The Bold Type: Season 4 Episode 4 “Babes In Toyland” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.

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The ladies, and Alex, are forced out of their comfort zone as Jacqueline’s home life continues to be challenging to balance.

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Directed By		Kimberly McCullough
Written By		Chase Baxter, Nikita T. Hamilton
Aired (FreeForm)		2/14/2020
Introduced This Episode
Lisa	Sara Garcia

Episode Recap

Ask Alex: Alex, Lisa

Alex is given a live podcast, and to say he doesn’t struggle would be a lie. But his struggle mostly comes from being in his own head and thinking, since he is used to the feature not being interactive, he needs to have answers on the spot. All of which leads Lisa, his engineer, who thought Alex would be a woman, to roll her eyes and maybe, secretly, be glad he is flailing.

Putting Yourself Out There: Sutton, Kat

While Sutton agrees with Kat that being an influencer could help her career, the issue she has is that she doesn’t want to or doesn’t know how, to put herself out there. Also, addressing the fact she is engaged is a challenge for it furthers her discomfort with not being where she believes she should be. However, after going to a sex club with Jane and Kat, and a few candid photos by Kat, she seems to be slowly learning to embrace that she can be the center of attention outside of small group settings.

The Marital Struggles Continue: Jacqueline

With seeing Ian in a picture with another woman, so comes Jacqueline’s need to question if things might be at the beginning of the end. Which, to be clear, isn’t spoken out loud, but her face does say that she is worried about the state of her relationship and it is definitely pushed things will get harder before they get better.

Let’s Talk About Sex: Kat, Jane, Ryan, Sage

Sage, the sex columnist, has friends who, naturally, are part of the sex industry. Specifically, she has a friend who has a company dedicated to vibrators which become a hit around the office. For example, Jacqueline takes one to sample, and Sutton uses it to keep up the intimacy between her and Richard. But, the company hits a snag due to them being unable to put up a billboard for the tame advertisement is considered profane.

As you can imagine, since Kat has time, she decides to campaign and use her and Scarlett’s social media influence to fight back. Leading to it appearing she is pushing for a boycott over a product for men, that nearly gets the magazine sued. However, in the end, Kat does as she consistently has: highlight an issue, come up with a solution, and maybe not change the world, but the minds she needs to so a shift can begin.

Speaking of shifts, Jane, when Sage gets a herpes flare-up, decides to take on her assignment of going to a sex club and there, she kisses someone. This allows her to understand why Ryan ran home to her after and, despite not having a ticket, he finds her at a sex club and after days, weeks, maybe more than a month, they finally have sex they both can enjoy.

Other Noteworthy Facts, Moments, and Random Thoughts

• Sutton makes $750 a week

Review/ Commentary

Highlights

Seeing Beyond Lead Characters

Sage, like Andrew, has been in the show for the longest, but outside of her being as open about sex as Sutton, not much more could be said about her. And, don’t get me wrong, her being open about having herpes isn’t me saying they are finally developing the character. However, in this season, you can see a real shift to show that there is more to Sage, Andrew, and even Jacqueline, than previously established. And I’d say, while Alex’s storyline isn’t necessarily moving forward, I do feel he is finally starting to feel like a semi-regular force rather than brought out for a joke or to start a conversation he is excluded from once no longer needed.

On The Fence

Divesting Interest In Jane’s Relationship

Honestly, the idea of watching a young couple work through infidelity, even if just a kiss, seemed like one of the best things to happen to Jane. After all, Jane’s place on this show has mostly been being the annoying one of the three who often whines and, despite Kat’s family possibly being better off, Jane soaked up any and all sense of privilege she could. Then when you add her being liberal only when it suits her needs, she could be someone hard to stand – even though she comes off nice.

So, this Ryan storyline, of him cheating, it created the possibility of Jane struggling with something. It presented a storyline we don’t see often for cheating, even in a non-sexual way, is usually a deal-breaker that means instant or eventual termination. Yet, Jane seemed to want to work through it, like Ryan, and within 4 episodes, I won’t say things are back to how they were, but it does seem the major hill might be over.

Which I hope I’m wrong about, because Jane pursuing getting her own verticle would keep her in the position as the least interesting of the three friends, with no possible means to compete.

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