The Bold Type – Pilot

By starrymag | July 17, 2017

By: Nicole Dintelman

 

 

Jane (Katie Stevens), Kat (Aisha Dee) and Sutton (Meghann Fahy) are in the subway holding hands waiting for the train to come by and when it does they scream at the top of their lungs. Seems weird, but we’ll find out why they’re doing this later in the show. It then cuts to three days earlier where Jane is reporting to her first day as a writer at Scarlet Magazine. She wants to commemorate the moment with a selfie. The people behind her don’t really have time to comply with her selfie taking and begin yelling so Kat turns around and yells: “Excuse me, my friend’s having a moment!”

 

Jane is entranced by the editor Jacqueline (Melora Hardin) and the girls move her along so they can have a toast to her new position. They all started as assistants, but now Kat and Jane have both moved on. The girls have to run because they have a board meeting to get to. Jane is standing with Kat and Sutton when another writer, Alex (Matt Ward), tells her that she’s a writer now and motions for her to come sit at the table. The girls tell her to go and they all squeal a little.

 

When Jacqueline walks into the room, in some awesome shoes we might add, she also sends Jane an email to tell her that her pitches do not work for her. Jacqueline tells Lauren (Emily Chang) to get things started. Richard (Sam Page) wants to flag the word in Lauren’s articles word. The word he wants to flag is “punany.” Lauren asks if anyone has any issues with the word “Va-Jay-Jay” and Kat tells her “Yeah, it’s not 2006!” Okay, we have to say, we’re really loving Kat and her sarcasm and the fact she’s not shy about using it!

 

Lauren tells them they had to pull another article over a legal issue. Kat asks if it is the Lesbian Muslim artist article and they feel it will have a huge social media reach. Kat is the social media director so this is her area of expertise. Lauren tells her unfortunately, it’s a moot point. The artist originally agreed then changed her mind. Kat asks why she decided to pull out and no one answers. Jacqueline shifts gears to another sexually themed article and that’s that. The older men in the room exchange glances and appear shocked.

 

Jacqueline, Lauren and Sutton get in an elevator and Richard asks them to hold the elevator for him. Once the doors close Jacqueline asks him how much push back she’s going to get from Charles this month. Richard tells her that she’s a magazine about sex and he gets that. Then, he tries again and tells her that she’s at a magazine about empowering women. The doors open and Jacqueline says YeeHaw and gets off the elevator with Lauren. Sutton yells after them and tells Lauren, her boss, that she’s going to go grab her lunch.

 

Once the doors close again Sutton and Richard start to make out. Richard commands her to be at his place that night. So, is this just like an office hookup or are these two a thing? This is getting good! Jane is bouncing ideas off Alex. She’s officially stuck as to what to pitch to Jacqueline. Jane says she’s second guessing everything. Jacqueline walks in when they’re talking and she tells Jane that she realized what’s going on. Jane is telling her what she thinks she wants to hear. Jacqueline tells her to be in her office in the morning first thing and to tell her her own ideas, not what she thinks she’ll want to hear.

 

Jane and Sutton are in the magazine fashion closet trying on things to make Jane feel better when Kat comes in. Kat tells them that she’s spent the last two hours down a lesbian Muslim rabbit hole. Not exactly sure what or where that is and we don’t get to find out before Kat asks what’s the matter with Jane. Jane says that Jacqueline hated all of her ideas. Sutton tells Jane that she overheard Jacqueline tell Lauren that she is looking for something in the social media stalking arena. Jane says thanks but no.

 

Sutton says okay then you can go after Kat’s lesbian Muslim rabbit. Seriously what? Then looks over at Kat. Kat tells them that she’s going to pursue that story. Sutton tells her she shouldn’t because Lauren wasn’t happy today, and for that matter, Jacqueline wasn’t either. Kat says that Lauren is just threatened by her and Jacqueline wants her to pursue the story. Sutton says that she wants to be as confident as Kat and asks how Kat got so confident. Jane says it’s because she was overpraised as a child.

 

The next morning Sutton and Richard are at his apartment when her phone goes off and he tells her not to get it and she says that she has to it could be work. When she gets the phone he tells her that’s not work, that’s SnapChat. She tells him that her friend has a big meeting with Jacqueline today while Sutton is organizing the 60th-anniversary party for the magazine. She tells Richard not to worry she’s not going to start dumping her problems on him. She knows that’s not what this is. Richard asks what is this? Sutton jokingly notes if she didn’t make it obvious then tells him she’s using him for sex.

 

Jacqueline tells Jane that she doesn’t have a lot of time, but wants to figure out where she fits in. She has writers who play it safe or those that take big swings. She tells Jane that it’s a big promotion and she thinks she is ready but she has to show her she is. Jane starts pitching ideas about mom’s and glass ceilings and they’re falling flat. She then starts one about an ex and social media, which Jacqueline starts to brush off and Jane says that her ex isn’t on social media anyway. That’s when Jacqueline’s interests are peaked.

