The Bold Type
“Plan B” (Episode 208)
July 17, 2018
Last week was episode “Betsy,” which I can’t wait to write up. As a brief overview, Jane found Sutton’s shotgun which Sutton named Betsy in high school. Jane who is opposed to having guns around tries to be open minded about Sutton’s love for Betsy and why she enjoyed shooting skeet. Although she can’t come around on the topic, Sutton makes a compromise. Jane also furthered her relationship with Ben and speaking of relationships, Adena made a ground rule to allow Kat to experiment with her sexuality. Sutton had a bit of a hiccup with one of her connections for an item for a shoot but Oliver handled it.
Now we head into this week’s episode and it’s a bit heavy hitting as well. Spoilers ahead if you haven’t watched.
The episode begins with Jane and Ben trying a new sex position “The Face Off”; Jane can’t stop being a Scarlet writer and word vomits. Due to word vomit, Ben just thinks of the Nicholas Cage movie, then whoops … the condom breaks. An awkward video call with Jane, Sutton, Kat, and Ben while waiting for a delivery of Plan B. Ben is reminded it’s “buy 1, get 2 friends free package deal.” Ben being the Doctor reminds a freaking out Jane that she has 72 hours from when the condom breaks to take the Plan B. The delivery guy brings the Plan B and Ben calls Jane his girlfriend for the first time and now they are officially official.
The next morning at Scarlet, Jane is getting rocked from the morning after pill. Walking thru the lobby, the girls run into Pinstripe Guy who is there to do a freelance piece for Porch & Garden. He notes that Jane isn’t looking so great and as he goes through the possibilities and gets to morning after pill, Kat and Sutton give it away by looking at each other. “Jane Sloan – wild woman.”
Cleo Williams, Safford’s newest board member who is a continually butting heads with Jacqueline, walks up to Kat and introduces herself. In the very straight forward way that Cleo is, she pretty much throws a cup of coffee into Kat’s hands and asks to have a word with her, leaving Kat to be slightly confused while walking away from her friends. In another area of the lobby, Cleo sits down with Kat, to ask her about Whole Spa – a company that caters to all ages and skin types. Kat is onboard to have her team start marketing on social media about their product. Except, hold up, Whole Spa and Cleo want to have Kat be the image of the social media campaign…Kat is surprised by this. Cleo calls Kat an “influencer,” which I can’t quite tell how Kat feels about this term being used to describe her. In the same forceful demeanor that Cleo has, she tells Kat Whole Spa would like to meet with her that afternoon. Cleo isn’t going to take no for an answer so Kat agrees. Cleo seems very pleased as she walks away, Kat does as well so maybe she is okay with this.
FASHION CLOSET…the girls are laying on the floor where Kat had just informed them of her influencer status. Sutton reminds Kat not to forget about her “little” people when she becomes famous spokesperson from the campaign. They discuss Sutton’s work load with Oliver being in Paris and Kat enjoys the advantages of him being away and Sutton being able to use Oliver’s juicer. Jane finally chimes in and mentions how she feels from the side effects of the morning after pill.
“I say this with love, but you look terrible.”- Kat
Sutton suggests to Jane that she should see her doctor to potentially get something to help with the side effects.
Sutton joins Kat in her first budget meeting taking on Oliver’s duties. Her only goal is to stay awake. Jacqueline walks in and the meeting is underway. Due to Fashion Week, Scarlet has to make cuts in other places and Jacqueline gives the rundown. Jacqueline puts the pressure on Sutton about pulling 10% from the fashion department, Sutton panics she doesn’t know what to do — Oliver didn’t prepare her for that. She tries texting him but Jacqueline wants an answer right away, she agrees. Well this is probably going to catch up with her later.
Jane is now meeting with her doctor to get medication to help with the side effects. Her doctor brings up a difficult topic and a little bit out of left field throwing Jane off. Her doctor wants to discuss Jane’s fertility plan and instructs her to start thinking about when she wants to have children. Jane doesn’t understand since she is only twenty five.
