From DNA to HFTF: How do they get themselves into these things?

The question of the week came from Steffy, who asked Finn, "How do you get yourself into these situations!" That's a good question for the entire L.A. crew. How does Poppy's revelation catch the fourth-time WTD contestant Bill Spencer by surprise? Why doesn't Hope anticipate HFTF being on the chopping block biannually? Plus, our writer doesn't think Katie was ready for "this jelly," but are her and Li's suspicions right or wrong about Poppy? Let's scoop!

Steffy asked Finn how he got himself into these situations. Assuming she meant situations like accidentally attending Sheila's wedding or searching for a "dead" Sheila, it seems he got himself into them because he dared to "disobey his wife's wishes." At least that was the way Liam characterized it when Finn went from pizza delivery man to best man at Sheila's wedding. No need to adjust your TV. Liam really did set us back into the last century in which people vowed to "obey" spouses.

I don't know how a person can disobey a wish, but at what point should we ask how Steffy gets Finn into these situations? Steffy questioned whether she should have sent Finn to Il Giardino, but she claimed she'd done it because, of all the pizza joints in Malibu, Kelly just had to get pizza from the abode of the person Steffy claims is the biggest threat to her family. Why would anyone eat food from an establishment employing the person they think wants to harm them?

It's a mystery why the writers place Kelly in these scenarios and not Sheila's actual grandchild, Hayes, but Finn encountered Kelly's hero and savior because Kelly just had to have tea time on the beach. Kelly encountered Sheila again because her friend's mom took them to Il Giardino. Finn wound up at the wedding due to Kelly's picky pizza palate. All of it could have been avoided had Steffy made the hard, executive decision that Kelly wouldn't get food from people her mother doesn't trust. It's not like it mattered to Kelly, who ran off to eat at a pool party, anyway.

If Steffy was referring to how Finn got into situations like her finding out things before he can tell her, well that's on Finn for his failure to avoid cameras. He should have known from that time Liam filmed him hugging Sheila that he shouldn't pose for wedding photos because they could wind up on social media just like Kelly's picture from Il Giardino with Sheila in the background. Deacon was a complete bonehead to put Finn on blast like that. I believe that, deep down, he knew that posting it would piss Steffy off, and that made him smile in his gut.

Is that the end of the story? The disgruntled Steffy marches off and slams the bedroom door because Finn disobeyed her? No jetting off to the Alps? No banishing Finn to their shack of a guesthouse? I'd say Steffy must be losing her edge, but it was razor sharp when she poised herself to slice HFTF to ribbons.

If, by "these situations," I mean those in which Steffy accuses Hope of being a tramp off the old block, I'd say it starts off by Hope recalling a forbidden man's touch. Next comes fantasizing about him until it culminates into an oopsie moment turned affair. Could it become more than thoughts of Finn? I don't know. Hope does find stepbrothers attractive, so there's that. For now, though, Hope and Finn are just friends with massage benefits that Hope just can't get off her mind. Imagine if Steffy knew her hubby's magical hands had been on Hope.

On the other hand, if by "these situations," I mean once again fighting for her line's survival, then Hope is in this situation because she's too stupid to see that HFTF is in danger seasonally. Almost anytime viewers tune in to the show, HFTF is in jeopardy of losing its funding or flailing under the wrong designers. These things usually happen right after an unbelievable success.

Case in point, Thomas and Hope had a huge success at the end of 2022, but the line fell into immediate peril when the Forresters banished Thomas, and Eric and Zende took over. When Thomas came back, the line experienced phenomenal success in Rome, but Ridge cut funding due to Eric's line that following summer. Soon, the line was funded again, but when Thomas left for Paris, it was right back to the chopping block for HFTF.

I will cut Hope some slack because she was prepared for the other shoe to drop when Thomas left and had been surprised when Carter and Ridge hadn't cut her funding. Ridge said he got that the line was in transition, and Ridge expressed excitement for Hope's team -- namely R.J. and Zende. Steffy echoed that sentiment when Hope met her at her house to discuss the line. Although she said Hope had ambitious targets, Steffy was willing to tweak the schedule and work with Hope, noting that she was sure Hope's next line would be a success.

So, why is the line suddenly having bad "projections"? Thomas just left, and R.J. and Zende don't have a line yet. So, aren't these numbers reflective of Thomas' last line? It makes me wonder why Steffy wouldn't move ahead, despite projections, to see what Hope's new team can actually do. Instead, Steffy claimed that the line has declined since Thomas left; however, when Hope noted that it was because Thomas was gone, Steffy ridiculed Hope, saying, "If you believe you only need one designer, and if he's not there..."

Wait a minute. Last year, didn't Hope try to manage HFTF without Thomas, but Steffy told her that it was either Thomas or bust? Now Steffy scoffs at Hope for saying Thomas leaving is the reason for the line being in a little trouble? Thomas and Hope experienced a wildly successful year, and that was after Zende failed to see Hope's vision. Steffy expects Zende to immediately get it and to fit into Thomas' socket like any other plug? She expects R.J., the novice Chosen One, to go from taking sketch dictation to creating?

