Follow the bouncing ball

Liam stepped back into his pinball arcade upon seeing Hope playing with Thomas, but Steffy would give her ex no quarter. Meanwhile, news of Hope's bonus ball bounced between the bumpers, except Liam's insistence on divorce had her taking another turn with Thomas! Light up the playing field with Two Scoops' Mike!

Has your week been bold and beautiful? Did the spare tire you usually relied on go amazingly flat? Did you start to wonder why you swallowed a fly? Did you pooh-pooh tonsil hockey despite having a tongue in the game? These and more situations faced the Forrester-Logan-Spencer clan this week!

Got a quarter, Scoopers? Wanna play? Liam certainly does, as he bounced back to Steffy's lips faster than Pavlov's dog salivated for food. At least Hope took a moment before salivating over Thomas to think about what was causing her conditioning, which was welcome. As for Steffy, she chatted Thope's kiss with Finn, but not Steam's. Is that hypocritical? And does all this feel like a retread? Let's Scoop about it!

Liam must have grown up in the arcades of the late 1990s and 2000s, because no one acts like a pinball better than he, and that includes Ridge, who you'd think would be the master champion. It was one thing for Liam to bust a move on Steffy in Rome just seconds after watching Hope bust the same move on Thomas. But this mofo went for it again in the safety of his former home!

Said home being the same one Steffy now shares with Finn! I wouldn't have thought it possible, but Liam has learned absolutely nothing since he pulled that crap in 2011 (kissing Steffy right after Hope ditched his engagement ring) and 2012 (kissing Steffy, thinking Hope left him at the altar). Steffy bitch-slapping him for trying it in 2015 should at least have left a lasting impression!

But nope, this dope thought he could try it again and that Steffy would swoon in his arms. Instead, Steffy pulled back and was all, "Oh, no, m*********ah, not today!" Well, that's not verbatim, but Steffy did tell her many-times ex, "you can't do that." Steffy was married and loved her life with her husband. She had been willing to overlook the Colosseum face-sucking because it had been reactionary. But not now.

"I don't know what's wrong with me," Liam finally admitted. What was this, actual self-awareness? So rare from Liam, or really any B&B character during any year with a "2" in front of it. I can understand a character going back to an old behavior. But doing so with a twist would have been more satisfying. Like if Liam had moved in on Steffy once in Rome but stopped himself. That would have been refreshing.

Instead, this dude went for it a second time. Thankfully, Steffy is not having any, and she even visibly shudders when she thinks back on Liam's loose lips. Finn must have a really nice, er, scar, for Steffy to not get sucked back into Liam's transitory affections like a planet succumbing to a black hole. That's good for Finn, but Liam even going there is particularly lazy writing, showing Liam hasn't grown at all.

Brooke paid Hope a visit, even though Hope was in the middle of a visit with R.J. Sensing something was up, R.J. wisely stood aside and let Hope talk about her mess. It wasn't one of Brooke's best days when Hope admitted that she had kissed Thomas in the shadow of the Colosseum. Shockingly, Liam's millisecond of self-reflection cosmically wore off on Hope.

Hope labeled her roaming Roman lips irresponsible, reckless, and inappropriate. Those are three words for it, yes. But when poor R.J., who has been on two-and-a-half months and not given a speck of story of his own, came back for yet another chat with Hope, R.J.'s sis actually dug a little deeper. Hope wondered if she had trapped herself in a cage of righteousness and control that had compelled her to break free of it.

Finally, we're getting into just a little bit of rationale for Hope's behavior ever since she started thirsting for Thomas. Oh, don't get me wrong, Thomas is most thirstable, but as I've droned on repeatedly, Thomas' past actions toward Hope (and, ya know, stepsiblings) should have long ago turned her all the way off. You just don't lust after someone who's schemed, lied, manipulated, and gaslit you, no matter how good their chest might look covered in baby oil.

At least Hope looking at the fact that she might have wedged herself into certain expectations and standards and set herself up to rebel against them is a glimmer of why Hope has been doing all this. It's something, and I appreciate the attempt by the show. If only Taylor wasn't the only therapist in town, I'd suggest that Hope sit down for a few sessions. Is her former shrink, Hilary B. Smith from One Life to Live, available?

