Boy, you better pump your brakes: Did Thomas actually kill Emma?

On B&B, love hurts; love kills. This week, when two Hope fans go head to head over their idol, the evil fanatic wins. Thomas' obsession with Hope snuffed out Emma's devotion, and now we're left wondering -- did Thomas really just kill Emma, and is there any HFTF this storyline will ever end?

The last time we scooped, we contemplated how many suckers who know the truth it would take to finally crack open the baby secret. This week, we got up to seven. With Emma overhearing a conversation between Zoe and Xander, we had a chance in storyline purgatory that the truth might actually set us free. Suddenly, the writers went all Agatha Christie on us, and then there were six.

Six suckers sit sealed in a pact of secrets and betrayal against the one woman everyone in Los Angeles claims is the most innocent person on earth. With friends like Hope's, there is no need for enemies. To make things worse, another innocent woman died trying to save Hope from a life of torment and sadness.

What will Shauna, Flo, Reese, Zoe, and Xander say when they learn that, for all their so-called protection of each other, someone died, and someone will go to prison, after all? I get the unseemly suspicion that all but Xander will shrug and say that at least it wasn't one of them. They will watch others mourn Emma, knowing full well that their own selfish chicanery led to her death, and if they can continue to get away with it, PhoeBeth will remain with Steffy.

If Emma's death doesn't rattle a conscience out of Flo, Zoe, or Xander, then principles and morals on this show died in that ravine with Emma, whose senseless death will be in vain. Will Hope ever know that her most loving fan died at the hands of her most vicious fan? Carter had better draw up the adoption papers. Douglas might become Hope's, after all, if Thomas has to answer for this crime. Maybe that's the "destiny" Thomas keeps predicting.

Meanwhile, Brooke and Ridge continued to disagree about Thomas and Hope. Brooke is rattled by Thomas' obsession with Hope -- probably because Brooke knows how "taboo" Thomas' obsessions can be. After Thomas took advantage of an incapacitated Caroline, one would think that Ridge would know it, too; however, Ridge, despite his wife's feelings, nudged Hope in Thomas' direction. Is Ridge a fool for destiny or a fool for his kids?

Hope is playing a dangerous game of Hokey Pokey with Thomas. She puts her whole self in when it comes to Douglas, but she takes her whole self out when Thomas tries to be romantic with her. She wants a future with Douglas, not Thomas, and all the Swamp Princess dresses in the world can't make Hope stop thinking about Beth and Liam.

Liam can't stop thinking about Hope, either, even though he is with Steffy and the girls, and his relationship with Bill is mending. It's proof of the old saying: you can lead a man to his ex, but you can't make him cheat. Liam is there for Steffy and the girls, but he's still married to Hope in his heart. Hope got her annulment; however, it didn't force Beth and Liam from Hope's heart. We're starting to see the obvious -- mothering Douglas won't heal Hope.

Let's get two scoops deep into whether Emma's crash was an accident or murder. We'll ponder who really should get the blame: Thomas for running Emma off the road or Zoe for siccing creepy Thomas on Emma, knowing full well what he's capable of.

Is Hope really trying to see where it goes with Thomas or just leading him on to get face time with Douglas? And who the hell told Wyatt he could invite Flo to Steffy's house without her permission? Oh, yeah, that houseguest who already overstayed his welcome, this week on the Bold and the Beautiful.

Steffy's loved ones tout her strength and endurance, and with good reason. Her fortitude knows no end. Here she is, raising two babies, running a company her brother is dreaming of snatching out from under her, and taking care of a wounded stray ex-husband who got put out of his latest marriage faster than Wyatt sent Bu the Cat packing.

In the midst of it all, Steffy is flooded with uninvited guests at all hours of the day. On the show this week, one day lasted an entire week. In the morning, Bill and Katie showed up unannounced with baby gifts in exchange for forgiveness. Gourmet chocolate chip cookies for a one-year-old, Bill? He must want Kelly to skip the molars and go straight to cavities. By the way, happy birthday, Kelly, from the writers who forgot you were born in June.

Liam and Bill hugged and made up, but it was awkward for Liam to be in the same room with Bill and Steffy. What was awkward for viewers, though, was listening to Hope's aunt try to sell Liam on the idea that Hope actually wants Liam with Steffy. If Katie had actually spent any real time helping Hope through her issues, as Katie had promised to, she'd know that even though Hope told Liam to move to the cliff house, Hope is still crying for Beth and now crying for Liam, too.

But then again, which of Hope's loved ones, besides Brooke, Liam, and dead Emma, ever actually looks out for Hope instead of themselves?

