Has your week been bold and beautiful? Did you officially cross your father off your holiday list? Did you go shopping for a girlfriend only to find there was a supply chain issue? Did you dream up a Thanksgiving where no one needed to change clothes? These and more situations faced the Forrester-Logan-Spencer-Walton-Buckingham-Finnegan clan this week!
Happy Turkey, Scoopers! Depending on where you fell on the bold and beautiful spectrum, you either had a glorious feast with family, you sulked (and fantasized) over some Chinese takeout, or...well, no one really knows, do they? Many characters were suspiciously AWOL. However, I do know what to get Ridge and Brooke for Christmas. A dining room! You guys ready? Let's Scoop about it!
Of all the people polishing Paris' halo lately, Zende is certainly the most qualified to and most deserving of that honor. And poor Carter was the latest to hear his former rival sing the singer's praises. The one truly good thing to come out of that was that we found out that Carter and Zende had buried the hatchet about all that business with Zoe this time last year. Nice.
The other cool part of an otherwise lukewarm convo was that Zende finally acknowledged that there had been life before Paris. "After my marriage didn't work out..." Zende started to tell Carter, getting into how he had decided to play the field. Would have been that much better had Zende mentioned Nicole's name, but this may well be the closest to confirming that the Z-Man is divorced that we're going to get.
Zende started throwing around words like "future," which Carter was not blind to. Dramatic music played as we segued from the blissful Zende to the surprised Paris, as if to signal a conflict in their relationship. But Zende need not worry. Paris and her kick-ass earrings registered shock only long enough for her to tell Thomas that elevating their social media status from roommates to datemates wasn't in the cards.
Usually when a spoken-for guy or gal on this show gets a love confession from a third party, said guy or gal looks all ambivalent, as if said third party may have a chance. Paris didn't allow for a big enough gap in her chat with Thomas for that to happen, repeatedly reminding him that, yeah, Thomas looked super fine in his shiny blue shirt, but Paris was into Zende, and none other.
Thomas didn't hear it the first couple of times. He thought "we should explore this before you're fully committed." Isn't that the line Zoe used on Zende a year ago? How full circle these things become. But then Paris officially friend zoned Thomas, setting those little orange road cones around her to make her point. Thomas finally said he would have regretted not saying anything and that he'd had to put it out there.
And that I give him hella credit for. Thomas wanted to be authentic and honest, and that's the healthiest thing I've seen him do since...well, since Pierson Fodé was in the role. I'd even go so far as to say it shows significant growth in Thomas. It's just too bad it started with him once again hitting on someone else's girl. Paris is way too young for him, anyway! Raiding the kindergarten much?
Deciding his staying on might be weird, Thomas said it was time to move out. He planned to just get a hotel room somewhere. Which begs the question: why didn't Thomas just do that in the first place? Or he could have stayed at the Forrester guesthouse or in the main house. How many times has Douglas moved in his young life? Pretty soon, he's going to think his middle name is "U-Haul."
Returning to the office late, Paris found Carter there and told him what had happened. They agreed to keep Thomas' confession a secret (you know how that's going to go), largely because "if Zende ever found out/even suspected..." What is Zende going to do, throw a floral shirt at Thomas? There's no chorus of "my boyfriend's back and you're gonna be in trouble" needed.
Just when I thought that arc had pretty well resolved for the moment, Carter volunteered to be Paris' financial adviser. Sure, why not, but...Carter got that mushy look in his eye. Oh, no -- him, too? Probably three and a half million women in Los Angeles, and every guy at Forrester has to fall for Paris? At least Finn's eye never wandered when Paris was under his roof. And isn't Carter getting into Katie?
One thing I want to mention from last week is that moment when Jack and Sheila talked about their affair having happened "30 years ago." I know soap time is spotty as hell, but at this time in 1991, Sheila was very busy in Genoa City, raising Lauren's baby as her own. I wish B&B would let us know exactly when this affair happened. Sheila was off the canvas from 1998 to 2002, which could have worked.
Or maybe Sheila went crazy miscarrying Scott's baby on Y&R because she had already given up a baby to Jack. Of course, in soap time, that would make Finn older than Rick, which doesn't work. Anyway, Finn wasn't thinking much about his age, because he was very into reading Jack every chapter of the riot act, with Steffy standing at his side like she had crossed over into a spinoff.
Chanel had mentioned last column that it felt off watching Jack, Finn, and Li serve up the drama when we barely know them. Steffy, who usually carries the lion's share of stories like that, unintentionally made it seem more like we were watching a different show. That said, Ted King has been killing these scenes, as has Naomi Matsuda. It's too bad we know Jack and Li are on borrowed time, because they're not contract.
Sheila is, so my money says Li goes back to her career wherever she raised Finn, while Jack may get to resume things with the nutty nurse. Chanel also pointed out the soap foible -- on this show, anyway -- where wrongful characters beg forgiveness right away. You know when Sheila has to remind you to give the one you hurt time that you're seriously going astray on that score.
Anyway, Finn was not having any of Jack's mea culpas. He felt that Jack had become a stranger who could break his trust at any time and that Jack should have trusted Li enough to let her decide how to handle the truth of Sheila. Li concurred, slamming Jack for dictating what she knew about her own life. Good stuff. The rest of it was kinda Finn yelling, Jack crying, Li scowling, and Steffy being like "Why am I in this scene?"
