Healthy, wealthy... and wise?

B&B characters and fans alike seem to be polarized over Thomas calling game over on Hope after she turned down his third of three proposals. But is the obsessing, gaslighting, mannequin-kissing stud finally making a healthy choice for his mental health in moving on from her? Get the diagnosis with Two Scoops' Mike!

Has your week been bold and beautiful? Did you decide that "special mints" were enough to make a relationship special? Were you all "word to the you're not my mutha"? Did you make the healthiest choice you'd made since you were a kid taking your Flintstones chewables? These and more situations faced the Forrester-Logan-Spencer-Nozawa clan this week!

Well, well, well, Scoopers! We might have had to endure an entire week packed with B&B's most demented coupling ever, along with Steffy going full anti-Logan again out of nowhere and Douglas cutely but absolutely dissing his adoptive mom, but Thomas wowed this columnist by making the best choice for his mental health -- and possibly mine. Is Thope blessedly, actually, finally over? Let's Scoop about it!

Steffy sure bounces back quickly, doesn't she? You'd never know that, just a month ago, she stabbed Sheila to death or that her husband -- her victim's son, no less -- remains so traumatized being in the murder house that he's probably spending every waking moment on Zillow and collecting change-of-address cards. But hey! Since when does that stop B&B from pretending other stories besides the one they're laser-focused on in the moment isn't happening?

It's right up there with Hope's claims that she's not ready for marriage simply because she just got out of one, never mind the fact that Hope had needed to think following the news of Thomas playing a big part in Emma Barber's death. We sure dropped that one! Our soap has been doing a lot of that lately, not just backburnering other stories, but ignoring additional story facets for characters involved in current arcs.

I have to believe that B&B knows how icky it is to forge a romance between sometime stepsiblings -- not to mention between victim and victimizer (as I said in my last column, there's definitely some Stockholm syndrome going on) -- and has just been doing it for the sheer shock value and the scandal aspect. Gross as they are, Thope sure gets people's attention, don't they?

Steffy had some serious amnesia this week, deciding that the reason Hope said no to the dress was because Hope was just like her mom. Yep, Steffy, when in doubt, pops the anti-Logan mixtape back in. Last time I checked, Brooke's skankiness didn't include sleeping with a stepbrother. Imagine if Thope stayed together and Bridge exchanged vows again. Thope would be related by marriage! Eww!

The implication also was that Steffy had been against Thope since it started in Rome...never mind the fact that Steffy set the wheels in motion by insisting that Hope take Thomas back to design for the flailing Hope for the Future line. Okay, maybe Steffy didn't foresee a romantic relationship actually happening, but she sure knew of Thomas' obsessive interest in Hope and therefore had a hand in the romance she's decrying.

When Ridge worried that Hope's rejection would be a setback for Thomas, Hope pshawed that it wouldn't be, because Thomas has grown. Um, no, a setback is exactly what everyone should be worried about, given Thomas' history of instability. Brooke thought that Steffy should understand about Hope not accepting a marriage proposal unless Hope was one hundred percent sure. Wow, such sense.

Fresh from chastising Hope, Steffy ran to Thomas and dared to say that Hope was the one with issues. I can't disagree that Hope has some unresolved trauma that's causing her to have the hots for her one-time tormentor, but that's really rich coming from Steffy, given she had a front row seat for all of Thomas' cray-cray. Nope. Not only should Thomas dump Hope, but he should grab Douglas and run off to Paris!

Huh? I can almost understand Thomas putting distance between him and Hope, but to uproot Douglas? The kid's only in school. He's got friends. He needs stability, especially because he hasn't had a whole lot. But sure, drag him to another country on a moment's notice. The one thing that Steffy was right about in her raving is that Thomas was Hope's rebound, a component that hasn't gotten nearly enough attention in all this.

Bridge, their "destiny" on hold, bandied words about Thope. Ridge was more concerned with Thomas than with Hope, which rankled Brooke, who actually asked Hope if there was something in Thomas' past that Hope simply couldn't get past. Um, HELLO! I don't remember if anyone outside of Sinn, Thope, and Liam knows about Xander's re-accusation that Thomas killed Emma, but it's not akin to Thomas simply forgetting to put the toilet seat down once he's done doing a number one.

