This week, Brooke's a "he," Myron's a "she," and Deacon's still a dog. On Twilight Zone Avenue, Bill has a beer with Ridge, and Quinn's a blushing bride. Or is that Brooke's blood on her cheeks? In honor of the passing -- or passing out -- of Drunk Brooke, we're dancing and chugging our two scoops in shot glasses. Drink up while I dial up Deejay Othello to get this party started.
Deejay Othello, pick up your phone; I'm the request line! (Disconnected tone sounds emit from the phone) "The number you have reached: five, five, five..."
Oh, well, I should have known. When Maya's secret came out, something told me that Othello, her so-called friend, would book it far away from the imminent explosion of Mouth Saint Rick. I guess I'm on my own with picking our playlist this week.
The first one's for Othello. It's called, That's what friends are for . Othello, have a listen, and next time, be in Los Angeles when your friends need you.
Ah, the miracle of birth. I rushed off to ask the Wizard of the Internet: Google, tell me if it's possible for transgender females. Here's what I learned: surgeons can transplant uteruses from live donors, but so far, it's only been female to female. They haven't said whether they can install the plumbing in a male body, but as far as fiction goes, it could have been a viable explanation for the baby-snafu the writers made with Maya, based upon her character in 2013. The writers, however, decided to explain it away in their typical history-bending, revisionist fashion.
So how did Maya give birth to a baby? According to her, she didn't. Her facts of her debut storyline got swept under the rug when the writers dismissed the baby as belonging to her boyfriend, presumably Jesse. She'd merely thought of the child as her own.
Maya screamed, "My baby!" until she was hoarse when she first arrived on the show. She twice told Bill that she'd been pregnant. So she either had a disposable uterus, or she lied to him. Lying is an option because, before revealing anything to Bill in their initial blackmail talk, she cunningly asked him, "So, what do you know?" He said he knew about her rap sheet, robbery, and gun violations.
To that, Maya responded, "I hooked up with a guy a while after I got to L.A...I was young and naïve...After a while, I started to notice things. He had a gun...hidden in the car...He said it was just for protection, but he liked to take it out sometimes to threaten people. By that time, I was pregnant, and I tried to make it work for the baby. That was a huge mistake...I have paid for that mistake...lost my child."
"There's a lot that went down with you and this guy, Maya. And if it were to come out, it could get very messy for you," Bill warned her.
"I was carrying his child! I couldn't just leave. I had nowhere to go, no money," Maya replied. Bill told her that she'd stay away from Rick or be exposed for who she is. "And just who do you think I am?" Maya asked. It was actually a good, in-character question, alluding to Maya's storyline in 2015.
"I think you are a woman with secrets, and were those secrets to be revealed, your life here would change dramatically. You have done things. Nobody around here knows what those things are, and we can keep it that way if you stay away from Rick Forrester," Bill concluded.
Looking back, Bill was pretty damn hot on the dime with his statements. It was as if he knew the transgender secret. It's surprising that Alison or Justin never dug the information up. Maya was too poor to buy a cover-up. Could it really be that Bill and all his mega resources couldn't find it, even if Maya was getting hormone injections in prison? Hell, a teenaged Nicole figured it out, but Bill couldn't?
It's easy to say that Maya was lying to Bill, but why lie about being pregnant? Just say the baby wasn't yours. Viewers might believe the robbery had been to get money for the transition; however, in the 2013 version of Maya's story, she said she and Jesse had immediately gone to prison, leaving no time to use the money. Here's a refresher of her 2013 story:
In January 2013, Maya revealed that she'd waited a long time for a court appeal. She mentioned volunteering at a mission and that Dayzee had been the one people turned to for help. Maya feared that her child, who'd been a baby when they'd parted, wouldn't remember her. Maya's parents hadn't been an option for her child, and none of her friends could take the baby.
In a flashback, Dayzee recalled Maya signing the adoption papers. Maya couldn't understand how her mother had refused to take her own grandchild. In 2015, we can speculate as to why. It was most likely to protect Nicole. It also might be that her parents' rejection of her included her children, too.
The 2015 story of the child being Jesse's child doesn't jive. It seems unlikely that bad-boy Jesse got saddled with an infant and not the birth mother. Maya never mentions a word about asking Jesse's parents or the birth mother to take the child. Maya claimed to have the baby in the first place because her friend had gotten in trouble, but didn't Maya get in trouble right alongside him? In my opinion, the writers tried but failed at the pregnancy revision.
