, putting Season 12 somewhere in the 1920s. Essentially, a season of When Calls the Heart accounts for an entire year, and its pithy pacing only plays in its favor.

When you’ve got endless love triangles and people being shot by fake gangsters who turn out to be your girlfriend, you gotta keep things snippy. When Calls the Heart strikes such a smart balance between catering to its fans and servicing the basics of storytelling, it’s a wonder the mainstream platforms haven’t picked up on it.

If you’re suffering from Virgin River blues, you now know where to look (as long as you don’t mind the 100-year time difference). And as for Netflix… watch and learn, flower. We need Virgin River Season 7 more than oxygen.

Virgin River Season 6 is on Netflix now, while When Calls the Heart airs weekly on the Hallmark Channel from January 5. Find out what you need to remember before Season 12, how to watch outside the US, and if Lucas is leaving.

For Virgin River, take a look at Preacher’s trial verdict, Ricky’s return, and what we need to find out in Season 7.