The week cut away briefly for a Fourth of July flashback to five years ago, when Hope revealed to Liam, amongst a flurry of fireworks, that she was pregnant with their child. Interesting choice. Perhaps to serve as a bookend to what's on our screens now? Liam wants to co-parent Beth after leaving Hope, for what it's worth, but Beth has gotten such a raw deal since it turned out she wasn't Phoebe. We hardly ever see her.

As soap characters are wont to do, Ridge went on to Thomas about how glad he was that Thomas was over his obsession with Hope, not knowing what had gone on behind the Roman curtain. Brooke soon arrived to pass along the naughty news, and Ridge was pissed. How could Thomas have done it? But Brooke, who usually would not be the first one to come to her Berry Island buddy's defense, ratted Hope out as the guilty party.

Ridge cooled his jets a bit, remarking that both he and Brooke knew what it was like to get caught up in the moment. Indeed. Of course, we can't forget Brooke's spontaneity with Deacon (which is why Hope is even here in the first place), but Ridge pulled his own boo-boos, getting Morgan pregnant with what he thought was Taylor's permission and, of course, kissing Bridget the minute she wasn't his sister anymore.

Bridge did seem to be conscious of their own heated history and also realized that Liam wasn't as understanding. Of course, that's ironic, as Hope already pointed out that Liam had done plenty to her (usually with Steffy) that needed forgiving. As for Brooke, she worried that she had been a bad influence on Hope, but there comes a time that you can't slough off your own crappy decisions on the sins of your parents. Trust me, I know!

Even though Liam had just tried to slobber all over her, Steffy offered her three-time husband some sage advice. She thought that Hope should leave Forrester and let Thomas take over HFTF, which would free up Hope's time for Liam and show him that "the kiss" was just an isolated incident. Gee, Steffy would fulfill her early '10s wish to get rid of Hope that way, but it's actually not a bad idea.

Needing more counsel, Liam bitched to Wyatt (who's as storyline-less as R.J. and doesn't even have his own place to live, to boot). Liam's half-bro also advocated for forgiving Hope, since Lope had calmed rougher seas than what they were traversing now. But all the Dear Abbying in L.A. didn't seem to stick with Liam, who went to see Hope again, only to basically ignore her apologizing seven ways to Sunday.

To Liam's way of thinking, Hope had essentially gaslit him, accusing him for months of being jealous and controlling, while all along, Hope had known that Liam had reason to embody those traits. Only thing is, usually when you gaslight someone, it's a deed one does on purpose. In Hope's defense, her denials to Liam were as much to convince herself she wasn't hot for Thomas as they were to convince Liam.

Hope again reminded Liam that she had cleared him for way more than one (okay, two) little kiss with Thomas. But when Liam refused her any leniency, Hope went in kind of an odd direction. She suddenly asked Liam if he had seen Steffy. When he confirmed it, Hope intimated that maybe what she had done wasn't the only problem she and Liam were having.

Hope point-blank asked Liam if he wanted Steffy back. Where did that come from? Was it simply having enough experience with Liam's waffling that it seemed like a foregone conclusion? Because Liam hadn't shown any obvious pull toward Steffy since the "who's Hayes's father" debacle two years ago. It just seemed out of nowhere. Was it just me?

Well, Liam torqued a lot of you off, from what I've seen on social media, because he not only said he hadn't had a single thought about Steffy (obviously bull, since he kissed Steffy twice), but he added, "I'm thinking of her now!" Wow, that's cold, dude! Liam even considering another reunion with Steffy is ridiculous, no matter what happens with Hope, but he was right to imply that something was broken in Hope for her to want "that," meaning Thomas.

Can't argue there! However, Liam's analysis would carry more weight if he hadn't just kissed a married woman twice in retaliation for his married wife doing the same with his "executioner." Liam should have taken the high road for once, but he's constitutionally incapable of doing so, and it makes him unlikable. Where did Liam learn this ish? I hope it wasn't from his Forrester model mama, Kelly.

Steffy confronted her brother about his sightseeing leading to a close-up of Hope's lips in Italy. Now, this is really the first time we even got Thomas' take on the whole thing. Oddly, he and Hope never said word one about their kisses after they happened, not as they continued their tour of Rome or as they traveled home from Rome. Thomas felt terrible that his smooching was causing Hope even a molecule of heartache.

