Has your week been bold and beautiful? Did you paint a target on your half-brother's back? Did you give an R-rating to your PG-rated adventure? Did you tell your sister that your husband's upgrade doesn't come with a warranty? These and more situations faced the Forresters et al this week!
Greetings, Scoopers! Mike here, ready to get down and dirty with you about the latest happenings on The Bold and the Beautiful. Is it just me, or was it kind of a strange week? If nothing else, certain characters rather popped out from behind their masks! Let's sit down with the crayons and markers and color in some of these folks together, shall we?
Oh, Katie. You really had me when you finally moved to divorce Bill's wandering, tower-locking ass and snagged control of his company while you were at it. I even stayed on board during the whole spy camera thing. But I got off the Katie train when she started whimpering about wanting Bill back. Dude, he just chased your sister halfway across the world to rat you out about your recent foray into filmmaking! Let the bastard go and move on already! "I shouldn't have shut you out," indeed.
Naturally, Bill continued blaming Katie for everything, decrying her postpartum matchmaking. Please. That's like a fish biting a hook and blaming the pole. No one made you bite the bait, mister! The only thing he was spot-on about was that he and Katie are no longer compatible. Maybe they never were. Bill raged about Katie's rules, but all Katie wanted was for Bill to be a decent human being. If he can't manage that, then she deserves more. I was actually glad Bill walked out. There's no saving this marriage.
Then, the claws came out in a scene that struck me as odd. Brooke, who rarely gets angry, lashed out at Katie, telling her she just wanted to feel sorry for herself! Brooke said Katie berated herself for things that she had no control over, like Storm's death (nice continuity, B&B), but claimed innocence over messes she made herself! Um, Pot? Meet kettle! And pouting that Katie didn't care about Brooke? Now who's feeling sorry for themselves? Brooke topped off her tirade by accusing Katie of abusing Bill!
Good thing Brooke likes horses, because I was calling "Whoa!" on that one! But when Brooke betrayed her feelings for Bill in referencing her miscarriage, Katie pounced on it, and my respect for the youngest Logan started going back up. "How many times have you been in love?" Katie wanted to know. "How many weddings have you had?" Katie nailed Brooke for believing that Bill was her destiny, and that's when the convo got very interesting.
It's been almost a year since Ridge left Brooke, and I've repeatedly said that Brooke doesn't know how to function without a man. Katie knows it, too. "Don't tell me you don't like the attention," Katie spat. And we got quite the dose of perspective when Katie told Brooke she'd always be asking herself if she could trust a relationship with Bill, "because that's what it's like to love Bill Spencer." All the more reason Katie should cut her losses, wouldn't you say?
Brooke got home in record time (one scene!) to find a towel-clad Bill ready to start singing Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke. Like the song, Bill basically told Brooke she was a good girl, but he knew she wanted it. And Brooke did, though she tried to fight it a whole minute before saddling up with the Stallion. Question: how did Bill get into Brooke's house? The last man who let himself in and got amorous with Brooke was rapist Andy Johnson! Has Brooke ditched the deadbolts since then?
Brooke felt guilty in the morning light, but Bill flexed his considerable pecs and swept Brooke off her feet, a skill Katie said Bill had mastered. What did Katie mean the night before when she told Bill, "My actions had terrible consequences -- and so will yours"? Them's fightin' words, from what I can tell. I'm intrigued to see if she'll follow up on them. But what can she realistically do at this point? Expose Brill to the media? Run Spencer into the ground? Hey, she wasn't in the office all week as it is.
Said office became the new endgame for Wyatt, who suddenly started yapping about his Spencer birthright and all the possibilities it provided. Not even a reunion with mommy Quinn seemed to dull Wyatt's newfound taste for Spencerdom. Quinn was rather kindergarten in thinking Wyatt's presence meant everything was going back to normal, an annoying trait she has exhibited more than once. But she didn't seem that surprised by the lucre-laced lust in Wyatt's eyes. "I know my son," she said.
Does she? Here's an interesting question: we're seeing darker aspects to Wyatt already, but he can't have just started behaving like this these past few weeks since he found out Bill is his father. Could it be that the charming Wyatt we met has always had a bit of barracuda in him, and Quinn knows it? "The only thing standing in my way," Wyatt opined, "is Liam." You know what? I'm all for someone taking Liam down, even if it's someone who's only newly nasty! Must be something in the metal of that sword necklace!
Wyatt pretty much described Liam to Quinn as a tofu-eating, yoga-practicing buffoon. Only thing is, when did Liam become that? Okay, sure, people switch things up -- hell, I just took up yoga myself last week. But on a soap, we need to see changes, or we end up feeling something is amiss. One sentence would have cut it. Instead, we're being force-fed aspects of Liam's personality that didn't otherwise exist to show how different he and Wyatt are. That's called a plot-driven story, and those never work.
