Blown out of the water

Amber is back in town, ready to start over. It will be interesting to see what she gets herself into in L.A., especially if it involves some sort of reunion with Rick, who's certainly not the nice guy she was once married to!

Has your week been bold and beautiful? Did you offer to bake a lemon bar with a file in it? Did you snoop into your employer's life seconds after being hired? Did you offer to give yourself up because you already...gave yourself up? These and more situations faced the Forresters et al this week!

Despite the major drama revolving mostly around Brooke's whoops-I-didn't-know-I-was-boinking-my-daughter's-boyfriend secret, there were lots of other quietly subtle plot points that nibbled at our Two Scoops lines this week. Let's cast 'em into B&B's stormy waters and see what we catch!

For instance, who knew that Donna's Bill-inspired demand for 12% of Forrester would end up intersecting with the whole Stephen/Pam pseudo-relationship? In a classic Stephanie move, La Forrester turned that situation to her advantage faster than her sister can whip up a batch of those ever-present lemon bars. And Stephanie isn't wrong that Bill cares more about what he can get out of Donna's divorce than what actually happens to his father-in-law. Really, if Bill wanted to get his hooks back into Forrester, he'd turn the tables on Steffy, because she's responsible for swiping it from him! Not that Bill doesn't honestly care for his new family, but even Katie and Donna have the Windex out these days because Bill is being so transparent.

But where's all this hostility coming from? Just a few weeks ago, Stephanie declared to Eric that Brooke wasn't so bad, and was ready to start passing out peace pipes. Now suddenly Brooke and her sisters are the enemy again because of what their father did? It's not like they had anything to do with Stephen's plot - they even raced up to Big Bear to stop it as soon as they found out about it! Obviously Stephanie's mini-truce was just orchestrated to point out the coming Brooke drama -- which makes it even more contrived and insincere. Yes, Stephen did plan to kill Stephanie, so it's understandable he'd be in jail on evidence of premeditation. But shouldn't Stephanie be in jail, too? She put a hole in someone, and her "home intruder" alibi just doesn't hold water, especially with the Big Bear police in her finely tailored back pocket. Isn't Stephanie more interested in sticking it to the Logans than she is in what happened to her own sister?

Especially because Pam didn't seem to mind all that much. Sure, she visited Stephen to "yell" at him for what he did -- and of course he deserved it. But was it just me, or did you guys notice that there's still plenty of surprising chemistry between these two? This storyline could easily be over now -- particularly with the way B&B races through them these days -- so it was fascinating to see all the nuance and actual humanity happening in that jail. Pam had been turned into such a cartoon character that it's really nice to see her become a real person rather than a "monster," which was Stephen's opinion of her (and mine). And kudos to Pam for taking responsibility and admitting how she tried to have Donna eaten by a bear. (If only she had also apologized for dumping Donna in the Roach Motel - we saw Donna this week for the first time since it happened, and no one mentioned it!)

Anyone want to lay bets on the possibility there are real feelings between Stephen and Pam, even though Beth's body is barely cold? Even more intriguing -- why was Jarrett eavesdropping at the jail? How is he going to figure into things?

Amber Moore Forrester Ashby Romalotti (have I missed any?) is back in town, ready to "start over." I have to admit, it's nice to see her back in her old stomping grounds, because I never really thought the character was utilized properly in Y&R's Genoa City. Having the almost-30-something running around with the college-age set? Even marrying one? It will be more interesting to see what Amber gets herself into in L.A. -- especially if it involves some sort of reunion with Rick, who's certainly not the nice guy she was once married to! I'm pretty fuzzy on Amber's later B&B history, but it seems right that Amber and Whip would know each other, and, with Bridget in a high-risk pregnancy, why wouldn't Whip contact Miss Moore for a design job? Although, what --Bridget's so fragile she can't hold a pencil? And isn't Clarke supposed to be a designer at Jackie M? He must be hanging out with Thorne and Felicia in No Man's Land. Or maybe he's on that world cruise with Sally. We miss you, Bucky.

Unlike the many previous Y&R/B&B crossovers, I question the sense of this one. For those who don't follow Y&R, Amber was married to young Daniel Romalotti, and subsequently broke things off with him because she wanted to go back to raising her cousin's son, "Little D" (even though she hadn't mentioned the pre-teen for years); Daniel didn't want to raise a kid since he's pretty much a kid himself. So Amber "does the right thing" and leaves Daniel so she can be a mother to "Little D." Where's "Little D" now? Waiting in the car? There was no mention of him. I've read the kid may be in boarding school -- doesn't that contradict why Amber left Daniel in the first place? Is she even divorced? Amber was much more interested in prying into Jackie's personal life than she was in updating B&B viewers who don't watch Y&R.

Not to mention drooling over Owen. I believe the noise we just heard was a hint being dropped. I had predicted that Deacon would make an appearance before long, but I'm hearing he's staying put on Y&R for a pairing with Phyllis (boy wouldn't that make sense!) So, in the event a re-pair doesn't happen with Amber and Rick, Deacon's off the list. Who does that leave? Whip? Should Taylor be worried? What about Jackie? Especially since Amber wasted no time overhearing Owen and Bridget's talk about their baby. Come on, guys -- just name the kid "Cowabunga Knight" already and get it over with if you're going to keep using the groaner word!

