‘The Bold Type’: Richard Returns With Major News, Plus Jacqueline Decides Her Future (RECAP)

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Bold Type Season 5 Episode 5 “Don’t Turn Away.”]

The Bold Type begins to move the pieces into place for its farewell with the penultimate episode of the series, “Don’t Turn Away.”

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Jacqueline (Melora Hardin) begins thinking about her future as she prepares Jane (Katie Stevens) to take over as editor-in-chief while she’s on vacation. Sutton (Meghann Fahy) takes steps to take care of herself (therapy) just as Richard (Sam Page) pops back up in her life … with divorce papers and major news. And Kat (Aisha Dee) and Adena (Nikohl Boosheri) move forward with their plans to make their “Don’t Turn Away” campaign a magazine and receive quite the offer.

Read on to find out who fell into bed with an ex, who made a major career decision, and who got a promotion.

The New Jacqueline

Jacqueline takes a step back and lets Jane serve as head of Scarlet in the days leading up to her vacation. And so Jane has to juggle everyone’s concerns, meetings, and budgets (and making a major advertiser happy), all while also trying to score an interview she really wants. She gets creative when it comes to the interview, talking to a bodyguard.

But overall, she impresses Jacqueline, who found that she liked taking time to celebrate her and Ian’s (Gildart Jackson) anniversary and wants to do things like that more often. “Jane is ready,” she tells Oliver (Stephen Conrad Moore). “I’ve spent years getting her ready, but she is now and I don’t know, maybe there’s a part of me that’s ready, too. … Maybe my vacation with Ian … [is] the beginning of a new chapter together.”

Freeform/Jonathan Wenk

And so the episode ends with Jacqueline finding Jane and revealing, “I am officially retiring from Scarlet magazine. Ian and I are starting a new chapter. We’ve always wanted to work together, so we felt like this was the right time.”

Jane’s speechless because “Scarlet is you,” she argues.

“It won’t be forever,” Jacqueline says before telling Jane she wants her to take over as editor-in-chief. (Shouldn’t she see how she does for maybe more than a day first?) Jane, of course, accepts.

They Were (Are?!) Incredible

Sutton starts therapy and explains that a friend noticed she’s been drinking a lot. Her mother is an alcoholic, so she’s trying to get ahead of a potential problem. But then Richard calls (during her session). He’s in town, with the divorce papers, and he thought they could meet in person … which they do, at a bar. She sticks to wine, while he orders pasta.

Freeform/Jonathan Wenk

After, Sutton admits that while she wants him to be happy (which he seemed to be), it feels like it was a bit too easy for him to move on from her. And seeing Richard happy reminded her of how she felt as a kid when her dad left and then would come back, with a whole other life, she shares in her next therapy session. It made her feel like she wasn’t enough, like her father was happier somewhere else. As she realizes with her therapist’s prompting, she drinks to stop herself from feeling the things that hurt the most.

Sutton does sign the divorce papers (after pouring a bottle of wine down the drain) and meets with Richard again. When she admits that seeing him happy the other day made her think maybe he’s happier without her, he quickly corrects her. He was happy because he’s started the adoption process.

“I will never, ever think that what we had was anything but incredible. I love you, and I will always love you. And every day still sucks,” he assures her … and they go back to his hotel room.

Control and Commitment

“The choices that she’s making in her professional life are going to bring light to the way that she kind of moves through the world in her relationships as well,” Dee teased for TV Insider earlier in the season, and that seems to come to fruition in this episode.

Freeform/Jonathan Wenk

While discussing their pitch for Don’t Turn Away to investors as a multimedia platform (including podcasts), Kat and Adena run into Jacqueline. (She’s happy to see them together again, but they stumble over informing her they’re just working together.) She read about the installation and tells Kat she can come to her for advice on the pitch. When Kat takes her up on the offer, Jacqueline suggests they bring it into Scarlet as one of its verticals. That way, Kat and Adena would have access to their budget, marketing infrastructure, and readers.

Kat’s hesitant because she doesn’t want to work for a corporation, she tells Adena. She wants control. But her ex suggests it’s tied to the fact that she hates commitment. And so Kat goes back to Jacqueline with her terms: full creative control (Jacqueline immediately agrees), the hiring of formerly incarcerated people to work on the site, and a big press push. Jacqueline proposes a launch party. And with that, Kat agrees, and she’s back at Scarlet!

When she goes to Adena’s to share the good news, she tells her she never would’ve gotten this far without her. “I’m always better with you,” Kat says, and Sutton’s not the only one falling into bed with an ex.

The Bold Type, Series Finale, Wednesday, June 30, 10/9c, Freeform