–FREEZE since most readers have hopefully watched all of the Bold Type season 1, I will keep this short. During Season 1, Jane learned that she is a carrier for the BRCA gene. At the time she was told she didn’t need to worry but to be cautious and not miss her check ups. This was a lot for Jane to find out. UNFREEZE–
Jane tells her doctor that she hasn’t missed a screening, her doctor understands but goes onto explain that the best preventative treatment is removal of her ovaries. Jane will need to start thinking about her reproductive future and if she wants to have kids she needs to start planning for them now. Jane is shocked.
Sutton is crunching the numbers with Alex to figure out where she can make cuts to make that 10% that Jacqueline wanted and have a plan for when she has to fill in Oliver. Jane walks in on them stone cold asking to go to the fashion closet. Sutton wraps things up only after Alex makes a joke about going with them and it doesn’t go over so well. Once in the closet, where Kat has joined, they talk about Jane’s appointment. Sutton pushes the hard question of whether Jane wants kids. Jane doesn’t have a straightforward answer for this as it’s not something she let herself spend too much time thinking about. She always thought that with the right guy she would want kids. Kat plays devil’s advocate and asks if she would ever want to have kids on her own. Jane isn’t so on board with “the turkey baster” idea and Sutton brings up Ben and well, his penis. Jane feels it’s too soon to think about that option. Jane hasn’t shared her BRCA status with Ben — she’s not going to jump into sharing this with him yet, either. She needs to decide what she wants first.
Kat goes to her meeting with a representative with Whole Spa. The rep let’s Kat know she has full control over the campaign as long as she talks Whole Spa up and gives positive feedback on their products. She’s never used their products so she isn’t so sure about this but of course the rep has brought an overly large basket of goodies for her to sample. The rep gives a “speech” on the goals of Whole Spas products and them being for all ages, skin types, and color and wanting their products to remind the users they don’t need to meet artificial standards as their products are all natural. I see you Kat, she’s feeling a bit uncomfortable. The rep hand Kat a folder with an image release agreement. She agrees to the terms, doing what we all do and doesn’t actually read the contract before signing. Could this too cause a problem later?
Back to Scarlet where Jacqueline is holding a meeting between writers in her office. A bit more casual than the previous meetings we have seen. Sage pitches an idea which Jacqueline feels she already wrote about last month just with a new angle. Alex pitches for an article focusing on Meghan Markle, Jacqueline approves. Jacqueline turns to Jane and notes how she has been quiet for the better portion of the pitch meeting. Jane pitches her idea… “How do 20-something Mom’s do it?” Basically, what is it like to be a 20-something mom and do they have lives? Jacqueline isn’t quite there, unsure if the piece is suited for her. Jane goes on to explain how Mommy & Me classes are becoming a place where working mom’s can network, she pitches the title “Are Babies the Next Must Have Accessory for Young Professionals?” Jacqueline signs off.
Returning from her meeting with the Whole Spa rep, Kat is trying to get into the Safford building with her arms full from the sample basket and everyone around is in too big of a hurry to hold the door open for her. Pinstripe guy is headed out of the building and takes the basket from her to help. Pinstripe asks about the swag basket and Kat fills him in on her spokesmodel gig with Whole Spa. He is a little surprised that Kat has agreed to take on the role, he fills her in that one of his friends has been a doing a deep dive into the company and has found out some unsettling things about them. Apparently their CEO is a donor to some Anti-LGBTQ and racist groups. Now Kat understands why she was chosen to be their spokesperson and it’s clear she isn’t happy about it.
Sutton and Kat are in the lounge, Sutton is trying to process Kat’s dilemma with Whole Spa and why they chose her for their spokesperson. Kat is no longer going to be “their mascot” but she needs to figure out getting out of the contract she signed. Sutton receives a text from Oliver… “WHAT IN THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE?!” in regards to the fashion departments budget. A phone call with Oliver, Sutton has to explain herself during the budget a quick call but Sutton finds out she blew Oliver’s photoshoot for Divas and Dives; by changing the budget they won’t be able to afford the location. Hold the phone — the only reason Oliver wanted to do the shoot was because of the location, good work Sutton. Time to figure out how to make this work.
