Has your week been bold and beautiful? Were you all up in everybody's business? Did your video get more hits by one person than all of Google and YouTube combined? Did you single-handedly keep a candle company in business? These and more situations faced the Forresters this week!
The Word of the Day, boys and girls? "Oversaturated." Can you say "oversaturated," boys and girls? I knew you could.
Case in point -- we get that Bridget feels bad about her grief-sex romp with Owen. It makes sense that Nick would want to comfort his wife after the death of another unborn child. But hit us over the head with it, why don'cha! How many times did Bridget say she wasn't perfect -- how many times did Nick say it was time to let go of the past and move on? They were on every single day, saying the exact same thing -- and in two different countries, no less! There's nothing wrong with building up Bridget's guilt factor -- surely Nick's not going to be so eager to put the past aside when he finds out his wife ended up hanging ten with the step-son he used to mistrust. (Nice touch addressing Nick's former attitude toward the surfer -- as was his comment about strapping Owen to a cement surfboard if he hurt Jackie.) But the Marones sounded like a broken record. Must've been all that Mexican champagne.
And how stupid was it for Bridget to call Owen as soon as Nick was out of the room to say "Let's not tell anyone we slept together?" Bridget and Owen already had that conversation while Nick and the mothers were making tea -- at least then they did speak in appropriately hushed tones. It makes no sense that Bridget would call Owen at that time to reinforce the secret -- any more than it did for her to keep telling Nick "it's just what happened after...as far as Nick knows, all Bridget did after Aggie lost their baby was run off. Way to keep a secret, Budge! Not that Owen kept it better -- Jackie already teased that Owen's rose petal seduction meant he was guilty of something, plus he was all distracted and pouty. But then we get "You're all mine, Owen...I'm all yours, Jackie...this is a recording...recording...recording..." Message received, already! It was like playing a video over and over...except that's Steffy's department. But we'll get to her. Boy, will we.
The one thing I'll say is, while I in no way condone infidelity, it's interesting that it's Bridget who did the cheating here. A different twist after Nick having done it -- call it karma, if you will. And it's nice to see Bridget more often after months of backburnered Jackie M appearances. It would just be nice if it wasn't in the same scene repeated all week. I suspect, though, with that video floating around, we'll be getting some different scenes soon enough.
At least Forrester Creations gave us a temporary reprieve. Pam tried to "fumigate" Donna (spare me), and lo, an actual business meeting! Now, does Forrester truly belong to R.E.S.T. at this point? Did everyone cough up their 50 mil? Stephanie and Taylor reminded Brooke (again) that she's not an owner, but do they actually own anything themselves until they've made their payments? That said, the meeting started out predictably -- "Hey, Brooke, you should go tend to your grieving daughter so we can get you out of the room!" Taylor is one psychiatrist I wouldn't go to for grief counseling. But it did seem she was sincerely trying for compromise when she suggested Hope represent the youth line and not the whole company -- and how about Brooke going along with it! The peace pipe didn't get smoked for long, though, once Stephanie tried to put the kibosh on the Brooke's Bedroom line. Who even knew Brooke's Bedroom (which I think was introduced in '99) still existed, much less brought in so much revenue? Brooke was right to point out Stephanie and Taylor's using personal reasons for a business decision. And good on Ridge for standing his ground! But who expected Stephanie to sulk out of the office when she didn't get her way? Shame she didn't stay out of it long enough for Brooke and Ridge to finish, ahem, testing the durability of the product. At least Stephanie was right that they should have locked the door!
Right now, Stephanie is proud of Steffy for getting the company back. Would she be so proud if she knew her granddaughter used her body to pull it off? Steffy had the audacity to brag how everyone compares her to Stephanie. Ha! Stephanie's been devious, vindictive, and outrageous -- but she's always remained classy. Steffy wouldn't know class if she...well, if she saw it in a video!
