After dedicating seven years to religiously watching the teen thriller drama series, Pretty Little Liars, I was found with an empty void to fill after it finally concluded its final season this summer. Curious as to what show would replace “Pretty Little Liars,” I turned on my T.V. to the Freeform channel during the show’s typical Tuesday 9 p.m. time slot and found a new drama series –– “The Bold Type.” The series aired its final episode of season one on Tuesday, Sept. 6 and it left viewers reflecting on its powerful messages, showcasing a need for season two.
“The Bold Type” is inspired by the life of former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, Joanna Coles, who is the executive producer for the series. Jacqueline Carlyle (Melora Hardin) plays the role of editor-in-chief of Scarlet Magazine, a global women’s magazine, and portrays the thoughts and emotions of what Coles went through during her time at Cosmo. With a focus on how to survive in a cut-throat journalistic environment of a global women’s magazine, “The Bold Type” is a definite appeal to young women. The series is centered around three friends – Jane (Katie Stevens), Kat (Aisha Dee) and Sutton (Meghann Fahy) – who all work for Scarlet Magazine. Throughout the series, episodes address major cultural and societal topics including love triangles among co-workers, Muslim immigration, homosexuality and sexual assault.
Oftentimes women’s magazines, like Cosmo, receive negative feedback due to their emphasis on the importance of fashion, style, beauty and sex. However, “The Bold Type” is able to reinvent the perception of women’s magazines by showing how these topics can be viewed in a political, educational and influential light. During the last episode, Jane, a newly promoted writer for Scarlet Magazine, takes on the task of covering a story about performance artist and rape survivor, Mia (Ana Kayne). Mia’s performance piece involves standing in a park all day while holding a weight in each hand, embodying the idea of Lady Justice. Throughout the episode, Jacqueline is hard on Jane and continues to tell her she needs to produce a well-written, well-researched article. Toward the end of the episode, the audience finds out that the reason Jacqueline was being verbally aggressive toward Jane regarding the article is not because she doubts Jane’s ability to write the piece; her reservation stems from her own experience in sexual assault –– a shocking discovery for sure.
However, glorifying this drama series is not my main objective. Although I think it’s important to incorporate political and social issues into a series targeted toward young women (especially since many show series aren’t “bold” enough to tackle them themselves), the quality of the series as a whole is not “A” quality. It sometimes has an immature vibe when it comes to relationships and hook ups. The love triangle that Sutton is weaved in and the indecisiveness of both Kat and Jane with their significant others is always an issue within each episode and because it’s so overdone, it can sometimes detract from the more meaningful messages of the episodes. If you find that you don’t have time to devote your attention to a more intense show series, “The Bold Type” comes in clutch when wanting some background noise while doing homework, cooking dinner or playing games with friends, while also providing a means to dive deeper into social and political messages.
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