All week long we were basking in the Forrester family glow as newly resurrected Taylor bonded with her wide-eyed and disbelieving children. The Doublemint Twins and Testosterone Thomas could hardly believe their eyes and cried a river of grateful tears. But wait! There are a few wrinkles in this happy feel-good story...
As I kept watching throughout the week, I became more and more enraged at the fact that as the speeches and outpourings of emotion kept continuing, I realized that one critical element of Ridge's life was left out of all the drippy, heartfelt dialogue...baby RJ. He let the cat out of the bag about Brooke (took his sweet time though to tell Taylor that one) but never mentioned the baby until Brooke felt compelled to revert back to 'old Brooke' behavior and waltz him in the room like the trophy baby that he has become. The foam brick that I usually save for throwing at the TV during football games became the weapon of choice as I couldn't believe the look of Ridge's face when he realized that he had conveniently forgotten to mention him to Taylor. He said nothing at first, just preferring instead to stumble and stammer on about how 'his head was spinning and he was going in a thousand different directions'. Blah blah blah. Sorry, try again. He obviously did not have either Brooke OR that child at the forefront of his mind until FORCED to deal with it. I was wondering if the kids picked up on that, but then again they were too busy trying to be the buffer against all the tension in the room. Good try there, too but no matter how they tried to spin it, that little baby just burst the big reunion bubble for everyone. Kudos to Taylor, though, as I thought she handled it with grace and dignity. All the Taylor haters out there can't possibly have a problem with that as she could have been nasty and rude but instead tried her best to put on a happy face. Better than I would have done, let me tell you...
Here's my biggest problem, however...exactly HOW many more times was Ridge going to make out with Taylor? He kissed her rather deeply in front of the kids and several times at the beach house. Ok, newsflash Ridge...YOU ARE MARRIED TO BROOKE!! Are you going to tell me that all that lip-locking was JUST an emotional reaction, nothing more? BULL! The Lord of the Manor is treading a very thin line and now Brooke is starting to see what WE all have seen all week. How would he have explained that kiss to her if she had walked into the room then? 'Uh...we are all just dealing with so much Brooke...you don't mind if I spend this special time to get reacquainted with her lips again, do you?' Don't get me wrong, I don't think Brooke should have paraded RJ in the room at that particular time, but she shouldn't have to worry about her husband pawing over Wife #1 either. Brooke wasn't kidding when she said there were a lot of issues to talk over and work through. The bad news is that all the talking will likely be about how to cater to Taylor in this situation.
And while I am ranting about how crazy this whole story is becoming, what is up with the declaration by Brooke that they will find someplace for Taylor 'to go.' She has to know that all the touchy-feely stuff between Taylor and the kids will be going on for a while. What's the rush? Then again, maybe Brooke knows that the more Taylor is floating around the mansion, the more opportunities for her and Ridge to re-discover their love. If she only knew how many times they have already rediscovered themselves!
So, how do we handle this sticky little situation? Does Taylor go to the beach house? Does she move right back in to her past marital bedroom and tell Brooke to go back to her mansion that sits vacant now? But more than that...is it possible that by what we heard in Brooke's little speech that she expects the children to stay with HER rather than her live with their mother? Is that really possible? I think it is and I have to say she should have her head examined for that one alone. Just because her, Hopeless and RJ are there with the other kids doesn't mean they should HAVE to keep living with her to keep 'her' family together. Besides, the kids are old enough to really decide on their own where they want to live and my guess is they will not want to be separated from their mother again. Maybe Brooke had noble intentions behind those statements, but all things considered, I thought it was pretty heartless to assume that Hope and RJ would take some precedence over Taylor when it comes to where the kids want to live.
Considering, however, that there are no normal situations that ever come out of soaps these days, I would think that Taylor could stay at the house with the kids and if Ridge is as committed as he says he is to Brooke and the 'other' kids, they could all live at the vacant mansion Ridge bought for her years ago. Everyone would be close enough to stay connected and the Twins and Thomas can have daily life with their mother again. After all, this isn't like a custody/divorce issue here. Ridge moved on thinking she was GONE and married again. Had she lived, none of this would even be happening and there would be no RJ anyway. So I say let Taylor have 'her' family back and Ridge and Brooke can raise theirs somewhere else. In my mind, that's only fair. Fair is not a word that the writers know too well, though, and I'm sure something more tragic will happen instead. Bottom line in all this has to be that Brooke is demanding too much in this situation and should be more concerned about her children and what RJ's flaky, self-absorbed father will do. Where will he go? Back down memory lane or back to crippling Brooke's self-esteem some more. I think either way Brooke will end up the loser here. Think about it...they already have Nick doing the 'I'll support Brooke' dialogue and we already have spoilers indicating that the OTHER Forrester house will be divided between Stephanie wanting Taylor to go back with Ridge and Eric once again taking up for Brooke. I swear, it seems like Eric has never gotten over her and whenever she does anything at all, he falls in on her side. He's still got it bad for her...I just wish the writers would have him admit it. The 'caring father-in-law' stuff is becoming a little too obvious.