 

Jacqueline asks Jane isn’t it unusual for someone her age to not be on social media. She then asks Jane what it’s like not being able to check up on her ex and Jane tells her it’s horrible. Jacqueline tells her she’s very interested now so tell her more. Jane says that their break up was very sudden and maybe she wouldn’t wonder so much if she could check up on him. Jacqueline is liking where the direction is going. Jane says she could do a how to article: “How to Stalk your Unstalkable Ex.” Jacqueline loves the idea and tells her to go with it.

 

Kat goes to see the artist that pulled her article, Adena (Nikohl Boosheri). Adena is not happy to see Kat and is rather ticked off at her manager for setting up the meeting.Kat tells Adena that Scarlet Magazine has a huge circulation and with social media, which she’s in charge of, they reach even more people. Adena tells Kat that she and Scarlet are not a good match because the magazine is unfeminist. Kat looks at a photo on the way out and Adena tells her that there’s a lot more inside of a woman than you can see on the outside. Kat tells her she knows because there’s a lot more of her, too.

 

Sutton is at her desk when she gets a text from Richard saying he signed up for SnapChat. He asks her when she’s going to show him how to use it. She gets an idea and takes off her bra, yes at her desk. Sutton holds her bra up to a picture of herself and sends Richard a picture of her “in a bra.” He found it amusing at least. Jane comes to Sutton’s desk to tell her about her story. Before she even gets the whole sentence out she gasps and asks her if she’s not wearing a bra. Okay, what were you doing looking there Jane?

 

Sutton instantly changes the subject. Kat walks up and starts talking about her meeting with Adena and again interrupts herself to talk about Sutton’s lack of a bra. Clearly, these girls spend too much time looking at each other’s chests! Again, Sutton shifts the subject to Jane’s story. Jane tells them she’s not very happy about the story. She says she’s a ‘How To’ girl and then asks how she’s supposed to stalk. Next thing you know the girls are in an SUV to figure it out. These three are all about taking action.

 

They’re outside Eric’s (Michael Iliadis), Jane’s ex, house and the driver volunteers to see if Eric’s name is still on the call box. Just then they see Eric walking up the sidewalk and try to get the driver’s attention to come back to the car. Jane goes back to the office and asks Jacqueline if she can write about something else and she tells her no. Jane tells Sutton that Eric’s best friend is going to a rooftop party and begs her to go with her, Sutton tells her she can’t because she has to work late.

 

Sutton gets a phone call and it’s Richard thanking her for the SnapChat lesson. He asks her to describe her panties. He wants to show her how they did things in the old days. She tells him the article they were discussing on panties was about a black lace thong. At that moment Adena walks up to her desk and she tells him she has to go. Adena asks Sutton where she can find this girl and is holding a picture of Kat holding a sign that says “Misunderstood.”

 

Kat is showing Adena around the office and tells her that Jacqueline calls what the magazine stands for stealth feminism. It’s not about how to please your man in bed, it’s about how to please yourself. Just then Adena sees a room full of women looking at vibrators. Adena tells Kat that they are illegal in her country, but she doesn’t respect that law. Alex goes to the party with Jane as her wingman. The first thing she does is start drinking.

 

Sutton is still at the office when Richard texts her and tells her to meet him at his place and he’s going to buy her thong a drink. It just so happens that Sutton finds a black lace thong on a hanger on her way out. Score! At the party, Alex asks Jane what happened between her and Eric. Jane tells him that it was her birthday and they were going to go away for the weekend and he looked at her and told her that he didn’t want to do this anymore. She said that she told Eric that they didn’t have to go to The Hamptons, but Eric didn’t mean for the weekend. He meant all of it.

 

Alex tells her that he’s sorry and she tells him it’s fine. He says really? Jane says no, it’s not fine. Jane says she was never taught how to deal with that kind of stuff when the guy you love leaves you alone in a train station on your birthday. Sounds like a country song. Alex tells her that she never told him about her mom and Jane says that she died when she was really young. Jane says that’s why she fell in love with Scarlet Magazine because it was like getting advice from an older sister that she wished she had.

 

Jane goes to the office. At night. Very, very drunk. She calls Sutton from the office for a pep talk so she can call Eric. Jane hears Richard’s voice and asks Sutton if she’s with a dude and Sutton tells her no she’s still at the office. Jane knows that Sutton is not at the office because she’s at the office. Sutton, you’re caught! Kat is helping Adena take apart vibrators to smuggle into her country. Kat tells her that doing this should enable them to get a little personal and Adena asks Kat what her sexual orientation is. Kat tells her that she’s a proud hetero and apologizes.

