Following your heart doesn’t give you an excuse to do stupid things.

This picture is a great representation of an important component of the theme of this episode: leaving your comfort zone.

Episode 2 of The Bold Type had the girls feeling its title “O Hell No”. Sutton was offered an advertising job that wasn’t anything close to her dream job. Jane had to write a sex column even though she wasn’t well-versed in such a topic. Kat had to face her romantic feelings for Adena even though she has always considered herself a “hetero”. The theme of this particular episode is easily summed up by a number of cliché sayings like follow your dreams, don’t let your head get in the way of your heart, don’t hold yourself back, etc. On top of serving up a very cliché theme, the episode presented the theme very explicitly; the  characters repeatedly regurgitated some form of the previous clichés. The show’s overall theme tends to take the form of women empowerment. Encouraging women to follow their dreams and take risks falls right in line with the show’s uber feministic standpoint. In terms of cultural conversations, following one’s heart is a cliché, but although it has proliferated in society, the majority of the population still chooses paycheck over passion. Where this episode succeeds is in its representation of why it’s so difficult to escape one’s comfort zone. For Sutton the appeal of settling for less than her dream job was high not only because of the money but also because she had grown up relatively poor and with an unstable mother. Money and stability meant so much more to her than its surface level value. Additionally, she felt stuck in a dead-end position and that she had ran out of time to fulfill her fashion industry dreams. The advertising job was her ticket out; even though it wasn’t a ticket to where she wanted to go, it was at least an escape from where she was. For Jane writing a sex column was not only difficult because she was inexperience and reserved, but also because she had just been promoted to join the writing team, so she felt excess pressure to succeed and to please. For Kat she proclaimed that she was hetero, but her feelings for Adena made her doubt herself. She was tumbling into identity crisis. Worst of all, at Adena’s art exhibit, Kat witnessed Adena kiss another girl, so she had to combat the fear of rejection infused with her struggle to address her feelings. Irony is this episode’s last bit of beauty. Kat is portrayed as the bravest of the three girls. The one with no fear. The one who takes risks. However, she was the one who had the most difficulty following her heart. Sutton rejected the job that promised security and released her safety net. Jane was completely honest in her article and made a last minute decision to use her real name instead of posting anonymously. Kat talked to Adena, but failed to confess or even confront her feelings. It just goes to show that someone doesn’t have to be the bravest person to do the bravest things.