The great American handoff

Thomas thought he scored a touchdown in the divorce game that no one but Hope wanted to play. But Zoe fumbled the ball when she let Xander hear the truth about Phoebeth! Play referee with Two Scoops' Mike!

Has your week been bold and beautiful? Did you come out of mothballs to make an annulment announcement? Did your store tell you your husband coupon had expired? Did your bae's confession shock the accent right out of you? These and more situations faced the Forrester-Logan-Spencer-Avant-Buckingham-Fulton clan this week!

That's a wrap on May, Scoopers! And it ended in true Sweeps style, with Xander getting the 4-1-1 on his ex-cousin-in-law's niece. (I think that's right.) Speaking of cousins, Maya made a rare appearance to pull a Bridge and talk about Lope's marital status. In the middle of all this, Thomas tried to act all cool, and Liam and Hope tried to act like their Italian wedding was their real one! Mamma mia! Let's Scoop about it!

DR. STEFFY TO THE RESCUE

Continuing their baby bonding, Hope and Steffy forgot all about once pelting each other with chocolate and remarked how sweet it was that Phoebe and Hope were "genetically linked" because of Uncle Storm being Flo's father. Yet despite Hope's deep connection to Phoebe, Hope knew the girl was Steffy's daughter, and it was unhealthy for her to be so attached. That's why Hope had to be there for Douglas.

I wonder about that! I think if Steffy allowed Hope 24-7 access to Phoebe, Hope would be like, "Douglas who?" Not that Hope doesn't care for the boy, but he's only a placeholder for Phoebe, who is sadly a placeholder for Beth. As Hope actually said she had begun to accept that loss, Steffy offered a heartfelt "I'm so sorry," but tempered it with a little tough love that went in one of Hope's ears and out the other.

Twice during the week, Steffy suggested that Hope try again for a baby with Liam -- failing that, Hope could adopt. Hope rejected the notion, which seemed a little harsh, considering she was sitting there talking to an adoptive mother. "How could I justify adopting a child to see if it holds my marriage together?" Hope wanted to know. No, Hope instead begged Steffy to convince Liam to move into Steffy's Daycare.

Hope essentially dumped everything Steffy ever wanted right into her lap. Steffy, however, didn't bite. "But I made my choice -- I chose myself!" Woo-hoo! I love that Steffy is holding to this decision. She clearly still loves Liam but is okay with not having him, and she doesn't seem to want him back under these circumstances. Steffy also seemed to sense Hope wasn't firing on all cylinders, albeit out of grief.

"Hope, don't do this," came Steffy's attempt to reason with Hope. "Phoebe doesn't need that kind of sacrifice." Hope's worrisome reply? "Maybe I need it." Hope expressed a similar sentiment when she implored Steffy to make a home with Liam and the girls because Hope needed it. Notice the pattern here? Hope thinks she's being selfless, but she's actually being selfish without even realizing it.

TWO PATHS DIVERGED IN A WOOD

Meanwhile, Brooke and Ridge went into Episode Two of wondering why, as the show's only existing supercouple, they don't have their own storyline. Well, actually, they were both wondering why the other didn't share their opinion on Hope's decision to tank her marriage. It reminded me of 2011-2012, when almost all Bridge convos went the same way. At least we don't have to hear about Hope's virginity this time.

Their debate was calm enough as Ridge reminded Brooke they'd agreed not to fight about their kids, but things got heated when Ridge said, in regard to Hope's marriage, "If something isn't working, you have to move on." Ridge would know about moving on from marriages, wouldn't he! Just as Brooke knows about fighting for marriages (sometimes unfairly!); she reminded her destiny they both knew a little bit about that.

Brooke couldn't believe Ridge had come to think that Hope should throw in the towel, and she smartly wondered if Thomas had gotten to him. I wonder why Ridge didn't admit his son had? Brooke knew Thomas had Hope's ear and suspected he was up to his eyeballs in Hope's determination to set Liam free for the sake of the children. It's too bad Ridge swung over to Thomas' side so easily.

