The Bold Type: Season 4 Episode 7 “The Space Between” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

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Without much fanfare, Adena returns, and as she does, Sutton and Jane face a crossroad in their life, and Jacqueline rediscovers her old life.

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Directed By		Anne Renton
Written By		Ashley Skidmore
Aired (FreeForm)		3/5/2020
Introduced This Episode
Steph	Emily Le
Alice Knight	Raven Symoné

 Plot/ Recap

Rediscovering Who I Am: Jacqueline

With Jacqueline dedicating so much of her life to work, she has missed out on hanging with friends and has come to the point where she is essentially defined by her career. Which makes a night out with some college friends the opportunity she needs to rediscover herself. Specifically, have fun at a non-work related event. And with her dancing to Salt-N-Pepa and really enjoying herself, it seems we may see Jacqueline in a whole new light.

The Struggle To Breakthrough: Alice, Sutton, Oliver, Richard

Sutton trying to be more than an assistant is difficult. Yes, when given the opportunity, she takes on more and enjoys it. Also, after the wedding shoot, she has more followers than ever. But, while she is a big enough influencer to get free beer at her wedding, she hasn’t really broken through.

So, when she encounters Alice Knight, a big-time beauty influencer with over 2 million followers, Sutton does her best to make an impression and does. However, when it is really her time to shine, it is revealed Sutton is an assistant, and Alice is PISSED! Thus leading to her calling Oliver who, in response, just seems over it. Be it because Sutton may have ruined a relationship with a major influencer, him not liking to be involved with a kafuffle, or maybe too much going on in his life to really take on Alice’s anger, what Jacqueline and others may say, alongside easing Sutton’s anxiety over what happened.

Thus, Sutton calls Richard for while Jane and Kat are available, there are at completely different points of their career and life, so what can they really say or do to help?

30 Under 30: Ryan, Jane

Which, in many ways, Jane shows by not spending the day with them after a cancer scare. Instead, she proposes, with Ryan, to have a “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” situation. One in which she seems to be trying to distract herself from the decision she knows she has to make about her future. Which is, considering her mom died at 32, getting a double mastectomy. For living in fear just doesn’t work for her, and it makes the idea of being interviewed for the “30 Under 30” article almost feel more like prepping for an obituary than celebrating her career accomplishments.

And with support from Ryan and her girls, it seems Jane is going to go through with the procedure.

The Letters Are Arranged That Way For A Reason: Kat, Adena

It has been a while since we’ve seen Adena, and despite this idea that she and Kat could be end game, like how Jane and Ryan ended up that way, alongside Sutton and Richard, a bullet is put through that idea. How? Why? Well, with Kat mentioning she slept with a guy recently, including pegging him, that turns Adena all the way off since she subscribes to the idea bisexual people are sitting on the fence.

So as much as there remains something there, between Kat revealing that, Adena’s aversion to bisexuals, and Adena allegedly dating someone, it seems the writers decided to kill off that relationship.

Sidebar

1. Sutton now has 16,000+ followers

Review/ Commentary

Highlights

A Reminder Of How Discriminatory Things Are Within The LGBTQIA+ Community

Between “Good Trouble,” “The Bold Type,” and surely other shows on FreeForm, there has long been an exploration into the discrimination that is within the LGBTQIA+ community. Adena’s displacement comes from her being an out Muslim woman, and with her rejecting bisexual women, Kat specifically, it is a reminder that just because you know oppression and ostracization, on multiple fronts, that doesn’t mean it is going to make you more open-minded. If anything, it makes you less trusting of outsiders, and when you find any sense of community, you are going to want to protect how you see and experience it.

Which, in the case of Adena, being that the lesbian community accepted her, loved her, and comforted her, someone like Kat who can dip in and out, it feels like passive rejection. And this isn’t me justifying Adena’s stance but trying to explain how I see it. For when you consider she is a nomad of sorts, likely anything she feels could be consistent or reliable she wants to grip onto. So with Kat proving herself to not be a stable figure, so ends one of the main things Adena saw in her relationship with Kat.