Jane walks in and asks if Kat and Sutton would go on a “field trip” with her. Jane wants them to go with her to a playground to meet with a 20-something mom playgroup. Jane hasn’t approached anyone to talk to because she’s trying to picture whether or not she can see herself with kids. While there, they talk about whether or not each of them wants kids. Kat is pretty sure she doesn’t want kids, to her there are already too many people on the planet. Sutton sees herself with kids — her reasoning — probably cause her mom was a shit mom and would want to do better. Jane takes the plunge and approaches a few mom’s for her story. During one of her interviews, a Mom shares that she is able to get thru because her Mom is there to help. Jane’s Mom passed away when she was little and you can see clear that she knows she won’t have that support.
At her apartment, Jane is having a stay in date with Ben, she’s on the couch trying to write her article and he’s trying to make a decision on what they should order in for dinner. Jane isn’t much help in making a decision. Ben asks Jane what she is writing about and she won’t say right away and Ben takes it as his queue to head out. Jane doesn’t object — raging hormones and writers block don’t make for a friendly Jane.
The next morning Sutton goes into Jacqueline’s office who is amidst getting her eyebrows threaded…oi ouch. Sutton wants to find out if she can make a change to the fashion department’s budget — unfortunately the budget is locked in and the time would have been at the meeting. As Jacqueline says, “Oliver always wants the moon but he can’t always have the moon so what else can she give him.” Sutton is a little stumped but I have faith she will make it all work out in the end. Shift locations at Scarlet magazine and Jane is at her desk trying to figure out how to write her article and she is having a hard time. Looking around the office she is surprised that Alex has so much to say about Meghan Markle and calls him on it. Alex throws in a few things about Meghan and Prince Harry like how they had eco-friendly flowers at their wedding. Jane stands corrected. Alex wants to know how Jane’s article is going but it’s not.
In a conference room, Kat is meeting with Richard and Cleo discussing her contract with Whole Spa…which mind you is the same contract Kat signed without reading. Cleo claims she had no idea about Whole Spa’s hidden agenda using Kat as their spokesperson. Richard has looked thru the contract to find some clause that could hopefully get Kat out of the gig but he couldn’t find anything. So basically, Kat is going to have to be their spokesperson whether she wants to be or not. Now Kat just needs to figure out how she is going to create this campaign with a company she doesn’t want to align herself with.
Now at Chad’s the bar that Oliver wanted for the Divas and Dives photoshoot Sutton is there and trying convince the owner to let them use the space for free. Of course Jane and Kat are with her and they are giving us a commentary on the interaction between the owner and Sutton which is great best friendsmanship. Jane asks Kat about how she’s going to do the Whole Spa campaign, Kat knows she can’t get out of it but will probably just bury it in hashtags. Sutton walks up and unfortunately the owner won’t be able to justify closing down even for a few hours cause she would lose too much business. Sutton chugs a bit of a beer, apparently the entire shoot was inspired by the location because Chad’s is the first place in New York City that Oliver had a beer when he first moved. “…it’s like a movie set,” and just like that, Sutton has an idea. Sutton’s ideas so far haven’t failed us fans.
Back at Scarlet, Jane is filming Kat trying to create her video for the Whole Spa campaign. Jane comes to the conclusion that it’s not in Kat’s DNA not to call them out on why they are using her as a spokesperson. Kat agrees and they do like Kat’s spunky personality. Gears are turning for Kat. Jacqueline is going over the “book wall” trying to piece together what she likes and doesn’t like when she stops Jane to talk about her article. Jacqueline let’s Jane know that they are going to put Blake Lively and her daughters on the cover and Jane’s article will be the featured article. Jane is a bit nervous about this, excited but more nervous since she hasn’t been able to write said article. Jacqueline suggests to throw away the idea of babies as accessories and instead approach it with the idea of young women taking on the responsibility of motherhood.
Sutton returns to Chad’s and makes her way around the bar gathering as many pictures as she can capturing the unique esthetic of the bar. She reunites with Jane and Kat who are at a flea market to gather props for the shoot and only has $218 to spend. Sutton encourages them haggle with the sellers to get the best price they can and rambles off a list of props they need to find, the list isn’t short either. Success as they plop down on a red “Friends”-esque velvet couch before the Uber truck comes. Oh, but wait, they still need to find one more thing and up they go and are on their way. Dumpster diving, Sutton is Dumpster diving for cups. The girls pull an all nighter, putting the set together for the photoshoot and head to the fashion closet for a wardrobe change and to freshen up.
