As usual, Scoopers, just when you think you've got the week all figured out, in marches the Friday cliffhanger to catapult our Los Angeles faves into new quandaries. Brooke and Hope rounded out the week with emotionally gripping scenes that almost made us forget that we've been there and done that with the why, why, why about Deacon. But it was so good, so emotional, and so gripping, we didn't mind doing it all over again.
At least this time, Hope got Brooke to admit that she had feelings for Deacon. Some hot, steamy, unsettled feelings that crept to the surface once before when Quinn was slapping the hell out of Brooke and refusing to let her hubby Deacon have a Logan friend. Nothing has changed with Quinn, and if you look closely, you might see that nothing has changed with Brooke, either. Just check out how hard she was biting her smile when she rebuffed Deacon's affections on Friday. You liked it, Brooke, and you know it. Ridge better rush home and put out the Deacon fire before Bridge becomes engulfed in Breacon flames.
It's getting hot over at Brooke's house, but it's still ice cold at Eric's. Quinn got her way when she demanded that Eric banish Donna from their lives, but Quinn can't control what goes on in Eric's head. She'd better hope to high heaven that Donna's wolf tail is still wagging around in Eric's brain because, so far, Donna is the only one who can get a rise out of him. Eric wasn't happy about letting Donna go, but I wished he'd reminded Quinn that Carter still has a job. Something tells me that Quinn's overbearing insistence on cuckolding Eric when he let her freak flag fly free with Carter might come back to bite Quinn's butt, and Carter will be too busy browsing the menu at Il Giardino with Katie to rub some salve on Quinn's chafed behind.
Speaking of overbearing wives -- only Steffy can have her hair wrapped so tight that she thinks it's fine to meddle in Hope's marriage and family but, at the same time, rage at Hope to stay out of Steffy's. For now, Steffy is keeping the wolf, Sheila, at bay, and Deacon's bold move to throw himself on the mercy of his ex might have left Sheila without a card to play. Why is honesty working for Deacon and not for Sheila? Could it eventually work for Donna? Let's scoop!
When the wolf comes to Quinn's door, Quinn blows the wolf's house down. There Donna was, minding her own business, scrapbooking and licking on honey during her 15-minute breaks. Her crank-calling, everybody's-business-minding, Il-Giardino-lunch-loving sisters just had to put her up to telling Eric about her true feelings. Honesty didn't work too well for Donna. She wound up curing him of ED but losing her job. She told her sisters that she didn't want to be involved. She asserted that she didn't want to break up that marriage, and now she's the one paying the price.
Katie forgot everything she learned while heading two corporations and is in Donna's face, telling her that going down honey-licking-erection-making memory lane isn't a justification for Donna's firing. Oh, really? I wish 2021 Katie would tell that to 2016 Katie, because 2016 Katie banished Brooke from her life and Spencer Publications when she heard Brooke say Bill would always be the love of Brooke's life.
Maybe Katie thinks the rules have changed, since Carter thrives as COO even after giving Mrs. F the Big O. It's amazing the different ways Quinn and Eric handle outside influences in their marriage. Eric was upset at first but eventually incorporated it into the marriage to make Quinn happy. Quinn, on the other hand, wants to sit Donna to death with a chair just because Eric had more wood than a woodchuck could chuck at Donna.
Quinn is the one who needed to take that seat. I keep forgetting how petty Quinn is, and believe me, Quinn's jealousy over Donna is petty compared to what Eric let Quinn get away with. But that's just how insecure Quinn is. She couldn't even let Shauna have a platonic martini with Eric, and now, she won't let him bring home a little tickle in his pants -- even if it benefits her.
It's too bad, really. Quinn should be using the office excitement as an opportunity to get her freak on. She could summon Donna to drop off papers, let Eric get a gander, and then float on his inflatable once Donna leaves. All Quinn has to do is set boundaries like Eric did with her and Carter. Instead, she inflicts more stress on Eric, and his groundhog might never come up to see his shadow. Maybe she doesn't trust Eric to stay within bounds because she didn't with Carter.
I suspect the fact that a Logan did it for Eric when Quinn can't will leave her empty inside, and she'll crave Carter's stuffing. It'll burn Quinn's thongs when she sees Carter and Katie holding hands at the next Il Giardino outing. That's when it will sink in that Quinn has already had sex for the last time, and while Quinn was fighting the wolf pup at the front door, the sister wolf crept into Quinn's paramour coop out back. Damn those Logan women! Ha! Ha!
