The Bold Type season 4 episode 15 review: Love is hard

Love is patient, love is kind — but in the penultimate episode of The Bold Type‘s fourth season, love made us absolutely lose our minds.

There are all kinds of love. My love for The Bold Type this week? It’s complicated.

Told in five short stories, the penultimate episode of the season was choppy, to say the least. The change in format of the episode didn’t quite land for me, as it drove home a niggling feeling I’ve had for the past few weeks — The Bold Type bit off a bit more than it could chew.

The problem is, each piece of the story deserved to be told. There just wasn’t enough time for them. This is perhaps most bothersome with Alex and Alicia’s storyline.

Honestly, I wasn’t even sure they were still dating until she popped back in this week. But it appears they’re going relatively strong, though Alex still isn’t secure with his role in the relationship yet.

Given how little we’ve seen of them together, it’s hard to know how to feel about it. The first inclination is annoyance, as it seems Alex shouldn’t still be feeling insecure, given how many episodes it’s been since his Scarlet co-workers set him straight.

But really, we know nothing of his dynamic with Alicia, aside from the fact that she’s successful and independent, and that intimidates him. They deserve to have had more screen time this season, especially if our investment was supposed to be in their “complicated” love story this week.

A similar argument can be made for Ian and Jacqueline’s love story.

After Jacqueline’s brief rekindling with Miles Shaw, and the fallout of him writing about it in The New Yorker, it seemed she and Ian were on the mend. And that’s still true. They’re in couples counseling now, making a devoted effort to break the bad habits they’ve fallen into.

But for the most part, their reconciliation has been put in the background this season. “Love” finally gave the pair the focused attention their story deserves, but it was still only 20 percent of the night.

Throwing a wrench into their therapy-mandated hobby time was Richard’s call to Jacqueline, but I’ve got to admit, it was nice to see a bit of their friendship again.

It’s always been clear that Richard and Jacqueline have a deep respect and camaraderie with each other, but always at Scarlet. To see Richard turn to Jacqueline for personal advice, like at his wedding, was a much needed warm fuzzy for the night.

Because, as much as we want to pretend it’s not happening, it is. Suttard has ended – again. But it feels awful permanent this time.

Turns out, having children was truly the dealbreaker for Richard. And as painful as it was to watch him walk out the door, perhaps even more painful were the words that led up to it. Because Richard really did turn into a bit of a…well, a different name for Richard.

In an effort to be open and honest with Sutton, he said some truly awful things, essentially gaslighting her.

To be fair, he wasn’t wrong in how much he’s adjusted as a result of his relationship with Sutton over the course of The Bold Type. But to blame her entirely for his choices felt wrong on a visceral level.

That said, can we open up the floor for an Emmy nomination for Meghann Fahy now? She has been devastatingly good in the back half of this season, and taking every advantage of the opportunities this storyline has presented her.

She called Richard out for his nonsense real quick, and the nuance in her side of the argument was nothing short of brilliant. It’s still hard not to miss the levity and one-liners Sutton usually brings to the show, but I’m not complaining about this side of her either.

Had Kat and Jane not answered Sutton’s call once Richard had left, then I’d be complaining. And it looked dicey for a moment, thanks to the formatting of the episode tonight.

Because while Sutton’s love was falling apart, Kat and Jane’s respective love lives were heating up.

As expected, it took less than a day for Kat to act on her feelings for Eva, and they were certainly reciprocated. After a tension-filled photoshoot to promote Kat’s podcast – in which she called Eva out for not opening up about her sexuality at the Republican mixer – Kat wound up heading to Eva’s place to personally thank her for helping get the podcast off the ground.

As is their way, they argued again, before finally just kissing. Do they have a lot to talk about? Yes. Can it wait until next week? For sure.

Meanwhile, Jane and Scott were hot on the trail of a story, ready to expose some sexist lawyers for wrongly firing three female employees. After all, what could build romantic tension better for two journalists than chasing a lead and sharing a byline together?

And of course, surprising no one – The Bold Type really has been a bit predictable this season hasn’t it? – Scott’s into Jane just as much as she’s into him! But he doesn’t know that yet, as Jane jumps into a three-way call with Kat and Sutton to hear the bombshell before she can really react to his confession.

It’s not quite a cliffhanger; that’s never been The Bold Type‘s style. But we’ve got one episode left in season four kids. What else could happen?

The Bold Type airs on Freeform on Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET.