I've been reading fan comments, and it seems that many fans feel like The Bold and the Beautiful is in a repetitive rut. I happen to be one of the fans whose ears bleed when I hear "Ridge and I," "Sheila can no longer hurt us," "the Forresters versus the Logans," "Mom, Dad is so gonna pick you," "I know Ridge loves me," "biological parent," etc. Some viewers tune out because they are worn out from the repetitive dialogue and storylines. And as Brooke said, this Forrester versus Logan stuff is exhausting.
Luckily, there are still a few nuggets of gold to be mined in the storylines if you're paying attention. For example, effortless chemistry between performers. Whether it's good, bad, ominous, or romantic, the actors are giving us all the feels, the chills, the groans, the fumes, and the vapors. In fact, if I could name two actors of the week, I'd award the titles to Matthew Atkinson and Annika Noelle for their teetery performances. What are they teetering on? That is the question we ponder as they swing through the pendulum of emotions Thomas and Hope feel about their evolving co-parental relationship.
Annika Noelle did a forceful job communicating Hope's dichotomy between her desire for Thomas to be the best father for Douglas and her suspicion that Thomas can't be. Matthew Atkinson plays Thomas as a sincere father who strives to have it all together for his son but still can't shake his desire to have it all with Hope. Brooke stated that Steffy's push to reunite her parents has reignited Thomas' longing to unite Douglas' parents. While Thomas seems to be fighting those same old urges, is Hope kind of flattered by him now?
I can't tell what Hope thinks of Thomas or his sincerity. This type of doubt creates a spectrum of emotion from fans. Palpable was Thomas' frustration in the cabin when he thought he was getting through to Hope, but she insisted that Douglas live at the cabin. I almost cried for Hope when she teared up, telling Liam that she couldn't bring herself to remove Douglas from Eric's house yet. I crave gripping performances like these.
We've discussed it before, but Thorsten Kaye drips chemistry with every actor. What made Ridge watchable this week was Thorsten Kaye's translation of Ridge's unmitigated gall to leave his wife to play husband to Taylor at family functions. Incredible is the only way I can describe Ridge's ability to canoodle with Brooke in one scene and snuggle up to Taylor on the ottoman in the next. He even asked to take Taylor home, and when she declined, he went home for "sexy time" with his wife, as Taylor crammed nuts in her mouth all night. Yes, hold onto that image.
If you still crave your daily dose of B&B, I recommend you tune in for the actors who bring us bold performances in a beautiful way.
Ridge wasn't the only one with ball-sized gall this week. There was plenty to go around. First up is Taylor, who had the audacity to tell the Forresters that Brooke was turning the Douglas issue into a Forrester versus Logan feud. She apparently hasn't met Steffy, her daughter who sported a black "Two-Face" outfit last week to match her personality.
Taylor must have tuned out Steffy's nerve-shredding Logan-hate speeches, in which Steffy incessantly refers to the Forrester-Logan war. Steffy just told Hope the other day that it's always going to be a war. Steffy snarled like someone stole her candy when Thomas said he invited Hope to the family dinner. After snarking that "Thomas warned us" of Hope's presence, the queen of mean Steffy grinned in Hope's face in the very next scene, cooing about how they can share Amelia. Steffy either has multiple personality disorder, hence the outfit, or she's scamming something.
Next, Sheila had the nerve to tell Deacon that she needed his support in her wackadoodle bid to mother Finn from the grave. Deacon repeatedly tells this broken-winged dingbat to hobble away from that, and it's the one time repetition in the script is warranted. How is Deacon supposed to support Sheila in stalking her attempted-murder victim, I wonder. If Deacon wants to save himself the need to saw off a digit, I suggest he make an anonymous call to the police about the nine-toed bandit who's creeping around Steffy's cliff house.