Over at Forrester Creations, it was certainly a busy "day." Oliver proved himself a graduate of the Bridget Forrester Marone School of Bad Liars. Not that being uncomfortable with lying isn't a virtue! But Oliver gave things away long before Steffy pieced the events of Hope's party together. Anybody want to tell me what's going on with these repeated close-ups of hand-wringing? I forgot to mention it two weeks ago; if there's some significance to it, it's lost on me. And who knew that a simple hood would be all Steffy needed to solve the carnal caper? It's true -- I can't see Ridge wearing a hood in a million years...and it's an interesting plot point. But it's such a miniscule detail (and yet another one we weren't made aware of) that it makes the whole storyline seem even more convenient. It took so many coincidences to get Brooke and Oliver to have sex as it is that having Steffy confirm it with more coincidences is just...well...too coincidental!

There was a whole big thing about Daddy Yankee shooting his music video at Hope's party, right? So why is the damning video Steffy keeps studying culled from a compilation of cell phone videos shot by Hope's friends? Whose cell phones shoot videos in that high a quality? They must really soup up their iPads in Beverly Hills. Daddy Yankee must also have made quite the deal with B&B, considering how many times "Pose" was played this week. Cha-ching! But of course the one who stands to cash in the most from all this is Steffy. She's been waiting for an opportunity like this, and boy, did it just fall into her lap. Now she's on a crusade to "put an end to Brooke's immoral behavior." Of course, trying to wrest control of your family's company from its new owner by promising sex isn't immoral at all. Hypocrite.

You all know that I am not what you'd call a big fan of Steffy. I have been very vocal about my intense dislike of her. But this week evened things out for me - at least for now. The reason I was so hostile toward Steffy is because she was being written like a one-dimensional, cartoonish vamp. What was there to like? Now that she has what she wants -- the ammunition to destroy Brooke -- she could have been made even more insufferable. Instead, we actually got...balance? Vulnerability? During the scene where Oliver confessed to the tryst, Steffy honestly seemed like she was trying to understand. I mean, at first, when she said, "I'm not enjoying this," I did roll my eyes. But, for all her plotting against Hope the last few months, could it be that her concern for Hope here is genuine? Was all that bravado before just an act? Has the reality of actually being able to crush Brooke sobered her? There's no way to know for sure, because Steffy certainly waffled between vulnerability and her usual anti-Brooke stance. But at least the dichotomy served to make Steffy more human.

And it's not like Steffy was wrong about everything. Even she admitted Brooke didn't cheat, but that it was Brooke's "inability to control her libido" that had caused the trouble -- that Brooke shouldn't have been having terrace sex with anyone while she was chaperoning a party. Can't argue with that. When, during the inevitable Steffy/Brooke confrontation, Brooke insisted the mistaken-identity sex had been a mistake, no one could deny it when Steffy retorted, "Only you could have this kind of accident." But declaring that Brooke was only a passing fancy that came between Taylor and Ridge? Steffy needs to go back and watch some YouTube videos, because Brooke was around first. She wanted Ridge, and only married Eric because Ridge had gone back to Caroline. By the time Caroline died, Brooke still loved Ridge but couldn't pursue him, leaving Ridge to pursue Taylor. That's how it happened. There's no getting around it.

Besides, isn't Steffy's childish anger misdirected? Brooke didn't "take" Ridge from Taylor, nor did Taylor "take" Ridge from Brooke - it was Ridge's own waffling over the years that caused the pain and resentment that Steffy is acting on now. He bounced back and forth between the ladies like a pinball in overdrive. He left both Brooke and Taylor repeatedly, mostly over misunderstandings, or things that could have been worked out. Taylor "dying" a couple of times didn't help matters. Ridge is right that Steffy needs to get over it, but Ridge has a mind of his own and has made his own choices; it's not like he's powerless. How come Steffy doesn't hold him accountable? The Brooke-bashers and Taylor-trashers who have been at it for decades may never make peace, but I think even you guys would agree it's really Ridge who needs to take some responsibility for his role in all this.

I do understand why Steffy feels hurt. But she needs to grow up, pronto, because she's about to get in way over her head once she hands the bomb and matches to Granny Stephanie. And Stephanie will sure know how to light it. It's a shame, too, because Brooke was willing to sacrifice herself, to step down from Forrester -- which is what Steffy's wanted for months -- and Steffy didn't take Brooke up on it! If Steffy was really interested in protecting her father, instead of inflicting maximum damage, she certainly wouldn't go to Stephanie. Because Stephanie, now that she's leaning toward caricature again after a few mere episodes of three-dimensional compassion, will snap onto this bone like a pitbull, and just try getting it out of her mouth after that. Golly gee, wouldn't it be interesting if Pam becomes pro-Logan from her involvement with Stephen and ends up battling her sister over this?

Steffy is right that Ridge deserves to know the truth. Now, he's never been the sharpest pencil in the carousel in this regard, but between Steffy's very unsubtle hinting and Brooke looking like she inhaled too much steam in the steam room (does B&B have to milk every signature element of the show until they become overdone clichs?), you would have thought Ridge would have clued in already. The decent thing for Brooke to do -- and the only thing that could defuse Steffy -- would be to tell Ridge the truth herself. So wasn't it a shock when Brooke confessed! Or...did she? After all, so far she's only mentioned there was a mistake with Oliver -- not what it was. When Monday comes, will she tell him the rest of it? Or will Brooke's admission turn out to be a fantasy? It wouldn't be the first time B&B has done that with a Friday cliffhanger. I hear tell Ridge is going to make a "shocking" declaration of his own regarding the party, so who knows where things will lead. I hear the rumblings on-line...time will tell how many of them are true!

And that's it for me this week. The waters of B&B are choppy in a typical way, but there are some very intriguing undercurrents happening, too, so let's just see where those undercurrents pull this boat full of us viewers. Drop your anchor for some shore leave at the Soap Central message boards, and send up a comment flare for me to see if you like! It's Brooke vs. Steffy, kiddies, so keep watching, be alert, and most of all, be bold!