The writers need to explain to me why they worked so hard proving that only Thomas can understand Hope and only Thomas can singlehandedly save her line, but now Hope should know better than to rely on one designer? Not only is Thomas suddenly a nonfactor, but now Zende does get her vision. Now, R.J. and Zende can work magic while secretly seething about Luna. According to the script, Hope put together a strong team that people can't stop praising, but they are about to get axed before they even start. Make it make sense.

On the other side of the CEO's desk, there's Ridge, who went from wanting to run the company and lead with his vision last summer to now wishing he can just design. I thought maybe Hope would throw up the Thomas signal, and he'd swing back into town to save the day, but maybe this is about Brooke taking over Ridge's co-CEO position to free Ridge up to design and maybe even save HFTF himself. I personally feel that HFTF is way beyond its expiration date as a line and as a plot device. Should Hope take up this war once again with Steffy, or should she and the Logans branch out and form something of their own?

If by "situations," I mean waltzing into Bill's house and finding him with another woman, that's because she needs to learn to knock and wait, not knock and twist. If by situations, I mean jealous because another woman is with Bill, then it's because Katie needs quit her bad habit of tossing Bill away and then trying to reel him back in later.

Katie wasn't fooling anybody when she waltzed into Bill's house, expecting to find the same old lonely bachelor sipping scotch, but instead, she found Bill in her former home with the new lady in his life. Katie claimed not to be bothered by it and asserted that Bill hadn't had to explain himself to Katie in a long time. I might agree if by a long time, she means last year when she marched up there, reading him for filth for dating Sheila and hinting that she'd come back to him if he dumped Sheila. We all know how that went. Katie stayed with Carter but kissed Bill.

Speaking of Carter, projections for Carter and Katie's relationship don't look very good in light of the way the Logan sisters grilled Katie about whether seeing Bill with Poppy made Katie want to try again with Bill. Katie persisted in her faade of not wanting Bill, but if you ask me, Katie protests too much. What exactly has made Katie decide Poppy is untrustworthy?

I don't blame Katie for feeling some type of way about Bill and Poppy. The timeline between the relationships is cutting it kind of close. Shouldn't Will be in high school by now? If so, that means there were only a few years between Poppy and Katie's relationships with Bill. Back when Katie and Bill dated, Bill acted as if he'd never known love. Katie had been the beauty who'd tamed the beast. Now, for her to find out he'd had this connection to Poppy -- one that persisted throughout Katie's marriages to him -- that is a valid cause for Katie's insecurity about the past.

With Katie's antenna up about Poppy, and Li sounding off about Poppy's gold-digging ways again, I have to wonder if there might be something to what they are sensing. Li couldn't be pulling her ideas out of thin air, but if Poppy really was a gold-digger, she would have struck it when she'd gotten pregnant with Bill's child. I'd think she'd find him, tell him, and collect. It wouldn't have been hard to find the mogul, either. That's what makes me doubt Luna is Bill's daughter.

The question I keep pondering is why Poppy shut down the idea of Bill being the father, but now, not only does she want to talk about it, but she's suddenly in love and always has been. Please note, Bill told Liam that Poppy loved him; Bill did not say he loved Poppy. If Bill is the father, what was the point of that side story about Poppy's summer at Li's house when Finn was 18? I'm starting to think Bill should have bought his own DNA kit to this party.

That brings us to the question of how Bill got himself into this situation. This will be the fourth time that Bill has met someone claiming to be his child. A DNA test proved Liam was his son. Bill took Wyatt and Quinn's word for it based on a necklace. Flo turned out to be Storm's daughter, and now, Poppy has gone from saying Bill isn't the father to saying he could be.

Is he? Or now that Poppy is off the mints, has she decided that the best way to make things up to Luna is to give her a dad that isn't Finn's dad? Just saying...there was that summer Poppy spent at Li's, and Finn said Poppy abruptly left.

Poppy brought her own DNA test to Bill's house, and it looks like Bill might be dumb enough to let her perform it. We'll have to see how it turns out, but for now, all I'm gonna say is that Poppy has had complete access to all kinds of DNA in that man's house. All kinds...

Next week, Li attempts to intervene in Luna and Bill's DNA testing session, but later in the week, Luna's paternity is revealed. If it's Bill, I remain skeptical because spoilers indicate that Katie issues a cryptic warning about Poppy. Making Luna the third child Bill finds later in life is kind of lame, don't you think? I pray to the soap gods the writers do not do that to Bill again -- and I'm praying that they stop having rando kids pop up on Bill's lawn. I can't believe this narcissist is that careless with his Spencer seed.

Coming up, Ridge decides the feud between Steffy and Hope. The last time Ridge intervened, he kept HFTF and nixed Steffy's lingerie line. Will he side with Steffy this time? Ridge also makes Brooke an offer. I predict that he makes her co-CEO, so he can return to designing. Finn defends Hope to Steffy, and Hope finds herself in a surprising situation. As long as it doesn't involve Finn and her hair blowing in a hazy fantasy, I'm good. Stay tuned!

That's the scoops and nothing but the scoops! Let us know what you think in the comments section below. Is Steffy being vindictive or making a wise business decision about HFTF? Is it time to retire that line? Do you think Poppy is being straightforward with Bill and Luna? Are you surprised there wasn't more fallout between Finn and Steffy after he attended the wedding?

Until we scoop again, stay bold and beautiful, baby!Chanel

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