Assuming Bridge agreed to disagree, Ridge made his way to Steffy's, offering some cute remarks about his sleeping granddaughters and wasting no time trying to wear Steffy down about Liam. Would Taylor be proud! Did the Tay-Tay get one of Stefano DiMera's mind control devices from Days of our Lives? As I've said before, Ridge was no stranger to shipping Steam, but 2019 had him firmly on Hope's side.

Until now. Steffy's resolve did seem to weaken a bit under Ridge's Steam championing, but she rebounded with a hearty "Dad, I am focused on myself and my girls!" Steffy's play-acted at being strong before, but she's really holding her own here, and Ridge should be beside himself with pride. Maybe he's just so used to bouncing between Brooke and Taylor that Steffy's choice is foreign to him.

Brooke, on the other hand, barged into Forrester, where Liam was hanging out for no particular reason, and exclaimed, "Has everybody lost their minds?" I've kind of been wondering the same thing lately, Brooke; it's not just you. But then Brooke, very sincerely and without the slightest bit of irony, took Liam to task, admonishing, "You can't treat love like musical chairs!"

La Logan might want to spray some Windex on those glass houses! Of course, Ridge did most of the musical chairs playing, so maybe her words are a reflection on her own experience with him. Brooke and Liam agreed that Thomas was sticking his abs where they didn't belong, but they had differing opinions on whether Liam should fight for his marriage.

"I know you're conflicted," Brooke acknowledged. Huh? Actually, for maybe the first time since he started on the show in 2010, Liam isn't conflicted! He wants to remain Hope's husband. Maybe the conflict became clearer when Liam later told Wyatt he was torn between holding tight to Hope and honoring her wish to leave him; it just wasn't obvious during Liam's chat with Brooke.

I JUST WANT YOUR EXTRA TIME AND YOUR...KISS

Hope finally got a moment alone, and it seemed both she and I needed the release of her crying...until Thomas and Douglas interrupted. I wouldn't be surprised if this Thomas is tracking Hope through her cell phone. Douglas squeed and proclaimed that Hope hugged just like Mommy! Which isn't unusual, because apparently, to Douglas, Hope does everything like Mommy. Did Hope cast Maya in softcore porn like Mommy?

Seriously, Hope recalled that Caroline loved putting smiles on people's faces; Dougie-Doug might want to ask Maya about that. While we're at it, Thomas sure wasn't smiling when Caroline lied that she was dying. But, oh well. Thomas shipped Douglas off to Pam (why is she at the Logan house? And the poor kid'll develop diabetes from that steady diet of lemon bars), then tried to put a smile on his own face.

Going off on a gushy tangent Hope probably would have been able to see through were she not still so vulnerable, Thomas pulled Hope into a hug and quickly made the transition to full-on liplock! Hope looked like she was ready to hork! Liam's right: Hope may have come to love Douglas, but she'll never love Thomas. Despite Hope pushing him away, Thomas tried more smooth-talking regarding Douglas.

It was all white noise to me, and conceivably Hope, until he popped off with, "Makes me love you even more." Thomas needs the complete set of those He's Just Not That Into You books for his birthday. Ironically, this reminds me of Taylor putting off second choice Thorne when she was pregnant with and had just given birth to Thomas. It all comes back around, doesn't it?

"You can't have expectations of me," Hope insisted to Thomas. I almost feel bad for the guy except for the delusional way he's gone after Hope. You're never gonna get me to believe he was pining for Hope while he was with Sally. Maybe Thomas better call Uncle Thorne for advice -- the same Thorne who wondered if Thomas was gay. If Thomas had just gotten with Oliver like I wanted, none of this would be happening.

THAT'S ITALIAN?

