The Bold Type - General Discussion

[KaveDweller]

4 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

When Jacqueline was telling everyone in the office how Jane was in charge while she was gone, all I could think about were all of the senior editors and writers in the background who have been at Scarlett for twenty years and are all certainly rolling their eyes and refreshing their resumes to go work at a magazine that might not pass them over for much earned promotions in favor of a woman who's worked there for two years and who's path to success has been failing, trying to spin her failing into some kind of success, and being rewarded for it. Is the show not aware of the fact that being an editor in chief is extremely different then being a writer? It requires a totally different skillset, a skillset that Jane has never shown any aptitude for or interest in, not to mention it requires a ton of experience within the industry and in management, neither of which Jane has. What experience does she have running a magazine? 

I was looking at the background actors trying to see if anyone was looking super annoyed. It would be realistic for there to be some cutthroat-ness at a magazine like Scarlett.

I don't think the show is aware of how different being an editor in chief is different than being a writer. They made Jane mention how she didn't know how many meetings Jacqueline attended, but that should just be a sign of how unqualified she is. Writers often become editors and managers, but they usually have more than 1 week of experience/training before that.

A time jump would have made much more sense. 

[Guest]

On 5/27/2021 at 12:38 PM, SnarkEnthusiast said:

I think (hope) even the writers understand there's no feasible way to have Jane end the series with Jacqueline's job - maybe as some kind of assistant junior editor, but not EIC. Especially if she bites the sexy forbidden fruit with Scott. I'm sure I'll be quoting this post in a few weeks to mock how wrong I was.

Welp, here we are! This execution is just silly. Jane plays boss for two days and Jacqueline decides to retire because "Jane's ready now"? uh, writers, that's not how companies work. It's not like she's debating whether her 16-year-old daughter can be trusted with driving the family Sedan. Who knew Jacqueline could just...give Jane her job because she feels like it. There's not even a sham interview process for appearances? I'm sure the board is totally cool with Jacqueline handing the magazine to her woefully unqualified protege on a whim with zero notice. With a strong bladder, some pie charts, and an unearned sense of exceptionalism, you too can run Scarlet!

So does bringing Kat back into Scarlet (again, would never happen since they fired her) make Jane her boss? What a terrible idea for both the characters and their relationship. If the show continued, we'd get a good half a season of Kat trying to get Jane fired for a YouTube video she posted in 2013 because they had a drunken fight or something. It would be a constant holier-than-thou contest. Also to recap, Kat went from forcibly removed from Scarlet to bartender to managing an autonomous department within Scarlet (with a budget windfall at Kat's disposal, no less) overnight. Sure.

Seems incredibly late in the game to saddle Sutton with an alcoholism arc to resolve within two episodes. Having her bang Richard pissed me off. If they're getting back together, what was the point of this entire season? If they're not, why bring him back to fuck this close to the end? I'm assuming they'll get back together because they won't leave Sutton single and devastated, and also because that adoption twist seemed to be foreshadowing some sort of potential for compromise (like maybe Sutton will realize raising an older kid isn't as labor intensive as babies/toddlers are, so she could still have a career, like Oliver). Her arc is messier than it's ever been - and I usually look to Sutton for the strongest characterization and writing.

So I'm guessing COVID precautions prevented kissing? Those two sex scenes were so awkward because it was just Richard/Sutton and Kat/Adena staring at each other in their underwear. They even had Sutton go towards Richard and lean into his face. So like...you're still breathing spit into his mouth...? lol. I thought Jane was going to try to seduce that ridiculously hot bodyguard to get the interview.

I agree with everyone - they should've done a 5 year time jump before this season to make Kat's and especially Jane's resolutions seem even remotely plausible or earned.

Edited June 25, 2021 by Guest

[KaveDweller]

1 hour ago, SnarkEnthusiast said:

Seems incredibly late in the game to saddle Sutton with an alcoholism arc to resolve within two episodes. Having her bang Richard pissed me off. If they're getting back together, what was the point of this entire season? If they're not, why bring him back to fuck this close to the end? I'm assuming they'll get back together because they won't leave Sutton single and devastated, and also because that adoption twist seemed to be foreshadowing some sort of potential for compromise (like maybe Sutton will realize raising an older kid isn't as labor intensive as babies/toddlers are, so she could still have a career, like Oliver).

I wondered that too, but I hope not. Once they had Sutton declare she definitely didn't want kids the writers kind of screwed themselves because they either have to keep them broken up or do a disservice to women who don't want kids by having her change her mind.

They could also have Sutton get pregnant from their hookup and decide she can't bring herself to have an abortion, leading to a reconciliation. But that defeats the entire point of the whole arc last season and now. Plus I think her night with her ex boyfriend was only a couple weeks ago in show time, so that would leave a paternity question.

[gesundheit]

100% with everyone who thought this would've been plausible in a time jump and a time jump only. 

