You're fired...not!

Carter blew out ten bold and beautiful candles, while Hope for the Future came under such fire that Steffy recruited the devil himself to fan the fashion flames. Meanwhile, Bill vowed that Sheila would fry for betraying him while she was across town doing exactly that! Turn up the heat with Two Scoops' Mike!

Has your week been bold and beautiful? Did the number of your anniversary depend on what reality you were living in? Did you need a blue check to verify you were in therapy? Did it turn out that sexing rich men's women is your kink? These and more situations faced the Forrester-Logan-Spencer-Walton-Finnegan clan this week!

It's our Carterversary, Scoopers! Lawrence Saint-Victor celebrated ten big ones this week, while Thomas was "thisclose" to celebrating a return to Forrester and Hope for the Future. Is he really in therapy, or is he Big Bad Wolfing it with no one seeing through his disguise? As for Sheila, she's usually pretty savvy in terms of her risk taking, but now she's willing to risk her freedom so she can freak with the Deak! Let's Scoop about it!

Carter came to work to find a gift and a card that said, "You remain one of the best decisions we ever made." I'm a little amazed that Eric expressed that sentiment, given that just about a year and a half ago, he held Carter in disdain for boffing his wife. But ya know, Eric's a forgiving kinda guy. I guess Quinn being out of both of their pictures was enough to wash the salt out of the wound.

Steffy greeted "Mr. Ten Years," which is very cool, but my internal chronologist has a hard time reconciling it. Lawrence Saint-Victor has indeed been on the show since 2013. But with all the rampant SORAS and character ages changing (e.g., Ridge now clearly being younger than Brooke), I'm surprised that the show went with acknowledging real time, rather than blurring time like they usually do.

It's interesting that Saint-Victor got an anniversarial acknowledgement. I mean, he certainly deserves it, but Scott Clifton didn't get one when he hit the ten-year mark in 2021, and the soap gods know Liam has had far more screentime than Carter. Will Wyatt get a new solar shower when Darin Brooks also marks a decade this year? Carter is also an off choice for this ten-year tent-poling because he's only recently become a major player.

For seven of his ten years on air, Carter was relegated to performing weddings and filing the occasional legal papers. He only got a true spotlight in 2020, and since then, he's bounced in and out of relationships faster than a bad check at a supermarket. Beyond that, he's totally rudderless. As a Walton, he has no family tie. It's too bad his adoptive bro Marcus hasn't been seen for a decade, as he skipped town for South Africa soon after Carter hit town.

What would you like to see for Carter in his next ten years? Maybe he needs to try for some stability in his romances, which he and Katie may just be building toward. It's too bad Maya can't come back for a visit -- aside from her link to Carter, we might actually find out why Maya and Rick got divorced. Well, at least Carter's moved beyond simply being B&B's legal go-to. Congrats, Carter!

Taylor decided to play peacemaker between her kids, since Steffy had played a part in banishing Thomas from Forrester and now had Thomas' son under her roof. I don't know that this would be the time to allow Taylor to play intermediary in any kind of psychological way. After all, the issue of Taylor blasting a hole in Bill in 2018 is fresh on the minds of those who know about her delusional deed.

Of course, Thomas doesn't know about that (yet), but he's got his own rapscallion rap sheet to consider. Thomas kept saying how sorry he was about his latest d*ck moves...and then laid on us that he's been seeing a therapist! Well, well! A therapist, huh, Tommy-Tom? Okay, but pictures or it didn't happen. Thomas has told so many lies, why should we believe he's in therapy?

Plus, after Quinn tried to turn Liam into a shish kebab with her homemade sword, she texted Wyatt that she was in therapy, but never offered proof of it, and clearly she was just as unhinged during that period and immediately after. Thomas could simply be telling his fam what they want to hear. Personally, I'd love to see Thomas on the couch of a high-profile soap guest-star counselor.

Like, gimme some Elizabeth Hubbard (Lucinda from As the World Turns) not putting up with Thomas' bull and turning away the waaaah-mbulance when he tries to blame his actions on the fact that his parents didn't stay together. We now know his brain bleed was just a MacGuffin. How about Thomas is truly carrying trauma from thinking his mother was dead? And/or he's really gay (look at his relationship record and then tell me) but will do anything to avoid facing it?

Anyway, Steffy rightly wondered how she could possibly believe that Thomas was ready to change (that boy has cried wolf too many times on that score), but Taylor used her maternal powers to wear down Steffy's resistance. Steffy became willing to give Thomas another chance, and if you know the patterns of soaps, surely, she would be able to grant that chance sooner than later.

