Virgin River Refresher: Everything To Remember Before Watching Season 4

Time may move slowly in Virgin River, but it's been a full calendar year since we last visited the Netflix series' titular locale — and the drama in this small town has never been bigger.

Picking up shortly where we left off in July 2021, the show's 12-episode fourth season drops this Wednesday (July 20), and trust us when we say that you'll want to be well-prepared before diving back in.

Read on for a breakdown of everything you need to remember before you binge Season 4 this week, then drop a comment with your hopes and concerns for the show's future.

...there's a question of paternity. You see, Mel was pretty convinced that her split from Jack in Season 3 was going to be permanent, so she (perhaps hastily) had her and Mark's frozen embryos implanted in her uterus during a trip home. But she and Jack did get back together, and now she isn't sure whether he or her late husband fathered the baby currently growing inside her. Awkward.

...did he really shoot Jack? After spending all of Season 3 falling in love with him, Brie is certainly hoping that her new boyfriend didn't put her brother in the hospital. We'll find out soon enough!

...she has a rough road ahead of her. After being M.I.A. for much of Season 3 — which showrunner Sue Tenney explained as being "totally [a result of the] pandemic" — Hope finally returned to Virgin River in the final episodes. But she got into a near-fatal car accident on the way, and her fate remained very much in limbo by the end of the finale. While we know she lives to see Season 4, prepare to watch her work through the accident's debilitating neurological effects.

...will it stay in the past? Brie confided in Mel that she was sexually assaulted by a previous partner, and while we'd like to believe that she won't be hearing from him again, we also know that this town tends to attract dangerous exes like a bug zapper. Just ask Paige.

...he really screwed up by not telling Lizzie ahead of time. Secrets and lies are both big no-no's in her book, so Lizzie ended things between them. Whether this means she'll get back together with her ex-boyfriend Parker remains to be seen, but even if she doesn't, we don't foresee a Lizzie-Ricky reunion happening anytime soon.

...they've never met. In fact, Doc doesn't know that Denny (new series regular Kai Bradbury) even exists, much less that he's about to surprise him in Virgin River. And that's the first of many revelations, both good and bad, to come from Denny's visit.

...was he successful in kidnapping Christopher? Considering Preacher wasn't home at the time, leaving Connie as the only person around to fight off Vince when he broke in, we're assuming that's a big ol' yes. No offense, Connie.

...actually, there's no but with this one. Charmaine, who probably won't give birth to her and Jack's twins until Season 9 at this point, made it clear in last season's finale that Jack should prepare for a custody battle. To quote Jack's pregnant ex directly, "Todd doesn't want you involved with our family." Trust us, we want to root for Charmaine — she just makes it so hard.