Electric youth

Wyatt was a dim-bulb, Thomas wanted to keep things charged, and Steffy decided she needed to generate shocking news. But then Ivy pulled a Frankenstein in the Forrester showroom! It's alive! Plug in with Two Scoops' Mike!

Has your week been bold and beautiful? Did you decide you'd like to change your last name to Buttinski? Was your love in the afternoon really a cover for talking about someone else's love life? Did you literally get your wires crossed? These and more situations faced the Forrester-Logan-Spencer-Avant clan this week!

Yo, Scoopers! Do you guys remember that Schoolhouse Rock segment from the '70s that taught us children about electricity? Well, electricity is exactly what this week was lacking, given the only story we got was the Wyatt/Ivy/Thomas triangle and Liam and Steffy's involvement in it. There was barely even anyone else at Forrester -- this with two dubious pregnancies on deck! Guess Caroline and Nicole needed time to gestate. Leave it to Quinn -- and Steffy's kiss of death -- to liven things up! Let's Scoop about it!

Maybe Forrester's higher-ups took an extended Thanksgiving holiday or cut out for the plethora of early Christmas parades (don't get me started), because Ridge and Caroline were nowhere to be seen, Rick and Maya were gone -- only Quinn, Pam, and poor invisible Jake seemed to be on the clock. Even lend-an-ear Brooke must have been home Skyping R.J., or at least one would hope she was.

The thing is, the supposed romantic entanglement of the Spencer brothers, the Forrester cousins, and Thomas the Interloper is a B-story at best. Yet B&B rolled with this all week. Have we learned nothing from Leffy/Lope or Lope/Hott? Strangely, Liam and Steffy are the most enduring couple of the bunch. As much as I feel for Wyatt (he never seems to find a woman who wants only him), it's hard to get too misty-eyed about Ivy's betrayal, because Wivy's only been together four months, and Ivy was on the rebound from Liam to boot.

Like I pointed out last week, Thomas' lecherous behavior, creepy in and of itself, seems to stem from his own heartache over Caroline. Hasn't he been a total man-ho since Caroline married Ridge? Perennial shrink Taylor probably should have taught her boy about dealing with his feelings instead of becoming the poster child for Sexual Compulsives Anonymous to compensate. (Seriously, Thomas, take in a meeting.)

I also mentioned in my last column that Thomas was pretty indiscreet putting his hand on Ivy's knee where Wyatt could see them. Looks like sister Steffy had the eagle eye, because the Thivy thighing had her on yellow alert. Wyatt should be so observant; Thomas interrupted Wyatt and Ivy with a slew of innuendoes so obvious he might as well have attached neon lights to them. Why would Thomas put Ivy on the spot like that? He says his flirtation started out as a game, but now he likes her. Nearly forcing her into revealing her betrayal to Wyatt is a helluva way to show it.

We may need Rick's tyrannical control of Forrester back, because Steffy and Liam, the president and vice president of the company, apparently had nothing better to do than stand around and talk about the status of Wyatt's relationship with Ivy. Living up to her namesake, Steffy rushed in where angels fear to tread and overheard the 4-1-1 about Thomas' tonsil hockey with Ivy. Wait. Ivy was concerned Wyatt would walk in on the convo but left the door open a crack for Steffy to hear?

I'm sorry, I'm just not feelin' Ivy these days. Am I supposed to feel sorry for her? Asked why she kissed Thomas while committed to Wyatt, Ivy came back with, "I don't know." Isn't that the same rationale she used when asked why she started shooting video of Aly's roadside confrontation with Steffy instead of rushing out to help her so-called best friend? At least Ivy later told Liam that she had changed since he dumped her, which was insightful. But I ain't cryin' no rivers for you, dear.

Adding to the tediousness of this week-long "pentangle" was that all five participants furiously swapped scene partners to talk about it all. There were two-fer scenes with Steffy and Liam, Steffy and Wyatt, Steffy and Ivy, Steffy and Thomas -- and that just covers Steffy. Name a permutation, and we got it. The week was a classic study in French scenes; that's where Characters A and B are joined by Character C, followed by, say, A leaving while B stays behind to talk to C. It's done in TV, movies, and plays all the time, but B&B offered up a higher percentage than usual this week.

So, Steffy got Thomas alone and put him on blast, reminding her brother, "I told you to respect their relationship." She then added that a line had been crossed because kissing was tantamount to cheating! Well, I know a lot of you, like me, got bruises from where your jaw hit the floor, because where does Miss Steffy Forrester get off telling anyone to respect a relationship? This girl kissed Oliver, Liam, and Bill, all of whom were otherwise involved at the time! Had she owned that while scolding Thomas, her reprimand would have carried a lot more weight and shown growth in the character. Talk about another missed beat.

