The Bold Type Review: Plan B (Season 2 Episode 8)

On The Bold Type Season 2 Episode 8, “Plan B,” the series gives us the calm before the storm, hopefully.

It would be a pretty bland finish to an exceptional season if “Plan B” is a model for the pacing of episodes 9 and 10.

Don’t get me wrong, the stories are great. Sutton freshly back into her groove and thinking on her feet to solve a problem.

Kat using her position as a queer, black woman to impact the lives of girls and women everywhere.

And Jane’s moving story that continues her path as a BRCA carrier and how that affects her future (although I would’ve loved this episode in the first season following the news she tested positive).

As always, The Bold Type picks crucial social issues and crafts a good story. However, in a season of greats, we need continued growth.

The Bold Type series is modeling Season 1 Jane where they’re taking 5 steps forward just to take 5 steps backward. We need the continued exploration of depth.

Don’t introduce and solve a problem in one episode, especially when it has the depth to include mini-arcs inside of the individual stories that would work well to shake things up on the show and our characters’ lives.

How are Adena and Kat dealing with the open relationship situation now that they’re further into this new arrangement, especially on the heels of Kat’s discovery as a model/spokesperson?

This would inevitably blow up Kat’s current influence and droves of women would be beating down her door.

The idea that we should focus on the power of our money and that celebrities should take greater care to represent ethical brands is so so important in today’s climate. This story has tons of doors that could have been opened before we closed it at the end of this episode.

Did The Bold Type ever plan to have Sutton charging Scarlet’s company card for Brooke’s cocaine come back to bite her in the butt? The budget meeting would’ve been the perfect place to continue this story.

This is what I mean by exploring the depth. Our lives are not short periods where our problems get tied up in a neat bow as we ready ourselves for the next issue.

They bleed into one another, and although they may not cause or be the effect of another problem, they influence it greatly.

Give us this messiness. I want more mess.

In contrast to Kat and Sutton’s story this episode, Jane’s story has been seamless this entire time, except for her gun-phobia issue, and I’m loving it.

An issue I had with The Bold Type Season 1 is that the series dropped the huge bomb of being a BRCA carrier in Jane’s life, and after the episode, we only got a casual mention of her dealing with the repercussions.

This episode continues this very important story and shows that it’s so much more than routine mammograms or pap smears.

She now has to make lifetime decisions when she’s only lives a fraction of it. It’s also not just if she wants kids but she has to pick a partner who can deal with these ramifications as well.

There is no doubt Ben will be a sweetheart about the situation, and he will probably be willing to work through this with Jane. However, that doesn’t mean something else couldn’t blow this relationship apart and then where would Jane’s dating life land?

It’s not fair to keep it from her partners until they’ve already fallen in love in case they want their own children.

However, it’s not fair to ask Jane to impart such personal information to virtual strangers in hopes the relationships gets to that point in the first place.

It’s a catch-22 situation. I LOVE IT. It’s messy. There is no right or wrong. There’s just a choice.

The Bold Type‘s decision to leave her and Ben’s relationship open-ended is also perfection. It’s the only driving angst that’s got me counting down the days until the next episode.

Well, that and the fact that I love these actresses and their characters. I’m a character person, and I’d kill to be Jane, Sutton, and Kat’s best friend.

However, this show isn’t just characterization alone. It’s crafting and weaving a story that leaves an audience breathless, especially when tackling topics like they do.

So, just as Jane has done with her journalism career and white privilege, Sutton has done with her post-break-up slump, and Kat has done in her exploration of her sexuality, I need the Bold Type‘s stories to step up to the plate, and stay there, so they can knock each ball out of the park.

The next two balls will be the final episodes. Hopefully, the writer’s room came up with some curve balls so that we can give the fans what they came to see.

Stray Observations:

• Does Pinstripe seem… aimless to you guys? What purpose does his character really serve in the episode? Same goes for Alex. It’s like they’re written in just to say they were written in.
• Jacqueline being the guiding and wise mama bear is always perfection. She is such a mood.
• Ben and Jane are too perfect for each other to break up. It just… can’t happen. Please don’t make it happen, The Bold Type. Let us keep them for a little while longer.

All in all, “Plan B” is a good episode. Wonderful story. Amazing characters. We even got to see more Alex and Pinstripe!

Nevertheless, this episode could have been better with a more thorough exploration fo the nuance and depth that comes with these issues and their impacts.

What did you think of this episode of The Bold Type Season 2 Episode 8? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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

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