We truly are blessed to have a show like The Bold Type on our televisions. I was reminded as such with its season 4 premiere, which was a perfect blend of humor, seriousness, fun and preached the power of representation in mainstream media.
Oh, how I’ve missed Kat, Jane and Sutton. My girls. My badass ladies. And, man, has a lot happened since we last left them.
After the Scarlet staff worked tirelessly to rework their Fall Issue to include a diverse group of models that looked more like the people that read the magazine. RJ insisted he wanted their usual magazine — complete with the perfect models that buy them advertising. So what happened after Jacqueline went against RJ’s request? It wasn’t pretty.
Let’s break this season premiere down, shall we?
The New Normal
You know what, the new normal? It sucks. Horribly.
With Jacqueline out at Scarlet, everyone is freaking out. Kat, Jane and Sutton are freaking out. Andrew is freaking out. I AM FREAKING OUT. And you know what, meditation and deep breathing aren’t helping either.
Patrick is taking over for Jacqueline, the perfect pawn that Safford needs him to be. He’ll do whatever they want. Because he doesn’t want to lose his job.
So with everything going to shit, everyone turns to Kat, Jane and Sutton to fix things. They’re convinced — hell, confident — that they’re going to fix things. Get Jacqueline back, fix Scarlet. And hell, they’re proven they can in the past.
The Issue Everyone Deserved
They tried to silence them. They tried, and they failed. Because when push comes to shove, when you believe in something — really, truly believe in something — you’ll do whatever it takes to fight for it.
Which is exactly what Kat, Jane and Sutton did when they risked their livelihood, their jobs and their criminal record to break into a warehouse to get ahold of a few issues of the magazine that Saffron refused to release to the public.
There was rose, there were skivvies, there was crawling under a fence and nearly getting caught by security. Seriously, these girls weren’t messing around. Ultimately, they were able to grab several issues of the embargoed issue thanks to the security guard, who happened to be someone that loved the new issue of Scarlett and wished her daughter would get a chance to grow seeing people like her mom’s partner in a magazine.
It was a reminder how important representation is — how seeing yourself in something, be it a book, movie, TV show or magazine. And it wasn’t just the security guard. It’s everyone that reads Scarlet magazine. Imagine them opening that magazine and seeing the real world inside the pages. That’s a feeling that money can’t buy.
The hard work, dedication and care that went into crafting the Fall issue was inspiring. It was the kind of issue that the world deserved. It was supposed to be the first issue of many that the world deserved.
And while white men, who could care about nothing other than money and power, tried to silence them, they could not be silenced.
Back Where She Belongs
When you believe in what you’re fighting for, there’s nothing you can’t accomplish. And when you’re sticking it to white men drenched in privilege, it’s oh so satisfying.
Jacqueline Carlyle is back as Editor-In-Chief at Scarlet, and everything is as it should be. Although, it’s not without its conditions. Scarlet is going to be all digital after the embargoed issue is released.
While it’s certainly going to be a big change, the important thing to remember is that they’re sharing their stories and impacting women and men through their words, regardless of the platform.
The Bold Type airs Thursdays at 8/7c on Freeform.
