The Bold Type review: Well, THAT was a bold move

After the season 3 finale of The Bold Type, everyone’s future seems pretty clear. Except, of course, for Scarlet itself.

“Well, that was a bold move.”

Welcome to the party, Patrick! You’re not too quick on the uptake. Even so, this wonderfully meta line sums up just about everything that went down in The Bold Type‘s season 3 finale.

First, Sutton decides to use her friends as models in her fashion show. Sure, it means last-minute sewing and adjusting, but it also puts real women on the runway, modeling for real young women in need of good influences.

It was pure Sutton Brady, and it wasn’t just Oliver who was proud of her. (Me. It was me too).

The move inspires Jacqueline to scrap almost the entire Fall issue of Scarlet. Patrick being how Patrick is, he applauds Jacqueline’s idea but doesn’t fall in line with it. In that moment, two essential things happen.

First, Jacqueline finally unleashes her frustrations with Patrick, starting with a literal whole-body sigh.

Second, The Bold Type finally winks to the ridiculousness of “the dot com” that fans and crew alike have come to poke fun at. Jacqueline accurately points out that, to Scarlet‘s readers, it’s all one big thing.

Eventually, Patrick does come around and solves the cover dilemma. He’s late to the party, but at least he showed up.

As far as showing up goes though, Ryan is the boldest of the night. Not only does he show up at Jane’s door begging for forgiveness, he also shows up at the panel she was on, highlighting the Pamela Dolan story.

It’s certainly a rom-com moment, but not one that was welcome. For some Janestripe shippers, it was the ultimate apology. But for me, and for Jane, it was an overstep. He knew how important this story was for her, and risking a public scene like that is unwarranted.

He course-corrects though, giving Jane the very first quiz she wrote for Scarlet. In their world, that’s like rolling apology chocolates, flowers, and groveling all into one. It works, but not before an intense internal dilemma for Jane.

It was an important struggle to show. Ryan and Jane don’t have a toxic relationship, but Ryan’s behavior couldn’t be excused. At what point can forgiveness not happen? Jane has always said she’d leave a cheater; the idea of going back on that, and one’s morals in general, was and is hard to cope with. In the end, Janestripe survives, but now Ryan’s out on tour for another month. This is where trust comes into play.

On the contrary, fan-favorite ship Kadena has officially sunk. It’s hard to process, but it’s also hard to fault Kat for her decision. This season, she has grappled with a breakup, found new romance, found a new dream, pursued it and lost by a hair.

Kat needs some time to process and, as she said, find herself again. I can’t ever be mad when a woman chooses herself; it’s a bold, empowering move. Plus, she and Adena are coworkers now! There may be hope for them in season 4.

Sadly, it looks like Richard and Sutton are no longer coworkers. Under normal circumstances, that might make things easier for them, at least in terms of talking about work. But in this case, it means putting them almost a full continent away from each other.

If this season taught us anything though, it’s that Suttard can endure, so I have faith they’ll be all right.

Of course, they won’t be coworkers anyway if Scarlet no longer exists. In the final moments of the episode, the office is being packed up, Jacqueline is gone, even Andrew is shaken. Andrew. The one who was almost entirely unbothered by the hack.

At this point, our girl Jane Sloan – well, her real-life counterpart Katie Stevens – sums it up best:

See you next year, fellow Bold Type fans!

The Bold Type returns to Freeform in 2020.