"Oversaturated," boys and girls! B&B is turning into "The Steffy Show." Not content to have her on the front line of getting Forrester back, she's now leading the Great Logan Purge, plotting to take Brooke down with the Bridget/Owen video, and trying to get her hands on said video by getting her hands on Oliver. And she had a problem with Rick's vengeful behavior? They'd be a match made in hell now! Do we really need to see Steffy's antics every day, in every storyline? This happened in the late '90s, too, when TPTB were producing "The Amber Show." Although many hated Amber, I rather liked the lovable screw-up -- but it didn't mean I wanted to see her on my screen every day. Imagine how I feel about Steffy dominating the show! It's nothing against Jacqueline MacInnes Wood -- she's only playing the material she's given. But talk about overkill. There's a backburner with Steffy's name on it, and it won't be too soon for me. Oliver had it right -- Steffy's acting like a minor, a little girl with a father fixation throwing a multi-million dollar temper tantrum. I'm glad they finally got into the true reason for her anti-Loganism -- feeling that Brooke took her father away -- but waah waah waah...grow up already! Of course, why should she, when Thorne and Felicia routinely cry about their own mommy and daddy not being together. Teach the children well.
Amazingly compassionate point Stephanie made about Brooke being full of guilt about her kids, and things Brooke did when they were growing up. That's probably very true. But now Steffy's going to use it against Brooke? At least Brooke only ever threw herself at men out of misguided searches for love (usually in an attempt to forget about Ridge). Steffy throws herself at men to get companies back and pry videos off the iPhones of DJs with bad hair. (I like Oliver, but seriously...the overdone "High School Musical" look is not becoming on him.) Sure, the video -- and the damage it could cause -- is good drama. But its creation is incredibly contrived. If Owen was letting Oliver stay at his beach house, why did he take Bridget there? And what on earth made Oliver decide to film anything in the first place? Let's add "implausible" to our Two Scoops Glossary, shall we?
Now that Oliver is getting his share of screen time, it should be easier to form an opinion of the fellow. But he's still tricky to figure out. On the one hand, Oliver seems smart and insightful, and he has a really nice connection with his sister, Aggie. On the other, it seems like he traded a 100-watt bulb for a 60. Why would he watch such a video in public to start with -- and on something big enough to be seen by someone else? If he knew Steffy wanted a copy, why take her up on swimming, let alone change and leave his bag with the phone in it near her? Was he testing her to see if she'd actually go through with sending the video to herself? And when she did, and playing lounge chair psychiatrist didn't work (how does Oliver know Steffy enough to say deviousness is "not who you are" no less than three times?), was the liplock just another attempt to get her to do the right thing? Bad enough Steffy's set her sights on the third unavailable guy in less than a year (after Owen and Bill), but what's Oliver's explanation? 'Cuz Hope is gonna want one, like, now. (Right after someone explains why Forrester Creations is having a prom-like dance that happens to require a queen. Still scratching my head over that one.)
Steffy had some nerve confronting Brooke and basically telling her to watch her step. Thankfully Brooke went Mama Bear and stood up to the twit. Steffy's the one who'd better watch out -- she's making a lot of enemies (hopefully Oliver's prediction that Bill will get revenge was meant to foreshadow the real thing). If she learned anything from Rick, she'd know her reign of terror is not going to last forever. Just because Ridge was mellow about his daughter using her feminine wiles against Bill, it's a safe bet Taylor won't be -- and you know Stephanie will lower the boom when she finds out. Plus, if Steffy leaks the video, she risks incurring the wrath of Bridget, Nick, Owen, Jackie, Brooke, and Eric -- for starters. Wouldn't it have been more intriguing if Aggie had spied the video instead of Steffy? But wait! Is that a grapevine I'm hearing? Hmm...
What exactly will become of Jackie M? Bill should back them -- maybe team up with CJ -- and really give Forrester some revenge-filled competition. We need some fresh spins that are still rooted in history, and we need our shows to listen to their fans (Bring. Back. Thorne! And while we're at it, OLTL, what's up with writing off "Kish"?). Here's a tip -- no one character should dominate a show at any given time. Especially not a relative newbie like Steffy, and especially not at a time when soaps are becoming an endangered species. I'm just sayin'.
This is a good place to put my Scooper down -- but I'll be back in time to celebrate B&B's 23rd birthday! Do some Scoopin' of your own in the meantime on the soapcentral.com message boards -- and above all, don't forget to be bold!