"Can you really blame her after all the things he's done to her?" Brooke finally asked Ridge, and hallelujah. I know Brooke gets on a lot of y'all's nerves, but at least here she asked the right question. After Hope left, Steffy brought her pro-Forrester ferociousness to Forrester, of course forgetting that she's not actually a Forrester, but I digress. Steffy thought Brooke would be happy about the fall of Thope.

Steffy ruined her moment of clarity by snarking that Hope was becoming more like Brooke every day. Yeah, I still don't see how that tracks. Hope hasn't been throwing herself at a married man, and Brooke never decided she simply had to have a man who abused her. Brooke asked Steffy why it was so important that Thomas and Hope had to be married. Couldn't they just be together?

Oh, Brooke, you did not just say that. You, who made getting married every year an Olympic event. And it's not like Brooke and Ridge are anywhere near marriage, despite supposedly being engaged. Maybe Brooke has come around to the idea of merely shacking up. While arguing, Brooke had to remind Steffy of what Thomas had done to Hope in the past. Why does that matter so little now, to both B&B characters and their real-life fans?

Hope went to see Thomas, who may actually be on a true road to recovery, but more on that in a minute. Hope reiterated that she wasn't ready to marry Thomas -- or anyone -- but "it doesn't mean I don't want to make love to you." Interesting argument to lead with, isn't it? This tells us far more about what Hope's motivations are in being with Thomas than anything else she said this week.

Thomas wanted to know if Steffy was right when she said that Hope was just not able to love Thomas the way Thomas loved Hope. But Hope never directly answered the question. I think there's something in Hope that knows any involvement with Thomas is the height of inappropriate; she might finally be able to have sex with the guy, but actual love? Yeah, ain't gonna happen. It can't.

Hope was aghast when Thomas suggested that Hope had gotten with him out of some sort of revenge or because she wanted to take a walk on the wild side like Marky Mark. Good points both! Thomas admitted that he loved Hope too much to keep putting himself through the rejections. Ooh. Maybe Thomas has a way to go yet; he should have said he loved himself too much to do so.

Still, our mannequin kisser went on to show he's come a long way. Thomas spoke of self-respect and needing to take care of himself. He noted that perhaps he and Hope had too much to overcome. He was out. Not just out of Hope's life but also Hope for the Future. He realized that the first time Hope had finally said she loved him was when she was rejecting him! He was taking Douglas and getting outta Dodge.

I have to say, for the first time since Thomas battled Justin to get Liam out of jail for "killing" Vinny three years ago, Thomas had me impressed. On a pure mental health level alone, Thomas is right to extricate himself from any involvement with Hope -- not just because she clearly doesn't reciprocate his level of feelings, but because it's a righting of the fact that Thomas shouldn't have romanced the object of his obsession in the first place.

It was kind of like going to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and chugging back Jack Daniels outside the door. Thomas has a right to search out love if he's recovered enough to do so; perhaps he wasn't strong enough to turn Hope away when she came calling in Rome. But apparently, he is now. And I sure hope that means the end of this sick AF Thope coupling. If Thomas can walk away from it for the sake of his literal sanity, all the better.

As if becoming the recipient of Thomas' instability, Hope began to blame Steffy for Thomas leaving her. Maybe she and Steffy, clearly in the throes of another "Logans suck" phase, can get group rates from one of L.A.'s thousands of psychiatrists. Naturally, Steffy, Thomas, Brooke, and Ridge had to mix it up about Hope's refusal to marry Thomas and Thomas' reaction to it. Who needs Ambien?

The real to-do was happening across the hall, where Douglas had come to see Hope. Speaking of hope, Douglas flattened Hope by saying Thomas wasn't the only one who had harbored that. "Why did you make it seem like we would be a family?" Douglas submitted. "Why aren't we good enough? You don't love us enough?" Ouch. Hope didn't really have any answers for the boy, spluttering, "I'll always be your mother."

"My mother died!" Douglas retorted, invoking the name of Caroline Spencer! "Dad was good enough for her." Well, okay, Douglas doesn't know about the part where he was conceived out of Caroline being too drugged out to consent to Thomas' hot, hot lovin', but we can forgive Douglas that. Still, Douglas throwing Caroline in Hope's face...wowsers. I liked it! Because it's been like Caroline never existed since Hope adopted Douglas.