The biggest fashion trend at Forrester Creations this week was smiles turned upside-down. It seemed that their long-running Hope for the Future line was the kind of line that plunges straight down on a sales chart, and no one was happy. The collection was underperforming! Sales were down! Decisions needed to be made! And while I really couldn't care less about HFTF, I found my brow wrinkling in confusion.

How on earth can HFTF be tanking? Did it not just have a hugely successful showing mere months ago? Much was said about Eric and Zende's work not being edgy or sophisticated enough (Eric's designs not sophisticated enough? EXCUSE ME?), but their combined efforts are still only on sketchpads and haven't been produced or sold.

It's Thomas' clothes that are available to the public right now. So, if the line is stagnating, isn't that a reflection on him? Besides, we all saw how giddy he was when HFTF got a bad review. Would any of us really put it past Thomas to sabotage his own work by bad word of mouth just to get back in at Forrester and back into Hope's orbit? Come on. You know he would.

Hope entered the fray with Steffy, Eric, and Carter, and was dismayed when Steffy suggested they might have to pause the line. Not shutter it, which is actually quite the contrast for Steffy, considering how against HFTF she was when it was first developed. Can you believe it's been around since 2010, when Hope was SORASed to graduation age? Which makes me think that maybe wrapping up the collection is the thing to do.

I'm no fashion expert -- most of what I know comes from 34 years of following B&B -- but it seems odd to me to have any named line go on for so long. Usually collections were dubbed "Spring 1992" or "Fall 2003" and the like. Granted, we've had "the men's line" and Brooke's Bedroom/Intimates. But Hope for the Future is the first named line on the show that seems to always be in production.

Carter himself noted that HFTF is wrapped up in Hope's identity. And he wasn't even there when the whole thing was built around Hope's virginity! Doesn't the fact that the Virginity Fairy left a condom under Hope's pillow eons ago negate the very message of the line? Sure, we've moved on to sustainable fabrics and statements of empowerment, but HFTF seems to have outlived its usefulness, both as a product and as a plot device.

Steffy brought Thomas in and offered her pardoned brother as the solution to everything. Naturally, she'd have to run it by her co-CEO, Ridge, first. (Where is the Waffle King? And are we ever going to be told what was wrong with Thorsten Kaye's hand that it had to be bandaged during Tridge's triennial wedding?) Assuming Ridge would rubber stamp the move, the rest of it rested on Hope.

And from there, we got a whole day of "Will Hope take Thomas back at Forrester?" It's really not so big a cliffhanger or plot point that we needed so much time devoted to it. At least Hope said she had to think about it and wasn't convinced that Thomas wouldn't pop off again. Hey, Hope, think about this: just torch HFTF already! There's plenty of other stuff you could do at Forrester, and it takes Thomas out of your equation once and for all.

Steffy and Finn beamed that they had gotten into a routine, one that Douglas had already fit into. That seemed to conflict with the more harried Steffy that Taylor saw, the one who talked about how hectic her life was between Douglas, Sheila, HFTF, and Finn's increased work. Finn worried about Steffy being alone with Sheila on the loose. How come nobody is worried about Douglas being with Steffy with Sheila on the loose?

Steffy determined that she and Finn had to find a way to "put an end to Sheila," but yawn, yawn, yawn. Steffy said that two months ago, when Sheila and Bill first became a thing, but Steffy hasn't done jack about any of it. And the whole suspense of whether or not Taylor should turn herself in for shooting Bill to neutralize his blackmail threats has fizzled out like a flat two-liter bottle of pop.

Another blade that's been dulled is Sheila's desire to have a relationship with Finn and Hayes. She sighed to Bill that she had blown it. Yeah, Sheila had blown holes in Finn and Steffy, and that still didn't stop Sheila from wanting those familial bonds! Why has she given up on them? Bill seems to be the only one interested in making it happen, but we have yet to see how.

Sheila excused herself and headed to Il Giardino, where Deacon was in heavy conversation with Hope about Brooke's date with his co-worker-turned-employee Hollis. Now, there are those of you who have been scoffing about Brooke dating a lowly waiter! Why? Brooke was a caterer's assistant when she met Ridge, and that didn't keep them from getting together. Hell, Brooke and Hollis would be an interesting full circle. (And how about Brooke telling him about her career as a chemist? Squee! Put Brooke back in the lab, please!)

Hope sussed out that Deacon had a woman in his life when he spoke of Brooke being a ship that sailed, but Papa D swerved away from his daughter's curiosity by talking up the big Il Giardino grand opening (or reopening? When was it ever closed?) he was planning. And Deacon wanted key people from Forrester in attendance. What for? Optics? No one at Forrester Creations has any influence over the culinary world.