There are already enough flaws in Liam that Wyatt could exploit without inventing any. And now, Hope, who had to numb herself with antianxiety meds the last time she moved in with a not-yet-divorced Liam, happily sent out change-of-address cards so she, Liam, and Wyatt could all be under the same contrived roof. Talk about plot-driven! Or maybe Hope just likes the idea of rooming with two hotties that fight over her. Now we just need Mr. Roper, and B&B will really be Three's Company.
I found the whole thing very awkward. Liam and Hope excusing themselves so they could go have sex? Wyatt whining about Bill liking Liam better because Bill bought Liam a mansion and not him? First off, the cliff house is hardly a mansion, and besides, Bill has known Liam for three years. A month ago, Bill didn't even know Wyatt existed! This sense of entitlement makes me think Wyatt has watched too much of Adam Carrington on Dynasty...or Adam Newman on The Young and the Restless!
Maybe Wyatt is a Forrester! Because entitlement seems to be running rampant among Forrester boys Thomas and Thorne. Now, Thomas, I expect that from. Here's a guy who sold his mother down the river because Stephanie offered him 25% of Forrester Creations, and has bitched ever since because Stephanie did the right thing and left her shares to Eric instead. And I suppose Thomas' bitterness toward Rick could have been magnified when Caroline dumped Thomas for Rick. But what's Thorne's excuse?
I was so happy two weeks ago when Winsor Harmon showed up on my screen again. I'm still happy to see him, but Thorne is on my nerves in a way I never thought possible. Thorne is a full-blood, first-generation Forrester. He always should have had more of a leadership role in the company, even when Ridge was there. But when Ridge left and Eric offered Thorne the presidency, what did Thorne do? He turned it down! Maybe he regrets that decision now, but you snooze, you lose, bud!
Now Thorne is channeling Ridge, calling Rick "little brother" as if it were an insult and essentially daring Rick to fail. Seems to me when Ridge did that to Thorne, Thorne punched him! Ridge was always arrogant, but this is completely out of character for Thorne. Even if he truly feels he could do a better job running Forrester, the Thorne I know would never go about it this way. No one forced his ass into the Forrester basement! He's been working there since Day One! Campaign fairly or suck it up!
I'm grateful to see a fashion show happening at Forrester, but there are so many things wrong with this story that I don't know where to begin. The stakes are either the rebranded HFTF makes $100 million, or Rick loses the presidency. That benchmark was supposed to be reached by the end of the year. Thorne and Thomas act as if HFTF is supposed to make that much today or it's curtains!
And since when does mere audience reaction determine whether a line is a success or failure? Forrester's M.O. has always been to mount a show, get press, and ascertain success or failure based on sales. Why now is one crowd's reaction all that matters? And I can understand Rick's attempt to appeal to other demographics by bringing in new buyers, but it seems like shooting yourself in the foot to not combine fresh customers with the tried and true. What was up with everyone's silence, anyway?
It might matter more if the whole thing wasn't set up to fuel the Caroline/Rick/Maya/Carter quadrangle. Yawn. Rick has to work with Caroline to save his job, Caroline makes points with Rick by pendulum swinging closer to her previously demure behavior (at least she acknowledged her switcheroo!), Maya gets all boo-hoo about Rick's preoccupation with work and leans on Carter. Standard enough soap fare, but this quartet ran out of steam weeks ago.
I loved that Caroline mentioned Rick hating secrets because of what he went through with Amber -- I always appreciate good nods to history -- but what about all the secrets Rick kept? And that includes during his bid to steal Caroline from Thomas, to say nothing of when he used Steffy to hurt Ridge! Rick could take a lesson from Caroline and own his own behavior so we can accept his being a nice guy again.
As for Maya, she must attend the same kindergarten as Quinn! "We spent the night together," Maya lamented to Carter. Huh? Even Carter knew that was crap -- they kissed a little, and Carter slept on the couch! Maya is acting like she pulled a Brooke. Maybe, by Maya's standards, she did. But it's hardly worth all the fuss. In fact, it's laughable. Of course, with Rafael spilling the beans to Caroline (why was he allowed to attend a fashion event reserved for press and buyers?), I'm sure much "mayhem" will ensue.
Who will Eric choose as president this time? Should we care? Will Brooke just go for the gusto with Bill already? Is Wyatt about to make Bill look like...Liam? Share your own burning questions and observations on the soapcentral.com message boards or the comments section. Send e-mail or leave a voicemail. Or express yourself via Facebook below. Your comments could end up in a future column. Like these!