The show's writers also failed, so far, to explain when Maya's transition happened. Maya said she'd left home when Nicole was young. Nicole was nine when a woman picked her up from school. Some security at that school to let Nicole go home with a stranger.
We have to guess the age Myron ran away from home and at what point he began living as Maya. But here, we run into another history snag. When Maya first came to town and was talking about her life, she told Dayzee, "My own family -- they didn't want me to come to L.A., take a stab at stardom. But what's the use in years of voice and dance lessons if you just play it safe? Maybe -- maybe I should've listen to them... seeing how things turned out."
Maya's parents hadn't wanted her to go to Los Angeles, but she hadn't wanted to waste those lessons. Is Maya lying about the lessons,\ or were Maya's parents more supportive than she claims?
Maya said people started catching on to her true self when she was about nine or ten. I'm gonna fill in some gaps by guessing. Myron probably tried to wear makeup and nail polish and perm in his hair to make it longer. Maybe Nicole was born at that time, and the Avants just couldn't cope.
Their parents might have feared that Nicole would get confused. It could also be that Myron was jealous that Nicole was born in the right body and wore the dresses he longed to wear. Myron, who might have been using the name Maya at that point, probably ran away between 14 and 16. That would make Maya 19 when she picked up Nicole at the school.
Yeah, I made up a lot of backstory, but how else can we explain it? Any ideas?
It takes time and money to get these surgeries, and hormone therapy lasts a lifetime. Maya could have obtained estrogen through a doctor or by illegal means if she couldn't afford it or get approved for it. With the company she kept in her youth, it's not hard to fathom her illegally obtaining hormones or surgeries before age twenty-one.
Whether it was legal, illegal, or undertaken by a benevolent foundation, was it complete by the time Maya went to jail? As a side note, because she kept referring to the lost child as a baby or little girl, it's unlikely that she served her entire ten-year sentence. I'm guessing it was only two or three years.
As for jail, if Maya was on hormones, the law requires the prison to supply her with the correct dosage; however, prisons aren't always compliant, and a prisoner without adequate representation is powerless to fix it. If she hadn't had her reassignment surgery, she would have served her time in a men's prison, isolated from the male population. If she'd had her surgery already, they'd put her in a women's prison.
How did Maya pay for the surgeries? She claimed to be broke. She could have stripped, prostituted, or run guns and drugs like she swore to Bill she didn't do. A foundation paying for the surgery would probably mean a long wait for Maya, an option that doesn't fit into her timeline. If she'd had illegal surgeries, they wouldn't cost as much as legal ones. She could have crossed the border to Mexico for them and been one lucky girl that they all turned out well.
Like Maya, some transgender people live stealth lives. They do so to avoid questions, danger, and ridicule, just like Maya explained. While it's Maya's choice to live stealth, is it her choice to make Carter, Rick, and possibly Jesse live that way? Are there implications for Forrester Creations because she's chosen this for the business, too?
As for Maya's choices, why would Maya fear that her prison record -- if Bill exposed her in his magazines -- would shame Forrester and Rick, but she wouldn't think that way about her being transgender?
Companies have fired and distanced themselves from racist and homophobic employees, so would Forrester be okay financially if the world found out about Maya? I think they would be just fine. There are several transgender models in the industry, but would Forresters patrons accept Rick dating the transgender model? Forrester has certainly faced its share of scandals, and something tells me Forrester can weather this storm, too.
Maya has a right to privacy, but to get it, she must respect other peoples' rights, too. That means revealing herself to suitors. Maya said she wouldn't tell Rick unless he proposed. It's way too late in the game at that point. She should have revealed herself when she desired a second date. Just as Maya has a right to be who she wants to be, Rick has a right to choose the kind of mate he wants.
It's just the same if a black woman would prefer not to date a white man. It's the same as if a gay man only wants to date gay men, not transgender men. Maybe a democrat doesn't want to marry a republican. The combinations are endless, and maybe Rick does or maybe he doesn't care if his mate is transgender. He should choose for himself, not have Maya choose for him. As Nicole said, Maya will not know Rick's heart and choice until she's honest with him.
