The Bold Type: Season 4 Episode “5, 6, 7, 8” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

As Sutton preps to possibly leave New York behind, she tries to make things right and, in the process, may get an opportunity she can’t refuse.

As Sutton preps to possibly leave New York behind, she tries to make things right and, in the process, may get an opportunity she can’t refuse.

Directed By	Victor Nelli Jr.
Written By	Lauren Parks, Celeste Vasquez
Aired (FreeForm)	3/19/2020

Plot/ Recap

Making Things Right: Sutton, Alice, Oliver

While Sutton is firm on leaving, with Oliver having to cover for her over the Alice Knight gaffe, Sutton stalks, harasses, but eventually breaks through to Alice. Thus setting up a domino effect that leads to Alice tagging Sutton, thus upping her to over 64,000 followers, and Oliver trying to leverage that for a promotion. But, as he does that, Alice is trying to snag Sutton as her personal stylist, so Sutton is starting to have the kind of leap we’re used to Jane and Kat having.

The Truth About Things: Jane, Ryan, Jacqueline, Ian, Miles

When it comes to Jacqueline, like so many relationships, while things got comfortable for one side, it didn’t for the other, and that caused issues. The kind which led to the side who benefitted questioning why should things change and the other person pressing the idea they need to for them to feel happy. So, due to this impasse, Ian left to pursue his joy and left Jacqueline in New York. Thus coercing her to find her own joy and with that pursuit always comes the seeking of what is comfortable. For Jacqueline, that was Miles, a college boyfriend, who reminded her of who she was.

The problem is, who Jacqueline was she grew out of. Jacqueline has not only evolved as a person but has moved beyond where she was career-wise at the time. So, in many ways, in terms of going backwards, it seems Jacqueline would rather go back to the foundation she created with Ian than restart a college romance and then do what she has with Ian all over.

And in many ways, that might have been what kept Jane with Ryan. After dumping a doctor for Ryan, partly because Ryan was familiar and she was comfortable with him, his cheating was something she had to reckon with due to what she sacrificed. I mean, taking note of Jacqueline and Miles, what Jane gave up to have this life, she had to question if the options she had, which included staying with Ryan, was due to comfort or not. And while, yes, Jacqueline’s situation is complicated due to the cost of her home and children, in terms of Jane’s stage in life, things are complicated as well.

Take note, Jane is about to have major surgery, which will not only reduce her breast but leave scarring. This causes insecurities that will make getting a new partner hard. Also, Jane has been with Ryan for years, at this point, so then there isn’t just a sense of wasted time, but wasted youth. So her ignoring her instincts and letting things ride was just as much about being blind to what she didn’t want to see as it was trying to not lose a significant investment.

Yet, with her brother being cheated on, and Evan her role model, seeing him move on likely gave her the strength and ability to. Add in Jane can’t move past how easily Ryan lied to her, and also lied about not sleeping with the woman, and she is done. Jane is now single once more.

The Hypocrisy: Kat, RJ

We learn one of the reasons RJ might not approve of Adena’s anti-conversion camp piece is because he supports it. One of the people he, politically, supports is for conversion therapy, and despite owning a progressive magazine, RJ might very well be anti-gay. This comes as a shock to Kat yet, let’s be real, money is money, and to make money, influence the world, you are going to have to do and support things which don’t align with your beliefs, and it goes both ways.

It’s Hard To Say Goodbye My Loves: Sutton, Jane, Kat

Sutton leaving is an end of an era in the girls’ lives, and while there is a conversation about visiting, maybe Kat relocating if she gets fired for wanting to expose RJ, it seems clear Sutton is leaving. Granted, in around two weeks, so she can give proper notice. However, as Alice’s offer comes, and likely Oliver’s to follow, what will she choose? New York, her friends, maybe the opportunity to be a stylist and get to the career point she wanted, or Richard, San Francisco, and the hustle to find a new job to avoid the housewife life she desperately doesn’t want to be in?

Review/ Commentary

Highlights

The Possible End Of Ryan and Jane

What has to be appreciated about what Jane and Ryan tried to do, is be a young couple that wanted to get past a misstep. Well, let’s cut the euphemisms, he had sex with another woman. But, in showing us the possibility that honesty could allow such a thing to not be the end, thus we were allowed to see how a couple could possibly move past and reconnect as partners, and intimately.

Yet, with Ryan telling a half-truth, there is a further lesson there. One that, in order to move forward, you have to be upfront and allow the other person to make an informed decision. Otherwise, you are building a foundation for something with patch jobs rather than truly fixing what is wrong.

Sutton Coming Up On A Hard Decision

Throughout the show, Sutton has hard to work twice as hard to experience even a monochrome of success. This is shown by Oliver contacting her throughout crazy hours and us never seeing the same pressures on Kat or Jane. So, in many ways, you have to be proud she is coming to a point where she is in demand and has viable options that can lead to growth and not are a handful of means to survive.

A Multi-Episode Fight

For most of Kat’s battles, they begin and end in an episode. So to see a multi-episode fight, it makes it clear how different this one is from the rest and with it being against RJ, how serious it is. Yet, there is also the idea pushed out that Kat might be pushing too far and the question of what can happen because of that.

Think about it, Kat’s advocacy has usually not been to the point of getting fired. However, this time around, in her fight for equality and human decency, she has perhaps gone too far. Though, one could submit, considering what RJ financially supports, will the means justify the ends?

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