Finally alone together at the cabin, Hope and Liam had another conversation about untying the knot. I swear, at the current rate, this discussion is going to be longer than their actual marriage. Liam rightly reminded Hope, "You don't have to tear us apart to do right by [the children]...we can figure this out together." No, Hope grabbed her crinkled sonogram and gently said it was her way and the highway.

His repeated cries of "Say what?" not getting through, Liam decided to do what any imperiled husband would do: make dinner. What is it about couples on this show, having one last romantic meal together? I sure as hell wouldn't be able to eat, knowing I was going to be single after dessert. I remember Zende did this with Nicole, too, though he saved the dumping for the dinner itself.

Liam pulled out a thesaurus and asked Hope to look up the synonyms for "love." There, pressed between those pages, were some olive leaves from Puglia. What a nice touch! For my readers who started watching after 2012, Puglia, Italy, is where Hope and Liam almost got married. Almost. A fact Hope and Liam themselves seemed to forget as they reminisced about "our wedding."

Amid pictures, wide shots, and shots from behind, we were shown Liam's Italian nuptials with Kim Matula's Hope; you can make her out in the photo if you freeze-frame it. There's only one problem: while Hope and Liam did exchange vows in Puglia, Hope refused to sign the papers after finding out Liam kissed Steffy due to Hope being delayed by a freshly-broken-out-of-prison Deacon.

So, yeah, Lope had a ceremony, but it was never made official; their one and only valid marriage didn't happen until last summer. Yet they're both acting like they got married in 2012 and have been married ever since! Did we do all this just so we could show off some long-on-the-shelf clips from Puglia? For all that, Liam got all boo-hoo letting Hope go, and Scott Clifton did a great job of making me feel Liam's heartache.

YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT

Steffy had told Hope that just because Hope was presenting Liam gift-wrapped, "that doesn't mean he and I are getting back together." Liam told Hope he didn't see a way forward without her. But Hope wouldn't budge, and she asked Steffy if Liam could squat in her guest room, practically moving his tofu in for him. Steffy made her neck work as if to say "nuh-uh," reminding Hope, "it's not what anyone wants -- including you."

"We're not done here," Steffy said as she went to check on the babies. I love that Steffy is holding firm and doing the fighting for Lope's marriage that Hope isn't doing. Actually, it's kind of a brilliant twist to the tired Leffy/Lope trope -- Hope is the only one who wants to do this handoff; no one else is willing to put on the uniform. Well, except Thomas, who finally thought to bring Douglas over to see his aunt.

No matter how much awww!-inspiring fussing Steffy did over Douglas (which you know was something if it got to a cynic like me), Douglas piped up that he loved Hope! Even Steffy had to wonder if Douglas was coached, a subject I thought she'd get around to while she and Thomas inexplicably left the preschooler alone with two infants. Maybe Douglas'll come out of the room a teenager?

Cutting the small talk, Steffy brought the topic of sibling conversation around to Hope, which Thomas jumped on. He loved Hope, and he'd always loved Hope! Steffy was only surprised that she didn't have to drag that admission out of him. Man, too bad Steffy didn't remind Thomas he'd been gaga over Hope in Mexico when they'd tried to keep Hope and Liam apart and that his pursuit had crashed like Steffy's ATV.

If one person could clue Thomas in that Hope doesn't love him and never will, it's Steffy, and I'm disappointed Steffy didn't get up in his grill about inserting himself into Lope's marriage. Naturally, Steffy doesn't have all the information; Hope never told her or anyone else about "Caroline's" letter and the effect it had on her. That the letter is being kept secret is either significant or an entirely missed beat.

No, instead of smacking her bro upside the head, Steffy swallowed his spoon-fed "We have to be honest about everything" lie, and lost a couple bricks in her I-choose-me wall as Thomas called Steffy out on her reason for hanging that huge picture of her and Liam. A reunion with Liam could happen, Thomas marveled! No, Steffy, don't do it! Don't drink Thomas' Kool-Aid! I don't care how much Vitamin C it's fortified with.