On 6/23/2021 at 11:26 PM, KaveDweller said:

Wow, and I thought it was unrealistic for Jane to be filling in for Jacqueline for a couple weeks. Now she is totally taking over? That is just ridiculous she spent one day pretending to be Editor-in-Chief, that doesn't prove her worthiness. And wouldn't the board have to make the decision about who replaces Jacqueline? I mean, Jane literally came to work high last week and almost banged her employee the week before that.

Literally the only good thing she's ever done in a leadership position was talking her one remaining employee out of leaving... by telling her she came to work while shrooming so hard she was hallucinating. So laughable. 

19 hours ago, Aulty said:

Well done Jane for finding a way to keep the jewellery company happy - what is she going to do when the same thing happens with a brand she can't just shove sideways into the verticals bucket? Have they ever shown any of the 3 navigating a tight spot without a super hipp solution?

Seriously. This is supposed to be an establishment magazine, the board is mostly fossils, etc., etc. Yes, they've tried to keep an edge and roll with the times, but there will absolutely be advertisers who have demands that can't be met by "oh my cool friend who's really into social justice will have an answer!" Gen Z doesn't have disposable income yet, they're not every advertiser's target.

What are any of these characters going to do when their first attempt at handling an obstacle doesn't magically work? Because that's the only pattern here. Oh there's an unexpected problem! Panic about it! Come up with something to try ---> works like a charm, problem solved. Promotion!

4 hours ago, SnarkEnthusiast said:

Welp, here we are! This execution is just silly. Jane plays boss for two days and Jacqueline decides to retire because "Jane's ready now"? uh, writers, that's not how companies work. It's not like she's debating whether her 16-year-old daughter can be trusted with driving the family Sedan. Who knew Jacqueline could just...give Jane her job because she feels like it. There's not even a sham interview process for appearances? I'm sure the board is totally cool with Jacqueline handing the magazine to her woefully unqualified protege on a whim with zero notice. With a strong bladder, some pie charts, and an unearned sense of exceptionalism, you too can run Scarlet!

So does bringing Kat back into Scarlet (again, would never happen since they fired her) make Jane her boss?

Yes, that was the other thing. She just gets to decide her successor like that? Not even a façade of a search process? We've seen that the board has their hands in things!

I couldn't help but wonder if Jacqueline just said yes to Kat about everything because she knew she was on her way out the door, so it didn't matter. There's no way she'd have the budget for an entire new vertical to just bust out like that. Guess she figured that's Jane's problem now. I hate that I even think Jacqueline sucks now. (She'd been too good to be true for years, but now she seems like total fool.)

 

[mamadrama]

Take into consideration that my only frame of reference with magazine companies is The Devil Wears Prada and two scenes from Sex and the City, but it kind of seems like Scarlet's staff roster is kind of...small? And now 3 of the most important people who work there also live together? 

[Artsda]

Doesn't the magazine have a board and people about Jaqueline? She can't just go Jane's replacing me and that be it. She has no real exposure and experience, she was new a couple years ago. Also from what we've seen of her "managing" this season not sure why they even think she'd be good.

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Artsda said:

Doesn't the magazine have a board and people about Jaqueline? She can't just go Jane's replacing me and that be it. She has no real exposure and experience, she was new a couple years ago. Also from what we've seen of her "managing" this season not sure why they even think she'd be good.

Apparently, fanfiction Joanna Coles has absolute autonomy. I've never rewatched S1 and I forgot the show began with Jane as a new Scarlet hire, which is even funnier. Since they didn't adjust the timeline for COVID (even fudging with casual age/birthday references would've been fine) in-show time has been what, three years max? So Jane went from a fresh college grad and average writer to...editor in chief in less than three years because her boss thinks she's ultra special. And even though I guess they gave her the in-between step of running The Failing Feminist, hasn't she only been doing that for maybe a year, if that? Jane is truly the Kylie Jenner of career progression. 50 Shades of Grey had more plausible promotions. I didn't know that all it took to become EIC of a gigantic fashion magazine was an overly maternal relationship with your boss.

[gesundheit]

1 hour ago, SnarkEnthusiast said:

Apparently, fanfiction Joanna Coles has absolute autonomy. I've never rewatched S1 and I forgot the show began with Jane as a new Scarlet hire, which is even funnier. Since they didn't adjust the timeline for COVID (even fudging with casual age/birthday references would've been fine) in-show time has been what, three years max? So Jane went from a fresh college grad and average writer to...editor in chief in less than three years because her boss thinks she's ultra special. And even though I guess they gave her the in-between step of running The Failing Feminist, hasn't she only been doing that for maybe a year, if that? Jane is truly the Kylie Jenner of career progression. 50 Shades of Grey had more plausible promotions. I didn't know that all it took to become EIC of a gigantic fashion magazine was an overly maternal relationship with your boss.

And, I might add, Jane got sued for defamation shortly after she started writing for Scarlet. Then later quit for a different job, then got fired from that job (quite publicly) before begging her way back in.

[NeenerNeener]

20 hours ago, SnarkEnthusiast said:

This execution is just silly. Jane plays boss for two days and Jacqueline decides to retire because "Jane's ready now"?