In the afternoon, Steffy was ready for a family day at the beach, but she didn't suspect that "family" included PhoeBeth's so-called birth mother, Flo. It was Liam's dimwitted idea to invite Wyatt because Wyatt would obviously get the even more dimwitted idea to invite Flo. If these men had two brain cells to rub together, we'd get a garbage explosion.

So, after a morning of sitting with her ex-husband across from his father -- the man who helped her get an ex-husband through cheating -- Steffy had to spend an afternoon with Flo, the birth mother of Steffy's adopted child, who is dating Steffy's second ex-husband, who broke up with one of Steffy's employees to date her newest employee. Yeah, you can't make this stuff up, probably because someone else just made it up and put it on TV.

Steffy sailed through the afternoon with Flo, but Steffy hit rough seas that night when she walked into the living room to discover that she had yet another unannounced guest. This time, it was Hope, who wanted to see the family Steffy and Liam created.

Can somebody tell Hope that it's only been one night since the annulment? I know Liam used to waffle a lot quicker, as within the same night of a breakup, but he's older now. He needs a little more time. Hope claimed that seeing the family made her happy and let her know that she'd done the right thing. But if she's done the right thing, why are she and Liam still crying?

Steffy, you are truly a saint for hosting all these therapy sessions at your house all day.

No matter how many times Hope tries to tell Brooke that Hope ended her marriage for the sake of the children, Brooke isn't buying it. Brooke insists that Liam doesn't want it, Hope doesn't want it, and Steffy doesn't want it. Besides, Thomas is creepier than a huntsman spider eating a baby possum, and Brooke isn't about to let Thomas devour her baby.

Why is Hope insistent upon hanging around Thomas and "seeing where it goes" when she can't even stomach for him to kiss her? After we saw the Bride of the Swamp Thing gown he designed for HFTF, we know she isn't in it with him for the fortune and fame. She must want to keep Thomas on the hook because it ensures that she'll get to mother Douglas without worrying that Thomas will find a new love interest.

The other night, Hope sprang it on Thomas that she wanted to see where things went. Right after that, she revealed her fear that he and Douglas would leave town again, but Thomas assured her that they weren't going anywhere. This week, Thomas gave her that dress, and all she could say was that it filled her with the same excitement that she felt when she was with Douglas. Everything always goes right back to Douglas with her.

When Thomas talks about marriage, Hope backs away and says she has already told him. According to her, she doesn't know when she'll ever be ready for that. If Hope can't get on the same page as Thomas romantically, it's not right for her to have him sit around alone with needs and a bag of feelings for her while she strings him along just so she can play "Baby Shark" with Douglas.

No one can dispute that Thomas deserves whatever he gets plus a straitjacket, but does Douglas deserve what Thomas gets? Hope wants Kelly and Phoebe to be in a home with two loving parents, but what about Douglas? If Hope won't marry Thomas or make a home with him, isn't Douglas getting shortchanged in this deal?

Emma told Thomas that he was wrong to think that one could just swap children, but doesn't that go for Hope thinking that Douglas can just swap mommies or Liam can just swap wives? Hope isn't a whole person. In fact, she keeps chipping off pieces of herself to make this dumb family-swapping idea of hers work, but how can she be a whole mother to Douglas when she's made herself even more unhappy by giving up her marriage?

At this point, I don't even see what Hope's point is, because the only thing the annulment changed was Liam's address. The only thing it did was give Steffy a chance to be Liam's consolation prize, which, I pray to God, she refuses to be again.

For a couple that has such a great marriage, Brooke and Ridge are parental polar opposites when it comes to their children. In the last year, Ridge revealed to Taylor that he never liked "that one" in reference to Hope. He doesn't like Rick, either, who'd just as soon shoot Ridge than put up with him at home or the office. Brooke is no fan of Ridge's children, either, even though she claims to care about them.

Maybe Brooke does care about the Tay Tots. She raised them with Ridge after he got over his infatuation with her daughter Bridget. She raised Steffy, Phoebe, and Thomas in the very same house with Hope, which, by the way, makes it even more disgusting for any parent to imagine two of their children hooking up like this. I hope Thomas sees just how gross it is if Douglas falls in love with PhoeBeth or Lizzy someday.

Thomas' feelings for Hope are as disgusting as Ridge's infatuation with Bridget and Rick's with Steffy and Phoebe, and Ridge should recognize that. If he doesn't, Ridge should at least take the time to remember how inappropriate it was for Thomas to go after two of Ridge's love interests, Brooke and Caroline. Ridge should also remember the unspeakable things Thomas did to those two women and to Ivy before Ridge blesses Thomas to prey on Hope.