Carter deserved to know that Maya is transgender, and she has no excuse about proposals because he did propose to her. She lied to Nicole when she said she'd let Rick go as a way of rejecting herself before he could. In truth, she rejected Rick because of his money, which is a revision truth bender from the writers I don't get.
I wonder how the men will handle knowing about Maya's transition. Rick's trigger happy, and if he shot at Caroline over some kisses, what will he do to Maya upon learning that he left his wife for someone far more deceitful? Will Rick be embarrassed under an assumption that the relationship is homosexual? Or will he be solely concerned about all the lies? And there are so, so many lies that the writers have shoveled upon Maya to make their new plot work. Will Rick not care about this at all until someone else expresses a believe that his relationship seem wrong?
Are any of us seriously holding out hope that Rick will be okay with Maya's transition? I'm not. He's a brat. He acts out every time things aren't perfect for him. He grins with charm as he enjoys degrading people. He revels in finding weaknesses to emotionally exploit, and he wants to make others feel like crap. How in the world can a man like this have any compassion for Maya/Myron?
It was awkward to listen as gender bombs rained down on Rick, making it obvious that Houston's gonna have a problem when Maya's reassignment comes out. The writers need to stop barraging us with ironic, gender buzzwords. We get it already! Rick wants a woman and might disagree that Maya is one.
How many times have we heard something in this plot regarding the type of "woman" Maya is? Rick jokes about Carter and Ridge's "manly" tennis match. I couldn't stop rolling my eyes at the convenient writing that had Rick gushing about Maya's "femininity" and how he wouldn't want her any other way than what she is. Rick loves Maya's "obvious assets," but he's attracted to her confidence and self-acknowledgement.
Over beer with Ridge, Bill refers to Maya as if she's an Autobot or Decepticon, saying, "There's a lot more to that woman than meets the eye. What you see is definitely not what you get with Maya Avant." It's all too obvious, just like Pam's lines that cued Carter to conclude that Maya had nothing left to hide.
My guess is that Rick's going to reject Maya for not trusting him to handle the truth. She didn't give him a chance to decide if he would choose her with full disclosure. He could be hurt that she'd lied to him down to the fiber of who she is, and she didn't trust him enough to share her transition with him.
Will the news about Maya being transgender cause Rick to take a long look at himself in the mirror and figure out what kind of person he really is? Will he see that he made Maya into what he wanted her to be instead of finding out who she really is? Upon learning about her past, will he take the time to do so, or will he toss her aside as he did to Caroline and Amber?
Will it make Rick stop using people as objects and start seeing who they are before declaring them to be what he wants them to be? Will it cause him to look beyond what he thinks about Aly and Ivy to value who they truly are? Will he get beyond the ways people have let him down and learn humility and forgiveness? I hope he sees he's been just as bitter, hypocritical, and judgmental as he claims the woman whose portrait he removed treated him and that Maya is no less fallible than Stephanie Forrester.
Maya's storyline reminds us that we're only fallible humans who must do what makes us happy, no matter what others think. Humans live life together and must respect each other. At the same time, we can't let anyone else's beliefs or feelings prevent our happiness.
I could have enjoyed this storyline, but I can't muster any sympathy for Maya. As I mentioned, the writers have made her into a complete liar by trying to clean up her backstory for this new storyline, and it's hard to root for her after she's been a shallow, selfish, and self-righteous character ever since she saw Oliver with Aly. I take that back. We've seen these traits since day one.
Before Maya learned her child was dead, she was willing to upset the child and the adoptive family to get her way. She believed that, after being in prison for however long, she deserved to get the baby back -- and the baby wasn't even hers, as she tells it now! She wanted to pluck the child out of a happy home even though she had no job, no house, and no pots to piss in.
When Rick's identity came out, it was the same thing. Maya, who lives stealth, rejected Rick for lying about his identity. She also gave me a nerve bender by complaining to no end about the kind of liar Caroline was. Maya, who claims to want to be accepted, had no right to judge Caroline or Rick. Caroline at least was being her true self, something Maya hasn't had the courage to be yet.