At least Deacon has evolved from serving nuts when he ran the Lair, but he indeed served a nut when Sheila showed up for a visit. Deacon figured out that all the stuff Sheila had said about him being a loser was a crock concocted to discourage him, and Sheila conceded that she hadn't meant any of it. But she was with Bill and therefore had to decline Deacon's invitation to the fte at Il Giardino.

As I pointed out when Sheila went on that manufactured tirade, she wasn't wrong when she called Deacon out for always wanting what he couldn't have. He pursued Brooke relentlessly no matter how many times she held out for Ridge, and when Deacon could have Sheila, given she was living in his apartment, he played hot and cold with her and kept telling her to leave.

Now that Sheila is in Bill's bed, Deacon's heart -- and other body parts -- are throbbing for her. It's a shame, too, because Deacon really seems to have grown, but he can't seem to forge a relationship with a woman who isn't involved with someone else. The real shame, however, is that this big question of why Bill has gone Team Sheila (has he been drugged? Has he been blackmailed?) has been shelved in favor of a Bill/Sheila/Deacon triangle.

Not that Deacon hasn't found himself coveting a business barracuda's woman before. In 2004, Deacon went after Jackie Marone, who just happened to be with uber-mogul Massimo Marone at the time. Again, Deacon wanting someone he can't have; it's in his history, going all the way back to when he wanted Amber but married Bridget. It would behoove Deacon to remember that putting himself in Massimo's crosshairs didn't end well -- Massimo pushed Deacon off the wagon.

Maybe that doesn't matter to Deacon now, since he seems to be boozing it up freely without the show even hinting at his struggle with alcoholism. But that doesn't mean Bill won't lay down the smackdown of smackdowns if he finds out Deacon has been sniffing around Sheila. Why in the name of all that's soapy do we have an actual murderer (Lance and the bees, anyone?) in the center of a love triangle with two studly guys? Seems the world we're living in now has trickled into our fictional world.

Liam and Wyatt figured that the best way to wrest Sheila from Bill would be to go have another heart-to-heart with the old man. Great, we're back to characters badgering Bill. Why has no one launched an investigation into Sheila's relationship with Bill? Wyatt can't distract Bill so Liam can search the house for drugs Sheila might be plying him with? Katie can't install cameras like she did when she suspected Bill of having an affair with Brooke?

Like with too many other stories in recent memory, it's been all talk and no action, and it was no different when the Spencer bros predictably couldn't get anywhere with Bill. Later, Sheila was concerned that work was taking all of Bill's energy. Since when did Bill go back to work? The last time Liam and Wyatt did an intervention on Bill, they lamented how Spencer Publications was suffering because Bill was continually absent.

Maybe Bill's money-making DNA kicked back in. Yet Bill told Sheila that he had sacrificed a lot for their relationship. Sacrificed what, exactly? Katie only had an idea to keep Will from Bill as a way of pulling Bill away from Sheila but never acted on it. Bill's older boys and ex-wives aren't thrilled with him, but it's not like they've thrown Bill out of their lives. And business seems to be okay. So, what has Bill abandoned to be with Sheila?

Still convinced that talking to Bill was the answer, Liam came back for another round and was greeted with Sheila's "Hey, Junior." Liam took this as an insult until he was reminded that he actually was named for Bill. (Well, technically, Bill is the junior and Liam is the third, so maybe the umbrage Liam took is justified.) Sheila saw Liam's arrival as another reason to cut out. Should Bill be noticing the increasing number of Sheila's hasty retreats?

Liam did a little better than the parade of naysayers who have thus far tried to reason with Bill -- Liam took the psychological route and told Bill empathetically, "I know you didn't have the best childhood." Now, we don't know much about Baby Bill except for the fact that the OG Bill had nothing to do with him. Perhaps this is where my made-up therapist for Thomas, Elizabeth Hubbard, comes into play! Could you just see her as Bill's mama, yanking his ear for not doing what he was told? Make it happen, B&B.

Liam kept going, asking Bill to consider the possibility that Sheila might be playing him. "I'll be good to Sheila as long as Sheila is good to me," Bill sniffed, but he was willing to take it a step further. If Sheila betrayed him, Bill pronounced, Sheila would pay. And pay dearly! Now, someone with as high a degree of self-preservation as Sheila wouldn't knowingly put herself at risk, would she? Would she?