I choose to believe that Jane and Kat are little bombs that Jacqueline has planted at Scarlet that will go off after Jacqueline is gone. Sooner or later Kat will do something to get Stafford sued again and Jane, as the boss, will be blamed as well.

After she's fired from Scarlet Jane will pay the bills by writing Regency romance novels, a la Bridgerton. Pinstripe will be the model for all her "rake"characters.

Kat will go back to bartending and continue to ping pong from one cause to another.

[JustHereForFood]

5 hours ago, gesundheit said:

And, I might add, Jane got sued for defamation shortly after she started writing for Scarlet. Then later quit for a different job, then got fired from that job (quite publicly) before begging her way back in.

And Jacqueline was almost fired too, so I find it hard to believe that she has this much say in choosing her successor.

The whole story with Jane was one giant facepalm, but my main concern is Sutton and her reunion with Richard. I really hope that she does not decide to compromise on the kids question to get a happy ending in the last episode. I can hardly imagine anything that would upset me more, than this show that is supposedly about female empowerment joining the vast majority of TV shows that think that marriage and children are the only acceptable happy ending for women.

[KaveDweller]

16 hours ago, mamadrama said:

Take into consideration that my only frame of reference with magazine companies is The Devil Wears Prada and two scenes from Sex and the City, but it kind of seems like Scarlet's staff roster is kind of...small? And now 3 of the most important people who work there also live together? 

I once worked at a magazine company that published magazines of crossword puzzles and sudoku and they had more staff than we see at Scarlett.

8 hours ago, SnarkEnthusiast said:

Apparently, fanfiction Joanna Coles has absolute autonomy. I've never rewatched S1 and I forgot the show began with Jane as a new Scarlet hire, which is even funnier. Since they didn't adjust the timeline for COVID (even fudging with casual age/birthday references would've been fine) in-show time has been what, three years max? So Jane went from a fresh college grad and average writer to...editor in chief in less than three years because her boss thinks she's ultra special. And even though I guess they gave her the in-between step of running The Failing Feminist, hasn't she only been doing that for maybe a year, if that? Jane is truly the Kylie Jenner of career progression. 50 Shades of Grey had more plausible promotions. I didn't know that all it took to become EIC of a gigantic fashion magazine was an overly maternal relationship with your boss.

Actually, I believe in the pilot Jane had just been promoted from assistant to writer. I am not sure what kind of assistant she was, but I think she'd been in that role for three years.  Then she was a writer for a few months, quit, got fired from her next job immediately, then freelanced for a few months, then got re-hired as a writer. I think that was at most a year ago, but remember she was on leave for a few months after her mastectomy. (Medical leave wouldn't preclude her from a promotion if she had earned it while she was working). 

[Pallida]

I wish the show had Jane learning about being an editor (not editor in chief) under Jacqueline’s mentorship leading to her taking on the editor in chief position at an independent Don’t Look Away. Sutton would stay at Scarlet and keep receiving actual guidance and advancement. 

[Ambrosefolly]

I currently work for a person that does sales for regional lifestyle city magazine, so that meeting with the jewelry company was total bullshit. Scarlett would have (and has, as Sutton was contemplating being a rep) a sale department with a Director of Sales and a rep that handles the account within Scarlett, either the person that brought them in or a rep that was appointed after the previous rep moved on. That meeting that Jane had with the jewelry representative would have featured the rep and director of sales as well, and since what Jane was proposing was a new tactic, she would have given him a shit ton of free stuff and guarantees of prime placements(it is actually a bad idea to give clients a special rate as they will come to expect it even when the marketing does well, learned one thing on the job). Also, if Scarlet took agency rates, they might have had an agency that did all of the advertisement that came to negotiate. Considering funding the magazine is important to the magazine, that was the one item on her list Jacqueline shouldn't have left to her. I can sort of hand wave the other editor stuff because Jane works with those people, but if that advertiser was that big of a deal, Jacqueline needed to be there, even if it was an anniversary, since she didn't prep anyone else, including Jane, to represent Scarlet for a sales meeting.

Edited June 26, 2021 by Ambrosefolly

[zenithwit]

Ok, it's official.  I hate this final season.  I know this season wasn't "planned" per say and the writers only had 6 episodes to wrap everything up but I still find it frustrating.

Sutton's storyline deserves way more nuance than what it's getting.  I almost wish she didn't have the miscarriage and had the baby because a) miscarriages are horrible gut-wretching experiences and b) watching Sutton navigate baby/Richard/career/friends would be an interesting and I think feasible story arc for 6 episodes.

On 6/24/2021 at 8:57 AM, tennisgurl said:

When Jacqueline was telling everyone in the office how Jane was in charge while she was gone, all I could think about were all of the senior editors and writers in the background who have been at Scarlett for twenty years and are all certainly rolling their eyes and refreshing their resumes to go work at a magazine that might not pass them over for much earned promotions in favor of a woman who's worked there for two years and who's path to success has been failing, trying to spin her failing into some kind of success, and being rewarded for it.

