The fourth season of Clearwater premiered on May 3, 2015 on the Degrassi Wiki. The new season was announced on December 27, 2014 and brainstorming for the new season took place in the later months of that year. It was comprised of 26 episodes and 2 blocks. The first block, stylized as Clearwater:REBELution, consisted of 12 episodes and ran from mid-spring until mid-summer. The second block, stylized as Clearwater: S/H/A/T/T/E/R/E/D,had 14 episodes that ran from fall until winter 2015.
The season followed the second semester of the 2013-2014 school year and featured 24 regular characters, with all characters from Season 3 returning and two recurring characters being bumped to regular status. Only 1 new regular character was introduced this season, and did not appear until 4B.
This season was promoted as the darkest season yet which is why all promotional images 2015 and onwards showed the usual beach shore at night instead of the usual sunset portrayed in the first 3 seasons. Episode titles from 4A are mostly made up of songs from rock/alternative bands or singers, while the titles from 4B are mostly made up of ballads and slow songs. They are both representative of the overall feel of each block of episodes.
Major topics dealt with this season include relationships with a large age-gap, cheating, gangs, homelessness, abuse, masculinity, disease, drug addiction, teacher-student relationships, pregnancy, life-threatening situations, death, jealousy, same-sex relationships, blackmail, fitting in, sexual abuse, eating disorders, revenge, adoption, babysitting, and stolen money.
Wendy wakes up with both Adrianna and Tripp in a D.C train station and doesn't remember anything from the crazy night before at Leah's rager. She soon realizes that she has a big mess to clean up involving everyone in her life when she gets back. Meanwhile, Sophie is ready to focus on her future and searches for a job while trying to stabilize her relationship with Lindsay. Will her past prevent her from doing both of these? And Ethan and Candace have gotten hot and heavy over break, but when their joint adversary, Micah gets home soon from military school, will their conflicting views on what to do drive them apart?
Eliza has kept her scandalous affair with Brendan going for a while now, but when he befriends Dex, she starts to wonder if he has other intentions. Olivia tells her that she has to pick between one of her beaus, but can she really have the best of both worlds? Meanwhile, Jamie is back in town and on the hunt for answers regarding her adoption. When her parents are reluctant to talk about the subject, she goes on a search for answers herself. But will they send her down the dangerous path she just got off of? And Keith doesn't get his way, so gets a plan to sabotage his father because of it. Will he go too far once again?
Angel has been trying to lay low since everything went down at Spring Fling, but when she gets word that a video of her and Abby selling drugs together might be used against her, she decides to do whatever she can to clear all the evidence of her involvement. Will it be enough or will she suffer the same fate as Abby? Meanwhile, Abby goes to great lengths in prison to prove her innocence and might have found a spark of hope in an unlikely person. And Eric has been depressed ever since his girlfriend went to prison, so he and Scott decide to go to a rave going on where he meets someone he thought he would never see again.
Scott is desperate for a place and a place to work to stay after spending a cold night sleeping alone on a park bench, but refuses any help from Dex who wants to make things up to him. Meanwhile, Olivia has been going through hell at home again, but receives the shocking news from her dad that her mom might not actually be her mom. And Julia realizes she's screwed for college when she has no idea where to go and no money to pay for tuition, but when her mother drops off another huge sum of stolen money, will she sink to her mother's level of theft?
Danielle has been getting along with Peyton for a while now, but still has made no connection with Alex, which her mother wants to change. But after spending a day with him, Danielle realizes that he is not the person he acts like in front of her mother when he slaps her during an argument. Meanwhile, Liam gets rejected from his dream college, throwing his life plan out the window. To make things worse, his mother comes to town to inform him of some startling information involving his father. And Wendy learns that high school is not a nice place when an anonymous new twitter account starts revealing secrets about students at Clearwater and she ends up on their hit list.
Micah has to choose between skating and lacrosse and when he chooses the wrong option, it gets exposed on the Clearwater Secrets twitter account. With his team against him and everyone in school making fun of his "feminine" hobby, how will he prove his masculinity to them? Meanwhile, Dex is willing to do whatever he can to get Scott back in his life, but after finding out about Scott's feelings towards him, will it make him change his mind? And Caylee is celebrating her eighteenth birthday a lot differently than most: trying whatever she can to lose her virginity.
