Has your week been bold and beautiful? Did you get fired and rehired faster than you can say "I'm not a Forrester"? Did you decide to use your powers for good? Did you throw your weight around and only to have it land on you? These and more situations faced the Forrester-Logan-Spencer clan this week!
How do, Scoopers! A whole week without Wyatt? Say it isn't so! And one brief appearance by Liam, where he admitted he was Hope's "stalker ex-boyfriend." No offense to Wyatt, Liam, or their portrayers, but what a refreshing change to not have to see them or Hope's love life for a while! Instead, the grown-ups were up at bat, mostly. Are you ready for some more Forrester corporate intrigue? Get your binders and let's head into the Two Scoops boardroom!
The week started with Quinn still in the closet where Bill stashed her, listening in as Brooke talked about how trading husbands with her sister would be wrong. In this bunch, that's as normal as trading baseball cards would be to you and me. Brooke admitted she loved Bill but wasn't ready to make any decisions, which came as a relief to Quinn. "I like you a bit more now that you've had your heart broken," Quinn told babydaddy Bill. Well, she has a point there. But she still wants to whip him. Into shape, that is!
The next morning, Brooke went to Eric, ready to get back to business at Forrester and offering up some hope for her own future. She confided that she wasn't sure if she knew how to define herself without a man and questioned whether her constant involvements kept her from knowing who she was. I really want to believe that Brooke is going to take these insights to heart. To my mind, she should have when Stephanie died. If any one B&B character really needs to evolve, it's Brooke! I guess time will tell...
Downstairs, Maya, who's surprisingly did some modeling for HFTF, was photographed by Oliver, who even more surprisingly started worrying about his job security because he isn't a Forrester. Huh? Dude, you got to keep your job four years ago after you mask-boinked the boss's wife! You're golden! Oliver then proceeded to give Maya the 4-1-1 about his relationship with Hope. Wow, Hope was right -- they were babies!
Oliver has been AWOL forever, so it's nice to see him get a storyline here. (And, personally, he's way cuter now than he was in 2010. Where's my Team Tholiver?) It's just that his sudden "downstairs maid" attitude feels out of character. But that's just one of the many inconsistencies and history rewrites that went down as Ridge decided it was time to rally the troops at Forrester. Starting with Carter being Ridge's right-hand man. When the hell did that happen? Carter was hired by Rick!
And don't get me wrong -- Ridge has been an integral part of Forrester Creations ever since the show started in 1987, and we have to assume he was there before we joined everyone's lives "already in progress." But, to use a phrase that was popular in 1987, "Like, what is his major damage?" As Eric and Brooke told Ridge, he was gone for over a year. And I'll add that he's spent the entire four months he's been back chasing either Brooke or Katie. So why is he now so interested in the company?
Rick was already on the defensive, crowing about the success of the Stephanie Forrester Collection. What collection? All Stephanie's jewelry was supposed to do was accent one HFTF showing. Is Forrester now making replicas of La Forrester's brooches and selling them to teenagers? Conversely, Ridge went on about the couture line. I'm sorry, there still is one? Forrester's had its head up HFTF's nether regions so long, I didn't think the fashion house did other lines anymore. But maybe that was Ridge's point.
I'm actually all for Forrester returning to its roots. B&B used to stand for glamour, but between budget cuts and an apparent desire to appeal only to viewers under 25, the clothes have become ordinary. Get this: Ridge fired Oliver because the Paris photographers supposedly do a better job of capturing the couture line! C'est quoi? Ridge's contention was that the designs were in question. You could have Annie Leibovitz taking the pictures; that's not going to change the product!
Then, Ridge took aim at Rick, basically claiming the president's chair simply because he'd fulfilled his Terminator "I'll be back" promise. Brooke's right: Ridge is not allowed to do this. Yes, he's a senior employee, and he used to be in management, but he isn't anymore; Eric should have shut Ridge down the second he opened his mouth about replacing Rick. How would Ridge have liked someone trying to dethrone him when he was CEO/president?
Instead, Eric just sat there, and suddenly the position of president became a question for the sake of much drama and close-ups. But there is no question. Eric is CEO. Rick is president. There is a protocol. I remember when Ridge pulled this "I can run the company better than you" stuff with Thorne, and frankly, it's just a little old. I'm surprised no one in that room started arguing about how much stock they did or didn't own!
Remember those hotly disputed stocks? Here's the rundown: Eric has 37.5%. Steffy has 25%. Ridge has 20%. Bill has 12.5%. And Thomas has 5%. Only if Bill were to throw in with Ridge and his kids would that team gain controlling interest. But Bill won't do that, because of Brooke. So, each "side" has 50%, and a majority stockholder needs 51% to make any kind of power grab -- like Brooke did in 1993 over the BeLieF patent.