I hope the show addresses this in the final episode.  At any sort of average company, a move like this would cause an exodus (Yes Girl is probably like yes, please!).  Also, isn't it common for a new Editor in Chief to clean house?  Or maybe that's more of an external thing?  Regardless, Jane's story line is so off base it's not even funny.  If the show ends with Jane executing Jacqueline's vision for Scarlet perfectly with minimal intercompany politics, I may scream.  It also shows how writers in these type of shows have zero Corporate America experience.

Side note: Jane expecting Sage to drop everything for a last minute 6/7pm call for a topic that probably could have been addressed later makes her a shitty boss (nothing new I know). 

On 6/24/2021 at 8:41 PM, gesundheit said:

I couldn't help but wonder if Jacqueline just said yes to Kat about everything because she knew she was on her way out the door, so it didn't matter. There's no way she'd have the budget for an entire new vertical to just bust out like that. Guess she figured that's Jane's problem now.

I was wondering this too!  Also, Kat's proposal isn't without risk.  It's entirely possible that Kat's vertical/mini-magazine could drum up protestors or piss off advertisers.  How would Jane handle that and how would her friendship with Kat impact her decision-making abilities?

[Aulty]

Anyone want a promo and two sneak peeks to prepare for the ultimate glorification of tiny Jane? Course you do:

 

 

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by Aulty

[gesundheit]

Any chance that "Jacqueline, I need to talk to you" is Jane saying "Are you insane for giving me this job? I'm way underqualified, I'm turning it down, please don't make me do this."

[luckyroll3]

55 minutes ago, gesundheit said:

Any chance that "Jacqueline, I need to talk to you" is Jane saying "Are you insane for giving me this job? I'm way underqualified, I'm turning it down, please don't make me do this."

If only! But Jane doesn't have that much self-awareness.

[gesundheit]

20 hours ago, luckyroll3 said:

If only! But Jane doesn't have that much self-awareness.

Maybe I'll just skip the finale and pretend that's what happened.

[KaveDweller]

They surprised me by having Jane NOT become editor-in-chief. Sadly it was her choice because she loves writing too much and not because anyone realized she was way underqualified. Oh well, I will take it.

Also kind of surprised she is leaving Scarlet. I didn't totally get her logic. She loves writing so much she has to quit her job as a writer and just travel and write on her own? She says she doesn't want the safety net of Scarlet, but then acknowledged she could just come back in the future? Whatever Jane. I just feel bad for Addison who turned down another job because Jane promised to be her mentor.

I just said last week Kat would be a better editor-in-chief than Jane, but that didn't mean I actually thought it made sense for her to get the job. She was fired less than a year ago for publicly shaming a board member. And two weeks ago she was insisting she wanted to devote all her time to Don't Turn Away, and now she's taking a different job. She won't have time to manage every aspect of the vertical when she takes over for Jacqueline. It is also surprising they'd give the job to someone who never worked as a writer/editor. It seems like Kat is smart, knows social media, and could handle running a magazine, but Scarlet has a board to deal with and she won't play nice with them.

So they got Richard and Sutton back together without having her give in on having kids, which is good, but what about Richard changing his mind? That isn't totally fair. No matter what he says he may end up resenting her, and then it would be too late for him to try and adopt or meet someone new. Oh well, I will pretend it's not a risk and be happy for them.

Don't care one way or another about Kat and Adena or Jane and her random hook up.

[Aulty]

[GaT]

So "second chance Kat" gets the ultimate second chance, we should have seen that one coming and I'm sure Sutton & Richard will live happily ever after forever. Yep, right up until Richard realizes that he really does want kids & he hates Sutton for preventing him from having them. And of course, Jane leaves Scarlet. Her dream job that she grew up wanting. Too bad she didn't think of doing that 5 seasons ago.

[mamadrama]

I half expected a dream reveal because very few of these outcomes were based in reality. 

[GaT]

2 minutes ago, mamadrama said:

I half expected a dream reveal because very few of these outcomes were based in reality. 

Or what's been happening on the show.

[Artsda]

So even worse of Jane being Editor is Kat, who they had fired and the board got rid of. They're suddenly ok with her being Editor in Chief? So beyond stupid and her and Adena were so over done, I didn't care.

Richard just gives up all his hopes and dreams of a family for Sutton and she gets her way like always. He has to compromise his feelings and wants.

Jane's best scene was Ryan, glad they brought Pinstripe back for the finale. She would have had a better ending if he was her hookup and not the random bodyguard. 

The whole finale was bad.

[JustHereForFood]

Well, that turned out better than I expected, though I really didn't expect much.

Yay for Jane not being editor in chief in the end. It would have been better if she wasn't even considered or if she realized she is not qualified, instead of just being unable to give up writing, but I will take it. I didn't care much for her random hookup or Pinstripe cameo, but I liked the callback to her parents.