Andrew, Jacqueline’s assistant, finds the girls looking for Jane, whom wants to see her single mom’s article. Yes that one she still hasn’t been able to write and spent all night helping Sutton instead of working on her article. Sitting on Jacqueline’s couch over a cup of tea, Jacqueline puts Jane on the spot. Jane tries to cover up why she hasn’t been able to write her article but Jacqueline can see right through it. Jane realizes that the article might be a little too personal and tells Jacqueline about how she found out about her BRCA gene status and how she has a lot of decisions she needs to make. Jacqueline being the wonderful person that she is, is super understanding of what Jane is going thru. She asks if Jane has really talked to anyone about this, she has but her friends don’t really know what to say. Jacqueline reminds Jane that no matter what, she’s always there for her. Jane is still prepared to get the article written Jacqueline let’s her know that if the article is a bit to personal, then maybe she should write about how it is personal and her perspective on making the decisions.
At the photoshoot set, the photographer is clicking away with the models. Sutton is keeping the shoot moving and Kat is there gathering photos for the Scarlet social media page. Enter Cleo pulling Kat away. In a conference room, Cleo, Jacqueline, and Kat are watching Kat’s Instagram story about Whole Spa. Kat being the confident woman she is, she didn’t hold back, she followed the guidelines she was given from the rep and finished by throwing the CEO Eric Miller under the bus for why he chose Kat. Cleo is freaking out because she believes that Whole Spa could sue Safford. Jacqueline looks to Kat to find out if the allegations she put out there about the CEO are true? Kat lets her know the reporter who was working on the scoop had multiple sources and had just posted their findings to Vice. Now being the Mama Bear that Jacqueline is, turns to Cleo and wants to know if she knew about this before coming to Kat for the product integration.
Cleo of course didn’t, but still has her board member hat on and defends that being a partner with Whole Spa is still very important for Safford. She goes on to defend herself that not everyone working for Safford is “woke.” To further her “defense,” she uses an example of a writer from Porch & Garden whom keeps getting roasted for wearing a MAGA hat multiple times while golfing. Jacqueline is more than displeased and suggests to Cleo that maybe that writer can do the next Whole Spa Instagram story. Cleo has never been a Jacqueline person and we are seeing this once again. Another thing is how Jacqueline is there to defend her staff when she needs to be and is passionate about it. Kat is sitting quietly while this is going on, looking down with a small grin wanting to leap out of her chair and yell “Go Jacqueline” or maybe that’s just me. Before leaving the conference, Jacqueline reiterated why Scarlet doesn’t do advertorials — because it can betray the trust of their readers. Cleo chimes that she was trying to increase their revenue stream. Jacqueline leaves on this note, “that’s a noble goal but neither Kat nor Scarlet’s integrity should be up for sale.” Boom!! Jacqueline leaves the room.
The girls are headed out of the office together and Jane let’s them know that she is going to let Ben know what is going with her and why she’s been so closed off. Kat and Sutton support her in her decision to tell Ben. Sutton receives a text message from Oliver — he loved the shoot but is upset because now he’s going to have to keep decreasing his budget.
Once again Jane and Ben are playing a game of Scrabble, they are the cutest. –Who wants a Ben for themselves?– Jane takes a break from the game to talk to him about something, Ben is okay with the apology he received about the other night. She lets him know it isn’t about that. She reminds him about when she told him about her mom dying of breast cancer when she was younger. She goes on to tell him about how she found out she is positive for the BRCA gene mutation. Ben reaches in and hugs her. Jane goes on to explain how she thought she only had to worry about the screenings and this week she found out she needed to start thinking about any preventative measures she wanted to take and about having children in the near future. Ben asks about which BRCA gene she has, she has Gene 1 which is the more serious of the two. Like Jane earlier in the episode when she couldn’t take off her writer hat, Ben can’t take off his doctor hat and starts asking questions about Jane’s mom’s cancer. Jane asks if Ben can be her boyfriend right now and not her doctor; he understands and quickly rambles off a few medical questions. Jane didn’t tell him for his medical advice, she told him so he would know what been going on in her life. He understands that but at the same time he can’t help but think about it on the medical side too, it’s a lot to process. Jane wishes he didn’t know the medical side right now. She asks if they can go back to playing Scrabble, not sure how one would be able to just go back to playing the game after that.