There's no winning with this group, so this is what needs to happen: let Rick, Hope, etc. split off into a new youth division of Forrester, a whole separate building. Give it some catchy name, like Forrester Innovations; they can use HFTF as a springboard for new lines to corner the youth market, and Ridge and Eric can return Forrester Creations to its former glamorous glory. There you go! Everyone's happy. Then we could have avoided a two-day decision when there was nothing to decide.
Brooke took Eric aside and went all mama lion, trying to protect their son, Rick. Now, she must be pissed at Ridge, because what came out of her mouth next, I have never heard her verbalize before. "He can't be trusted," Brooke said of her former "destiny," adding that Ridge was full of Marone arrogance! Wow! It's an interesting twist, but I think I'd buy it more if Brooke had grown to believe that instead of thinking Ridge walked on water two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, Rick also played the Marone card with Ridge, and Caroline barged in for her own brand of sass and awe. "Get your head out of the '90s, and get to sketching," commanded the president's wife. Do you get the feeling someone's sending a message to those of us who miss the way B&B used to be and have made that known online? "I will never answer to you," Ridge admitted to Rick; at least that's a proper motivation for his display of barracuda-like behavior.
After much repeated deliberating, Eric finally put his foot down: Rick remained president, HFTF remained front and center, and Brooke and Ridge were appointed co-vice presidents! You might want to ask Thomas about that! Did he give up being vice president when he left for Paris? No matter, because much-married exes Brooke and Ridge were left to discuss their new, mutual titles. Brooke gave Ridge a tongue-lashing like we've never seen! Bitchy Brooke might be fun; I'm just not sure about her claims!
First of all, she bit Ridge's head off for not telling Eric that he had moved on with Katie. Up for a game of Hungry Hungry Hippo-crites, Brooke? You haven't even told Ridge that you were carrying Bill's baby! And then, Brooke said that Katie had only ever been with one man. Holy history rewrite, Batman! What about when Katie got pregnant with Nick's baby while he was engaged to Bridget? And Katie could have had relationships, or at least encounters, during those years she was off the canvas. One man. Ha!
Brooke also nixed the idea of ever reuniting with Ridge because of how he attacked Rick and Hope. Really, Brooke? You have no problem contemplating reuniting with Bill, who treated Hope far worse than Ridge is even capable of! Later, privately, Eric intimated that making Brooke co-vice president with Ridge was meant to help put them back together. Sounds like Eric tore a page out of Bill's playbook, or even Quinn's. What about what Ridge wants? And Brooke wants to grow without a man! Let her!
Meanwhile, Oliver got his job back, but he was still moping because not being a Forrester meant he could get canned any minute. Oh, Oliver, what happened to you in that photo studio? We saw that he was still ga-ga for Hope after four years, that he's doing a little pining for the very unavailable Maya, and now he's got sparks flying with Aly. Does all his Forrester talk mean that Aly will be a means to an end? Aly's not psycho this week, but next week she could pull a Fatal Attraction and boil his camera!
And Maya...I'm not liking her anymore. First she exhibited faraway looks because she was pining for Rick, and now she seems to be jealous about Oliver, with whom she shared one tiny stolen kiss. How dumb can Carter be? Maya, honey, if you don't want to marry the guy, just tell him already! She's coming off like a total flake, visibly upset as she watches Oliver putting some scruffy moves on the virginal Aly. Well, really. What do you expect from a guy who took Aly out for coffee and brought her to the Bikini?
Finally, Katie heard about Brooke and Ridge's vice presidency, and immediately went off on her sullied sister, who, for once, was actually innocent of any manipulation. "Am I supposed to be Taylor in this situation?" Katie wanted to know. Given Brooke's history, the youngest Logan was sure that, in time, Brooke would "giggle and your clothes will fall off and you'll be standing in your lingerie." That's actually funny, and Brooke does deserve that. Strong Katie can stay as long as she wants!
While Katie let Brooke know that she wasn't about to put up with what Taylor did, Ridge again demanded the presidency from his father. Rather than cite more business-related reasons for his not-decision, Eric actually told Ridge that it's his relationship with Katie that's keeping him out of the president's chair! He worried what people would think when they found out Ridge was "shacking up with Bill Spencer's wife"! Hold the phone, Eric! Katie and Bill are divorced! (I think.)
Weirder still, Eric voiced his vehement disapproval of Kridge, calling it a "PR nightmare" and freaking out because Ridge wanted to be with his ex-wife's sister! This from the man who himself has been married to two Logan sisters? Has Eric been eating Pam's poisoned lemon bars again? Eric also gasped that children were involved now. They were before! Come on, Eric -- both Rick and Bridget had to suffer through these family scandals, too. That's just how you Forresters roll!
