Has your week been Bold and Beautiful? Did you feel guilty for kissing the wrong man? Did your blind date go bust? Did you get snagged ditching tofu for cookies? These and more situations faced the Forresters this week!
Mike here again - thanks to you! I'm grateful for the positive feedback that's given me another chance to write up Two Scoops for you this week. I've been feeling a little nostalgic for The Bold and the Beautiful of yore since watching old episodes from the early '90s on YouTube. Ah, those were the days. One character who got a chance to live on this week was Sally Spectra - did you notice the scenes done in front of the old "Sally Says Recycle" sign?
This brings me to my quick encounter with the much-missed Darlene Conley. I went to an L.A. soap event in '98 - Ken Hanes (Mike), Tracey Bregman (Lauren), Adrienne Frantz (Amber), Bobbie Eakes (Macy), and Sally Spectra herself were representing B&B. She greeted me in her famous husky voice - "Hallo, handsome,. Then, when I wanted to get pictures and the security people wouldn't allow it, she stepped in and made a case for me. As I got one taken with Bobbie Eakes, Soaps In Depth was also clicking away. I was in a soap magazine - all thanks to Darlene Conley. She was one classy lady.
I appreciate that B&B wants to keep Sally alive off-camera, but, since they can't do that forever, I think they should acknowledge Sally's death with a big two-episode funeral where everyone takes a moment to speak of their time with her (complete with extensive flashbacks, of course). Then, bring back Clarke and C.J. to take their place at Spectra (yes, Spectra - not Jackie M). A guy can wish. A guy can also Scoop!
Since we all know what took up the bulk of the show this week, let's address the other two storylines, and make some observations first. Pretty interesting, having Taylor's blind date be none other than Carl Ferret, the lab guy who inadvertently caused Taylor to be implanted with Brooke's egg in 2007. Did you feel it worked? I'm not sure myself. Was Carl always that nerdy? Didn't Taylor seem nastier than she needed to be?
Oh, well...it was nice to see the Insomnia set again (you'd be surprised how small it is in real life!), and perhaps this will be the impetus for Taylor to find a healthy relationship for a change - because the specters of Ridge, Thorne, Nick, and Rick are still hanging around. There's nobody left! Is James around? And where's Hector, anyway - now that would be a blind date. I hear Taylor's up for some "fun and romance." let's hope it brings out the old Taylor, because I haven't liked the shrill, drunken, Darla-killing, Ridge-whining, too-much-Botox version we've seen since her second return from the dead. Oh, and Taylor - in the future, skip the ads with no pix!
The plot thickens, eh, Agnes? Sandy? Hortense? Well, whatever your name is, you're starting to become very interesting. Popping flashbulbs give you post-traumatic stress flashbacks, and you shrivel from men like a dog that's been beaten. Did you notice how Sandy practically hid in the corner when Nick was over? Based on Whip's observation that she used to "love that stuff," meaning photo shoots, I'm going to hazard a guess...could Agnes have been doing a shoot, but then was raped while the cameras kept rolling? We did hear laughing voices in her flashback. Or maybe she got mixed up in some sort of porn thing. Whatever it is, it's major enough to make her change her name and appearance, and Sandy is apparently trying to redeem herself for whatever it was by giving the Marones a child. Not only that, but it's giving Whip - who even during his '01-'02 stint with Brooke was a bit of a lightweight character - an unusual but appealing substance.
I have a feeling Sandy did not change her name legally, because otherwise all her mail would not be addressed to Agnes Jones for Nick to see. Oh, now he's concerned that Sandy isn't what she seems. Looks like he's doing his own background check now, rifling through her cabinets. Did anyone else find it funny that his discovery of her junk food stash came across as if he'd caught her robbing a bank?
I've never been a pregnant woman, but wolfing down Cheetos and Chips Ahoy doesn't seem like a big deal! Nick's reaction would have been more justified if he had found booze and ciggies alongside a bong. Still, I did like Nick's gentleness and sensitivity, both when he was trying to reach out to Sandy and when he realized something horrible had happened to her. Maybe she's just upset they stuck her in Tawny's old trailer set. Someone tell me it's not Tawny's old trailer set!
Other nice things went on this week. Dig the racy humor during the "Adam and Eve" shoot! Lots of comments about worms and other such innuendo - I got the feeling the cast was doing some improvising there. No complaints! But I'll say it again - since when do executives from fashion houses model their own lines? Somebody's trying to save money by not hiring extras. Although I do think Sally would be happy with Jackie M creating a line based on organic fabrics. Ranks up there with Felicia's environmental showing at Spectra - anyone remember that?
I am really liking Brooke and Ridge's relationship right now. Even just talking in bed, with Ridge still half asleep, it's the most normal I've ever seen them. Ronn Moss said in a soap mag that Ridge and Brooke never got to be the supercouple they had the potential to be, simply because they were ripped apart every time they were together for 15 minutes. I hope they're getting that chance now.
