by Alessandra Puglisi
“To having adventures. And making mistakes. To sleeping with the wrong people. And the right people. And to unleashing holy hell.”
courtesy of Netflix UK
Glamour, fashion and friendship — three words to best describe The Bold Type (2017). The Freeform comedy-drama created by Sarah Watson has recently hit the streaming platform Netflix, and is now looking ahead to its fifth season.
Officially premiered on Freeform on July 2017, the show follows the lives of best friends Jane, Kat, and Sutton, living in New York and working for the fictional fashion magazine Scarlet. Part comedy and part drama, the format of the show does not seem to bring anything especially new to the table at first. However, The Bold Type wins the heart of its public by blending a soapy plot with workplace drama that shines a particular light on millennial issues and lifestyle.
The show, in fact, heavily relies on the characterization of the three female leads to move forward: Jane Sloan (Katie Stevens), a talented writer for Scarlet, eager to make her voice heard to the world but conflicted between keeping her life under control and her achievements; Kat Edison (Aisha Dee), youngest head of social media department at Scarlet, is a fierce and outspoken force in the trio. Grown up in a wealthy family but deeply divided in her own identity as a biracial woman in a white-dominated environment, Kat is perhaps the character that adds the most to the conversation. The circle closes with the magnetic Sutton Brady (Meghann Fahy), a fashion department assistant who aspires to be a stylist and struggles to balance her work-life and the relationship with HR lawyer Richard Hunter.
The Bold Type wins the heart of its public by blending a soapy plot with workplace drama that shines a particular light on millennial issues and lifestyle.
courtesy of IMDB
At the helm of Scarlet we have editor-in-chief Jacqueline Carlyle (Melora Hardin), inspired by real-life Cosmopolitan’s editor-in-chief Joanna Coles. Forget Miranda Priestly’s icy demeanour and diva attitude:Jacqueline Carlyle is far from it. A confident and inspiring woman, Jacqueline is a challenging but very supportive boss, committed to the success of Scarlet without forgetting her employees’ best interests. She becomes an essential presence for the three best friends, which look up to her as a boss and a motherly figure.
With sassy quips, abundant talks of sex, dreamy outfit and right dose of drama, The Bold Type is the perfect mix of a feel-good show that doesn’t dismiss the trials and tribulations that people go through their mid-20s. Each episode of the show highlights a different situation, with a subtler far-reaching plot that embraces the entire season.
Despite all the glamour, there is no doubt that the driving force of the show is the profound friendship between the three best friends. All coming from a different socio-economic background, Jane, Kat and Sutton know they can count on each other when they need it, and to do the right thing even when it gets them in trouble.
The critical response to the show has been generally very positive throughout the course of the four seasons, holding a high rate of approval on platforms like Rotten Tomatoes. Coming strong after the first season, the network Freeform has immediately renewed the show for two more seasons of ten episodes each. With creator Sarah Watson leaving after the first season for ‘creative divergences’, the task of pushing the show forward has been assigned to Amanda Lasher, which delivered a fantastic second season.
Despite the enthusiasm, the show has been in troubling waters with a steady loss of viewers throughout their third and fourth run. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the fourth season of had to be cut short, dropping from 18 episodes to 16 and leaving the public with a rushed ending.
The Bold Type will be renewed for a fifth and final season of only six episodes, which will air on May 26th, 2021. Affectionate viewers of the show are not ready to wrap these fantastic characters’ lives yet, but there is no doubt that Jane, Kat and Sutton will bring the fans for one last great ride together.