Jack did say one interesting thing -- that he had been young when he'd cheated with Sheila and that the thought of being a responsible adult had scared him. I'll let him have that, but it doesn't totally gibe with the fact that Jack had been trying to have a child with Li at that time. So, trying to conceive with Li didn't scare him, but...? Finn didn't want to hear any excuses and booted Jack out.
Assuming Jack got a taxi, the first place he went was to see Sheila, who seems to do nothing but stare at pictures of Finn. What is she doing for money these days? "I did what you suggested," Jack told Sheila, exhausted and raspy. Sheila was truly sorry to hear that Li and Finn had turned their backs on him. But I'm still wondering, why did Sheila tell Jack to 'fess up in the first place?
This all started with Sheila holding the secret of Jack being Finn's bio-dad over Jack's head to use as leverage so she could get in to see her misnamed grandson Hayes. Suddenly, she decides the truth shall set you free? It's not like Sheila to hand over her best card. And I can't figure out what new advantage Sheila might have about the full truth of Finn's parentage being out.
Unless...Sheila did wonder how she and Jack were going to get Finn through the situation. She felt that she and Jack were now in the same boat and that they should come together as Finn's biological parents. Especially because their doing so would shut Steffy down! Was that the M.O. here? Sheila changed tactics as a way to derail Steffy? Because that would be in Sheila's wheelhouse.
For Steffy's part, there really wasn't much she could do post-blowout except offer Finn support, and that she did in spades. It was a really sweet moment. I almost found it hard to believe there had ever been a Liam in her life. Almost. Gondolas and self-filming iPads don't really ever fade out of memory. But I am all here for Steffy being the same rock for Finn that he was when she went through her addiction. All here.
"I'm not even supposed to be associating with you," Deacon whined to Sheila as she played Thanksgiving solitaire in her hotel room. Then why the hell was he there? You mean to tell me the former bar owner couldn't get a job in a lounge somewhere and bunk at the Y? (Do people still do that?) Sheila made the same gripe that they should be able to celebrate T-Day with their children. I suspected boredom.
Then, the convicted felons decided to raid the mini bar, and things got interesting. Deacon -- not unreasonably -- thought that he should have gotten an invite to the Forrester Thanksgiving table, given the progress he'd made with Hope, and launched into a fantasy where he got exactly that! Dapper Deacon was surrounded by friendly feasters, including a welcoming Ridge, and Brooke, who declared Deacon family!
It was a good attempt, Deacon, but nobody -- and I mean nobody -- has fantasies and dream sequences like Sheila Carter. I still remember that one from 1996 where a gloriously over-the-top Stephanie had Sheila put back in jail and sicced Sheila's female sexual assaulters on her.
This one didn't quite measure up, but it was an instant classic when Sheila arrived at Brooke's and Brooke demanded, "What are you doing here, Sheila?...Without the sweet potatoes!" Then Steffy threw her arms around Sheila and called her "Mom!" Beat that one, Deacon! But why did you both fantasize about people wearing the same clothes they were wearing in real life?
"And then they called the SWAT team," Deacon snarked, bringing an end to Sheila's reverie. True to form, Sheila decided that she and Deacon would be with their children one day, but without locking Hope and Finn in that cage Justin did up for Thomas, I don't see how that's going to happen. I'd like to see Sheila less obsessive and actually working toward rehabilitation, but alas...those days are long gone.
I wonder what was behind the decision to hold the Thanksgiving episode at the Logan manse this year? Not that I minded; it was kind of refreshing. Still, it had its ups and downs. I couldn't help loving Carter's peace offering of a bottle of wine, and Ridge saying he would accept the gesture depending on how it tasted. During his big speech, Ridge said, "At the end of the day, you're my best friend." Awesome!
Liam made an accurate joke about how real men don't eat turkeys, given he's a vegetarian. But then he slipped up big time and said that "Steffy used to make everyone pay a compliment"...to the person on the right, which was Hope's invented tradition! And somehow, we joined Bridge, Lope, and Sinn mid-conversation about Jack being Finn's real father. They couldn't have waited 'til Black Friday for that?
Even weirder, during that speech of Ridge's, he acknowledged Finn's struggle regarding learning his paternity. Okay, but in front of Zende, Paris, and Carter, who, up until that moment, knew nothing about it? Save the dirty laundry for the wash the next day! Also, Ridge had a "What my dad always said" moment. Nice, if Eric was dead or living in another town, state, country, planet...
But where the hell was Eric? Normally, he throws these holiday shindigs. And it's only natural you can't have every character on the show on at the same time, but where were Brooke's sisters, Katie and Donna, while Brooke went on about family? Is Thomas drowning his Paris sorrows with the Hope mannequin? And how come Brooke made a big point about forgiveness and kindness, but still forbade Deacon from attending, which was clearly on Hope's mind?
Well, still, it wasn't a bad ep overall, and giving thanks is something we should be doing the other 364 days of the year, as well -- 365 on leap years. But can someone answer me something? Why don't Brooke and Ridge have a dining room table? Or a dining room? No wonder R.J. took off, if he was made to eat every meal hunching over the coffee table his whole childhood!
What B&B stories, actors, scenes are you most thankful for this year, Scoopers? What would you be super grateful for the show doing differently? Spend your tryptophan coma in the Comments section below or the Soap Central message boards, or simply click here to submit feedback. Your comments could be in a future column!
One thing I will express gratitude for is the fact that I have been able to ramble on about all things B&B here on Soap Central for twelve years as of this week. And without you guys reading these ramblings, well, I would have been written off long ago. Thank you!
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