I know there are still those who would prefer Ridge with Taylor - I enjoyed their mid-'90s marriage, too - but Brooke has been there since Day One. Twenty years of bouncing Ridge back and forth between these ladies is enough. Even Stephanie seems to have accepted Brooke - how casual and, dare I say it, warm was their interaction this week? Appreciating Brooke's regrets about Ann's death, making jokes about Rick? I know the Stephanie/Brooke feud has dominated the show's 22-year run, but gee...I really like it when they're friends. And did I hear Stephanie refer to Thomas as "Tom"?
This brings me to a quick discussion of the show's characters as a whole. There's way too many of them. No less than 20 credited in the opening, and that's just the contract players. The show feels a bit cluttered. I don't necessarily have any suggestions for who should go (except Steffy), but the core of B&B has always been the Forresters - we hardly see them anymore. Poor Thorne hasn't had a storyline in three years (since they wastefully killed off Darla), and Felicia might as well have died from her cancer recurrence for as present as she's been. Put them front and center; let other, more deserving characters be backburnered. I also wonder if B&B hasn't become the Logan Show. I mean, they're original characters and all, but it seemed things were more even back in the day.
There are also too many characters that have undergone character assassination and have a long road of redemption ahead of them. I already expressed my thoughts about Taylor, and even Thomas was damaged when he went psycho and blew up Rick's car. But Rick went too far himself. Living like a monk and building houses for the homeless while reflecting hasn't made up for it yet. I often wonder if it had to do with recasting Rick with Kyle Lowder. Now, he's a fine actor (and just plain fine) - but could you have seen Justin Torkildsen's Rick doing all that lying and backstabbing?
Here's an interesting thought - when Kyle Lowder was brought on, they readdressed Rick's having shot Grant as a child and the fact that he repressed it. If Pam's murderous behavior could be forgiven by removing a brain tumor, certainly it could be explored that Rick was doing all these things in the same kind of fog that made him put a bullet in Grant. Because very little else explains his going over to the Dark Side so suddenly. I mention this because his reappearance this week dredges it all back up, even if Rick did try to take responsibility for his actions. I can't believe they're flirting with putting Rick and Steffy together again...please not that again...anything but that!
Finally, there's the big to-do regarding Steffy kissing Bill - big enough that it dominated every episode this week. I've already admitted that I can't stand Steffy and I don't think she's a strong enough character to be driving this much story. But I did like that she was at least examining her actions, not only with Bill, but with Rick (and Marcus. Add Owen. And it's a This Is Your Life of Steffy's men). Much was made of life's gray areas this week, and the show's exploration of it is quite intriguing.
I am very grateful, too, that they didn't take the predictable route with this storyline. I sensed we were being primed for a recreated flashback, and I dreaded what looked like the inevitable - that Bill's necklace was in the couch because he had gone country with Steffy at the cabin. The only thing that would have been interesting about that would have been the karmic implications for Katie - after all, it was revealed similarly that she had slept with Nick. But that would have just further tarnished Steffy's character, plus undone Bill's popular transformation.
They're still painting Bill with an edge, but I very much liked that he was honest with Brooke, even if he had to get caught in a lie first to do it. And how cool is it that Brooke is up to her bustier in all of this? She's somehow fascinating here, and the "touché" look she gave Bill when he suspected she'd kept her share of secrets was classic - 22 years of history in one expression.
Also compelling was the switch: Brooke insisted on telling Katie the truth while Bill suggested the airing of that rather innocent laundry would cause more trouble then it was worth - but as they each pondered it, they came around to the others' viewpoint. Will Bill now tell Katie the truth, and will the fallout be as Brooke now fears? Katie's favorite breakfast must be pancakes, because she's been so syrupy this week - I'll forgive her because she's a newlywed, but it would seem to indicate her tune's gonna change real fast when she finds out Steffy was macking on her now-husband. When it does, I hope Bridget brings a mirror for Katie to take a good long look in!
At first, I agreed when Bill asked "Why are you making such a big deal out of this?" One, even two kisses - why the fuss? How can Steffy think that's worse than everything Rick did? But I'm beginning to wonder...maybe some bigger seeds are being sown here. Steffy did tell Ridge she'd do anything for him. Could "impulsive" Steffy really be taking after her namesake and masterminding a grand deception designed to somehow take Bill down and restore Forrester Creations to the Forresters? Because it would be much ado about nothing if it was simply that Steffy couldn't keep her lips off of one of People's Sexiest Men Alive and acting her non-SORASed age of 10 in reaction to it. Wonder what we'll find out now that Brooke is poised to rip Steffy a new one? Let her have it, Brooke!
Those are my thoughts - and of course, they're only mine. I leave you with two other thoughts:
Best Line of the Week:
Nick (about Owen): "Are we ever going to do an ad campaign where this guy isn't totally naked?"
Worst Line:
Steffy: "Well, I'm tough." (Don't flatter yourself, missy...even the gentler, amnesiac homeless Stephanie of 1991 would have wiped the floor with you!)
With weather cooling and Christmas coming, stay alert and be BOLD (at least in shopping malls and parking lots)! Thanks for letting me come back to Scoop for you again!