In Maya's road to transformation, she just abandons her family. Maya wants her baby, so the adoptive family must roll over and give it up. Maya wants Rick, so Caroline is supposed to just hand him over. According to Maya, she used Carter as a rebound, and it burns me up that she didn't care enough about him to be truthful, Oh, but she'll be truthful to Rick. Maybe it's Rick's money she wants to be truthful to.
Speaking of money, Maya shuns it one day, and on another day, she doesn't care if she tears up Rick's marriage to get it. Maya made it plainly clear to Oliver and Carter that she was gold-digging, not feelings-digging. It was plain wrong of her to come onto Rick in the steam room and to record Oliver when she was doing with Rick exactly what she accused Oliver of doing with Aly.
Maya was out to reveal the truth about Oliver and the truth about Caroline, but what about the truth about you, Maya? When will we hear the truth about the baby, about the crime, about you gold-digging on Rick, about how your parents really felt before you ran away? Did they reject you, or did you not give them a chance the same way as you claim you didn't give Rick a chance on the first go-round? Did you shut them out of your life the way you tried to hustle Nicole out of it recently? It's certainly possible that the Avants are nothing like their daughters portray.
I wish a new character had come on to be transgender, so I could enjoy the storyline without having to keep remembering what a liar and manipulator Maya is while I'm trying to empathize with gender dysphoria. To place a character who's been unsympathetic to everyone else at the center of a plot that should breed tolerance and understanding is just plain ludicrous. It's a disservice to the real-life people who journey through this every day.
What do you scoopers think? Is Maya too much of a manipulative character to do justice to this storyline? Or do you think Maya's only human, and you can separate Maya's past deeds from the new revelation about her?
At Least the Avant sisters are doing it for themselves. Katie doesn't believe Brooke can do anything for herself. Meanwhile, Donna is oblivious to what her sisters are doing while she seeks a wealth of relaxation. Nicole, however, is bringing about her own wealth through a little blackmail.
I don't see how Katie can get any of Bill or Liam's work done or change Will's diaper while she's so busy worrying about Brooke's loneliness and the bad choices Brooke hasn't even made yet. Yes, Brooke went way too far with her ex-boyfriend Beata; however, she did it in the safety of her own home, and she had the wherewithal not to drop to her panties in front of Deacon. The only bad choice Brooke made was not smacking Quinn through the floorboards for the hit the other week.
Katie should learn from her own bad choices and stop pulling Bill into Brooke's problems. The last time she kept worrying to him about Brooke, he ended up sleeping with Brooke. It's amazing how the love of a man cured Katie's woes and got her to express concern about her nephew, too. Her concern reminds me of the song title of Johnny Mathis', "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late. " Rick told her as much when he said she'd have to pardon him for cleaving to Maya, because Katie was married to a man who didn't respect him -- after being engaged to a man who couldn't respect him, either, I might add.
Rick has a sister pair that does respect him. If only they learned to respect each other. Maya's doing her best to reach out to Nicole, even if it is just to keep her secret safe. Nicole is glad to help Maya with it, as long as Maya gives Nicole what Nicole wants. But it would be stupid for Nicole to expose Maya because, if Rick throws Maya out, Nicole will bounce off the curb at the same time.
If Rick sends them packing, the only hope they have of taking a few gold nuggets with them would be if Maya sued Forrester Creations for discrimination. Carter could help her -- if he can accept the things she hid from him. Carter's a soft, sensitive soul, and he might succeed where I think Rick will fail. Maybe Carter will accept her, and she'll see that he's the one she should have married.
Boy, oh boy. Brooke was staring at Katie's wine like I stare at Carter! She watched it pass between Katie's lips and slip down her throat. She inhaled the bouquet and quivered in fear and delight. It was easier for her to watch Bill get married than to watch Katie drink that wine.
Brooke hates herself for loving booze, and it was hard for her to watch Deacon toss out all the liquor in the house. She would have hit up the liquor store on speed dial had it not been for Deacon. The problem is, he has addictions, too, and he just traded one for another by getting wrapped up in helping Brooke.
Busybody Katie is all worried about Brooke turning to the wrong person and making bad choices, but thus far, Brooke's learning to cope quite well with her loneliness -- with the help of a man, that is. But is he the wrong man? Deacon thinks he's the right man for the job -- even though he's engaged.
