The fourth season of the American television drama series Scandal began airing on September 25, 2014, in the United States on ABC and consists of 22 episodes. The season was produced by ABC Studios, in association with ShondaLand Production Company; the showrunner being Shonda Rhimes. On May 7, 2015, ABC announced that Scandal had been renewed for a fifth season.
The season continues the story of Olivia Pope's crisis management firm, Olivia Pope & Associates, and its staff, as well as staff at the White House in Washington, D.C. Season four had nine series regulars, all returning from the previous season, out of which six are part of the original cast of eight regulars from the first season. The season aired at Thursday 9:00 pm, a new timeslot from the three previous seasons which aired an hour later on the same night. The new timeslot was made to make room for ShondaLand Production Company's new TV series, How to Get Away with Murder.
Overview
The season focuses on Olivia's return to Washington, D.C., after spending two months relocated to an island off the coast of Zanzibar with Jake, and how her absence has affected the people around her.
The first half of the season focuses on Jake's arrest for the death of Jerry Grant after Rowan forces Tom to name Jake as the operator. Rowan continues to try to make everyone believe Jake is guilty, which inspires Olivia to find out the truth for herself. After forcing Tom to reveal Rowan as his operator, Fitz, Jake, and Olivia make a plan to arrest Rowan. Unfortunately, the plan fails, causing Rowan to shut down B613 and start eliminating B613 agents. Olivia tries to kill Rowan when she confronts him, but he manages to flee.
The season also focuses on how Olivia Pope & Associates has been closed, which has led Abby, Huck, and Quinn to seek alternative employment.
Abby is now the White House Press Secretary, and is struggling with gaining the respect of Cyrus and Fitz, because they choose to demean her by calling her "Red" instead of Abby. Later in the season, Abby finds herself even more stressed by the presence of her abusive ex-husband, who has been nominated for Virginia State Senator. As a result, she enlists Leo Bergen to help ruin his campaign. Huck is working at an electronic shop and is refusing to return to the firm, but he eventually does. In the past two months, he has been watching his estranged family, but his former wife, Kim, has not allowed him to see his son, Javi. However, much to Kim's dismay, Huck and Javi begin to form a friendship by playing video games together.
Quinn has stayed in contact with both Abby and Huck, in addition to trying to find Olivia. During the first part of the season Quinn works on a case for Olivia's friend Catherine from law school, in which Catherine's daughter was murdered and Catherine's grief-stricken husband committed suicide. The case takes an unexpected twist when Quinn discovers that the killer of Catherine's daughter, Kobiak, has been working with both the head of the RNC, Elizabeth North, and Vice President Andrew Nichols. Their plan is revealed as an attempt to start a war in West Angola. Elizabeth North and Andrew Nichols engineer the kidnapping of Olivia, anticipating that Fitz will do anything to save her. Having predicted correctly, Nichols then successfully convinces Fitz to give the okay to go to war with West Angola.
Mellie struggles with the sudden death of her son, Jerry, at the end of series 3. She finally comes to terms with her loss after finding out that Jerry was murdered due to being deliberately exposed to bacterial meningitis rather than contracting the disease naturally, and she chooses to form an alliance with Elizabeth North. Later, after having an affair with Nichols, Mellie discovers his true nature, when he threatens to tell the press about their affair.
Cyrus starts sleeping with Michael, a male prostitute, who is in Elizabeth North's pay. After finding out that Michael has been leaking information to Elizabeth, Cyrus calls on Olivia for help. As pictures of Cyrus and Michael are leaked, the couple comes up with a plan to get married as a way of handling the crisis.