Moon starts showing weird symptoms and starts thinking the worst and that she might have cancer. To make things worse, Klaus is leaving back to Germany and she might find out that she should have listened to what everyone said about him. Meanwhile, Brittany faces another tough decision when Devon wants to have a talk with her from prison along with Ethan. Will they face their tormentor or keep it in the past? And Scott starts to worry that living with Hank might be a bad decision when he continually makes Scott feel uncomfortable, but what other options does he have?
Sophie starts to worry when secrets of Lindsay's start to leak out and she loses trust in her girlfriend. How will Sophie react when she finds out Lindsay is still using? Meanwhile, Abby is ready to live her life to the fullest after being released from jail, but will things between her and Eric get strained when he is deadset on moving away from Clearwater together? And Matt is intrigued when he hears of an open-mic night at The Hub and wants to try it, but when his dad tells him he's not allowed to pursue music, will his dreams be crushed?
Caylee is trying to make her relationship work after the strain put on it and also tries to fight off the sudden strong feelings she has for Liam once again. Will she soon find out that her boyfriend isn't as into her as her friend is? Meanwhile, Julia finds herself in a dangerous situation when she finds out her roommate isn't who she says she is. And Candace is back to her backstabbing ways and Ethan has had enough of it. Is she willing to give up her schemes for him or will her desire for revenge get in the way?
Eliza is trying to deal with her friends dropping like flies due to her crazy actions, but is there another problem much bigger that she is going to have to deal with? Meanwhile, Sophie wants to prove to everyone that she isn't on drugs again, but when no one believes her, how far will she go to prove her innocence? And Liam faces a tough decision when multiple girls reveal their feelings towards him. Will he ruin friendships trying to figure out which road to take?
Abby wants to make things work between Eric and her before the dance she won for the school starts, but is she really willing to appease his plea for them to leave? Meanwhile, Alicia becomes the latest victim of Clearwater Secrets when her rape is posted on the twitter page. When people start treating her differently and her mom finds out, will her world implode before her eyes? And Dex gets Scott the greatest gift for his birthday. So great that people start to wonder just how Dex feels about him. Is Dex really into Scott or does he just want a rebound?
Abby and Eric are ready to run away and never look back after a new threat puts their lives at risk. Will they really be able to leave everything they know and love behind or can they find a better solution? Meanwhile, Alicia is willing to do whatever she can to avoid her mother pressing charges against her rapist. By bringing it back into her mind again, are people doing the opposite of trying to help her? And Dex has sorted out his feelings, but doesn't know what they mean. Is he willing to let people know about his feelings or will he repress them and try to maintain his masculinity?
As Abby's funeral takes place one week later, everybody is dealing with the tragedy differently. Eric is a mess after losing his girlfriend and is doing whatever he can to find who did this to her. As he slowly unravels, will he push those away who love him most? Angel feels intense guilt for her part in Abby's death and hasn't slept for days. As the guilt eats her away, will she make a rash decision she'll soon regret? Meanwhile, Brittany takes this as an opportunity to seek out God again, but is surprised when she sees that the people of her church are a lot more judgmental than she realized.
Keith is asked by his parents to act straight for a dinner with a very conservative client and in return, they will buy him a new car. Will Keith be able to do what he is told for once in his life, or will he ruin yet another chance for his parents? Meanwhile, Lana moves in to town and rents a house next to Eric's while her mansion is being built. Will this new queen bee realize she has some tough competition at Clearwater? And Wendy and Zak want to get back together, yet face so many obstacles now that they're out in the open. Will they be able to pull it off or are they a lost cause?
Following the blowup between Scott, Keith, and Hank, Scott realizes he doesn't want to fake a relationship with Hank anymore and wishes to be with Dex more than anything. But is Dex really willing to give him another chance? Meanwhile, Sophie is falling for Lindsay all over again and hates to see her falling back on the path of drugs. How far is she willing to go to keep her out of the revolving door of addiction? And Micah is caught in a hard place when he decides he has to choose between lacrosse and skating.
World War III erupts at Clearwater after Jamie finds abortion papers from an anonymous name in Moon's room and takes this information to Julia. Still upset about the loss of her own baby, Julia starts a rally against abortion and specifically against Moon at the school. Meanwhile, dirty secrets about Peyton are revealed to Danielle that might change things forever. And will Eliza come clean about her abortion or watch Moon take the fall?
Candace finds herself the most embarrassed she's ever been when the singing video she posted to YouTube starts going viral because of how bad it is. How can this HBIC fight back against the internet? She'll find a way... Meanwhile, Zak gets a job at the Hub and starts to see his life come together, but when dangers from his past resurface, will they put Wendy into a tight spot as well? And Lana realizes she has actual feelings for Eric, but knows he still hasn't moved on from Abby. But how will her mother react when she finds out Lana is interested in someone not from money?
