About a month ago, an old friend from high school sent me a DM on Twitter saying that I should watch The Bold Type. She was not the first person to tell me this, but for some reason, I listened that time. I’m super picky about TV shows and if I don’t like the pilot episode of something, I’m not going to watch any further. The Bold Type caught me from the very beginning, though, and I’m two episodes away from being caught up (no spoilers, please!).
Since I know we’re (mostly) all in college, finding time to do anything extra is tricky. You probably don’t have time to add another show to your binge-list, but if you like a challenge, The Bold Type is available for streaming on Hulu.
Here are 4 reasons you should be watching The Bold Type:
They don’t shy away from anything… Seriously, nothing is off limits.
It’s rare to see a TV show talk so openly about sexuality––especially women’s sexuality. One of the first big hurdles thrown at Kat (one of the main characters) is a kind of identity crisis. Kat grew up thinking she was straight, but then she meets someone who makes her question things. Not only is there an open dialogue about homosexuality and bisexuality, they go even deeper than that. They get into things like female pleasure unlike any TV show I’ve ever seen. There’s even a little mishap at the airport with a suitcase full of dildos. Yes, you read that right. Moving on.
The characters are REAL!
Something I also struggle with while watching TV is feeling forced to like or dislike certain characters. On The Bold Type, that has yet to be an issue. Every character feels real, and that means sometimes I love them and sometimes I hate them. That’s how you know you’ve got authentic characterizations––there is no such thing as a perfect person and it’s important for television to reflect that. Kat, Jane and Sutton are all 20-something-year-old women trying to navigate their way through the professional world in New York City. They’re going to make mistakes. But my favorite thing about them is this: they learn from them. They don’t sit around and drown their sorrows and failures in wine. They do something about it.
Jacqueline Carlyle might be the best boss ever to grace a TV screen.
I’m not going to lie, I expected to not like Jacqueline. Usually, when I run across a TV show or movie that focuses on any kind of fashion magazine, the boss is made out to be a hard-ass with no personality. And if the boss is a woman? She’s got to be even meaner. People assume that a nice boss who happens to be a woman is a weak boss, a boss who doesn’t get things done and has no control. Not Jacqueline. She might actually be everyone’s dream boss. Yes, she’s tough on the girls, but she’s tough because she knows that they can be better. If you ask me, she has some of the most quotable lines in the whole show. Here’s a few of my favorites:
“Don’t say, ‘I’m sorry’ when you have nothing to apologize for.”
“Looking back, that’s exactly why it was the right decision. Because it was the one that scared the shit out of me.”
“You need to catch your breath, take an hour, fall apart, come back and we’re gonna figure this out.”
It will make you want to speak up for yourself, even if you’re scared of being told no.
Women, it seems, are taught to be quiet, grateful and appreciative of everything. We’re not supposed to ask for more. We’re not even supposed to want more. But the women of The Bold Type want more and they know they’re worth more. Watching them go after what they know they deserve has pushed me to do the same, and I know I’m not the only one who feels that way. They have a boss who fights, not for them, but beside them, they have each other, but most of all, they have themselves and the confidence to ask for what they deserve.
So, in the words of Jane, Kat and Sutton, “here’s to having adventures, and making mistakes. To sleeping with the wrong people and the right people. And to unleashing holy hell.”