A "FLYATT" ON THE WALL

While all this was happening, Wyatt ran into Flo at the Forrester mansion, somehow forgetting she was living there now. As it happened, Eric and Quinn had ventured up north to some spa, and Shauna had driven back to Vegas to pick up some more of her and Flo's things. Which meant Flo and Wyatt were all alone. I still think someone lives there we've forgotten about. And what about any maids? Where's poor Maria?

I won't bore you with the details of what happened next -- suffice it to say Wyatt and Flo took a dip in the pool and then took a dip in each other. It was all supposed to be terribly romantic and sexy. It wasn't. It's not like Sally and Wyatt made an agreement that they would see other people. Wyatt just decided he was going to see other people; he and Sally aren't even officially broken up!

"I don't even know where we stand, exactly," Wyatt admitted to Liam. Exactly! We've gone from marriages breaking up off-screen (re: Raya) to relationships not breaking up on-screen. Even Flo had a moment of clarity as she asked about Sally, but the second she saw Wyatt's chest, she was all about rolling around in the sheets with him. I'm sorry, but gross. Under the circumstances, these two are just gross.

So, we were into the third day of this foolishness when suddenly things got very interesting. After Flo showed off her "30 Rocks" (get it? Katrina Bowden was on 30 Rock), she admitted she'd had other boyfriends since Wyatt, but they'd meant nothing. Wyatt was intrigued. One of the boyfriends had to have meant something, because she'd been pregnant!

Wow, that was out of the blue! But in the best kind of way. Flo's afterglow got ice water poured on it as Wyatt wanted to know who Phoebe's father was! Flo managed to skate around answering but rather tipped her hand when Wyatt checked his phone and found a text from Liam reporting that his marriage to Hope was over. Hey, didn't Liam ask Wyatt to be discreet about that? Yet the first thing he did was blab to Flo!

Well, Flo's negative reaction was so strong that even Wyatt pinged despite being brain-dead lately. Unfortunately, Wyatt went back into his self-induced coma, abruptly uttering a contradictory statement: "I keep bringing up sensitive subjects, but you've got to leave it in the past." Huh? Dude, Flo fully dropped bread crumbs in the forest for you, and you walked the other way instead of following them.

MAYA CON DIOS, MY DARLING

On a new day at Forrester Creations, Zoe and Xander seemed to be the only ones working. He couldn't understand why his girlfriend always seemed a thousand miles away. Flo joined her new coworkers in scheduling models or something, when who should come sashaying through the office door? Maya! By the way, why do the interns always work out of the CEO's office? 'Cause the CEOs are never there?

No matter -- Maya was back! We hadn't seen her since January! And she finally spilled about why she and Rick split up. Just kidding -- Maya instead dished that Liam and Hope were splitting up! On the true tip, they brought Maya back just so she could talk about Lope. Oh, and it gets better. Speaking about Hope's stillbirth, Maya declared, "if I had lost Lizzy, I would have walked into a room and never come out!"

Maya, sweetie, I know you've been gone a lot, so let's review: you couldn't have lost Lizzy, because Nicole gave birth to her, not you! And if you consider losing a child so devastating, how come you never mention the "daughter" you actually had who you found out died when you first started the show? That was just a weird way to insert Maya into a storyline; she should be reflecting today's transgender issues instead.

I HEAR THE SECRETS THAT YOU KEEP

Zoe did her best to actually stick to business, such as training Flo for the unspecified job she has at Forrester. But Flo couldn't concentrate, knowing they were responsible for Hope leaving Liam! "We're the ones who should be suffering the consequences, not them," Flo lamented. That may be the truest thing Flo has ever said. They had to do something! Zoe admitted they might have to take some sort of action.

Apparently forgetting (again) that they'd made a pact to Krazy Glue their mouths shut on the issue, Flo blurted Beth's name out loud right there in Forrester's primary office. And, for whatever reason, Xander returned and slowly turned the doorknob as if he were sneaking in. Wouldn't he have knocked on the door or simply let himself in, if interns have free reign at the design house?