With the banishing of Donna, Eric and Quinn's storyline has finally come full circle to the main problem. Quinn keeps demanding Eric choose her over everyone else, including his loved ones, but she only looks out for her own interests. Eric can bow to Quinn and live loveless and sexless until he dies, but if he faces the truth, he can free his willy and Donna.
The truth is Donna loves him without conditions. An attraction to Donna is easy, and being with her means his family will want to be around him. Life with Quinn is a one-way street, and Eric needs to kick her down that lonely highway before he winds up with an empty house for the holidays.
When it comes to protecting her family from Wolf Sheila, Steffy puts all the piglets on lockdown -- even those that don't belong to her over at Liam's house. Some fans are starting to refer to Steffy as Finn's Mommy Wife. If you ask me, Steffy thinks she has five kids, and I'm longing for the day that Liam, Hope, and Finn finally emancipate themselves and let that Mama Piggy know she doesn't tell them what to think, how to feel, who to see, or who to fear.
For anyone who thinks Liam isn't a part of Steffy's Brady Bunch dictatorship, just recall what she told him when he said he didn't want to control what Hope did or who she saw. Steffy claimed she didn't "enjoy it, either," but they had to do it. If Steffy was in Hope's shoes, she'd protect the family, despite her feelings. Right. Kind of like Steffy did against Taylor, the gun-slinging granny?
While it wasn't about Steffy, Steffy found a way to make it about her. When Hope declared it unfair that she and Finn couldn't talk to their parents, Steffy complained that Hope was saying Steffy was wrong for her feelings about Sheila. Hope had said nothing of the sort, but Steffy wouldn't shut herself up long enough to know what Hope actually did say.
Steffy then raged about how Sheila shot her mom -- in front of a guy whose mom Steffy shot! Steffy, you shot Finn's mom. Did you ever tell him that? And your mom shot Liam's dad. Good grief, you'd think California is the wild, wild west all over again! No one's dead, and Sheila happened to go to jail -- unlike some people and their moms. Let it go, Steffy!
Finally, Steffy said the most sensible thing yet in this storyline, which is that Hope could talk to Deacon if she wanted to -- as long as Hope didn't influence Finn or interfere in Steffy's marriage. If I were Hope, I'd take that deal. I'd tell Steffy that her mommy-daddy dates would now end the second Kelly is no longer in attendance, and there will be no more telling Liam how to handle Hope and Deacon. In other words, Steffy, you mind your business, too. Go get legally married or search for all those hairpins that jumped for their lives to get away from your plaster bun.
The thing about wolves is that they come around when they're desperate and have no other place to feed. Donna is a perfect example. That girl was about to die of starvation before Eric licked that honey off her finger. Sheila, for another example, wants to make it work with Finn because, according to her, all of her other kids want nothing to do with her.
And Deacon? Where was he going to go if not to Hope and Brooke? He was a fool if he thought Bridget was gonna let him in. What did he even write to her for? In Brooke and Hope, Deacon knows he has a soft-hearted place to land. After all, Hope is from him, and he got the best of Brooke when she was out to scam him. Two very easy chickens for the picking.
Ridge is usually on top of things, and as much as he despises Deacon, I'm surprised Ridge didn't already know Deacon's release date or that Ridge didn't bribe a judge to keep Deacon in prison before he sniffed around on Hope's doorstep. It's too little, too late to summon Liam to the office to agree that they both want to keep Deacon off the property. No, duh, now where are the moats, the alligators, and the drawbridges?
Fresh out, huh? Don't worry. Liam thinks he, Brooke, Ridge, and Steffy will protect the vulnerable Hope and Finn. I got news for you, Liam. Steffy's only looking out for herself. She just told Hope that she doesn't give a damn if Hope talks to Deacon, as long as it stays away from the cliff house. As for Brooke, she just let the wolf in the house! I hate to say it, but Ridge should have paired up with Bill because, at this rate with squirrely Liam, the wolves might be in Ridge's bed by Thanksgiving.
