Entertainment

'The Bold Type' Season 2 Needs To Go Bigger On The Feminism Front

Justin Coit/Freeform

Since debuting in June, The Bold Type has quietly become a summer sleeper hit, chronicling three New York women navigating work, life, and love á la a modern Sex and the City. Like its '90s-born predecessor, its feminism is far from perfect, but it's nonetheless told a number of timely, important stories about immigration, sexuality, and the female perspective. And that's exactly why The Bold Type needs a Season 2: To course-correct its missteps and continue the narratives that made its freshman run so rousing. Spoilers ahead for The Bold Type's Season 1 Finale.

UPDATE: Freeform announced in April that The Bold Type Season 2 will premiere on June 12.

EARLIER: By the close of the show's Season 1 finale, the Freeform drama has only begun to skim the surface of its potential. Jane finally drummed up the gumption to quit the dream job she's outgrown and take a risk on her abilities; Sutton, after years spent settling, put her money on her ambition and elbowed her way into a fashion position; Kat cut loose her safety net and flew to the Middle East to be with Adena, a notion that seems to both thrill and terrify her; and, in perhaps one of the series' most affecting narratives yet, Jacqueline revealed that she was sexually assaulted during her early career, and came forward to support a fellow survivor's call for justice and share the weight of the trauma she'd buried for 20 years.

Freeform

While talking with Jane in the finale, Jacqueline spoke powerfully to the public perception that kept her silent and the way assault forever impacted her life. It's a fraught, resonant moment, but as with many of the The Bold Type's strongest elements — Adena's immigrant experience, Kat dealing with her race and sexuality — it's also a brief, fleeting glimpse into what the show could be should it get the chance to fully spread its wings.

Then there are, of course, the romantic cliffhangers: Kat and Adena's future is uncertain, Jane seems to have potential with Pinstripe, and the ending hints there's still hope yet for Sutton and Richard. Getting another season would give The Bold Type an opportunity to further explore those relationships, expand its scope, and continue to push the boundaries of its storytelling.

Freeform hasn't yet decided to renew the show, though a second season, were it to happen, could find itself premiering in the spring or summer of 2018, just as this one did. And, the critical and fan buzz surrounding the show could go far to sway the network into a renewal.

Already, The Bold Type has proved itself a smart, layered, and charming series that somehow grasps the reality of modern media and being a woman in the workplace. It's a diamond in the rough, rife with possibility but still in need of a bit more polishing. In a second season, perhaps it could truly shine.