I’ve never been good at goodbyes. It never mattered if it was a real life goodbye or saying goodbye to a television show that I loved. I think both can equally be hard – because both affect who you are as a person and shape a part of you.
It’s all something that we can try to deny, but reality is reality and I bet if you really think about it there are shows that you feel this way. They defined a part of your life, taught you about what was cool and what wasn’t. They made you feel as though you could do anything, because the characters in the show made you feel that way.
Last week, I had to say goodbye to one of those shows – The Bold Type. And if we’re being honest with each other, I had been pissed that it was ending. I was pissed that they were only given six episodes to tell such an important story in. I was pissed that I had to say goodbye the cool girls that I wanted to be my friend, but knew that they already felt like friends to me.
And here’s the thing – being angry felt okay. It felt normal. It felt comfortable, as fucked up as that sounds. Why? Because as long as I was angry, I wasn’t accepting its goodbye. I didn’t have to be comfortable in that moment. I didn’t have to accept it.
It’s not that The Bold Type was revolutionary – it got a lot of facts wrong. But the facts that were wrong, I understood. It added to the drama of the whole experience. Sure, as a social media manager I wanted to scream every single time that Kat could just post a tweet, because we all know that it’s a lot more complicated than that. It was just that seeing these three friends survive in a world that was meant to eat them up and spit them out, made it all okay.
Now – I love, love journalism. I love a fashion magazine. I don’t have a 12 step skin care routine and we’re lucky if I know a designer. But what I do know is that The Bold Type was about friendship and Scarlett was a part of the story. It wasn’t the story.
I think that what we all didn’t realize was that Scarlett was an instrument of change for Kat, Sutton, and Jane. It was a place that felt like home for them, I get it. It propelled the moments of their life, I get it.
But in the long run, it was the choices that these three made that made them grow. It was the choices that brought us to the end and what a perfect ending it was.
One of the reasons that I hate writing reviews, is that I love to watch things on my own time. And with the end of The Bold Type I wasn’t ready. But man, were we blessed with an amazing end, so many characters figuring out their path and finding the beauty that lives in each of them.
I think that there is nothing greater than showing the viewers of this show that you can have a set path, you think that you know every step you want to take, but you’re going to find that you may not end up wanting that path.
Jane had always had the dream of running Scarlett, but what that would mean was that she wouldn’t be able to write. She would be loosing a piece of her soul. She wanted to live up to the idea that she had built as a kid, not realizing that the road that she was taking herself on was a road of discovery and the things you thought you wanted, don’t have to be the things that you settle for.
Dreams grow and the paths that we take lead us to that growth.
And for Jane, realizing that isn’t where she wants to be, not able to write, leads Kat to where she’s meant to be. She’s always making changes in the world and it’s a beautiful thing. And if anything Kat has gone through a lot. But she’s always kept her head up, even when a lot of us would have collapsed.
But Kat as the new editor-in-chief of Scarlett makes sense. Jacqueline had been looking for someone like her, but what Scarlett needs is someone like Kat. And yes, Kat had been fired and she’s back and it seems like a stretch. However here is the thing, if this show has taught us anything it’s that sometimes the things that we can’t see as making sense are the things that make sense the most.
It’s been a journey, but Kat’s journey led her to realizing her power, her strength, and what she’s meant to do. Not only that, but that she’s capable of love and letting people in. And that person – her person – needed for her to be all in. Kat and Adena together was always end game.
But more important than that was Kat finding out that Kat can be anything.
And then there is Sutton. She’s the person that never felt good enough, but was always good enough. I related to her more than anyone – her insecurities, her love of what she does, and her thinking that everyone is judging her. But Sutton is powerful, she’s just like all of us and has some sort of Daddy/Mommy/Parent issue.
Where as Richard gave Sutton a form of validation, I firmly believe that it was Sutton that figured out that she wasn’t her past, but she was her future and she was empowered to be whomever she needed to be.
These three were sometimes annoying, sometimes made me want to scream, and sometimes made me feel as though I didn’t understand where I was and as if I was taking New York for granted. They taught me that my best friend didn’t have to be right beside me, because all that mattered was that they knew that I loved them. They taught me that growth is more than getting taller, but about my heart getting bigger.
Yes, I got all that from a TV show. I will miss you The Bold Type, but thank you for going out in the same style that you started with. Full of grace.