When Douglas stated he was ready to split to Paris, Hope mentioned that it wasn't that simple, since she and Thomas had joint custody of him. That's when Douglas begged, "Don't make me go through court stuff again." Nice touch! I don't think Douglas would declare Thomas his hero, as he did here, if he knew pop scared his ass with a CGI ghost, but Douglas dropped his barrier just long enough to give Hope a big hug and tell her, "I love you, Mom." Ecch! I'm getting verklempt ovah heah!

Steffy decided she needed to gloat and ramped her Logan hatred up to the next level. "Brooke may have stolen my father, but you will not steal my brother," Steffy seethed to Hope. Is Steffy taking Poppy's "special mints" two boxes at a time? Ridge knew Brooke first, and though Brooke tried, she never actually succeeded in taking Ridge away from Taylor. Ridge only got back with Brooke after Taylor "died"!

Unable to leave it alone, Steffy roared that Hope had used sex to control Thomas the way Brooke had done with Ridge and Eric -- Hope hauled off to smack Steffy, but Steffy caught Hope's arm. I actually wish Hope had clocked Steffy. Steffy has been so overbearing with this Thope stuff. She has her own problems with Finn that she's not handling well...or handling at all.

Hope saying that it took her a while to find forgiveness for Thomas does throw a few points in the Thope column, but forgiveness didn't have to mean testing mattresses with the guy. Instead of recognizing that she started the whole thing by forcing Hope to work with Thomas again, Steffy deemed Hope trash and "a pathetic little slut." Isn't that overkill? Even Hope wondered if Steffy was trying to be Stephanie, and Brooke deserved Stephanie-type ire way more than Hope ever has.

Hope was convinced that Steffy was only bashing her because Steffy was so unhappy in her own life. I'll take it one step further: maybe Steffy's taking her feelings about killing Sheila and what it's been doing to Finn out on Hope. It would be okay for the show to acknowledge Steffy processing that trauma while letting her defend Thomas. But characters always have to compartmentalize their feelings, depending on what story they're doing at any particular moment.

I know we don't watch soaps to see healthy people making healthy choices; we like the entertainment of such characters doing absolutely asinine things. Plus, it makes us feel better about our own real-life choices. But lack of reason is really running rampant on our screens lately. Take Zende (remember him?), who swung by to see Luna (remember her?); wasn't he lucky that R.J. (remember him?) was out jogging.

It was all so much rehash, as if we who follow the show don't already know that Zende shagged Luna while she was high on "special mint" and that she thought he was R.J. during the act. Had Luna told R.J.? Zende wanted to know. No, Luna was insistent on dragging that plot point out. Zende conceded that part of him was mortified about what had happened between him and Luna...but the other part...was crazy about Luna!

I think "crazy" must be the operative word, because Zende went on to ask Luna if there was a part of her that wondered if they might be good together! Did B&B really just go there? I liked Zende better when he was stealing cameras as an orphan. This story is already weak, but the overlay of Zende thinking a relationship can come out of his drugged-up night with Luna...yuck. Z-man, follow Thomas' actual healthy lead and walk away!

What would give your stories a clean bill of health, Scoopers? Was Thomas right to remove himself from any relationship with Hope? Should Steffy be focusing on her own problems caused by stabbing Sheila instead of going on another tired anti-Logan tirade? Do you think Caroline's invisible presence in Douglas' life has been going overlooked? And does Zende have the slightest claim to having feelings for Luna? Write up a prescription in the Soap Central message boards, or simply click here to submit feedback!

Holy soap returns! We've got two of them happening in the very near future. First, Ivy Forrester is coming back from Down Under! With Wyatt gone, I'm thinking it must have something to do with Liam. I hope Ivy has her natural accent back, and I'd love to meet Ivy's mother, Claire, and see Ivy interact with half-sis Jessica Forrester, though I know neither of those things is going to happen. Is Ivy home to once again tell Steffy that she committed "murdah"?

And happening next week already, Lauren Fenmore is paying a visit from Y&R -- to toast Sheila's death! Looks like the mystery of whether Lauren knows Sheila actually didn't die when Lauren shot "her" in 2007 will finally be cleared up, at least somewhat. Of course, Lauren, of all people, should know that Sheila's been "dead" before. Wouldn't it be something if Lauren was the one to put it together that Sheila wasn't the one Steffy stabbed?

Watching soaps is good for your health, so indeed, keep watching, be alert, and most of all, be bold!

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