What also baffles me about this is Steffy's insistence on going to bat for Wyatt. There's no evidence of the friendship she says they have. They flirted for all of two seconds over the summer before moving on to other people. So why is she hellbent on making sure Wyatt knows the truth? Yes, what Ivy did was wrong. But, as we were prompted, it's Ivy's business and not Steffy's. That didn't stop Steffy from really pulling a Stephanie and warning Ivy, "If you don't tell him, I will!"

Then we cut to Bill and Katie, who likewise have an empire to run but were home cooking up pasta and apparently each other. Their kitchen canoodling seemed a welcome respite from all the juvenile jackknifing until Bill started talking about his sons heading for a double wedding! Oh, man, it was like 2011 all over again, where Ridge, Taylor, Brooke, and everyone else over 30 weighed in on Liam juggling Hope and Steffy. Why was Batie even there? Certainly they deserve their own storyline!

They did get a few private moments to talk about themselves, but I quite literally laughed out loud when Bill declared that Katie made him a better man. How many times has he used that exact phrase over the years? And it did wash, back when Batie was first married in 2009, but after Bill steamrolled over Katie with Brooke, any such profession out of Bill's mouth sounds like so much hogwash. Katie should never have taken him back, let alone marched down the aisle with him a second time, but I digress.

I do seem a bit hostile this column, don't I? That's not my intention; it was just a frustrating week of soap watching for me, and two days of Bill and Katie's "we're just here to prop up the pentangle" appearance didn't help things. I'll tell you what did -- the intriguing electricity between Thomas and Quinn! Not that they should hit the sheets, of course (though Thomas did make that overture!), but Thomas saw through Quinn right away, and Quinn knows that you can't con a con man. Fascinating to watch!

And Mrs. Fuller-Sharpe totally called it when she said Thomas only wanted Ivy because it was a way of sticking it to Wyatt -- something even Steffy brought to Thomas' attention. Thomas volleyed by commenting that Quinn was fighting Wyatt's battles again, which was true. But then Quinn swerved off the main road and piped up that she liked Ivy, but Steffy was more suited to her son!

Whoa! Where did that come from? Sure, Quinn shipped Wyatt and Steffy when he was interested in her, but that ship has not only sailed, it capsized. In one breath, Quinn told Thomas that she wanted Wyatt to be happy and that Wyatt was in love -- oh, but Ivy was beneath him. Okaaaaay then! It doesn't particularly excite me that Quinn has also jumped on the Kiddie Patrol's romance bandwagon (especially when she's got hunky, storyless Deacon at home), but at least she's more entertaining about it.

With the threat of Steffy airing her dirty laundry spurring her on, Ivy tried to take Wyatt aside and tell him the truth about kissing Thomas. How did Wyatt respond? By doing one of the most annoying things cuckolded soap characters, male or female, can do -- bleating on about how wonderful the cheater is to the point the cheater clams up. Wyatt is too savvy to go into full-on denial like that, yet he busted out every clich possible. Maybe Wyatt knew the whole time; it's the only way to justify his head in the sand.

Well, when Steffy found out that Ivy had deferred her confession until the dinner Wyatt was planning, Steffy went against Liam's very clear wishes and hipped her soon-to-be brother-in-law that her brother had been turning Ivy's crank. Continuing on with what seems to be uncharacteristic cluelessness, Wyatt refused to believe Steffy's claim until her evidence left him with no other choice.

Not having an appetite for dinner anymore, Wyatt came home and found Ivy acting as obvious as she's been since this whole thing started but decided to let her sweat it out for a while first, dropping hints like they were Hansel and Gretel's bread crumbs. Wyatt made out like he and Ivy had this great romance (a four-month relationship born out of a rebound, I remind you) then revealed that he knew how Thomas had tried to get the saucy Aussie down under.

Totally busted, Ivy begged and Ivy pleaded. It was a mistake, she cried! She didn't know how it happened! Maybe it was appropriate that Ivy ended up lauding Brooke during the Thanksgiving thankfulness, because I could have sworn it was La Logan talking with an Australian accent. At least Brooke had the excuse of those infamous masks to explain her mask-boinking Oliver, but Ivy had no such smokescreen when she was getting stubble burn from Thomas.

And now, a bit of trippy real-life foreshadowing for you. Here in Canada's Prince Edward Island last night, we had our first major snowstorm of the season, and our power has been glitching on and off since yesterday. I think that caused the DVR to drop recording today's (Friday's) show; I realized it in time, but I did miss the first half of the episode. From what I could piece together, Ivy continued begging Wyatt for forgiveness, and Liam wasn't too happy that Steffy had ratted Ivy out to Wyatt, especially after Liam had implored Steffy to stay out of Wivy's business.

Hmm. Quinn is talking about wanting Wyatt with Steffy, and Bill seemed strangely preoccupied during his afterglow with Katie. Are these hints that Liam will dump Steffy as a result of her interference with his half-brother's honey? That wouldn't be surprising; Liam dumps his girls if they get a pimple, or might as well. Liam didn't waver, however, hugging on Steffy in the backstage area of the Forrester showroom as lights flickered and electricity crackled from above.