Yet, when Steffy pressed, Thomas added that the situation was complicated and really none of Steffy's business. Ordinarily, I might agree. But these people can't go to the bathroom without telling each other what shade of brown they turned out. For once, Thomas wasn't the instigator; it wouldn't have been unreasonable for him to make that point to anyone who might want to listen.

Steffy might have wanted to make her own point to Finn for the sake of transparency, but as the guy who gets nothing to do but make out with his wife and talk about Thomas and Hope, Finn once again broached the subject of Thope's kiss. Too bad Finn had interrupted Steffy thinking about Liam's kisses. This is not good, especially after Steffy had been so firm in rejecting Liam and standing up for her marriage to Finn.

Steffy would be way better off telling Finn about Liam's liplocks now. After all, she didn't kiss Liam back (well, barely), and if Steffy keeps mum on this, she's just gonna end up in a world of hurt when Finn inevitably finds out about it later. Besides, it might be fun to watch Finn pummel Liam for making moves on his woman. Maybe Finn will even pull a Sheila on Finn somehow, which could make for even more fun.

Finn made a good point in relaying that Thomas was a grown man and could have stopped Hope from kissing him. Steffy should be able to relate to that, as she similarly stopped Liam from kissing her...sort of. We do have to wonder where we'll ultimately end up going with this. Is Liam going to try to take Steffy away from Finn? I'd love to see Finn and Hope get together if Liam and Steffy are really going to make yet another go of it.

For Hope's part, logic would dictate that, given the firestorm her Italian French kissing started, staying at least one area code away from Thomas would be the best thing for Hope to do. But did she? No! She ran straight to Thomas, resulting in their first chat about the snogging since it happened. Thomas conceded that he should have kept his distance from Hope in Italy. Maybe he has evolved for the better.

Hope wailed that Liam wanted Steffy again, though, again, I still don't know how she came to that so quickly. But it didn't seem to matter to Hope. She declared that Thomas made her feel like she was the only woman in the world, and it was nice that someone wanted only her. And before you knew it, Hope's tongue was once again checking Thomas' teeth for cavities!

"Kill Liam! Kill Liam!" All right, that's what the Hope mannequin told Thomas after he kissed her -- I mean, it. But that was more entertaining than watching Hope function with less brain power than her inanimate doppelgnger. It's official -- these people are a mess. And I have to admit, I'm kind of on autopilot with these stories at the moment. It's already annoying that we're partying like it's 2012, but these fools are all running amok. Can uber-shrink James Warwick come back and offer group rates?

How is all this grabbing you, Scoopers? Should Steffy tell Finn about Liam's fickle feats? Should Finn give Liam a fat lip for putting his lips on Finn's wife? Should Hope further explore why she's causing so much upheaval, rebelling against her self-imposed limits? And if this rehash-with-some-slight-twists saga isn't doing it for you, what would you rather be seeing on your screens right now? Drop a quarter 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!

"I seriously loathe...Liam Spencer. He is weak, sniveling, repetitious, and now being completely disrespectful of Steffy and Finn, who he was just working out with. Instead of CONFRONTING HIS WIFE, his default setting whenever Hope 'disappoints' him, is to run to Steffy and immediately kiss and shag her. He makes me sick. How either of these women can even still LIKE him, is beyond me..." -- Patricia

"I...still want to be compensated for Thomas's character assassination a few years ago. OK, he used to be occasionally on the shady side, but he was mostly decent and just morphed into a total psychopath overnight. I would like to understand why Bill's sociopathy was not addressed in the same way. His multiple stunts to get Steffy to love him (or to be with his own son, ew...) or his wife's sister put him right up there with Thomas and Sheila. Even Taylor's recent betrayal makes absolutely no sense. I have never seen a show so willing to change their characters' personality to fit storylines. Silly ones at that!" -- Anita

"Adam Michael James who wrote this article just accept that Thomas and Hope are in love and are the true soulmates...Thope should be a couple and fingers crossed Hope will be pregnant with Thomas baby or babies twins a boy and a girl." -- Cecil

Well, that's the beauty of doing an opinion column. Everybody can have their own opinions! Even if I don't agree with them! Or if you agree with mine.

If history tells us anything, it's that even the wonkiest storylines come to an end, and twists that improve can come when least expected. So, keep watching, be alert, and most of all, be bold! See you in two weeks, my Scoopnesses!AMJ

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