The Bold Type Season Premiere Review: Feminist Army / Rose Colored Glasses (Season 2 Episodes 1 and 2)

The Bold Type Season 2 Episode 1, “Feminist Army,” and The Bold Type Season 2 Episode 2, “Rose Colored Glasses” gives us a bold, hilarious, and emotionally resonant premiere.

Whew. What a bold beginning for The Bold Type.

With their heels at the necks of the other summer shows, Kat, Sutton, and Jane have claimed the summer as theirs, and telling from the first two episodes, I am more than happy to give it to them.

Sutton deals with a fellow assistant slut-shaming her for her success in the fashion industry.

Kat and Adena take their relationship to the next level before Kat realizes she also needs to connect more to her black identity. Lastly, Jane has a rocky start at Incite that may be the end of her vertical column.

Last summer started off similar to this one. The Bold Type was about to premiere their first season, and based on the synopsis and the wonderful actresses, I wanted to be all in.

However, although The Bold Type was better than a lot of the shows airing around them, it didn’t quite match up to its potential.

If you’re returning from reading my previous reviews from season one, although I love this series, I noticed there are a lot of ways they could’ve improved the story.

So, you can imagine how ecstatic I am that The Bold Type has literally fixed every one of the issues I had last season. Every. One. In just two hours!

We get to see more of a happy and in love Kadena. Kat finally gets in touch with a huge big part of her intersectional identity: her blackness.

Even though Sutton is still deeply in love with Richard, she makes the right choice in focusing on her booming career.

Sutton: It’s a gamble. All of it. But I’m putting my money down on my career and believing that love with fall in place.

Richard: I couldn’y feel more opposite than that right now.

And tiny Jane has finally come up against an obstacle that didn’t magically correct its self by the end of the episode.

Someone pinch me. I am in TV heaven.

With two hours full of drama and change, we have a lot to talk about, so let’s dive into it shall we? Let’s start with the lovebirds who still have their honeymoon glow: Kat and Adena.

Kat: I gotta go find Adena

Sutton: Or at least her vagina.

Kat: You couldn’t help yourself could you?

It’s amazing to watch them climb obstacles in their relationship because you can tell they’re soulmates. I don’t mean that in a hyperbolic way; those two truly have souls that perfectly fit one another.

In every way Kat may be conservative, Adena is forthright, and in every way Adena may be reserved, Kat is bold.

Kat is the outgoing one who never hesitates to speak her mind, while Adena rather keep her thoughts to herself unless she’s prompted to do otherwise.

They have such an amazing balance.

This manifests beautifully in The Bold Type Season 2 Episode 2 when Kat is having trouble putting labels on her identity.

Because Adena and Kat balance each other so well, you can see how their dynamic helps one another continuously test their boundaries, and that’s because where one person may lack experience the other has already scaled that obstacle.

In a time where identity politics is rampant, and we’re unearthing how intersectional identities have different oppressive forces and environments, this is such an inspiring arc.

Kat: Are you questioning my blackness right now? Because up until recently you were wearing khakis and cardigans which is just about the whitest fashion statement imaginable. 

Not only that, but we finally get to see more of Kat’s environment!

We get a glimpse of Kat’s dynamics with her parents and we also see how she’s processed her identity before this episode.

During Season 1, we explored what it was like to be a lesbian from a middle eastern country for Adena.

We got to see how Sutton felt trying to live off of her own wages inexpensive New York City when didn’t necessarily have the parental monetary resources that Jane and Kat do.

Additionally, we navigate how growing up without a mother has affected Jane and informed her relationships with Jacqueline.

And although we got to see Kat’s love life, I wanted more about Kat as a person.

This episode gave us that and so much more.

The usually reactive Kat actually takes time to think about her current perspective and how Alex and Adena challenge her current truth.

And while Alex gives Kat tough love, Adena guides her and acts as her support system.

Two queen’s uplifting each other, nurturing each other and adapting to each other’s need for the growth of their relationship. Whew. We stan iconic women.

Speaking of iconic, Sutton is absolutely killing the game, but what’s new?

Instead of facing adversity from her job, Sutton has to deal with a fellow fashion assistant tearing her down and trying to dim her light because said assistant can’t find another way to compete.

Even though this is very common amongst men and women, it’s most detrimental to women because we already have fewer opportunities to be successful or to get recognized for our success.

 

Can you guys believe that girl?

She actually tried to deny that she was slut-shaming Sutton when she literally told Sutton three or more times that she’s only successful because she’s good with men or sleeping with them.

First of all, how else can one interpret that statement? There is no plausible deniability here.

Second of all, to take away the late nights Suttons stays up creating her bosses schedule, her keen eye for style, and her affinity to make the impossible happen for her job is doing a disservice to women.

We are multitaskers. We can be “good with men,” and still be amazing at our jobs.
The wonderful thing is one does not negate the other.

It was such a proud moment when Sutton finally put that girl in her place.

Jacqueline is so needed, she’s a literal wonder woman, and Kat, Sutton, and Jane are her wonder girls.

On a similar note of wonder, I wonder what Jane thought would happen when her boss gave her explicit directions and a script with which to read on air?

While Jane’s decisions remain the same (to my dismay), Jane’s luck has turned in Season 2 for the worst, and I like it.

Okay, okay. Here me out.

I don’t want Jane to get fired nor do I want her to be unsuccessful. But if you remember a lot of my complaints from The Bold Type’s Season 1, I didn’t like how Jane never really faced lasting consequences.

The only time she came up against adversity that didn’t solve itself in the episode was her breast cancer scare, but we never got to explore that in-depth since it was still an episodic problem.

Now, we see Jane experience lasting repercussions and I wonder how she’ll handle them.

Jane may not actually be fired for good.

Her boss could be easily just trying to teach Jane a lesson, and her lessons just have a little less finesse then Jacqueline’s.

Whether or not Jane is really fired, I have no doubts that her new editor will hold her accountable, but I also hope Jane holds her boss accountable too.

A lot of their drama could have been avoided if her boss spoke to her about her revisions except for changing Jane’s entire article and slapping Jane’s name on it.

Why would she think it’s okay to put words in someone else’s mouth, on record, when she’s also a journalist herself! It’s completely unethical…

But it’s also life.

As we see in the lumberjack outfit Jane wears to her interview on live television, Incite just doesn’t fit her well, but that doesn’t always have to be the case.

The Bold Type has set up a crossroads for Jane.

Will she run back to Scarlet where she fit in more easily and had Jacqueline to coddle her into success?

Or, will she stay at Incite, learn how to adapt her tone and approach to the magazine, which is an important skill for a journalist, and test her boundaries?

Jane, Kat, and Sutton are the bold type, and they always make it out on top because they have the tact, the support system, and the intelligence to get through anything.

So, regardless of Jane’s decision, I’m not worried if she’ll be okay.

What do you guys think? Should Jane push her boundaries? What about Kat’s decision to put in her bio that she’s a black female; will that have the positive reaction she and Alex are hoping for?

Will Sutton’s fellow assistant finally take the hint and become real competition instead of trying to tear her down?

Share your thoughts on The Bold Type Season 2 premiere in the comments section below!

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The Bold Type airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Freeform.

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