The emperor has no line: Three must-dos for Thomas' readmission to Forrester

Last week, Thomas' ego reigned, but will the emperor have no clothing line? Here are three things Thomas needs to do before he should be welcomed back at Forrester. Also in this Two Scoops, who's got the most mojo with Sheila, Bill or Deacon? Plus, did Katie just prove 2021 Carter right about not dating her? Will 2023 Carter be sorry he didn't listen?

The police had better count their taxpayer dollars because, according to Brooke, Sheila's gonna stop living rent-free in Finn and Steffy's minds and Bill's house and start living rent-free in prison. No one goes toe to toe with Sheila like our blonde bombshell veteran Katherine Kelly Lang. In her snazzy jacket, Brooke flexed on Sheila like a fashion mob boss for justice, and even Bill's eyes smiled through his morose faade when Brooke vowed not to stop until Sheila was rotting in prison. "You hear me, Sheila? Rotting in prison!" Epic door slam! Score, Brooke!

Since Steffy and Taylor have halted their archaeological "digs" on the ancient skeletons in Brooke's closet, it was up to Sheila to drag out the Bridget smear about Brooke having a baby with her son-in-law -- but isn't that insult dead on arrival because Sheila is sleeping with the man who bedded his daughter-in-law, who had a paternity test to figure out the father of her baby? And isn't Sheila also insulting her former lover Deacon? You know, the father of Bill's daughter-in-law, the child at the butt of Sheila's insult? How would Deacon feel if he knew Sheila was belittling Brooke for their daughter's existence?

I'm still trying to figure out which is worse. Sleeping with your daughter's estranged husband or shooting your son and daughter-in-law in a dirty alley? Should we do a poll? One did bring life while the other almost brought death, so there's that. Plus, isn't Bill's one-night stand with an in-law the very thing that ultimately bought Sheila's freedom? Writers, I beg you. Put the Bridget smear to rest. It's old, and too many characters live in glass houses.

After the top Logan dog tore out of Bill's house, who showed up for round two? None other than fake-me-a-heart-attack, Cry-on-Cue Katie with more tears about what Bill's choices will do to Will. Remember, this is Will we're talking about. The same kid who committed credit card fraud to unite his parents. The same Will who is off having a ball at boarding school and can't even be bothered to return home for the holidays. This is the same Will who knows his daddy neighs for his aunt and his mom rang up a huge pizza bill with his brother. He's not some nave kid.

Katie is so worried about protecting Will, but isn't it time that boy SORASed up and learned that Katie's second heart happened along because her murderous brother shot Stephanie, Katie, and himself? And because of those shootings, shouldn't Katie understand that accidents happen? Like maternal rage happens, "sibling rage" happens, right? I suppose it's wrong of me to expect Katie to be understanding of anything, since she is still throwing Brooke in Bill's face.

Someone please yank the soapbox from Katie and invite her to have several seats because the way to a man's brain isn't by jabbing him in the heart again. Her unforgiveness about Brooke is what got them all here, and does she really think throwing Brooke in his face now is going to make him renounce Sheila? All throwing Brooke in Bill's face showed me was that Katie is still eaten up with jealousy. I'm glad knowing that Bill is with Sheila is killing Katie because it means she finally figured out that there are worse women and worse competition than Brooke.

The Carter of 2023 will be kicking himself for not listening to the Carter of 2021, who backed off Katie due to her feelings for Bill. Not only is Carter going to be third in her list of priorities behind Will and Bill, but now Carter also has the deadly Sheila to contend with. For Katie to even suggest her family with Bill stood a chance if Sheila was gone proves that Katie has not moved on from Bill. Katie using Will as a bargaining chip is reminiscent of when she tried to punish Bill for their divorce by taking Spencer Publications from him. And we all know Katie crashed and burned on that one. Katie's vengefulness knows no bounds, but I suggest she finally get over Brooke and Bill and reclaim her husband, if that what's she wants, before Sheila becomes the next Mrs. Dollar Bill.

Something tells me that if Katie manages to wrest Bill away from Sheila, Sheila would happily take home her consolation prize, Deacon Sharpe. More spices than oregano and garlic lingered between Deacon and Sheila when she visited him at his new restaurant. Sheila likes garlic, so put to rest the rumors that she's a vampire.

Reminding me of that Daniel Fogelberg song "Same Old Lang Syne," Deacon and Sheila's talk was bright and playful but laced with regret for what might have been. Deacon is in love with Sheila, and he should have told her. That might have changed everything for them. His jealousy of Bill is kind of cute, and he handled it maturely. Well, except for that comparison thingy.

Sheila told Deacon about the life-changing night that she and Bill had shared at the beach, but the topic turned to the romantic night she and Deacon had shared under the twinkling lights at Il Giardino. Having experienced that night firsthand, I connected with Sheila and Deacon in a way that I can't with Sheila and Bill because the writers didn't let viewers experience how they became a couple. A stormy cloud hovers over Bill everywhere he goes. The Death Star villain theme music playing in the background for "Shill" doesn't exactly help set a romantic tone.

If the writers had shown Bill and Sheila's pivotal evening together at the beach, viewers might better connect with this couple. I believe Bill and Sheila could be hot together if Bill was allowed to be the unapologetic stallion we know and love. He has to be released from his zombie coma. Maybe figuring out that Deacon and Sheila had a relationship is the thing to snap Bill out of it, and we can see these two men really go to war for the love of a "not-so-good" woman.

What are your thoughts on Sheacon versus Shill? There's something about calling Sheila and Bill "Shill" that screams scam to me. But back to the concept of people living rent-free. It seems that Thomas is living rent-free at Paris' place and also haunting the halls of Forrester.