What Xander heard next was enough to bring his British accent back! "It" was the ugliest thing she had ever done, Zoe confessed. Given we still don't know specifically what shady ish she pulled in England to drive Xander away, Xander must have thought whatever Zoe was talking about was pretty bad. "I wear a stain on my soul that I will carry to my dying day," Zoe continued. Very poetic, dear.

It was all Xander could do not to take a dump right there in the doorway when he heard Zoe reiterate to Flo that Beth was alive and that they had to keep quiet about it! Well, you knew the ladies' debating about that in not-very-careful places was going to get them snagged. Xander cornered Zoe alone in the office and ordered her to answer the question, "Beth's alive?"

Xander couldn't quite make up his mind what to think. He asked, "Beth is alive?" no less than three times, yet said things like, "She was stillborn -- you know that. Why would you say something so outrageous?" He was so upset, his accent actually slipped out! (Guess Xander lost the lose-the-accent bet.) Zoe didn't make much sense, trying to explain things to him, but that felt organic, given the confrontation.

Eventually, Zoe told Xander the sordid story of how Reese had endangered himself and Zoe, racking up a gambling debt, and how he had switched Hope's baby with a dead one so he could drum up money via Beth's illegal adoption. Did Reese lie to Zoe, or did Zoe get her facts wrong? She told Xander that Reese needed $250K when he only needed $200K; he gave the rest to Flo, which Flo never mentions.

Kudos to Adain Bradley, because Xander actually looked like he was going to throw up as he took this nefarious news in. "Is that why you've been so upset?" he wailed. "Phoebe is actually Beth?" Yes, Zoe confirmed: Steffy was raising Hope's little girl. And it just occurs to me there's an intriguing parallel here -- it's not unlike Taylor raising Jack, the boy she gave birth to who came from Brooke's donated egg.

The only difference here is that Taylor found out Brooke was Jack's biological mother while Taylor was still in the hospital, recovering from labor. Hope, of course, has no idea Phoebeth is hers, but Xander wanted that to change real quick. "We have to tell Hope her baby's alive!" Xander argued, while Zoe probably wished her kitty Harry was still alive so she could sic him on Xander to stop him!

Brad Bell's own preview states that someone will die as a repercussion of this secret coming out. Who do you think it will be? What do you think of Hope being the only one who wants to torpedo her marriage (well, besides Thomas)? Do you find Flyatt sizzling or skanky? And do you think characters not involved in Phoebeth's saga should have their own stories? Go long 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!

"B&B [has gotten] so boring, it's the same show every day. I have watched B&B since it first aired and this is the worst story line. Get it over with and stop d r a g g i n g it out." -- Jeannie

"Most honest reactions I saw all week were Xander who looked like he either needed either bourbon or Pepto Bismol after learning Beth is alive & Steffy who mirrored the audience's sentiments perfectly with every eye roll & groan at Hope's Vision for the Future." -- "Miss Gracie"

"It's very obvious that therapy is needed for Hope's unreasonable ideas about what happens to marriages and what defines a family. No one is telling Hope that her line of thinking is childlike, and she really shouldn't be in an influential position over children and babies. She's unstable. Steffy should lock out all these crazies from her house until they figure it out. If she falls for Liam she's foolish...Thomas shouldn't be Douglas' role model. He's a fraud! He used a dead woman's writing to manipulate??? Scum. I like Flo's foundation as a nice innocent bystander, but her decisions at every turn make her seem super stupid. Wyatt is a hypocritical liar. Brooke, for a change, is the only one making sense. Amazing!" -- "VP Cole"

Chanel and I are back on rotation, which means she will do the Scooping next week, and I'll see you in two! Keep watching, be alert, and most of all, be bold. And remember: no matter color, creed, religion, gender identity, orientation, or nationality, we're all beautiful.

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