"The Bold Type" Is Coming Back For Its Final Season — Here’s Why You Should Watch It

The TV series has been renewed for its fifth and final season.

Freeform has finally renewed The Bold Type for its fifth and final season, to the relief of devoted fans of the show like me.

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If you’re not already watching The Bold Type, you’re missing out. It’s the perfect tonic to the uncertain world we are living in and if you start from Season 1 now, you’ll have caught up by the time the final season is released!

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Here are 20 other reasons to watch The Bold Type, written by someone who is on her eighth rewatch of the series:

1. The portrayal of female friendship on the show is uniquely authentic.

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The Bold Type is centered around three best friends living in New York: Kat, Jane, and Sutton. It explores various aspects of their lives but their friendship is at the heart of the series and it shows just how special (and messy) friendships that are as close as theirs can be.

2. It represents current issues in a fresh and engaging way.

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As a TV show, The Bold Type is firmly set in the present day and not in generic ways in which other modern-day shows are. Every season, The Bold Type reflects the world around it and provides commentary on it too. The series is a real piece of history. Watching Season 1 back already feels like stepping back in time to 2017. But this part of the show works best when you’re watching the episodes as they’re released because it’s almost scary how in touch with the world they are!

3. As a rom-com, it’s the perfect comfort watch but it’s not cringeworthy.

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I love a rom-com but I eventually grow tired of them because I get bored of the cringeworthy plot lines and writing. The Bold Type is great because although it feels like a rom-com, it tends to avoid the cliches and plot lines that romantic comedies are known for. This means it lacks the really bad kind of cringe. There is some good cringeworthy moments but only the kind that make you feel like you’re being tucked into a warm bed.

4. The show gets real about female pleasure and masturbation.

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I started watching The Bold Type at the age of 20 and I have to admit that it has taught me a lot about masturbation and female pleasure. The series makes incredible efforts to remove the stigma from things like not being able to orgasm, self-pleasure and, even, and this is a niche one, getting a yoni egg stuck up your vagina.

5. Jacqueline Carlyle is the boss we all dream of.

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Jacqueline is the matriarchal Editor-in-Chief at Scarlett Magazine, who not only helps Jane, Sutton, and Kat improve their professional skills, but is always there to offer them life advice and a shoulder to cry on. She’s the career mentor we all want, and although her turning down a call with Beyoncé to comfort Jane might not be a realistic portrayal of professional relationships, it’s certainly one you’ll enjoy watching.

6. You’ll live for the timely pop culture references.

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The Bold Type is not just on top of the zeitgeist but ahead of it. In Season 1, which premiered in 2017, Jacqueline describes Kamala Harris as "the next Elizabeth Warren" and there are so many references to other Gen-Z and millennial phenomenons and icons like Hamilton, Ru Paul, and Nora Ephron all throughout the show. Plus, there are some hilarious insights into influencer culture in the later seasons.

7. It’s never afraid to tackle difficult subjects, like #MeToo and gun control.

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One of the most special things about The Bold Type is how it takes the stories we read about in the news and makes them real and emotive, allowing its viewers to better understand them. The Bold Type has helped to educate me on issues like #MeToo, gun control, and breast cancer.

8. It’s honest about the struggles of working within the media.

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Although The Bold Type is guilty of making working for a magazine look a little bit more shiny than it is in reality, it does tackle issues relevant to the media industry. There are no $4-a-word rates in this New York City, Carrie Bradshaw! Sutton almost has to turn down her dream job because of the low salary and the series is constantly touching on how difficult the media landscape is to navigate as it is forced to move from print to online.

9. The cast and storylines are diverse and inclusive.

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As the series continues, The Bold Type allows its POC characters to really explore how their identities have affected and continues to affect their lives. Although it sometimes misses the mark, as Aisha Dee (who plays Kat) pointed out last year, it generally sets an example for other TV shows, showing that it is not only important to have a diverse cast but also to ensure the script and plot makes room to explore their identities.

10. It explores sexuality in complicated ways.

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Kat’s storyline sees her grapple with her sexual identity, helping viewers to understand more about bisexuality and coming out.

11. The show’s romantic relationships are honest and realistic.

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Jane, Kat, and Sutton all face serious struggles within their romantic relationships and not the usual “dramatic but ultimately easy to solve” kind of issues we're used to seeing in rom-coms, but genuine real-life problems, like opposite wants and needs, infidelity and differing socio-political backgrounds.

12. It portrays the best and worst parts of New York City living.

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The Bold Type romanticizes NYC in a way that a lot of shows based in the city do, but it also shows the realities of how difficult it can be to live in. Sutton sleeps on a bed in Jane’s living room for most of the series and even Kat, whose apartment is paid for by her parents, is forced to move in with them for a period when her apartment is raided by bedbugs.

13. The show is always sex and body-positive.

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The women of The Bold Type feel good about their bodies in a way that makes you, the viewer, also feel good about your body, which is a hard balance to strike in the age of the influencer. Slut-shaming is also never used for comedic effect, nor is it normalized, as is often the case in rom-coms. In fact, our girl Sutton dismantles and rejects this kind of behavior in front of all her colleagues at one point in the series.

14. There are some great fashion moments.

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Although the style on the show is sometimes questionable (Jane’s work outfits look like something she should wear to a bar and vice versa), The Bold Type has produced some looks that have had me questioning whether $3,500 is in fact too much to spend on a dress. I mean, it certainly is for the character usually wearing that dress (I love you Sutton, but come on), who apparently cannot afford her own bedroom. But we’ll suspend our disbelief for a moment, for the *fashion*.

15. It tackles privilege in complex ways.

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Privilege has become a buzzword, so much so that, at times, we almost forget what it means. The Bold Type emphasizes almost every episode how much of an effect privilege — whether that’s financial or identity-based can have on people’s lives and it dedicates a whole episode to it in Season 2.

16. Sutton is a modern-day Carrie Bradshaw — but she’s actually likeable.

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If Sutton isn’t your favorite character on The Bold Type, I’m not sure we’re watching the same show. She’s witty, ambitious, charming and she wears some great outfits. She is also the reason my favorite line on the show, “I’m Nora Ephron, bitch!" exists.

17. The Bold Type may have created the perfect man.

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He’s called Richard Hunter, and he’s dating Sutton.

18. There’s a Paris episode!

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There’s two actually! And it’s Fashion Week. You’re welcome.

19. The show is honest about struggles with fertility, miscarriage, and not wanting children.

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These are things almost all of the characters have to come to terms with at some point and it is perhaps the subject the show tackles best. It’s a difficult one to breach and as such, one that many TV shows avoid. I applaud The Bold Type for their bravery in portraying these subjects. I’m sure these storylines have helped so many women.

20. And finally, romantic relationships come and go on the show, but the real romance is the friendship between Kat, Sutton, and Jane.

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This is why The Bold Type is the cool girl rom-com, as I like to call it. It has been compared to Sex and The City and whilst it surpasses it on so many levels, including this one, it is certainly rooted in one of SATC’s most famous quotes: "Maybe we can be each other’s soul mates. And then we can let men be just these great, nice guys to have fun with."

Watching the women of The Bold Type live their lives truly together will make you want to squeeze your friends that little bit tighter and care a little less about that boy who didn’t text you back.