Kat becoming editor in chief instead was a bit random, like it just has to be one of them, they don't have any other employees at Scarlet. I agree that she is a better option than Jane and from a perspective of someone who doesn't know anything about running a magazine, I wouldn't say it is that big of a problem that she isn't a writer, the social media part of the job seems to be a future after all - didn't they make Scarlet web exclusive in previous season or something? Anyway, the biggest issue with this for me is that I find it unbelievable that the board or whoever has to approve this was OK with this change in such a short time, especially since they fired Kat not that long ago. But the whole season was rushed anyway, so this is something that I have to take as part of that. I liked her getting together with Adena.

Not sure how to feel about Sutton and Richard. They took quite some time to show Sutton coming to terms with the divorce and even in this episode with accepting that it is for the better, only to end with them back together anyway... But I get the decision, they were the main ship of this show since the beginning and from what I saw in various comments they are quite popular, so it is not a surprise if the writers wanted a happy ending. I was so afraid that they would make Sutton change her mind about kids, so I am glad that it was Richard instead. And hey, with how often the female characters are bullied into changing their minds about kids (which is a big peeve of mine), I don't mind at all that the man gets to compromise once. He is an adult and if he decides that he wants to have Sutton more than kids, good for him, because she is great! If he regrets it later, that is on him. I felt bad for Sutton in the previous episode with her therapist, when she confessed how she felt that she is just not enough, so I was glad for her when Richard told her that she is.

I liked the last part of the episode and got a bit emotional with Jacqueline's speech, Kat's speech and then Jacqueline watching the trio in the fashion closet (where else would the ending be?) Since the show is ending, I would like to take a moment to appreciate how glad I am for this show, despite the recent drop in quality of the writing. The gave us four strong female characters, with the relationships among them at the forefront, along with some great supporting characters in Oliver, Alex, Sage, Adena and even Andrew and Richard to some extent. I was initially hesitant to watch it, because from the previews with them screaming in the subway I though it would be some superficial feminism, but I'm glad I eventually did. I hope we will have some similar show in the near future.

[NeenerNeener]

9 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

She loves writing so much she has to quit her job as a writer and just travel and write on her own? She says she doesn't want the safety net of Scarlet, but then acknowledged she could just come back in the future?

Jane got the 'Eat, Pray, Love" ending.

Someone needs to tell wardrobe that only really tall girls can pull off that particular off-the-shoulder white shirt with leather pants thing they put Jane in for this episode. When she stood up it looked like she was wearing a diaper under those pants...and it was loaded.

Edited July 1, 2021 by NeenerNeener

[dubbel zout]

1 hour ago, JustHereForFood said:

Not sure how to feel about Sutton and Richard.

Same. I think he'll grow to resent Sutton not wanting kids, or else she'll feel pressured to have them, and neither of those is a good thing for a marriage. I loved the idea of Richard adopting as a single man. That would have been different.

As for Kat becoming the new editor, whatever. I think having her vertical was a decent ending for her, but since Jane turned down the job (rightfully so! She isn't a manager of any comptency), I guess the show didn't want her to have some random boss.

And yes to Jane going freelance but always having a home at Scarlet. That's still a safety net! But again, whatever. I'm just relieved the poor staff of Scarlet wasn't going to get stuck with Jane as editor. I think Kat is a better choice, though we're grading on a very large scale here.

23 minutes ago, NeenerNeener said:

off-the-shoulder white shirt

Jane was thisclose to a wardrobe malfunction every second she wore that shirt. I guess she taped it on so there'd be no flashing?

I wish we'd seen Alex one more time.

[marny]

Did I miss an episode where Jane suddenly got an inheritance or won the lottery so that she can afford to travel the world on freelance-writer money? Letting her do that with a stable Scarlet paycheck would have been the smart decision, so of course she turned that offer down. 
 

The fact that Kat doesn’t realize she won’t have time to be both EIC and run her Don’t Turn Away vertical is a big problem. After all, we just saw that Jane as acting EIC didn’t even have time to pee. Who is going to run her oh-so-important cause now?

[tennisgurl]

So Kat can go from being fired after breaking the law and publicly shaming a board member (albeit an asshole one), to turning down every job she gets offered because none of them meet her high standards, to bartender who was almost fired from that job as well, to editor in chief? Kat is at least a better choice then Jane, but it still feels pretty ridiculous. I guess they felt like if they were going to give Jane the Eat, Pray, Love ending, one of the girls had to get the editor job instead of some random person who is probably vastly more qualified, so they went with Kat. She is at least more competent than Jane, but as much as she went on this episode about how much she has grown, until about two episodes ago she was as flighty as ever, it wouldn't surprise me if she stormed off in a rage the second the board gave her even the slightest push back or she gets distracted by some new idea. 

I am glad though that Jane isn't editor in chief, even if its not because anyone suddenly grew a brain and realized how underqualified Jane is for the job but because Jane decided she didn't want the job because she still wants to publish her dull as dirt articles where she takes any topic and makes it about her. Of course we ended the season with a TON of Jane worship, everyone and their mother going on about how awesome of a writer she is even if most of the writing we have seen from her involves her screwing up but somehow managing to get on top anyway. I don't really get why she is even leaving Scarlett other than the show wanted to give her the "leaving to have an adventure" ending where she goes to Paris to be a freelance writer, and normally I would question how Jane could afford all that glamourous travel as a freelance writer, but this is Jane we're talking about, the universe exists to bend to her will. Also this really sucks for Addison, who turned down another job because Jane promised to be her mentor and is now leaving about a week after, but now Addison can find a real mentor hopefully.

I am happy that Sutton and Richard ended up together again and that Sutton didn't end up changing her mind about kids, but I still feel like this could be an issue down the road as Richard gets older and maybe starts regretting never having kids. It also really makes this whole story of Sutton and Richard almost divorcing pretty pointless, I would have much rather watched Sutton navigating married life, but whatever, I'm just glad she got something of a happy ending with Richard and getting to dress Jacqueline which is a big deal apparently. 

As much as I have snarked on this show, I will miss it now that its gone. I really did enjoy several aspects of the show, especially how it brought attention to a number of worthy causes (even if some of it wasn't handled very well) and the chemistry between the three girls. The writing rapidly went downhill, especially in its over the top worship of Jane, but it did usually have it moments, especially at the start. 

Edited July 1, 2021 by tennisgurl

[Guest]

Well, as ridiculous as it was, I have to hand it to the show - apart from Sutton, I didn’t see any of that coming. 

Man, Jane really fucked Scott and especially Addison over. Why devote two episodes to her trying to convince Addison to stay and refuse another job offer just have Jane quit the next episode? After spending half the season having the writers insist we should care about Addison, we don’t even see her in the finale? And Scott quit his job for some half-assed flirting with Jane. They never even kissed! All that talk about how much they wanted each other and how they were meant to be evaporated into nothing overnight. I was surprised Scott was not only omitted from the finale (not even an open ended flirtatious scene!), but Jane fucked…the bodyguard? I should have known they wouldn’t have bothered to cast someone that hot if they weren’t going to have one of the leads bang him. I was convinced she was going to ask the bodyguard to travel with her, so at least they didn’t go that far into fanfiction. What was the point of the first four episodes? The last two totally erased everything without explanation. Was this like a reverse Richard where the actor playing Scott wasn’t available to film the last few episodes? I assumed her "I'm focused on my career now" was a delay tactic until the finale, not his character exit. Why tease Scott so hard, especially for half of the final season, only to drop him? Ugh.

Giving Jane a final reunion with Pinstripe only underscored how he was her obvious endgame love interest and it annoys me that they blew up their relationship over that belabored cheating argument.

Kat…what? Making her editor in chief makes even less sense than Jane somehow, especially plunking it on her with 20 minutes to go. But she didn’t even get to play boss for a week like Jane! And agree with everyone else, there’s no way the board would approve of her after she had a direct conflict with one of their founding members. I think the writers were embarrassed by the scandal with Ava so they gave Kat a fantasy porn ending to appease Twitter. She’s never even expressed an interest in writing and she lost interest in city council in about half an hour, so how is she supposed to run a magazine? 

Sutton’s resolution was not only the most underwhelming, but the most unresolved. I was very disappointed because she’s always been one of my favorites and I feel like the writers have really neglected her the past few seasons but especially these last two blocks. Jane gets to travel the world and turn down EIC, Kat becomes EIC, and Sutton…just gets Richard back? Does she even want him at this point? Nothing we’ve seen in the past two blocks indicates that they’d be a healthy relationship. The whole “I want to be with you more than I want kids“ about face from Richard is so obviously a lie that they both want to believe. If that were true, they wouldn’t have been at each other’s throats last season. I think Richard has convinced himself that he’s OK with not having children in this moment because he can’t bear the idea of actually going through with the divorce, but as others have said, resentment will inevitably creep back in as soon as the emotion recedes and the relationship gets routine again. If you have a definite, adamant viewpoint on whether or not you want kids, that’s just not something that’s going to change for most people and that’s fine. The idea that your partner will just flip a switch and change their entire life plan for you if they love you enough is a terrible message, especially when the debate has already fractured their marriage so badly they drew up divorce papers.

So Richard is just abandoning his adoption application in the middle of the process? That’s the other thing that’s most disappointing. Why even include that? As I said upthread, I would’ve hoped that would be an interesting opportunity for them to discuss pursuing adopting an older child, so that way Sutton wouldn’t have to give up her career. But again, your life ambition means nothing if it gets in the way of romance! Also, what happened to all that stuff about Sutton possibly not wanting to work at Scarlet or be a stylist? What’s going on with her career? I guess it doesn’t matter because we know she is a wife for good now! 

I guess Alex not returning makes sense given the huge mid season sendoff he got, but I was still looking for him during the final party. 

That last shot of Jacqueline going through the empty Scarlet office made me tear up a little. This show was very goofy, often self important, and sometimes bad, but I will still miss it. Maybe not Jane, but the rest of it. 

2 hours ago, marny said:

The fact that Kat doesn’t realize she won’t have time to be both EIC and run her Don’t Turn Away vertical is a big problem. After all, we just saw that Jane as acting EIC didn’t even have time to pee. Who is going to run her oh-so-important cause now?