After Ben leaves, Sutton and Kat come over and Jane tells them about her conversation with Ben. Sutton is sympathetic to Jane since Jane wasn’t even sure how she wanted Ben to react because it was a lot to handle. Sutton suggests Jane’s favorite thing — a pro/con list but Jane isn’t sure she can. Kat puts on her years of growing up with two shrinks as parents and ask Jane is she thinks she doesn’t know how to approach this situation because of what her mom went through and losing her mom at such a young age. “Maybe,” Jane replies, she only remember her mom being sick — she doesn’t remember anything before that. She wonders a lot about her mom that she doesn’t have the answer to. “Whatever kind of Mother she was, she was amazing cause so are you” Sutton reassures Jane. “I just wish I could talk to her and get her advice on all of this” Jane tells her friends. Any person, myself included who has never lost a parent and goes through a hard decision in life, wishes they can have that person back in their lives for help. Insert best friend group hug to help Jane feel a little better and remind her she’s not alone.
The next day, Jane is at work and has been able to begin her article, when she gets a call from her brother. She wanted to talk to her brother about what their mom was like when they were little since she’s having trouble remembering. She asks him about what bedtimes were like and her brother says she used to sing them that Fleetwood Mac song Landslide, cue Landslide by Dagny playing the background and we all get all of the feelings. Jacqueline has Kat in her office to talk about the Whole Spa situation, she encourages that Cleo should have known better. Kat thinks she could have done more due diligence for the position and looked into it more. Jacqueline stops her that she would like Kat to try this again with a brand she actually would like to endorse.
Sutton is in the fashion office sampling a decorative necklace, when she gets a text from Oliver with a todo list for her to complete. First of which is cleaning his juicer since he knows that she used it and then to pick up his travel information. She takes off the jewelry she had been trying on and heads out. Return to Kat who is at her desk searching for a brand she would like to get behind. Sutton returns a clean juicer to Oliver’s desk and then goes to pick up his travel memos from an assistant. “…I’m holding a middle back seat for you.” Sutton is caught off guard and is told Oliver had called in for Sutton to go to Paris for fashion week that morning and that was the only seat left on the plane. Insert pure excitement and happy dance out of Sutton. She can’t believe it and the assistant may want to slap her. Pan out on Jane still at her desk talking with her brother and laughing as he tells stories.
Billy Magnussen, Aisha Dee, Katie Stevens, & Meghann Fahy (Freeform/Philippe Bosse)
My take on the episode and all my love that is The Bold Type.
I’m going to say this first– there hasn’t been an episode of The Bold Type that I haven’t loved. Each week, I have more love for this show and the messages it delivers week after week. With each episode, I feel I somehow can relate to one of the main characters on some level, this week was no different. Jane’s journey in this episode hit home on another level and although I’m not going to go into in-depth right now, the delivery was spot on. Hats off to the writers for The Bold Type to never wavering when talking about the hard things. Each episode starts a conversation and I love that.
Viewers are able to relate to Jane, Sutton, and Kat on so many levels week after week. This hasn’t changed from the pilot episode last Summer. This week we were given a look into the decision of kids or no kids and the decision to possibly go about it as a single parent. Having to talk about what is going on in a new relationship and hoping they understand. The way Kat handled her situation with Whole Spa like a badass, she did what she was supposed and got her message across. Sutton’s work to fix her mistake with the budget and pull off the photoshoot that made Oliver decide to get her a ticket to fashion week…umm, YAY!!! Who wasn’t dancing with her.
Overall one of my favorite things about The Bold Type is the message of girl power and building each other up. The way Jane, Sutton, and Kat are always there for each other come hell or high water is one thing we definitely need to see more of on TV. There aren’t any cliches among them. They are genuinely there for each other.
Next week, we’ll finally meet the infamous Babbs Brady and I am so curious what brings Sutton and Co to returning to her hometown.