Brooke knows firsthand the damage Thomas can do to a woman's life, and I don't blame her for not wanting Thomas anywhere near Hope. Ridge wants to believe the best about his son and is probably trying to look out for his children and grandchildren, especially Douglas, to whom he has a special and unique connection. Maybe Ridge thinks Hope can save Thomas from himself, but after what we suspect Thomas of doing to Emma, there is no saving that man from hell.

Thomas might have bigger things to worry about than faking drawings or forging letters. He might have to fake an alibi and strong-arm his gang into forgetting that Zoe called him about Emma finding out about the baby-napping secret. That is unless Thomas does the right thing and reports the incident to the police and tells them the truth about what happened.

Oh, who are we kidding? Thomas is Steffy's brother and son of Taylor. Both of these women left people in body bags on PCH without fessing up to the cops. It's in Thomas' killer genes to go home and let Emma decompose in a ditch until someone else finds her overturned car.

Speaking of Emma's overturned car, the production team did a great job with the roadside scene. Thomas was up on the hill, peering down at Emma's car. It was sideways with the driver's side touching the ground. The only problem was that when the camera was in the ravine with the car and showing a frontal view of the vehicle with Emma inside, the car was upright.

Other than that detail, the scene was flawless for its production and acting. Nia Sioux sold Emma's last breath in a way that I've never seen a character die before. I swear, I literally saw the life leave her body. The light in her eyes went out, and her head slumped onto the steering wheel. Bravo, Ms. Sioux! I'd say, "Encore," but -- well, Emma's gone now. She's gone.

In case you missed it, Emma overheard Zoe and Xander talking about Reese switching babies, and in an instant, Emma became the voice of viewers worldwide, demanding to know who Zoe and Xander were and how they could keep a secret like that from Hope, a woman who'd been nothing but kind to them. Emma became bound and determined to tell Hope the truth.

Too bad Thomas got to Emma first. For all of Thomas' blustering and threats, Emma remained undeterred. He refused to let her leave the CEO's office, but when Pam interrupted them, Emma made her escape and barreled down PCH to tell Hope the truth. Although Thomas was slightly delayed by Pam, he quickly took off in pursuit of Emma.

Why didn't Emma call Hope? Because stupid Xander told her that she shouldn't tell Hope that Beth is alive over the phone. Emma's phone was still involved, and it might be the evidence that causes Thomas to walk away unscathed from his murderous road-rage behavior that night.

Emma attempted to text Hope to say that she was on her way there, but halfway through typing the sentence, Emma put the phone down and became apprehensive of a driver who started riding her bumper. The car's lights shone so brightly into Emma's car that she could barely see the road in front of her. She saw something to the left of her car, and the next thing we knew, she lost control of the vehicle and burst through a guardrail.

Thomas hopped out of his car and stared down the ravine at Emma's smoking vehicle. Even though Emma appears to be beyond help, I doubt Thomas will even try to assist her or call for an EMT. I suspect her death will be ruled a texting-and-driving accident, and Thomas will once again get away with his crimes -- if he did indeed commit a crime at all.

Was Thomas the driver tailgating Emma's bumper, or did he merely pull over upon seeing her being run off the road by another driver who kept going? If it was indeed Thomas, was his aggressive driving the cause of the accident, or was it due to Emma's frantic state of mind? Does Zoe bear any responsibility for Emma's death? Zoe is the who called the menacing Thomas to take care of the problem instead of talking Emma down herself.

I can't help but blame Zoe for all of this. Zoe's the one who forced everyone into silence, and Zoe should have known not to sic Thomas, who'd been viciously threatening them all, on Emma. And why would Xander stand for Thomas bullying Emma? Thomas manhandled Xander, so Xander definitely should have gone after Emma once Zoe called Thomas.

Some might disagree with me, but I look at it like this: if I tell my boyfriend that a guy harassed me and then send him to deal with that guy, I'm responsible for whatever my boyfriend does to that guy. Zoe knows how desperate Thomas is to get Hope, and she saw him firsthand intimidate people into submission. To send Thomas off half-cocked to stop Emma was negligent, to say the least.

In next week's preview, Thomas is surrounded by suspicion. Xander tells Flo that Emma is dead, and Flo wants to know where Thomas was. Thomas warns them to be careful about what they might say next. Flo insists that something is not right with Thomas.

Thomas' obsession with Hope continues, and a tearful Brooke confides in Bill about it. Thomas takes a baggie of powder from a man and asks if it will do the trick. At Hope's house, Hope asks Thomas where he came from. He says he could have sworn she told him to come in. "No," Hope nervously replies, shaking her head.

Let us know what you think about Emma's passing and who might be Thomas' next victim. Until we scoop again, I have a bit of advice. If someone is aggressively tailgating your bumper, just yell out your car window, "Boy, you better pump, better pump your brakes! Boy, you better pump, better pump!"

And until next time, stay bold and beautiful, baby!

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