I guess she would! Sheila went to go see Deacon again, declaring that she missed him. Now, you know it's a Bizarro World day when Deacon has to remind Sheila of the risk involved just from seeing him. Is Sheila just getting careless now? I simply cannot conceive of Sheila, who has survived on her wits for three decades, even thinking of throwing her freedom away for any reason.

Sheila let down her guard a bit and let us know what it's like for her living with Bill. And it turns out, it's not all sword necklaces and creepy music! Sheila said that Bill had been driving her crazy, especially because he had become all emotionally aware and constantly wanted to talk about feelings! His and hers! Have I missed something? I haven't been getting much of anything like that from Bill and Sheila's interactions.

But we did actually get confirmation that Sheila is simply using Bill. We know this because Sheila revealed that she had to close her eyes and think of Deacon while she was in bed with Bill. Well, yeehaw! Take that, Stallion! Looks like the Dollah is only worth about 73 cents these days. Sheila added that Bill wasn't nearly as, ahem, adventurous as Deacon is.

Do you guys really buy that? Bill was the one who let Quinn bring out the whips and chains and who knows what else during their S&M fling that made Liam throw up in his mouth when he stumbled upon it. Bill Spencer Jr. has never struck me as a vanilla kind of guy. In fact, I've always suspected he would allow a switch of teams as long as he was being worshipped in a proper enough way.

And when did Sheila's sexual tastes turn to the kinky? It's not like she had Scott Grainger tied up on Y&R, and she certainly didn't have to establish any safe words with Eric. Maybe it happened when she had James locked up in her Houdini dungeon in 1995, and he made love to her in an attempt to gain her confidence and escape. Or when she was sexually assaulted by two women in prison the year after?

But I digress. Sheila knew she had to keep the status quo with Bill, but in order to do that, Sheila needed something from Deacon. "Anything," he panted. I got to meet Kimberlin Brown back in '98, so I am now officially one degree of separation from ripping Sean Kanan's shirt open. Which is as close as I'm going to get. But Sheila busted them buttons and slammed Deacon against the louvered blinds of his door, clearly wanting to get her groove on!

Worth it for the shirt rip, but I hold that this storyline is not better for having veered away from Bill's zombie-like protection of Sheila and his blackmail of Taylor and into the territory of Sheila being willing to risk it all for some Deacon D. And if Sheila has to cringe her way through sex with Bill, then it's not as likely she has some sort of chemical hold over him.

One more thing to consider: Steffy is still making noise about needing to find something that will get Sheila out of her family's lives. Are we leading up to Steffy (or Finn, or Taylor/Brooke/Hope/Katie/Liam/Wyatt) catching Sheila in the act with Deacon? Because Bill has all but said he'll revoke Sheila's Get Out of Jail Free card and make her go directly to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200, if Sheila double-crosses him. Will it really be that easy? Should it be?

What's got you on fire, Scoopers? Does Hope for the Future have any future left in it? Do you really think Thomas is getting therapy? Do you still think Sheila has something on Bill and/or is exerting some kind of artificial control over him? And what kind of story would you like to see for Carter now that he's starting his second decade? Burn it up in the Comments section below or the Soap Central message boards, or simply click here to submit feedback. Your comments could end up in a future column! Like these!

"Thomas is not going to change, period. He's just going to come up with new tactics as he always does. An even more unrealistic plot is why in the heckahooty is Thomas bunking with Paris. He is sufficiently financially comfortable and can certainly afford his own place easily even if it's a hotel suite. I constantly state and stand by my statement that B&B does not need to tackle any plot/storyline of a serious nature because they do not and will not do the necessary research to make it at the very least viable." -- Jeean

"How did Sheila end up with the golden vajay-jay and have all the men in LA swooning over it?? That used to be Brooke's!" -- "Buttocks"

"I just can't take Thomas being the one who is supposed to be so terrible when Sheila is out there being treated like she is normal. When this show made crazy normal, they lost me. I just can't get behind all of this hate for Thomas because he is supposed to be so horrible when Sheila is out there after just shooting her son and his wife and leaving them for dead and she is supposed to be normal. C'mon.." -- Genna

Well, as this past Friday's ep was #9005, we didn't get any big to-do for #9000! What can you do? They won't ignore #10000 in late 2026 or early 2027. In the meantime, we'll have to work with what we've got, and here's a thought: what if hunky Hollis turns out to be Deacon's long-lost son Little D? Deacon might not recognize him as an adult, and how B&B would it be for both father and son to have been involved with Brooke? Anything can happen on this show, so keep watching, be alert, and most of all, be bold! See you in two weeks, my Scoopnesses!AMJ

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