The many faces of Sheila Carter

Sheila! Past, present, and future collided this week after the appearance of B&B's notorious naughty nurse and a visit from a Sharpe shooter! Go cray cray with Mike's extra-long Two Scoops!

Has your week been bold and beautiful? Did you discover that Logo was your favorite network? Did you auto-repeat The Tide Is High? Did you face the music with your old face? These and more situations faced the Forrester-Logan-Spencer-Spectra clan this week!

Oh, YES, Scoopers! That's me raising my right eyebrow and tucking my hair behind my ear, because my fondest, longest-held soap dreams came true this week with the smack-you-between-the-eyes return of my all-time favorite character, the infamous Sheila Carter. But before I could even process that, my jaw and hormones dropped from the sexy swagger of Freaky Deaky at his freakiest! Let's Scoop about it!

BRANDIN' IRON

Oh, did Steffy and the storyless Liam have lunch with Tally? Thomas' redhead needs some Nice 'n Easy for her roots and to stop apologizing. "I stole from you," blah blah blah. She's sincere but also a broken record. And Steffy may be right for questioning Sally's motives regarding Thomas, but that's getting old, too. Liam thought Steffy's handling of Sally was impressive when all his wife did was hurl accusations at her!

Sally marveled over Thomas' innovation at Spectra -- a neat dovetail when you consider Adam Gregory's Thomas tried to bring online shopping and other millennial upgrades to Forrester in 2010-2011. I liked his new Spectra logo, but it made my heart hurt a bit to think of ditching the now-tacky blue oval and pink triangle. Has to be done, I guess, but it makes me want to hug Darlene Conley, albeit spectrally. See what I did there?

GETTING A HIGH-RISE OUT OF YOU

Crikey, is Bill still stroking his phallic skyscraper? That might have washed when he was frustrated, but he's got Brooke in honeymoon mode now. Nice to see her new stepsons are just as snarky as ever; I could watch this version of Liam and Wyatt all day. But why, when Ridge remarked that Brooke looked happy, did she counter with "I'm committed to my husband"? That can only mean she isn't. Back to the skyscraper, Bill.

KATIE'S GOT A GUN

But never mind all that! B&B injected my DVR with new life by dialing down the triangles and dialing up some serious action! Gunplay! Suspects! It's just that it came on so suddenly, and more than a little incredulously. Charlie gives his gun to Pam, and she leaves it on a chair for Katie to grab because she got fired from a job she knows in her transplanted heart she's not qualified for? What the actual hell?

That's right, Miss Clearasil of 1987 waved a gun in Quinn's face like an old pro. What, after nine years of having brother Storm's heart in her chest, she assimilated his equally rapid turn to the dark side? Have to tell you, though, Heather Tom slayed every scene, to the point I could almost ignore the implausibility of them. All this foolishness over keeping four kisses between Ridge and Quinn a secret? This story needs slayed.

Like C&C Music Factory, Katie's loathing of Quinn was a thing that made me go "Hmm." Some have suggested Katie was projecting her fury over Brooke and Bill onto Quinn, which would fit, considering she got over that fairly quickly. Soon a bullet zinged onto the never-before-seen outdoor Forrester balcony (it was always an indoor set before; nice reimagining), but Katie had a bull's-eye on her back for making Quinn a target!

DON'T BLINK AND DON'T LOOK AWAY!

Katie took a ride downtown, as they say -- gratifying, since Rick never even got questioned for actually firing a gun at Ridge and Caroline. But Quinn thought she saw Katie in her binocs and went to her neighbor, not planning to borrow sugar. Instead of finding Katie, Quinn caught a strange woman at her nemesis' pad. Quinn's "Who are you?" led to the most epic B&B reveal in ages. One word said it all: "Sheila!"

Only the day of did I hear a rumor that Ms. Carter was back, but I didn't believe it. When I saw it, I felt a rush of elation; I practically had tears in my eyes, and my mouth gaped open so wide a Mack truck could have driven through it. My hat's off to you, B&B. You pulled that secret off! And I haven't had much of a chance to say it in my seven and a half years of Scooping, but Sheila is my jam. She's what truly got me hooked on the show!

I'm going to be very candid here. Having spent the second half of my childhood in a chaotic alcoholic environment, I had a lot of anger to work through in my 20s. In a strange way, Sheila helped me deal with it. I shared that with Tracey Bregman (Lauren) at a fan event, and I think I freaked her out a bit! I recall Kimberlin Brown was less shocked; when I met her, I told her my idea to play her brother, Sam Carter, and she agreed we looked like siblings!

