(Left to right) Kat Edison (Aisha Dee), Sutton Brady (Meghann Fahy) and Jane Sloan (Katie Stevens), stand in the fashion closet at Scarlet Magazine, a fictionalized version of Cosmopolitan Magazine. The three women are the central characters of Freeform’s newest drama “The Bold Type”, televised Tuesdays at 9/8c.
Three women stand in a New York City subway station, dressed in floor-length gowns. As the train rushes in, the three women grab hands and scream as it whips by. This is just one of the wonderfully unique scenes to be found on “The Bold Type”.
The age-old trope of New York City women navigating their love lives and careers while dressed head-to-toe in Gucci couture is all too familiar. But Freeform’s “The Bold Type”, which premiered July 11 (and is televised every Tuesday at 9 p.m. on Freeform), delivers an altogether new take on a not-so-new premise.
Loosely based on the inner-workings of Cosmopolitan Magazine, “The Bold Type” follows three 20-something-year-old women. Jane Sloan (Katie Stevens), Kat Edison (Aisha Dee) and Sutton Brady (Meghann Fahy) — as they learn what it means to be “bold” in the modern age of friendship, love, sex, the internet, fashion and journalism.
The media has repeatedly deemed “The Bold Type” a “Sex And The City” style show, but unlike its predecessor, which highlights a group of women in their forties who have mostly found a place in their careers and identities, “The Bold Type” follows a group who are still figuring it all out. Jane, Kat and Sutton are navigating the tumultuous twenties where their careers, loves and dreams are all undergoing a wave (more like a tsunami) of drama and emotion.
It is a rare script that tracks the ups and downs of early adulthood so effortlessly, making all the characters’ flaws relatable, but also showing the fabulousness of the strong, bold women that make “The Bold Type” so engaging. The show indulges viewers in a most likely exaggerated picture of big name magazine work in New York where low-level assistants are popping champagne in the fashion closet and going home to fashionable apartments.
But it also acknowledges some of the challenges of life in your 20s, tackling issues such as student debt, questioning your sexuality and finding a place in your career to name a few.
“The Bold Type” tackles a host of important topics and doesn’t shy away from offering commentary on controversial topics while representing a set of characters diverse in race, religion, gender and sexuality.
One of the best aspects of “The Bold Type” is that, unlike a host of entertainment media, it shows positive relationships between women. Jane, Kat and Sutton are diehard friends, who never fail to support one another as they experience the perils of adulthood. And even outside of the central group of girls there are influential and interesting women.
Editor-in-Chief of Scarlet Magazine Jacqueline Carlyle (Melora Hardin) breaks the traditional mold of an ice cold editor (think Miranda Priestly from “The Devil Wears Prada”) in a cutthroat industry where women stomp on other women to get ahead. Instead, Jacqueline is a supportive boss that is always rooting for the success of her staff.
At the heart of it all, “The Bold Type” is a show about female empowerment, and creator of the show Sarah Watson is quick to label the show as a feminist one. The fictional Scarlet is adamant about giving young women a media source that reflects their own diverse interests.
The publication struggles with the image of being solely a beauty and fashion magazine, but as Jacqueline says in episode one, “For those of you who say (Scarlet is) just a fashion and beauty magazine, I say, ‘Here’s the next great mascara to give you bigger eyes to see the world. Here’s a fabulous pair of jeans. Now go climb a mountain.’”
This show is the start of the school year pump-up that everyone needs right now. Jane, Kat and Sutton’s boldness is contagious, so log out of Netflix and go watch “The Bold Type”.
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