Obviously Kat will delegate Don’t Turn Away to Adena because Scarlet is nothing without outlandish favoritism and conflicts of interest. 

[Brian Cronin]

From the showrunner, they apparently changed the Richard/Sutton ending at the last minute,

"We just went to the depths of our hearts and core for this couple on this one, because we had a bunch of different endings. Ultimately, this one was the one that felt right, and I’m so, so glad we did it, because I think I would have regretted had it ended any other way and [would have] wanted desperately to go back in time to do it over again. We just grappled so much with [the idea that] these two have a very real conflict and and a very serious view of what the rest of their lives look like, and what do you do when those views are different? We didn’t want Sutton to change her mind, and at the same time, we didn’t want Sutton to lose the love of her life because she didn’t want to have children."

and

"We played with the idea that it would be a very similar storyline to the one that you saw, but that Richard would profess his love, and Sutton would say, “I know you. You’re going to be an amazing father, and I love you so much, and I don’t want you to regret this. Go have the family you’re supposed to have,” and have it be this heartbreaking ending, but also inspiring because they were both in the places that they were potentially meant to be. But ultimately, it just didn’t feel right. It just didn’t feel like that was the ending for both of them."

Just think about how stupid that is. You came up with a specific plot, you then wrote to that plot, and then when the logical resolution to that plot occurs, you just couldn't do it to the characters? YOU CAME UP WITH THE PLOT!! 

I know that they were pressed for time with only six episodes to wrap everything up, but for fuck's sake, THAT WAS THE PLOT YOU CAME UP WITH, so how in the world are you going to back away when it actually comes to fruition? How hacky is that? 

"We didn’t want Sutton to change her mind, and at the same time, we didn’t want Sutton to lose the love of her life because she didn’t want to have children" - then WHY DID YOU COME UP WITH THAT PLOT? 

I agree that it's great that Sutton didn't change her mind, but Richard changing his mind (an episode after he was going to adopt on his own, for crying out loud!) is only not JUST as bad because it's less cliche (the former is holy shit, the king of cliches), so it's still pretty darn bad. Ugh. 

Here's the article with the quotes, by the way: 

https://tvline.com/2021/06/30/the-bold-type-recap-series-finale-season-5-episode-6-kat-jane-sutton/

[gesundheit]

23 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

So Kat can go from being fired after breaking the law and publicly shaming a board member (albeit an asshole one), to turning down every job she gets offered because none of them meet her high standards, to bartender who was almost fired from that job as well, to editor in chief? Kat is at least a better choice then Jane, but it still feels pretty ridiculous. I guess they felt like if they were going to give Jane the Eat, Pray, Love ending, one of the girls had to get the editor job instead of some random person who is probably vastly more qualified, so they went with Kat. She is at least more competent than Jane, but as much as she went on this episode about how much she has grown, until about two episodes ago she was as flighty as ever, it wouldn't surprise me if she stormed off in a rage the second the board gave her even the slightest push back or she gets distracted by some new idea. 

Exactly! She is the least willing of all the characters to yield any space between her idealism and how the world actually works. Just wait till the first thing she realizes as EIC is that the new activism vertical actually has to be cut because too many advertisers are pulling out. 

And once again, Jane has made a "following my dumb heart" decision about leaving a job and giving no notice. Of course nobody on television ever actually gives notice when they leave a job for an inspiring, completely-unfunded pipe dream.

Bummer about Richard.

Can't say I liked any of the outcomes, but as a few of you have mentioned above, I guess credit is due for a number of surprises?

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Brian Cronin said:

 I agree that it's great that Sutton didn't change her mind, but Richard changing his mind (an episode after he was going to adopt on his own, for crying out loud!) is only not JUST as bad because it's less cliche (the former is holy shit, the king of cliches), so it's still pretty darn bad. Ugh. 

It sounds like the writers were too attached to Richard/Sutton as a couple to go through with breaking them up, which...okay, sure, but as you said, why bother giving them all the turmoil of the kid argument and impending divorce to undo everything in the last 10 minutes? It was not only a huge waste of time, but totally ruined the feel-good "epic romance" of their storyline that the writers seemed so enamored with (imo, Richard was always kind of a bland character and "board exec bones employee 15 years his junior" is hardly fairytale fodder, but whatever). There was plenty to navigate with the age/class difference that would've been interesting without destroying the relationship. And there were many ways to explore the kid issue within that - Richard wants kids much sooner than Sutton, Richard wants the kids to have a nanny, Richard doesn't want the kids growing up in the city, etc. But they just wanted to portray opposite POVs on children for the issue of the week (within a married couple...that's been dating for years...) and wound up portraying Richard as an emotionally abusive, toxic asshole in the process so it's hard to be happy or relieved they reconciled in the end. Why not give Jane the childfree plot or have that be the reason Richard broke up with his other girlfriend instead? That argument made their plots incredibly unpleasant to watch the last two blocks and imo destroyed Richard's (already questionable) likability. Poor Sutton was perpetually stressed and miserable.

