Has your week been bold and beautiful? Did you simply exchange one broken record for another broken record? Did your brief brush with being a bad girl make you want to bad girl some more? Was your wedding a literal marriage of convenience? These and more situations faced the Forrester-Logan-Spencer-Finnegan clan this week!
Well, how 'bout that, Scoopers? Sheila and Deacon exchanged vows, complete with toes made out of pastry. And you can't blame a bride for wearing black -- hey, Steffy did the same at her 2013 nups to Liam. It's not that Mr. Freaky Deak and Ms. She-Devil tied the barbed wire knot -- it's how much had to be forced to make it happen. And is Finn about to pull a Liam and ditch Steffy for Hope? Ready? Let's Scoop about it!
Hope visited Finn to talk about their identical requests to stand up for their parents at the wedding. Hope was considering it, though Finn remained unusually steadfast in his resolve to stay away from Sheila for Steffy's sake. Hope then had a headache that she couldn't hide from the doc. She had been struggling to deal with the absence of Douglas and Thomas, her divorce from Liam, Hope for the Future's uncertainty, and now her daddy marrying a demon.
Foregoing the stereotypical two aspirins, Dr. Finnegan switched those out for two hands that immediately went to work on Hope's aching temples. Question: is Hope contending with an actual malady? Did she faint recently not because Sheila was alive but because something's wrong? Now consistent headaches...I sure hope Hope isn't pregnant. The last thing the incestuous Thope needs is a baby.
But Hope wasn't thinking about Thomas; in fact, as Finn's hand prescription moved to Hope's shoulders, the two started having quite the love fest. Finn assured Hope that someone special was waiting for her "when you least expect it," and Hope was flattered to be complimented by "such an accomplished and smart man." Uh-huh. This is all soap code for "they gon' get together!"
Hope did seem to be affected by Finn's rub-a-dub-dubbing. She'd never have been one to catch feelings for a married man before, but she did cross the line into Brooke-style inappropriateness by lusting over the stepbrother she grew up with. For Finn's part, Hope's been a lot more understanding lately than Steffy, and the show has been teasing this duo since last year. Will the fact that they're now in-laws stop them?
I'd said in previous columns that Steffy needed to get a new schtick, as she had been reduced to exclaiming that Sheila was dead, and that was all there was to it. Well, the sexy co-CEO indeed got that new schtick, but it's just a revamped gimmick. Now all she does is tell everyone (Liam, Ridge, Brooke) that there's no room for Sheila in Finn's life, and Finn knows that thanks to her ultimatum.
Can we really not write something better for Steffy than having her rage and pout about things? At least it got interesting when she went to Bridge (who you'd think would have had their ninth legit wedding in the eleven months since they reunited in Rome) and complained about Hope. Of course, Ridge parroted whatever his daughter said, but Brooke shockingly wasted no time joining Team Steffy in regard to Sheila!
La Logan couldn't fathom her daughter cutting Sheila any slack, but Steffy nearly begged Brooke to try to get through to Hope, who was starting to buy into Finn's contention that Sheila had changed. Hold my non-alcoholic beer, Brooke seemed to say, because when Hope arrived with the news that her pop was marrying naughty nurse Sheila, Brooke laid into Hope, with Steffy at her side.
The disbelieving Brooke reminded Hope that Sheila had brought misery and violence into all their lives. I'm surprised Brooke didn't lift up her sleeve and show Hope her own scar from being on the wrong end of Sheila's gun in 2002. But it wasn't Sheila who tried to harm Steffy, Hope insisted. So far, I'm leaning toward Sheila's Sugar story being true, but let's face it -- there is only Sheila's word for it so far.
Once alone with Hope, Brooke warned that Beth was in danger if Hope let Sheila in even a little bit. But Hope had made up her mind. She would be Sheila's matron of honor, though it was only to show support for Deacon, not Sheila. Has Hope gotten into Poppy's "special mints"? I guess if Hope can shag a man who let her believe her baby was dead, she can rubber stamp her stepmom who belongs in a rubber room.
