And we’re back to Scarlet this week, folks! The ladies of the Bold Type have been busy, and I absolutely loved how plot-driven this episode was. Like I said last week, the plot of the season has really picked up and the girls are in the thick of things.
This week in the Scarlet headquarters… Safford has been hacked! The hackers are asking for 30 million in Bitcoin or they’re going to release all of Scarlet’s data to the public. While this is the biggest plot in the episode, Jane is having more of an issue with it than everyone else. If her emails are leaked, she won’t be able to protect the privacy of the model she had been interviewing about the abusive photographer piece she’s writing with Jacqueline – and everyone will see that she’s been ranting about Patrick to Kat and Sutton via her work email. Meanwhile, Sutton and Richard get ready to host their first dinner together, and Kat goes through some very Kat-like romantic angst with her campaign manager.
Let’s get to it, shall we?
JANE! (And Pinstripe!)
Ah, man, I love Pinstripe. In one of the earlier scenes of the episode, he shows Jane the first copy of his finished novel, Roaming. Jane’s thrilled! I have to say, that really surprised me. I think that in all my criticism of Jane, I assumed she’d be jealous Ryan had a book out before her. I kind of forgot that she’s a loving, supportive, actually not that annoying best friend and girlfriend, even though she’s got her flaws. This was a nice reminder! It was also really nice to see Ryan and Jane’s relationship without all the drama of the first few weeks. Now that Jane’s eggs have been frozen and she has some sort of structure, I feel like she’s really loosened up and is just enjoying her relationship!
Plus, she’s got a lot going on. She finally managed to land an interview with the model who was abused by Pamela Dolin, the photographer. Turns out that the model had fallen and broken her arm, and Pamela made her keep posing until the swelling started to show in the photographs. Even then, no one had the guts to help her to a hospital, as helping her would mean going against Pamela and basically, well, earning her wrath. Jane promises to keep the models’ name absolutely anonymous, and she and Jacqueline return to the office.
Patrick’s pissed that Jane missed a pitch meeting, and tells her to take a pitch out of Alex’s reject pile instead of agreeing to read the pitches she had ready for him. He says something about beggars and choosers, tosses a Namaste, and lets the elevator door close in her face, which pisses Jane off. (Fair on both parts, honestly, there was no winning.) Back at her desk, Jane emails Kat and Sutton, “take a shot every time Patrick says “Namaste!”. And about five seconds later, Patrick comes out telling everyone to step away from their computers because Safford has been hacked.
Things between Patrick and Jane really come to a peak at Sutton and Richard’s dinner party, (which Patrick invited himself to). Patrick, after talking everyone’s ear off about the hacking, asks Jane what her opinion about the hack is, and after a verbal chow-down where she all but calls him an idiot, things get really awkward and quiet for everyone at the table. (Except, like, five minutes later, Sutton makes somebody cry, so…) Later, Kat tells Jane to apologize to him, which she does. They share a friendly moment on Richard and Sutton’s balcony, where Patrick tells her that she will one day realize it’s not always easy to be the boss. In true Jane like fashion, she replies, “So, what I’m hearing is you think I’m boss material?”
Yes, Jane, we all do.
SUTTON! (And Richard!)
After applying to the Julian Grant seminar, Sutton’s walking-talking-breathing anxiety as she waits for an answer to whether or not she got in. Meanwhile, she and Richard are taking on the next baby-steps in their relationship and having a dinner with all their friends, introducing Sutton to Richard’s “Kat and Jane.” The plan is that they’ll leave the office early so Richard can cook, only the hack happens and he has to stay back trying to figure out if the board should pay the ransom, or not.
So Sutton offers to cook, and Richard forwards her an email from his pregnant friend listing a whole bunch of things she can’t eat (I had to laugh though, somewhere in the email she writes “please make sure all the produce is washed,” and I mean, come on…). However, the thread also includes a bunch of real estate listings… in Connecticut, and Quinn being all excited to be “neighbors” with Richard. Sutton is not happy, to say the least.
Sutton ropes Kat and Jane to helping her prepare for the dinner, and by that I’m pretty sure they mean, Kat does all the work and Sutton and Jane help out by looking cute and passing her things. Before Richard gets back home, all his friends do and Sutton is suddenly out of her depth and Richard’s older, married friends with kids start bombarding her with information, kisses and questions.
Richard arrives and Sutton pulls him aside to tell him that if he’s thinking of a future with her in it, he needs to be discussing it with her, not his friends. I absolutely love this about Sutton. Without making a big fuss or an argument out of things, she’s able to clearly communicate what’s bothering her. She doesn’t wait around for Richard to understand what’s bothering her, or get mad that he doesn’t know. And I absolutely love that Richard is willing to listen, proof that their relationship has really grown from the clandestine affair it began as!
Anyhow, at dinner, Sutton gets the call that she’s been accepted into the seminar and is extremely excited. Quinn marvels at Sutton’s “ambition,” suggesting she believes it’s a phase in her life that will soon pass over. Probably tired of the suggestion that she’s going to leave her job to be some kind of Safford wife, Sutton lashes out reminding everyone that design, New York City and her job at Scarlet aren’t just a phase. They’re the beginning of the life she wants to create. At this point, Richard’s other friend, Michelle bursts into tears because Sutton’s speech reminds her that she’s been exhausting herself all year with commuting and working insane hours while raising her kid. Weird, but okay.
After Kat talks some sense back into her, she returns to the dining room and takes everyone out to the balcony for apology cocktails. Quinn and Michelle totally get it, and apologize for having been a little condescending, and the three giggle over drinks as they tell Sutton alllll the embarrassing Richard stories.
Later that night, Sutton tells Richard she’s not ready to have kids yet, even though she knows he wants them. And he says, “Well, I’m not going anywhere,” and this is why we love us some Richard, folks. He’s just so nice.
KAT (AND A REMINDER THAT IT SUCKS TO BE SINGLE!)
I feel like Kat was kind of in her head this entire episode. While the campaign is picking up and people seem to be really interested in her platform, Kat’s heart doesn’t seem entirely in it to me, and I think that’s primarily because she’s still upset over Adeena. Having Tina be interested in her would’ve been a quick fix, and I think it’s interesting that the writers chose not to go down that route. Instead we have this awkward thing with Tina where Kat isn’t entirely sure if Tina’s interested in her, leading to a pretty weird conversation as they leave Sutton’s dinner party.
The long and short of Kat’s plot this episode is that yeah, sometimes your life can be pretty fulfilling, even after a breakup, but y’all, it takes time to feel like yourself again. I can’t wait to see Kat’s campaign play out, but this episode was pretty dull for her, otherwise.
Hopefully next episode we see a bit more of the drama at Scarlet! (Also more Pinstripe, always more Pinstripe.)
Tune in next week for more!
The Bold Type airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Freeform.