[gesundheit]

Oh also, does this mean Kat's moving in with Adena immediately or something? I was confused about the apartment going away automatically. (A silly thing to be hung up on, of course.)

[Brian Cronin]

31 minutes ago, gesundheit said:

Oh also, does this mean Kat's moving in with Adena immediately or something? I was confused about the apartment going away automatically. (A silly thing to be hung up on, of course.)

Well, Kat is now the Editor-in-Chief of a major magazine, so she has enough money to get herself a fancy apartment on her own. But perhaps when Jane said she'll just lease it, she meant TO Kat?

It's good to know that Kat chose financial independence from her parents and only had to go a season before being made rich again. 😄

[Ambrosefolly]

Agree about Sutton and Richard. I wasn't a huge fan of Sutton deciding she didn't want kids at all (and considering her trust issues and family, I thought the decision came from somewhere else), but they had her make that decision, so I didn't like it either when they had her and Richard get back together. I really think that kids are the big deal breakers. 

[KaveDweller]

8 hours ago, SnarkEnthusiast said:

It sounds like the writers were too attached to Richard/Sutton as a couple to go through with breaking them up, which...okay, sure, but as you said, why bother giving them all the turmoil of the kid argument and impending divorce to undo everything in the last 10 minutes?

It's like they gave them the kids plot to cause conflict then realized how hard it was to undo.

I saw another interview with the writers where they said they considered having Sutton realize in therapy she was just scared of having kids and turning into her mother, but they didn't have time. But I guess they also know that could be problematic. 

In that interview they also acknowledged how unrealistic it was for Jane and Kat to be the only two in contention for the EIC job.

Edited July 3, 2021 by KaveDweller

[Snow Fairy]

That was some sad party. I know it is probably due to covid and they restricted the number of people, but for the finale it looked underwhelming

[mamadrama]

On 7/1/2021 at 4:04 AM, GaT said:

Or what's been happening on the show.

Yeah, I know we have to suspend belief watching this, but Kat becoming editor in chief (recently fired by the same company and no writing/editing experience) is a bit much even for THIS show. 

[mamadrama]

As someone who's been a full-time freelance writer with steady work for the past 12 years I'm also side-eyeing Jane's big plan. She seems to live in the Carrie Bradshaw world of writing-where a few articles a month will net her designer clothes, entry into hopping clubs, and unrealistic living arrangements. I didn't know that I could've just been traveling around the world, writing what I wanted, all this time. /s

More than half of the freelancers out there are names that have been in publishing for years, if not decades. NYT bestsellers, high-profile journalists, Pulitzer winners... People with a huge list of bylines that are far more impressive than Jane's. But, then again, Jane IS superwoman so...

[zenithwit]

Well, that's a wrap.  I'm now convinced that the writers have been reading this forum and decided to troll us... 

We got a nice little Easter egg to the moment in the very first episode when the girls screamed at the subway in their beautiful gowns... except instead we got the low rent version with them screaming at a bus in the daytime in their regular clothes.  But I guess that is fitting given the narrative arc of this show.

We finally (finally!) get an acknowledgement that Jane has no business in management and really any semi-decent business ideas came from Kat... only to make Kat Editor-In-Chief.

Speaking of Kat... Kat has finally found a cause worthwhile to pursue full-time!  Oh wait, j/k.  Let's make Kat Editor-In-Chief without any acknowledgement of how that impacts her newly formed vertical or address her history with the board (at least the flakiness is in character).  Side note: how are her qualifications any different/better than Patrick from one or two seasons ago?

Then we finally (finally!) get to see some reaction from the rest of the Scarlett staff about this Editor-In-Chief messiness (as perfectly demonstrated by a couple WTF faces at the announcement - including Andrew)... only for it to happen at the 11th hour and no follow up on the fallout.

And of course, they threw in a Jennifer Anniston/Ben Affleck "He's Just Not That into You" storyline with Sutton and Richard.  I think they have enough used some of the exact words in Richard's speech.  It was nice for the man to make the compromise but it's really a bandaid solution (and they knew it would drive us crazy).

But in all seriousness, I think I said it somewhere upthred that I both love and loathe this show equally.  So I can see myself binge watching this show in the future... I just may skip these final episodes.

Edited July 8, 2021 by zenithwit

[zenithwit]

FYI - Melora Hardin (aka Jacqueline) is a contestant on this season's Dancing With The Stars and the cast from the Bold Type visited her onset this past week (it was just the lead actresses i.e. Jane, Kat & Sutton).  If I find a clip, I'll post it.

Side note: I did not realize that Ian (played by Gildart Jackson) is Melora's real-life husband!

[dubbel zout]

She's also the voice of Wayfair ads right now, I think.

[JustHereForFood]

On 11/6/2021 at 3:09 AM, zenithwit said:

Side note: I did not realize that Ian (played by Gildart Jackson) is Melora's real-life husband!

Wow, I did not know that either. Interesting, as I thought they didn't have much chemistry.