I warned Quinn a couple weeks back about letting her pet wander into other people's yards. She didn't listen, and as a result, another gender bender cropped up on the show. This time it's about what gender Deacon's support partner is. Quinn, who's being a caring, sexy fiancée, assumes the gender of his partner to be male. Whenever she says "he" or "him," Deacon doesn't correct her.
Let's apply the same question about Maya and Rick to Quinn and Deacon. Should Deacon correct Quinn and reveal that his support partner is female -- whether or not Quinn knows the female? Further, could Quinn handle Deacon helping any female, or would she peep into windows to see what's going on? She claims to trust him, but she applied a male pronoun to the support partner for a reason. Was it to keep herself from going crazy in case he runs out at another woman's beck and call?
Quinn makes no secret that Deacon owns the stereotypical female role in the house. She doesn't even want him to have a full-time job because she wants him to be available to her. She's the head of the house, makes the money, and controls Deacon sexually. Something tells me she wouldn't be okay with sitting at home, picking out spike-heeled boots for her wedding, while he's at another woman's house for hours. Once Quinn discovers that the woman is Brooke and that Deacon keeps begging Brooke back, Quinn will return to crafting swords and daggers.
For the first time, I feel sorry for Quinn. Applying the word "changed" to her would be like taking a huge leap off of reality peak without a parachute, but she has tamed herself and earned some respect back. Quinn's even working again. And with the careful questioning she did before accepting Deacon's proposal, it makes him a dirty, tick-infested dog for asking Brooke for another chance.
In one of the support meetings, Deacon expressed pride in bringing Quinn down from a ledge. He made my skin crawl when he told Brooke she didn't have to be alone, and he could be there. Just what does he think that's going to do to Quinn, who took a big chance in trusting him and made herself vulnerable enough to count upon him. She already sits around humming Foreigner's "I want to know what 'I-L-Y' is...." And she wants Deacon to show her, not show Brooke.
Quinn is not the marrying type, and she's not the blushing-bride type. She might not be those things because she never allowed herself to dream of them. Her feelings resonated with me because I've never been married. I understand being set in your ways and even afraid of opening your heart and life up this late in the game. Quinn's giddiness about her wedding was refreshing, and I was smiling at her.
I also could feel her about the wedding guests. I was engaged once, and I was straining for guests, too. I'm a solitary person like Quinn, and like Quinn, I wanted a big celebration. I didn't like her resorting to disingenuous guests like Bill, though. Of my nonwedding, I came to the same conclusion Quinn did about an intimate one in the evening. Just like Quinn's wedding probably won't happen, mine didn't, either. It might be a blessing for both brides.
How will Quinn handle the fact that her fiancé still has the hots for her boss's mother? Will Quinn be like the women before her and catch the "I hate the Logan women" disease, or will she hate herself for loving another man who had sex with her and tossed her to the side at the flip of Brooke's hair? And lastly, what kind of hex is Brooke putting on men that they leave vivacious women for her?
What's your view on the future for our Los Angeles residents? In a strange alliance-bender moment, Bill and Ridge spoke about the takeover. Will it ever happen? Ivy, Liam, and Ridge's prides got bent out of shape at another of Rick's degrading meetings. How will the three feel about Quinn's return to Forrester? Maybe her presence will move Ridge to do more than paint Caroline's backside.
In the previews, Brooke was at Forrester. What a coincidence that Quinn works there, and Brooke suddenly wants to be there after telling Katie that Rick didn't need his mother over his shoulder. Quinn will have an impossible time keeping her promises to Rick.
What will become of Ivy and Quinn's jewelry rivalry? You know, the one Rick swears he isn't orchestrating. Someone please tell me how it is that Ivy isn't an employee of Forrester, but she lets Rick boss her around? Add Wyatt and Quinn to the list. Quinn should be getting commission, not a salary, and Rick shouldn't be allowed to tell an independent contractor how long she has to work.
In anniversary news, The Bold and the Beautiful turned 28 last week, and our very own Soap Central hit the big 2-0. We've put together some of B&B's boldest stories from the past 28 years. And to hear some of your favorite B&B stars wish Soap Central and our head honcho Dan J Kroll a happy anniversary, check out a very special podcast marking the occasion.
Send in your views on these topics and others on your mind. As always, stay bold and beautiful, baby!
What are your thoughts on The Bold and the Beautiful? What did you think of this week's Two Scoops? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