"Don't blink and don't look away" was the catchphrase of B&B's promos in the mid-'90s, but it took on new meaning as Sheila turned to face the camera. Speaking of faces...well, we'll get to that. First, I want to dig into some serious Sheila, just to enjoy the memories and hip anyone who started watching B&B after 2003 (and/or Y&R after 2007). Paragraphs I've wanted to write here for years! Oh, joy, oh bliss unabounding!

PUTTING ON A NEW FACE

I wasn't watching Y&R when Sheila made her 1990 debut; I must have caught onto the naughty nurse on B&B in late 1992, but it wasn't until her return-from-the-dead February sweeps shocker on Y&R in 1993 that I was all in. I remember having to tape both shows overnight in 1995 during that whole O.J. Simpson thing. I had scads of VHS tapes full of Sheila until even last year, when I finally digitized them.

For all the crazy things Sheila is remembered for, my true Sheila sweet spot was her 1992-1998 run on B&B. She tried so hard to be good, to rise above her criminal past with Lauren, but just couldn't quite pull it off. Sheila went to jail and was even sexually assaulted; the show had to gloss over it, but Ulma and Jeri did her over with a nightstick. Eventually, in 1998, Sheila shot Stephanie and drove off with baby Mary. What an era!

But something happened when Sheila made a similarly hush-hush return in 2002. The scripts rendered her cartoonish. The nuances were gone. The woman who had never killed anyone on purpose (therapist Jay Garvin was an accident) suddenly turned a swarm of bees loose on day-player Lance, whom Sheila had paid to seduce Amber; Sheila's Miracle-Gro daughter, Erica (formerly Mary), wanted Amber's husband, Rick.

And yes, people always say, "But Sheila shot Taylor and Brooke!" No, she didn't. Not on purpose, anyway. Watch it on YouTube; the gun went off as Sheila and Taylor struggled over it, and again when Eric and Brooke tried to take it away from her. Sheila looked horrified both times. So nobody better give me nothin' about Sheila popping a cap in B&B's Ridge-duelers like she was picking off plastic ducks at a carnival. Didn't happen!

What I really wish didn't happen was Sheila's 2003 return, which had her kidnapping Ridge in South America after his latest wedding to Brooke. Sheila not only had cohort Sugar behind her but also a team of bad hombres. Sheila used Diana, her supposed baby with Ridge's biodad Massimo, as a human shield then brawled with Brooke while Nick and Ridge lassoed the Latinos. It felt more like DAYS than B&B!

Sheila returned to Genoa City in 2005, where she tormented Lauren anew, and we got a peek into Sheila's insanity with her taunting reflections in mirrors. Sheila redeemed herself a little by pushing Lauren out of a collapsed bomb shelter to safety; her last line on Y&R was to a plastic surgeon: "I want you to make me look like this." Surely that was just a teaser and nothing either show would have Sheila go through with.

A year later, Sheila got a Phyllis Summers makeover! It culminated with Lauren facing down two Phyllises with a gun; after Lauren fired, the dying Sheila said Lauren had shot the wrong one. Sheila was dead. In 2009, teen troublemakers Ryder and Daisy showed up saying Sheila was their mother, and by 2010, Sheila's unheard-of sister, Sarah Smythe, showed up with Lauren's face. Yet on B&B, Sheila's visiting partner in crime, Mike Guthrie, spoke as if Sheila were still alive.

SHEILA CARTER GAVE GOOD FACE

And that's the baggage that Sheila returned with. I've said all along that it wasn't Sheila who got Phyllis' face, but Sugar, since Sugar had already gotten Sheila's face to begin with (stay with me). I must have been right, unless Sheila survived Lauren's bullet and had a surgeon restore her original face. Sheila even said there had been rumors about an identity change!

So B&B addressed it, though there are still some blanks to fill. Newer viewers wouldn't know, but almost all of Sheila's scenes were punctuated with the old '90s music cues that underscored her adventures two decades ago. A killer touch. And the flashbacks! The show didn't just dust off the infamous scenes; they even brought back moments only us diehards would know. I needed a napkin, I had so many geekgasms.

It's also killer that Sheila came back rehabilitated. At least I hope she is; Quinn made that same claim by texting Wyatt she'd done the institution thing. Wasn't true, obvi. I hope the show confirms Sheila's journey. Quinn seemed so not shocked by Sheila's reveal, I was sure they were sisters, but it seems they were total strangers. I'm just glad Sheila's on the straight and narrow. My dream storyline is a bold and beautiful reality!