Matt starts to realize he's invisible to girls and wonders if it's because he doesn't act masculine enough, so he decides to hang out with his lacrosse teammates more to try and get female attention. Will he learn that he doesn't have what it takes to play with the big boys when they take him on a shady adventure? Meanwhile, Eliza finds herself in hot water when her biggest secret is leaked on Clearwater Secrets. She manages to aim the aggression people have at Dex, but a bigger issue surfaces: who's baby did she abort? And Ethan finds himself in a messy love triangle when both Brittany and Candace vie for his affection and things get dirty.
The trial for Liam's father is quickly approaching and he starts to realize that dealing with what happened is much harder than he thought. Will Liam push through and appear at the trial or will he bail and run away from the issue? Meanwhile, Angel starts having extreme mood swings and manic episodes and her friends start to get worried, but she's sure they're because of her sleeping pills. But when she stops taking them and the episodes continue, will she accept she has a problem? And Olivia is in disbelief when she hears from Troy that his family is moving away and her rock will no longer be there for her. Knowing she can't make it without him, she concocts a plan that's even crazy for her.
Liam is AWOL right before the trial and while his friends try to keep things under control, his father has a chance of getting off without his testimonial. Is that what Liam really wants? Meanwhile, Angel thinks that her upcoming date with Tripp means they'll be together forever and her increasing mania gets her friends even more worried than before. What's really wrong with her? And Olivia is in too deep with her plan to keep Troy from leaving. Will it fall apart or will she get what she wants?
Alicia is stressed to the max with her mother breathing down her neck about pursing justice for her rape and falls back to her bad habits of purging and not eating to help her through it. Will she take it too far? Meanwhile, Caylee is struck with tragedy when her father is involved in a life-threatening accident. Will she lose yet another parent and how will she handle that? And Micah is concerned when Adrianna seems to be pulling away after previously thinking she liked him. Is she trying to hide something from him or is she just not interested?
Eric is furious when he sees people starting to forget about Abby and doesn't understand how they can move on while he's still in so much pain. Trying to find some peace, he sets out on a dangerous mission with an unlikely partner to try and get some justice. Meanwhile, Peyton is shocked when her secret life is leaked on Clearwater Secrets and follows Danielle's lead when she sets out to find whoever is running it. Who really is behind Clearwater Secrets? And Brittany is hesitant to give love another chance when she meets a guy who seems to be into her. But there might be a catch that might ruin everything.
Jamie realizes her living situation isn't going to work for much longer and being too disgusted with her sister to want to move back home, she sets out to find the only thing that might help her figure out who she really is before graduating: her real parents. Meanwhile, Eliza is disappointed to figure out that despite her helping take down Clearwater Secrets, none of her old friends forgive all her mistakes and she is still a social pariah. And Moon has hit rock bottom after being revealed as the founder of Clearwater Secrets and her sickness getting worse. But as more of the story unfolds, is she really the true culprit?
Brittany and Lyle are starting to get pretty serious and she's even starting to think he might be the one. But when she offers to babysit for Gabrielle and someone from her past tries to bring all her past mistakes back to the surface, she might just ruin everything. Meanwhile, Sophie sees Lindsay struggling through her withdrawal and needs a way to get money for pills to help. And Dex is stressed to the max when his family constantly begs for him to come home and realizes he's more in trouble with his final exams than he thought.
Now that Julia is finished with high school, she starts to worry about where her life is going to go from here, not having a steady plan. As she tries to figure her future out and feels the stress, her mother comes back with some shocking news. The other seniors also have their own drama going on. Caylee focuses on finding Jamie the perfect prom date to help her out of her slump making Liam second guess their relationship and ponder his future as well. And Candace has one goal in mind: date Mr. Jennings. But has Candace truly changed or will she throw a fit when she doesn't get her way?
Julia finds herself in a nightmare the night of Prom she might not make it out of after her mother's actions come back to bite her yet again. Will she make it through prom night alive? Meanwhile, chaos erupts between her friends at prom as Jamie fights with her date, Liam inherits a shit load of money, and Caylee is put in a very rough situation. And Micah finds his new relationship on the rocks when Adrianna is sure he still has feelings for Candace after he comes to her rescue. Is Ade just paranoid or is she right?