There you have it, Scoopers. Who knew that out of the mouths of idiots come the moral words to live by? Charlie standing by his duty and not allowing Thomas to con him was the highlight of my week. Finally, somebody put the brakes on the arrogant runaway train. It paid in spades to see someone telling Thomas that he wouldn't get away with breaking the rules, no matter what his last name is.

Before that, Paris was at her house, blowing compliments up Thomas' bloated ego as if she wasn't late for a meeting. Had it not been for Charlie tethering him to reality, Thomas would be in the book of world records for floating to Mars on his ego alone. Yes, Paris is back, and yes, she's sitting on that same couch with Thomas, flirting with him like she didn't give him a hard swipe left in preference of Zende.

Paris must be competing with Ridge and Liam in a championship waffling match that we don't know about. How else do we explain her going from liking Zende, to daydreaming about Finn, to dating Zende, to getting the hots for Carter, to kissing Zende at Christmas, to telling Thomas how much she loves it when he "cooks"? If I fill in the blanks from Christmas to now, my guess is Zende got friend-zoned again the moment Thomas needed a place to stay.

Hope for the Future received a bad review on the line that Zende and Eric are crafting in Thomas' absence. I assume the review was based upon a preliminary sample of designs for an upcoming season, perhaps fall. Unless this is some sort of manipulation, the writers seem to be throwing the talented Eric and Zende under the Thomas bus, and here is why.

For one, Zende co-designed the last HFTF line. Once, he was even the lead designer, so there's no way Zende doesn't know the vision. Eric is a master-class designer who teaches design and can sketch circles around that cocky grandson of his. Additionally, Ridge never would have left on a sabbatical if firing Thomas would sink the whole line over one review.

I can't stress enough that it was just one review. Kind of like it was just one CPS call. Kind of like it was just one best friend, Vinny, who stepped into the road in front of Liam's car. Is anyone catching my drift here? I'm not saying Thomas paid for this one review, but I am saying I wouldn't be surprised if Thomas paid for this one review, knowing what Hope would do much like he knew what Ridge would do about the CPS call. I mean, Hope did say Thomas knows what she wants before she does, so it's no stretch he could have predicted she'd panic and rehire him.

I'm glad Steffy got Hope to see the stupidity of her ways in trying to hire Thomas back without even talking to Brooke or Liam. I'm not saying Thomas shouldn't design from home. In fact, isn't that the same way they handled Quinn's designing dilemma after her affair? But I agree with Steffy that Thomas needs to learn consequences, and here are the three key things I think Thomas needs to do before he is allowed back on the job:

3. Let go of the Brooke bitterness. This week, Thomas apologized in one breath, but in the next, he said, "What about Brooke and all the years of pain and heartache that she's brought on our family?" No, Brauh, that's old news. The prehistoric digs on Brooke are over. You and Sheila gotta keep up. No more ragging on Brooke now that she's warring on your family.

2. Get some therapy. What the heck happened to everyone's insistance that Thomas needed help? Brooke begged Ridge to get it for him. Ridge told Taylor to get it for him. I guess the buck got passed too many times, and everyone dropped the ball. Why does Thomas need therapy? Because he can't do the number one thing he needs to do.

1. Realize that there is no "Hope" for his future. When Thomas advocated for himself and his designs, he kept saying he needed to do it for Hope and her line. Thomas should be saying it is for the employees, the line, the company, and his own career. Hope shouldn't be at the top of his list. Until Thomas can stop living to do things to help and please Hope, returning is a nonstarter.

Steffy asked if Hope would compromise her morals to have Thomas back on the line. The line is completely about Hope's morals. I wish Steffy would have brought that up, too. It's ironic that Hope touts these morals for her customers but has a sociopath designing the line because he "knows what she wants before she wants it." What does that say about Hope's morals?

If you ask me, Hope for the Future needs to go away, anyway. Don't fashion lines come and go? HFTF came but never went, and after over a decade, when does it become outdated? Is it time for Hope to transition to something new? And if Thomas is as highly acclaimed as Paris boasts, why is he working on a teen/college line with someone else's name on it?

Thomas, the emperor of fashion, needs his own line. Look back to 1987 at how far Ridge was along in his career compared to Thomas now. I believe Thomas' growth as a designer is stunted as long as he limits himself to HFTF, taking direction from Hope on what to design. If we moved beyond Brooke's Bedroom, the Men's Line, and the Intimates Line, it's beyond time for the entire fashion house to graduate from HFTF. What do you think?

Taylor again gets talked off the moral ledge when Hope and Steffy convince Taylor to ditch doing the right thing. Funny, I seem to remember when Hope didn't want the murderous Taylor around her baby, which led to the baby-napping storyline. My, how things change.

Taylor confesses her crime to Katie because, well, she must want to be caught or get blackmailed more, two of Katie's specialties. Before anyone says Katie doesn't blackmail, she just threatened Bill with Will, she blackmailed a job out of Quinn, and I believe Bill busted her for blackmailing Ridge about that vasectomy doctor.

Also coming up, Brooke defends Taylor's actions to Katie. I guess Brooke must do that because Katie wants Taylor to throw herself in jail so Katie won't have to go back to Bill and can therefore climb Mount Carter like she's been dreaming of. Until Carter and Katie have sex, there's a strong chance she's reuniting with Bill, isn't there?

That's it. That's all the two scoops and nothing but the two scoops. Thanks again for getting into these topics with me, and I hope to see your views on them in the comments section below. Until we scoop again, stay bold and beautiful, baby!Chanel

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