GEESE AND GANDERS

Quinn came home, scratching her head over her encounter with stranger Sheila, but Eric's radar pinged as soon as he heard the name. Eric recalled his history-making marriage to his own Sheila and regaled Quinn with long-forgotten deets. "Trouble, huh?" Quinn remarked. "Like me." "No, not like you," Eric replied. "Sheila was dangerous." How's that Kool-Aid, Eric? Even Sheila never made a sword to kill somebody!

"I've dealt with that kind of a woman before," Eric grunted. Exactly! This only cements what I said when Eric first got with Quinn -- he never would, because of his experience with Sheila! Quinn pushes people off bridges and cliffs. Quinn took entire chapters out of Sheila's playbook, and Eric showed Ms. Fuller compassion. Surely Eric's years would lead him to show Ms. Carter the same compassion. Right? Right?

Nope! From the time Katie ratted Sheila out to Eric to the time Sheila was booked, Eric showed his ex-psycho no mercy. That would have made sense pre-Quinn, but he can't give Quinn a free pass only to demonize the woman who blazed Quinn's crazy trail. What, Quinn didn't do any of her dirt to Eric directly, so it's okay? I think Eric needs to take several seats and have them upholstered while he's at it.

STRANGERS THEN FICTION

At Casa Katie, the youngest Logan sib had barely processed her gun residue testing when she was gobsmacked by Sheila entering from her terrace! Katie grabbed a fire poker to protect herself from the woman who'd hurt people she loved! Whoa, Trigger! The only times Katie was around when Sheila was on B&B's canvas was when Katie worked at Insomnia or attended one of Brooke's weddings. Katie does not know Sheila!

Sheila hoped to make amends with the Forrester-Logans and wanted Katie to be her go-between. "She's always been so friendly," Sheila admitted twice when Eric questioned her choice. Katie and Sheila's scenes were cool in that they were like a parallel universe in which Y&R's Victoria Newman crossed paths with Sheila. But you'd think Sheila would flinch at the sight of a fire poker, given she was impaled by one in 1996.

And don't get me started on the Spencer men. At least Bill and Wyatt struggled to remember specifics about Sheila, but Liam was able to laundry list her misdeeds. "You should hear the stories Steffy told me," Liam whewed. Please! Steffy wasn't even born when Sheila was around regularly, and pre-K when Sheila shot Steffy's mom and kidnapped her dad. Does Steffy have total recall of Morgan dying her hair red, too?

Taylor did get a peripheral mention when Ridge told Quinn, "[Sheila] obsesses on my dad and then shoots people." And glory be, Ridge even recalled Stephanie's fake heart attack. Too bad the accuracy wasn't across the board, but it was a higher percentage than usual. Lt. Baker's screen actually listed Sheila as a Forrester and a Warwick! He was on the case when Sheila blew town in '98. And he didn't even have a hot dog this time.

NUMBER ONE WITH A BULLET

Wyatt was so cheesed off by Bill and Liam's cavalier attitude about moving target Quinn that he cried, "Does no one care that my mother could end up dead?" Wyatt understood that Quinn was no Girl Scout, telling Liam, "What she did to you alone!" and adding Hope, Ivy, and Steffy to Quinn's victim list. B&B kind of swept Quinn's rap sheet under the rug after Queric, so it's nice to see the truth acknowledged.

Interestingly, Quinn confessed to Ridge that as a child, she'd often feared her mother would kill her. The only other time Quinn ever revealed a chunk of her childhood was when "Adam" was a captive audience. Thinking her shooter was in custody, Quinn ventured back out to the balcony, where the first bullet hole was still smoking when four new shots rang out! Quinn stopped, dropped, and rolled like an old-school fire drill!

Seeing Quinn scrambling across the floor in terror, I couldn't help thinking karma had finally been served up in multiple sterling silver dishes. No doubt that's just how Liam felt when Quinn menacingly spooked him, kicked him in his sprained ankle, and sat atop him with a giant saber. Katie was right: Quinn had gotten away with everything, so I was grateful to see payment coming due at long last.

NOT THE SHARPE-ST KNIFE IN THE DRAWER

But Quinn's comeuppance was only beginning. While Sheila got put in the pokey for violating a restraining order no one knew was still in effect, Quinn looked up from her cowering to see the sexier-than-ever Deacon strolling in! I'd have stayed on my knees, too. But I digress. Trying to warn her ex-husband a shooter was on the loose, Quinn looked around for a wagon and discovered that Deacon wasn't on it.