And maybe, that is the issue many who identify as gay or lesbian see with bisexual people. For while they may know struggle, they are emotionally and physically capable of leaving the oppression and finding a heterosexual relationship. Thus marking off one thing they have to deal with. Which, yes, is unfair and ridiculous, but it’s like the saying, “All skin folk ain’t kinfolk.” For communities like the one Adena identifies with, while Kat may make a good ally thanks to her platform, the inability to claim her complicates things.

Heck, probably the best example is Kat’s relationship with her Blackness. Alex claims her, Oliver sees her as part of the Black delegation, hence their relationship, but Kat is very much uneasy about the idea of claiming her Blackness for it means denying who and what her mother is. And it is with taking note of these various conflicts Kat is under that you understand why she needs to be able to say she is bisexual and not be pushed as “other.” For she can’t control her skin tone, nor her sexuality, but at least in the queer community, or specifically lesbian community, there is the possibility of a less us or them vibe.

Hence Kat’s friendship with a woman named Steph who is queer and doesn’t care if Kat is bi. For, it is easier to be in queer spaces that cater to multiple sexualities than finding a place where Kat doesn’t have to perhaps hide her Blackness or possibly deal with being her mother’s child yet looking nothing like the people who share her mother’s culture.

Which is all to say, in finding a home within the LGBTQIA+ community, just like finding a Black community, Latinx community, and so on, while you may be seeking to escape an us vs. them vibe, you can easily cultivate it. All due to having a sense of backing you didn’t have before.

Jane Came Off Human

We’ve never been a fan of Jane, and we have likely said that many times before. Partly due to her lacking any notable struggle and nonsense like, in the episode, the idea being put out there Jane holds everyone together. We don’t agree with that, but I guess since Jane’s actress has a more recognizable name than the other two, said narrative has to be pursued.

All that aside, with Jane’s BRCA diagnosis, that is perhaps the one thing Jane has faced that she hasn’t overcame or was given a quick solution to. For when it came to quitting Scarlett, her options for boyfriends, bullying Sutton into giving up her gun, and so much more, Jane has consistently gotten what she wanted with, at most, a slap on the wrist. So with the cancer scare, and now possibly having a double mastectomy, Jane feels less like the lead who can do no wrong and will overcome anything through at her and seems more human.

Let’s hope it lasts.

Sutton’s Struggle To Begin Her Next Chapter

While it does feel sometimes Sutton hasn’t made any notable moves in a long time, it is in that struggle where Sutton’s appeal comes from. Her taking months, perhaps years, to understand what she wants, trying different things, settling on one thing, and struggling to get it, that is what has made her the best character on the show. Jane gets handed everything, Kat is just amazing at what she does, and Sutton gives you a real experience of being a millennial trying to make it despite never seeming to have the experience necessary, the fear of never having enough money, and doing your best to laugh it off despite the anxiety it gives you.

And when it comes to becoming a stylist, it is through Sutton we’re reminded getting into the arts and having a stable job is not easy. You have to know the right people, craft relationships, and convince them to take a chance on you and forego you maybe not having the best resume, the most followers, and just focusing on your drive and talent. Which, in the social media era, is impossibly hard since the issue of it not being what you know or how hard you are willing to work, but who you know and your follower count has reached an apex. Leaving those like Sutton feeling stuck in a situation where they have to hope for the best and prep for the worst.

On The Fence

Adena’s Return Seemingly Was Just To Put A Stake Through Kadena

Adena has long been Kat’s person in the same way Richard has been Sutton’s, and Ryan has been Jane’s. Yet, it seems she was brought back just to close that chapter of Kat’s life so she can move on, and I don’t know how to feel about that. Especially since she was made to be hated with her biphobia and trying to make Kat uncomfortable. Surely, between the assignments she has to do, finding a different magazine, or what have you, they could have written Adena off in a way that respected the investment, right?

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