Back at Deacon's dinky apartment (he could afford to buy a Beverly Hills restaurant but not rent a decent place?), Sheila pouted that Deacon hadn't heard from Hope or Finn about taking part in the wedding. Deacon didn't like Sheila's tone when she groused that Steffy was the only thing standing between her and Finn. Talk about needing a new shtick -- Sheila's been harping on that since 2021.
Deacon guided Sheila into visualizing Finn at the wedding, resulting in Sheila saying she could only see Steffy's face...with a "big-ass scowl on it." Well, no one can say Sheila isn't reading the room. Yet, for all Deacon's support about Finn, he felt that Sheila hoping for Hayes to be the ring bearer was a step too far. Until they rename that kid after someone who wasn't an abusive ex-husband of Taylor's, he's persona non grata to me.
Finn popped by to tell his about-to-be step-pop that he wasn't going to do the best man thing or even be at the ceremony, leading Sheila to play the "won't you be there for your mom" card. Finn stuck to his guns, even though he realized Sheila had risked her life for Steffy and the kids. Why does the show keep trying to gaslight us into thinking that's what happened? We saw Sheila's vocal-only resistance to Sugar's threat...according to Sheila!
Finn supported Sheacon's union but begged off further involvement. Deacon comforted Sheila, who shifted to realizing that, in "Daddy," she finally had a man who loved her for her. Wait, didn't Sheila just say that about Bill last year, stunt as that might have been? And I think Sheila's former husband (and captive) James might just disagree with that statement himself, considering the family they had together.
Brooke vocalized what most B&B characters (and some viewers) are thinking about the shacking up of Sheacon: how can Deacon "pledge his life to that monster?" To that, I say, about this time ten years ago, Deacon was getting involved with Quinn. And they got married the following year, even after Quinn trained a gun on Deacon for figuring out she was (probably) responsible for murdering the HTFT Diamond guy!
You'd think Deacon would have learned from being pushed off a cliff by Quinn, but I guess that's how he plunges -- er, rolls. However, when Sheila reveled to herself "this is my wedding day," I couldn't help thinking of her other weddings. Amazingly, they all took place in the '90s; she hasn't yet been married this millennium. I wasn't watching Y&R in 1991 when Sheila married Scott, but that was her first go-round.
I do very well remember Sheila's wedding to Eric in 1993, where every single guest wore black. Maybe that's what Sheila's taking her inspiration from now? Man, that was some great soap -- Sheila's vicious night-before catfight with Lauren, who threatened to regale those in attendance with stories of how Sheila stole Lauren's baby in Genoa City. Sheila bailed on Eric but returned when he was alone to marry him, anyway.
Sheila's 1997 wedding to James was no less dramatic. That could only go with the territory, considering Sheila had held James prisoner and nearly stabbed him to death after she learned that his lovemaking had only been a ploy to get her to release him. A few years later, after Sheila had given birth to James's baby, Mary, James tried to fake-romance Sheila into giving the child up, all the way up to the altar.
James was all decked out Scottish-style (that happens when Mr. Scott from Star Trek is about to be your father-in-law), and Sheila found out that James had been punking her, so she jumped off the roof of their honeymoon high-rise. I guess we can see why Sheila hasn't jumped into marriage for 27 years. But this marriage...toe-in-cheek as it was...well, a lot had to happen to make it happen.
To begin with, Finn had to be told that Sheila and Deacon were planning to exchange vows on the beach...only for Deacon to change his mind and stage the ceremony right there at Il Giardino. Wow, he could make a fortune catering weddings and funerals -- he'd better, since the place is never open. Finn 'fessed up about not being Deacon's best man; snotty Steffy didn't care what Sheacon did as long as they weren't in Finn and Steffy's lives.
Hope inexplicably got ready for the festivities at Forrester, not her home where she wouldn't be ambushed about her choice to be maid of honor. Then Finn, who I suppose was trying to feed his extended brood when Liam brought Beth over to color with Kelly, decided to grab pizza...from Il Giardino, assuming Deacon and Sheila wouldn't be there because of their wedding.