"They've got to get that taken care of," Liam groused. Now, I'm guessing Jake was already on the J-O-B, but both Liam and Steffy just stood there during these sizzling brownouts. I would have been on the horn to Maintenance "toot sweet" and gotten the hell out of the room besides. Not the prez and VP of Forrester. Liam left Steffy alone in this electrified backstage with her texts to Jake appearing on our screens like something out of VH1's Pop-Up Video; I couldn't tell whether or not I liked it.

Wyatt didn't like the prospect of having to always look over his shoulder for more of Ivy's admirers (having lived that, I don't blame him) then told Ivy if she wanted Thomas, she could have him. But when Ivy heard she was in deep doo-doo because of Steffy's diarrhea of the mouth, Ivy headed straight to Forrester, brushing past Pam, who might as well have been a day player but thankfully made no mention of lemon bars.

"He got your twisted version of the truth!" Ivy fumed at Steffy, also nonchalant about the lights phasing in and out. Steffy tried to get away from Ivy, who followed Steffy into a heretofore-unseen area snaked with cords and wires. Not caring that all the snap-crackle-popping wasn't Rice Krispies, Ivy chucked Steffy's phone and slapped her with accusations. "You took Liam! You're trying to take Wyatt! You took Aly!" (Well, two out of three, Ivy, I've got to give you that.)

Then, as if a throwback to Aly's fatal confrontation, Steffy and Ivy got into a scuffle, with Steffy shoving Ivy away -- and into a cluster of live wires! Yep, it was like Australia Day fireworks, though one would assume those are real and not low-grade CGI sparks like the ones that assailed poor Ivy. The saucy Aussie quivered and jerked like a modern-day Frankenstein! And I guess Steffy must really have the kiss of death -- all her familial spats seem to end in body counts!

Wouldn't it be great if someone was around the corner filming this confrontation, the way Ivy did with Aly's? It almost might be fun to watch Steffy get blackmailed a second time. What did you think of B&B's "shocking" development? Are you enjoying the pentangle, or has the power gone out on it? Charge up your opinions in the Comments section below or on the Soap Central message boards, or simply click here to submit feedback. Your comments could wind up in a future column! Like these!

• "If Maya was making everything about herself [as you implied in your column]...she wouldn't have put money in her mom's purse...I feel like some people actually don't understand what Maya's statement [about the horrible things Julius said during her wedding] was about. What Maya meant by that is that scars may not go away that easy but she does know that her father loves her and that's what important...I thought her inviting them was a good thing and she was making an effort. But I guess she can never do right [in] the eyes [of] some people." -- Jimmy

• "I don't know if Brooke or Katie were scratching their heads about no Logan mention [at Thanksgiving]. After all, in Eric's mind, Brooke is a Forrester and never stopped being a member of his family...the glaring omission, though, was at least an explanation of where Donna is....even Thorne got a mention...but Donna's putting on a cloak of invisibility hasn't even gotten a side remark.." -- Scott

• "Steffy the scarlet woman, first with the Spencer father then chasing the Spencer son while he was involved with another woman. She shouldn't be riding such a high horse." -- Patricia

Now, plug in to some Points to Ponder:

Spoilers said there would be an electrical fire at Forrester, but it looks like the shocking is limited to Ivy. Too bad -- B&B could use a Y&R-style disaster... "I'm not trying to attack you," Steffy insisted to Ivy. And you know, for all Steffy's past hostility toward her sort-of cousin, she seemed genuine here. It's also interesting that Steffy and Wyatt really do seem like friends now, closer than they've ever been...

"Ivy's designs are getting wild," Wyatt beamed, the sketches obviously a nod to the surge in Ivy's Thomas-related hormones. It would have been really cool to actually see those designs... Thomas virtually made a date with flaxen model Helen. Isn't the no-dating-the-models policy instituted in 1995 still in place?... "We were best friends first," Wyatt marveled regarding the origin of his and Ivy's relationship. No, they weren't! They barely knew each other...

At least we now know where Carter was at Thanksgiving -- with friends, and with a date... "Hope put Liam and Wyatt through the wringer," Bill grunted to Katie. Guess Bill forgot how he put Hope through the wringer, locking her in gondolas and siccing paparazzi on her... When Quinn asked Thomas if he was trying to make her blush, he smirked, "I imagine that would be a first for you." Bazinga!

"Trust me," Liam told Ivy when she spoke of her wandering lips, "I am no saint in that department." How refreshing it was to hear Liam admit that! At least he and Steffy were still trying to arrange their wedding; so much better than the instant ceremonies a lot of our couples get... After Ivy collapsed from her electrocution, Steffy screamed out for help. Why didn't she grab her phone and call 9-1-1 as well?

Chanel will be back with you the next two columns. When you next "see" me, it will be just after Christmas, when I will unwrap my Best & Worst of 2015 present for you. However you celebrate the holiday, may it be a joyous one. Keep watching, be alert, and most of all, be bold!

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