Speaking of gall, did Finn really get snarky about Brooke not being invited to the Forrester gathering? Did he really ask why Brooke wanted to be there when Ridge was with the family he'd built with another woman? I wish Li would have heard him say that in light of the fact that she is not his biological mother. I intend to boomerang Finn in the back of his head with his comments the very next time he's sitting on the sidelines when Steffy and Liam are arm to arm on an ottoman while Kelly is scheming to get her bio parents back together.
Oh, look. Taylor made my gall list twice. Not surprising. The second time is because of how brazenly turned on she got by her old nickname, "Doc." I'm assuming it got her so hot to trot because it was a pun that reminded her of all the fun she used to have down at the "docks" when she was an alcoholic. Too bad for her, all it got her from Ridge was a hot, passionate peck on the cheek.
Hope and Thomas are attempting to sort things out among themselves without going to court, but as their chess match over Douglas ensues, Steffy and Taylor shamelessly scrap for custody of Ridge. Steffy doesn't even know it yet, but she's also in a custody fight with Sheila for her husband.
Steffy attempted to find out Finn's true feelings about Sheila, but who thinks Finn is being completely honest about the soft spot he has for his biological mother? I don't. I worry that Sheila could convince Finn to keep the secret about her staged death. In round one of the battle for custody of Finn, Finn stood with his wife, not Sheila. Will he do the same in round two? I'm getting the vibe that, this time, someone will die for real before it's all said and done. Will it be Li, Finn, Hayes, Steffy, or Kelly?
As for custody of Ridge, he reminds me of the pit bull in my neighborhood. The dog's owner moved out of his mother's place and into a house around the corner. The pit bull now lives at both houses. He walks up and down the street from one house to the other as he pleases. Why would this dog ever pick one house to live at when he gets equal attention at both and when they each let him roam between the houses?
Need I say more about Ridge?
Brooke told Taylor that the battle to wrench Ridge from his marriage was gonna stop that day, but Taylor was blinking and squinting a message that warned Brooke to put a collar, chip, and leash on her dog before Taylor did it herself.
What do you think? Is it a mistake for Brooke to trust Ridge and exert confidence in him, all the while seeing Steffy and Taylor as the trouble? Personally, I think Steffy and Taylor are trouble, but not "the" trouble. Ridge is "the" trouble. Brooke had better teach her dog the consequences of roaming -- which, by the way, I think might happen sooner than we think, even if it's unintentional. That's probably where the rando scene of Douglas playing with voice-mimicking apps comes in.
Some say you can't have your cake and eat it, too. Taylor and Steffy can't have their Ridge, their Finn, and their Douglas, too, or can they? Stay tuned.
I have questions, though. Why does Taylor think it's so great to be a Forrester, but she changed her last name back to the last name of her first ex-husband, Blake Hayes? What is Taylor's maiden name, anyway? Hamilton? Ashford? Who the heck is she really?
Taylor and Steffy have said it over and over and over and over -- Brooke will do something with another man to hurt Ridge. And of course, hugging Brooke's ex Bill Spencer is probably that thing. Even though Brooke just forgave Ridge for kissing his ex in romantic Monaco, we know there's no way Brooke is free to hug Bill, the man who flew Finn to Steffy. Nope. Brooke can't get texts from an ex. She can't take selfies with an ex, and she sure as heck can't hug ex-husband Dollar Bill Spencer. But that is what she does when Ridge walks into the house in the near future.
I expect Taylor to be on a jet with the drunk Ridge in T minus two seconds. Either that, or Ridge really is about to move in with Eric -- again. I'm sure Eric loves having family around, but all this mansion overcrowding must be the reason he and Donna met for "Pickleball" at the club last week.
Also coming up, Liam confronts Thomas about Douglas and about Thomas' real motives behind the custody disagreement. Additionally, Liam wants to know why he can't come to all the parties. Someone should tell Liam that it's what happens to fill-in hubbies. Instead of worrying about Douglas, though, maybe Liam should be worried about how, when they were in Monaco, Taylor referred to Finn as Kelly's dad.
That's it. That's all the scoops. Let me know what you think in the comments section below, and until we scoop again, stay bold and beautiful, baby!
Chanel
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