How many thousands of pizza joints does Los Angeles have, and Finn had to pick the IG? Has he never heard of delivery? DoorDash? Why frequent the very place you and your wife were left for dead, anyway? Then Finn arrives at the bistro, only to find it's closed for a private event. So, how was he able to order food at all? Finally, there's the matter of Tom, the homeless dude who pointed Finn and Deacon to the imprisoned Sheila, being at the wedding.
First off, why give any minor character basically the same name as a major one -- in this case, Thomas? And how lucky can you get -- Tom just happens to be able to officiate marriages. I might have let all the other contrivances slide, but that's just silly. I'd have more easily bought Deacon taking Tom off the street and having him register to become an officiant, which would even have been free. And less convenient.
A soap isn't a soap without reality being bent to facilitate a story, but it's not hard to cross the line into sheer fairy tale. And this wasn't an arc where such maneuvering was necessary. Clearly, the motive was to trick Finn into attending his biomom's wedding, yet I'm sure it could have been done through a more logical string of events than what made its way onto our screens this week.
How nice of Brooke and Ridge to visit Eric and check on him! Five months on from his Christmas miracle (being cured of whatever disease almost took him out), I will admit it was a nice touch. Papa F was aghast to learn that Deacon was marrying Sheila, but Eric had to concede that he once had taken the madwoman as his bride himself. See how easy it is to use the past to highlight current story?
Brooke reminded Eric that he didn't know what Sheila was about when he married Sheila, with Ridge making the complementary statement that Deacon was going into things with "his eyes wide open." This was also a nice touch. But was Brooke becoming a Hope convert? She went from reprimanding Hope for taking part in the wedding to defending Hope for standing up for her father. Huh?
I hope Bill is docking Liam's pay, because Liam is never at Spencer Publications anymore, especially with Wyatt gone. During this latest hooky-playing, Liam praised Kelly's sock puppet of him and had to be the one to point out that Finn was taking an awfully long time just to pick up a few pizzas. Have you ever driven from Malibu to Beverly Hills? L.A. traffic can easily make that round trip an all-day excursion.
Still, Liam had a point, so Steffy texted Finn with a plaintive "Where are you?" Where are he? He are at Il Giardino, where Sheila spotted him and gushed over him coming to her wedding, after all. Could Sheila not tell by the hoodie Finn was wearing that he was not dressed for such an event? It would seem love is blind, after all, as further indicated by Sheila's vows to Deacon.
In front of God (or the other one) and their witnesses, Sheila proclaimed that Deacon had "always stood by me, no matter what...well, except for that time you joined Ridge and Bill in trying to entrap me and put me in jail." Oh. She didn't say that last part. But ya know, bygones. Maybe Sheila just appreciates Deacon's deviousness. And as Finn and Hope exchanged eye rolls, Sheila became Mrs. Sheila Carter Grainger Forrester Warwick Sharpe. Rolls off the tongue, dunnit!
Well, Sheila's black wedding dress was lovely (does that speak to the money she supposedly has hidden away?), and I did have to giggle at the toe-shaped treats Deacon made available (though his constant references to her toes is taking too much of a toehold). All right, Deacon and Sheila are married. Now what? Is B&B's Los Angeles ready for the wedded bliss of two ex-convicts?
Did you enjoy attending this black wedding, Scoopers? Do you think Steffy will freak out that Finn stuck around for Sheila's wedding while he waited for the pizzas that IG shouldn't have been making for him? Is that going to be the final nail in his marriage, leaving him free and available for Hope? Were the events leading up to Sheacon's exchange of vows a little too far-fetched? Will Steffy ever stop ranting and raving? And will characters besides Deacon, Sheila, Hope and Finn ever get a story? Sign the registry in the Soap Central message boards, or simply click here to submit feedback!
This coming week, we may finally be getting some answers -- albeit out of nowhere, as Poppy pops off to Bill (remember him?). Plus, Steffy wants to put the kibosh on Hope for the Future, which I admit isn't a bad idea, because since when do fashion houses run the same line for fourteen years in real time? What happened to "next season," "this spring," "last fall"? Well, soapiness is never out of fashion, so, until next time, keep watching, be alert, and most of all, be bold!
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