 

Adena explains to Kat that she wasn’t coming on to her. Kat says that she could do worse and says that she’s never been into girls because she can’t get past the biology of it, but uses humor while doing it. Adena tells her that she uses humor to cover up her true emotions. Kat asks Adena why she still wears a Hijab. Adena tells her that she chooses to wear the Hijab. She says that it does not oppress her, but liberates her from society’s expectations of what a woman should look like. She says people tend to get uncomfortable when they can’t put you in a box and she likes to make people uncomfortable.

 

Kat’s phone starts ringing and she tells Adena that she has to get it. It’s Jane and she tells her that she’s drunk and she might puke and she needs her to hold her hair back. Kat tells Adena she needs to go and Adena tells her that she can run the article. Jane tells Kat about Sutton lying to her so they track her phone so they can figure out where she’s at. Sneaky friends! They’re waiting outside a building and see Sutton come outside with Richard and see them kiss goodbye Then Sutton sees them. Busted!

 

Sutton is upset because she thinks her friends followed her. Her friends are upset because she didn’t tell them what she’s doing. Kat tells Sutton she’s screwing up and Sutton tells her that she can screw whoever she wants. Sutton tells Kat that she likes him, the fight is interrupted by a call by Adena’s manager. They found one of the vibrators in her luggage and Adena is being detained at the airport.

 

Kat goes to Jacqueline at the office and Jacqueline is going to call her friend at the state department. Alex tells Kat that he did some research to see exactly what Adena is up against. She will need to sign a form saying that she’s deeply ashamed of what she’s done. Kat says that she’ll never do that and she didn’t do anything wrong. Alex says that there are steep punishments for women defying them. Kat says that she’ll just have to show them a woman defying them.

 

Kat tells the office that they’re all going to Tweet that a woman is being held against her will for wanting to own her own sexuality with #FreeAdena. Lauren tells her that she can’t do this and tells her to come to her office. Kat tells Lauren that she’s the social media director and she’s tweeting this. Lauren tells her to think of Adena and what this will do to her if she draws attention to it. Jacqueline has now come out of her office as well to see what is going on. Kat picks up the phone and tweets anyway. Kat tweeted a meme of a cat and it says “Some days are hard.”

 

The girls leave the office and Kat is extremely upset. Jane tells Kat she just needs to scream. It will help. Kat isn’t hearing anything the girls are saying. Sutton tells Jane that if Kat wants to go through this alone let her. Jane goes back to the office and goes to the fashion closet and Jacqueline is in there changing shoes. She asks Jane what’s going on with her because her energy has been off this week. Jane tells her everything is fine and she’s so happy for the opportunity.

 

Jacqueline asks Jane when she’s going to see material for the article and Jane tells her she has it all she’s just having trouble finishing it because she has to talk to Eric. She tells Jacqueline she hasn’t done it yet because it hurts too much. Someone knocks on the door and tells Jacqueline that he has Beyonce on the phone for her. Jacqueline then tells Jane that it’s her choice if she goes after that ending or not, but she’s never seen anyone make a career happen by hiding out in the fashion closet.

 

It’s time for the 60th-anniversary party that Sutton has been working so hard on. Kat is still trying to stop herself from Tweeting #FreeAdena. Richard walks by Sutton without even a glance, but then texts her to meet him in the back. He apologizes for ignoring her but she tells him that this isn’t what she wants. She wants to be the girl he can’t stop thinking about and she wants to go out on dates. Sutton tells Richard that she deserves that girl.

 

Jacqueline thanks everyone for joining her to celebrate 60 years of Scarlet. Jacqueline used Jane’s words from her application about Scarlet feeling like an older sister in her speech and says that Scarlet will always be that older sister. Jacqueline tells her staff she wants them to have adventures, fall in love, get their hearts broken, have sex with the wrong people, have sex with the right people, make mistakes, make amends, take a leap and make a splash. She tells them to unleash holy hell on anyone who tries to hold them back because they don’t just work for Scarlet, they are Scarlet.

 

This is where we see the girls again on the subway platform screaming at the train then hugging and dancing. In the morning Sutton grabs Kats phone, it’s an international number. It’s Adena, she was released. Jane finally gets the courage to go talk to Eric and tells him she’s stalking him. Sutton receives a date invitation from Richard. Jacqueline tells Kat how brave she is and that leads her to take a topless picture and send it to Adena. She covered the important parts with a heart and told her that she touched her. You know in the feels.  

 

Jane turned in her article with a twist: How to get over it when the guy you love leaves you standing in a train station.” She told Jacqueline she took a swing. Jacqueline tells her it’s excellent. Jane asks Jacqueline if it gets easier. Jacqueline tells her the writing yes but the broken heart takes time. The girls are finally able to drink their champagne from the first day, while Jacqueline leaves the office at peace knowing that her dream of women bonding together is coming true.