Deacon soon traded his trademark sass (which Bill fully stole, by the way) and went grizzly bear on Quinn, reminding her she'd made him take the Nestea plunge and left him to die! YES!! "My whole life, I've been treated like I was nothing," Deacon growled, calling to mind the fact his stepfather used to beat him. The former bartender regretted thinking Quinn was different and said Hope, Liam, and Bill all wanted her dead!

Deacon wasn't a postal worker, but he was so disgruntled that Quinn quickly realized Deacon hadn't called 9-1-1. The sequence was genuinely suspenseful; I almost thought I was watching a different show. Then Deacon whipped it out -- a gun, I mean! I knew Sheila hadn't tried to kill Quinn! The crafty Carter was an easy go-to; though B&B telegraphed Deacon's involvement too quickly, it was still quite a twist.

CALL ME 'COUPON' 'CUZ I'M REDEEMED

And the twists weren't done. Katie, who graduated from Brill spycams to Quidge telescopes, took another peek across the hills. I see England, I see France, I see Deacon pulling a gun from his pants! Katie texted Ridge to save the woman she herself might have offed a couple of weeks ago. I was honestly afraid for a moment that Deacon was going to kill himself. Sean Kanan took one scene and thoroughly owned it!

Before Mr. Sharpe could turn his ex-wife into a real ex, Ridge ran over and punched Deacon in the face! Not the first time Deacon met with the dressmaker's fist, but the first time it was in the form of Thorsten Kaye. I'd have LOLed if Deacon had said Ridge looked different. Instead, Quinn looked at Ridge with admiration, and Brooke and Katie exchanged Quidgeful glances. Oh, no. Is this going to keep the Quidge fires burning?

I'm not sure how Deacon sobered up in the few minutes he was out cold, but I guess it could happen. He didn't remember aiming a loaded gun, since he'd been loaded. I felt bad for him as he was led away in handcuffs but nearly cheered when Quinn wailed that Deacon had tried to kill her, only for Deacon to yell, "You tried to kill me first!" Ridge looked at Quinn like, "You did?" The truth about the cliff-dive is finally out. About time.

Deacon found one last moment to hit on Katie (what a pair they'd make!), but his two-day, all-too-short stint (#FreeDeacon) made it possible for Quinn to finally get hers, which had been overdue for a very long time. Oh, and Brooke commented that Ridge and Quinn were forever bonded because he had saved her. And Quinn privately told Ridge she loved him. Good, we got that out of the way. I couldn't care less!

Eric had so much egg on his face, learning Sheila wasn't the shooter, that he was tempted to send Quinn out for some bacon to go with it. What I don't get is, why didn't Lt. Baker pull up Sheila's prison record? Admittedly, Sheila could have been fibbing about serving time; the hot dog-eating po-po should have confirmed it. In any case, only Sheila's restraining order violation was on the table now. Eric holds Sheila's fate in his hands!

It was an epic week on B&B, the likes of which I haven't seen for a dozen years or more. Talk about #Bold30 goodness! Keep it comin' -- we've still got six months to go! And I hope we get more concrete info about where Sheila's been and why she has her own face. I can't see that whole Pheila nonsense retconned fast enough. And forget her Y&R insta-kids -- let's bring Mary home to visit, with James in tow while we're at it!

What did you think of the double whammy of Sheila and Deacon? Fire away 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!

"Let's all give a round of applause to #BoldandtheBeautiful -- what a week!" -- Cheryl

"I don't understand why people are questioning Eric's 'cluelessness' -- just because the audience knows what is going on doesn't translate to the character on screen. Eric is not suspicious because he believes (and with good reason) that any tension between Ridge/Quinn is caused by their mutual dislike and an effort to get along. Why in the world would he make a leap to them having an affair? -- Eileen

"I want to see angry Eric for a while, everybody is treating him like a doddering old man rather than a GOOD older man who has reservoirs of strength. I don't like the way they are writing Eric always just walking into rooms when things have just 'happened.'" -- "evave2"

Chanel's back next week, and I need a cigarette after Sheila's awesomeness and Deacon's hotness. Was it good for you? It was good for me! See you in two weeks -- keep watching, be alert, and most of all, be bold. And remember, now more than ever, no matter color, creed, religion, gender identity, or orientation, we're all beautiful.

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