I've always been fond of Hope's adult relationship with Brooke. Even when the two of them went at each other, and Hope had to say harsh things to Brooke, I could usually sense the emotions emanating from the actresses. Kim Matula's Hope seemed to bring a moral reckoning to Brooke that was even more scathing than Bridget's. Annika Noelle took it to a new level by translating Brooke's shame for sleeping with Deacon into the palpable loss and emptiness it caused Hope to be denied a relationship with her father.
Hope's longing for a relationship with Deacon, and Brooke's opposition to it aren't new themes. Bold has done it before and with good results. Brooke and Deacon even managed to eke out a friendship despite Quinn, and surprisingly, it was Deacon texting Brooke about Hope that sent Bridge's new marriage into a tailspin after Ronn Moss's exit as Ridge Forrester. For Deacon, Brooke is the one that got away, and for Brooke, Deacon is the one "no way, Jose."
I don't think that's because Brooke couldn't love Deacon. It might be more because of her fear that she could. Brooke might fear that her feelings for Deacon could eclipse her love for Ridge. Did you notice how quickly she said she couldn't have loved Deacon because she'd still been in love with the unavailable Ridge? The lady protests too much. Or perhaps the scariest thing in Brooke's world might be admitting that she really does have feelings for the man who'd done her oldest daughter so despicably wrong. Can you imagine Bridget coming home for the holidays and being welcomed by Brooke and Deacon Sharpe?
That's why Breacon is still fire. It's taboo. It's shameful. It's unrequited. And it's hot. Sean Kanan sells it with the unbridled honesty he brings to playing Deacon. In his Bold Live interview, he said he has to find something to like in his characters, or he can't play them. Kanan has found that thing in Deacon, and that thing, not the writing, propels Deacon's storylines forward. That's what I find so refreshing about having Deacon on the screen. His stories are like the character-driven stories of old, not the plot-driven ones of today.
I think that's why Deacon hopped out of the frying pan with Sheila so quickly and into the Breacon fire. I love the fact that, before he'd lower himself to a scheme with Sheila that would blackball him forever, Deacon threw himself on the mercy of the only judge and jury he ever gave a damn about -- Brooke and Hope. When Deacon smiles at you the way he smiled at Brooke on Friday, he can get anything he wants. And I already see Brooke's façade crumbling.
The show added in some well-placed flashbacks and a crying daughter, and suddenly, Breacon is on its way to a revival. I enjoyed the history and the angst, and Annika Noelle and Katherine Kelly Lang really sold the scenes, forcing Brooke to unearth the love beneath decades of shame. Once you dig up something like that, can it really be shoved back down?
Looks like this wolf is in the house, folks, and he's not hiding in granny's nightgown. He's only wearing his heart on his sleeve with bold honesty about his deepest desires, even when what he wants sounds impossible. "A man can dream, can't he?" Deacon asked. If you dream it, Deacon, it just might come true.
What do you think? Is Breacon the next fire on the horizon?
Deacon upended Sheila's best plan so far to wedge herself into Finn's life, but Jack might be back around at the right time. If Sheila exposes Jack as Finn's real father, will that be the bait she needs to draw Finn, as curious about his parents' relationship as Hope is about hers, to Sheila's side?
Tempers surge when Ridge arrives to defend his chicken coop and learns that his chickies don't want a defense against Deacon, the not-so-bad wolf. Hope reminds Ridge that Deacon is her father, not Ridge -- as if Ridge could ever forget. In fact, Ridge probably blames himself for Hope's entire existence because it never would have happened with Deacon had Ridge not been with Taylor. Ridge needs to remember that when NuTaylor shows up in town.
Everyone must have heard by now that Taylor Hayes is wobbling her drunk self back to Los Angeles. Well, let me be fair. She probably won't be drunk -- yet -- but I gotta tell you, I'll have a really hard time accepting her back into the fold if she has even one sanctimonious thing to say about Deacon and Sheila while still being a fugitive from justice for the attempted murder of Dollar Bill Spencer. I have three words for Taylor -- turn yourself in!
Let me know what you think in the comments section below, and until we scoop again, I have a bit of advice for those of you with male partners. If your male partner lets you get it on with your paramour while he suffers from ED, don't begrudge him a little office flirtation. I promise you, if you let him have his fun, the results in your bedroom just might be 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.