But then, Eric played his trump card. The patriarch told Ridge that if he left Katie, he would get Eric's CEO position! Now doesn't that just sound like something Stephanie would have done? It took half a century, but he's finally channeling the Queen. "Get your ass back to Brooke where you belong," Eric told his son who isn't really his son. Will Ridge dump Katie to gain power over Rick? And does anyone else think that NuRidge actually resembles Massimo Marone much more than his predecessor?
How did you enjoy your week without Hope and Wyatt making out? What about all the corporate shenanigans? Share your comments with us on the Soap Central message boards or the comments section. Send email or leave a voicemail! Or talk about it on Facebook below. Your comments could end up in a future column. Like these!
• "I have only been watching B&B for a few years because I love soaps and they canceled all but one of the soaps I had been watching since I was a kid. (GH) One striking difference B&B has from all the other soaps current and canceled is the lack of story build AND the lack of history. Thanks to Soap Central and YouTube I can look back and read and see the history of characters and see B&B tends to gloss over whatever doesn't fit the story only to change it again later. It's aggravating...you don't have to wait for a reveal because odds are it will happen within a week of the story's beginning. It makes me wonder how it can be so highly rated...I can barely get through an entire episode anymore..." -- DeniseAmen, Mary! And, to answer your question, Margaret: yes and no. Ridge and Brooke aren't married, because they never signed the paperwork that would have finalized their 2012 wedding before going off on their honeymoon and getting into that fuss over Deacon's texts and Brooke's secrecy. I've never heard of people in real life taking off like that without dotting their I's and crossing their T's first, but, in recent B&B history, it's become all too common!• "Has anyone at B&B ever been to a business meeting? I think not. First of all, you have a management team meeting with two contractors (Wyatt and Quinn) and an intern (Aly). Then you have a second management meeting that includes one (not all, just one) of your spokesmodels...really?? And Ridge, if you are such a wonderful leader, you should know that it is entirely inappropriate to fire an employee in front of pretty much the entire staff. HR101, jerk. And, excuse me, Rick is not divisive?? You might want to run that by Thomas...if you can find him. I don't know what TPTB are trying to do with professional Ridge, and I have a sinking feeling that they don't know either..." -- Mary
• "Did Ridge and Brooke ever get divorced?" -- Margaret
Speaking of dotting I's and crossing T's, let's do just that with Points to Ponder:
Who's running Spencer Publications while Katie spends all her time with Ridge? And, since Bill bought Katie the house Ridge had built for Taylor, you'd think Katie would be a little weirded out making love to Ridge in the same bedroom Taylor did... Oliver told Maya about his past with Hope, only mentioning that it ended "poorly." What's the matter, Oliver: afraid Maya won't want to kiss you anymore when she finds out you messed things up with Hope by accidentally boffing her mom?
Brooke lamented to Bill that she'd lost a husband and a family. News flash, Brooke: Ridge hasn't been your husband since 2011, and how can you lose the family? You see them every day!... Two weeks ago, Donna read Katie the riot act for getting together with Ridge. Now she's all supportive... Ridge tried to make his point with a side-by-side shot comparing couture with HFTF. Why was Hope modeling the HFTF dress? Maya took over as spokesmodel last year... "Who do you want to run the company?" Ridge and Rick wanted to know. Um, Eric's CEO. Doesn't he run the company regardless of who's president?
Ridge groused that he'd end up heading the Shipping Department now that Thorne is at Forrester International. That does bring up an interesting question: who is running Shipping now? And so what if Rick isn't a designer? That's not a prerequisite for management positions. Besides, neither Hope nor Steffy are designers, and they've both had lines of their own!
It's gonna be one helluva April: starting April 25, Taylor returns for what we are told is Aly coming to terms with Darla's death. I want to see Aly pull a Sheila, kidnap Taylor, and come at her with a car before breaking down and sparing Taylor's life! Then Aly could chillax in an institution for a little while, but not before having a serious heart-to-heart with Taylor about what happened to Darla. After a few months, Aly could come back and truly take her place among the Forresters with a clear psyche. Brad Bell, I'm available.
And Tracy will be available for you next week as Forrester Creations deals with the fallout from Brooke and Ridge working together. Hopefully it won't end with Brooke hitting her head and almost drowning in the pool like when they worked together on the then-new Men's Line! (Sorry, Caroline, I guess my head is still in the '90s.) I will Scoop again for y'all April 21. In the meantime, keep watching, be alert, and most of all, be bold!
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.