Ok, now that I am done complaining about the impending Taylor-Brooke-Ridge dysfunction junction, I will offer my take on how I would write this rest of the story. I would have Taylor be so disgusted with Ridge's lack of backbone that she tells him she doesn't want to be with him anymore. She raises her kids in her house and Brooke moves back to her place. She also tells Ridge to pound sand and makes her declaration to him that she needs to be with someone who does not make her cry every 11 minutes. She wants to find a new love that has no genetic link to the Forrester's whatsoever and can't wait to be a focused mom and career woman again. Ridge, dejected and thrown to the curb by both women, turns gay and starts dating Serge. No, seriously, he lives in the guesthouse that has had more guests than the local Holiday Inn. He goes back to drawing pretty dresses and lives the rest of his life alone with nothing to comfort him at night but memories of all the rotten things he has done to people over the last few years. Maybe he can find a local witchdoctor to resurrect Caroline and see if she would take his sorry butt in. I'm not betting on it...she's better off dead than with Ridge.
Ok, show of hands here people...who sees nothing but heartbreak coming for Bridget? Me, too. I love Nick but you just have to know that while he is trying to 'be there' for Brooke in here hour of need, he will inadvertently alienate Bridget at the same time. I suppose she is always going to be running in her mother's shadow. This will certainly give Jackie much to be happy about when she notices Nick helping Brooke out and being her confidante. She will be giddy with anticipation that they could finally be together but I'm thinking that scenario could be too easy. If the writers wanted Nick and Brooke together, they could have done it any number of other ways and long before now. As much as I would love to see them together, I'm not holding my breath. Honestly, I'd rather see Brooke alone for a little while to shed the codependent aura that surrounds her as a result of obsessing over Ridge for most of her life. Get back in the saddle at work, focus on being the successful career woman and be the best Mom she can for those two kids. Would that be so bad for her character? To have your identity and self-worth all wrapped up in Forrester men is sad. The only one of them that was worth a damn was Thorne and she screwed that up royal. Brooke...take some time for yourself but for God's sake, unload the philandering pile of dung in a hurry. Save yourself, sister!
We did not get to see anyone else this week...no Darla and Thorne (except seeing him in his new position as co-gravedigger!), no Sally, no Hector. Speaking of Hector, the word is officially out that Sidney Penny is back on AMC, so it begs the question "Who will sleep with Hector now?" Well, some theorize that Brooke may hook up with our resident firefighter but I am not sure if the spark is there (pardon the pun). It's not that they wouldn't look fetching together but I guess I can't see her lowering herself socially after so many years in the Forrester high-class cocoon. He already seems to hate that lifestyle and Brooke is too far removed from his humble lifestyle herself. No matter what happens, I do sincerely hope the writers don't leave him in the Loose End Limbo that so many other characters have suffered through. They made such a big deal about getting him on the show, they should put him to good use! Maybe he could comfort Bridget after she gets dumped by Nick! The doctor and the fireman. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?
Ok, time for the question of the week. Funny, I did not have one last week and had another record number of emails from more readers that are so polarized over Taylor coming back from the dead. I don't think I have seen so much activity since the end of the WTD story and the Ridget kiss. I have only seen couple of emails from viewers that just didn't care either way and most of them have stopped watching the show due to the truly silly nature of the writing as of late. So I must think of a really thought-provoking query to exercise everyone's subjective juices...hmmmm...
For the army of Brooke-supporters out there, tell me...if she could choose a life with Ridge or a year alone (Nick's not an option), what should she do? What would be better for her personally and emotionally? Is life with Ridge that great for her? Please weigh in and let me know...I could be way off base (imagine that) and missing something completely.
A couple of rants before I go...somebody get those twins an acting coach QUICK, Hope should be MUCH older since everyone else has been SORAS'ed (Taylor was around when Brooke was pregnant with her), and somebody make sure the hairstylist show up to the set next week to help Taylor and Brooke 'freshen up' a bit. Brooke is looking too haggard and Taylor's mullet has got to GO!
Who's on the Soapbox?
Dee writes... '...I had stopped watching because of the Brooke & Ridge show but the reappearing of Taylor is too much...I am switching the channel to A&E to watch 'Cold Case Files'...at least when their dead, they stay dead.'
Devyani writes... ...I am a viewer from India and in our part of the world Taylor just died so it was very absurd to learn that she will be brought back from the dead after such a long period...I have always felt Brooke and Ridge belong together...I thought the soaps in Hindi were bad but B&B takes the cake!'
Until next week, stay in touch with your thoughts...it's the best part of my week when I hear from everybody!
