"Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? I always ask that of all my prey. I just like the sound of it." The Joker, Batman, 1989
In something reminiscent of Batman canon, the affluent Finn and Steffy cha-cha-chaed in the wrong alley and were gunned down, robbed, and left for dead on a pile of garbage by his mom, Sheila Carter, the soap opera's very own Joker. Was a mother accidentally killing her son while attempting to murder his wife the twist? Or was it just plain twisted that Sheila, a nurse, not only refused to give her son aid, but shot his wife for dialing 9-1-1? Even darker, Sheila transforms into the grieving mother with just one tiny problem -- her daughter-in-law is still breathing.
In this column, I'll get two scoops deep into the riveting performance by Kimberlin Brown and speculate about Sheila's game plan and what lies ahead. We'll gripe about how Finn can still be warm on a cold slab and yet Liam already has Steam montages dancing in his waffling head.
If anyone thinks singing nursery rhymes gives Taylor a pass for her naivety, think again. I'm coming for her unicorn-finding, rainbow-chasing behind, too. Give Li Finnegan a high-five for telling Taylor what we're all thinking, "Don't tell me what to do. You ain't the therapist of me!"
From the moment Sheila leaned out of the dark corner in Eric's guesthouse and uttered that she was Finn's mother, who didn't suspect that it was gonna come down to something horrific like this? I don't know if I saw last week's events as the shocking game-changer we were promised, but the enthralling cast performances made up for the predicable climax. In fact, Kimberlin Brown delivered a never-before-seen glimpse into the depraved and complex mind of Sheila. I agree with Taylor -- it's a fascinating brain to step into, but is it worth the deadly price of admission?
What's so unnerving about Sheila is her ability to accidentally kill her own son in cold blood, resist the urge to slip into mother mode or nurse mode to save him, and instead, shoot his wife for daring to call for help. Steffy dialed that last number, folks, and I hope a 9-1-1 operator heard Sheila rifling through her dead son's pockets, removing his jewelry, and robbing him and Steffy.
It takes a special kind of sociopath to do this to a loved one, but let's talk about how prepared Sheila was to do it, shall we? Sheila had a gun and rubber gloves. Black is her preference. I wonder what else could be in that murder purse of hers. DNA test vials? Jars of bees? Teaspoons of mercury? A lock of Thomas' infant hair? I can buy that Sheila packs heat ever since she was caught in a duel with Steffy, carrying only a razor, but what's with the silencer?
Often, we say this actress or that actor deserves an Emmy, and perhaps we become cavalier upon hearing it so much. While each major player in the storyline last week deserves applause for delivering masterful, spellbinding performances, Kimberlin Brown, in Sheila's hotel room scenes, pierced the veil between soap drama and a horror flick in a deeply emotional, mentally disturbing portrayal of Sheila, the mother, trapped inside Sheila, her son's murderer.
One could see the tragic dichotomy of it in the frantic way Sheila cried while disposing of evidence and let out a primal scream in the mirror. In one moment, she was punishing herself with brutal hair-brush strokes, and in the next moment, she was blaming Steffy for Steffy's own "murder." Twisted, sick stuff, and Kimberlin Brown played it effortlessly.
I'm not saying I want Sheila to get away with it, but I will entertain ideas about how to punish Sheila without losing talent like Brown from the show. Any ideas?
Brooke had intuition that something was wrong with Ridge. It's too bad Li didn't have some of that intuition to help her save her son from a bullet in the alley. Li doesn't have Brooke's destiny-defying power of discernment, but she does have something Brooke doesn't -- the power to cancel Taylor and her psychological unicorns and rainbow mumbo jumbo.
I think I speak on behalf of all viewers who've had just about enough of Taylor and her mealy-mouthed psychobabble when I thank Li Finnegan for shutting Taylor the hell up and telling her that just because she's a psychiatrist doesn't mean she can tell people how to feel. Taylor's misguided advice about Sheila is what got us all here in the first place, mind you.
Li is right not to let Taylor talk Li into giving Sheila an inch, but do any of you get the feeling that Li protests a little too much? And might be a little too angry when she should be grieving? While I'm at it, what's with all her insistence upon using present tense when talking about Finn?
What did Li mean when she said, "He's dead to all of you?" Isn't Finn dead to everyone? Why is Li insistent upon "taking care of Finn" as she has always done? With Jack conspicuously missing from the scene, I wonder if he is watching over a recuperating Finn and if Li doesn't want Sheila to see Finn because Finn ain't really dead.
This is probably where I get a barrage of comments saying Trevor Novlan is off contract, and his exit has been announced. I accept that. Novlan was even yanked off the credits of an episode in which he was still lying in the trash. For the record, I saw the EMTs toss the blanket on Finn and wheel him out of there faster than an old couch at a cliff house garage sale; however, Li is behaving like a warrior, not a mother in mourning. All I'm saying is Finn might pop up again when Steffy least expects it, like when she's remarried to Liam the montage-man -- or Bill.
Ridge thinks Taylor likes searching for unicorns and gold at the end of a rainbow. Taylor tells us to sue her for wanting to see the good in everyone. Sheila just wants to be her friend, Taylor says. Yeah, and so did Brooke! But Taylor, the psychiatrist with a degree from Dumbbell Hell University, chose to befriend a maniac instead. Doing so got her son-in-law killed and her daughter hospitalized. Taylor's insistence upon studying a monster might cost Steffy her life.
Look, do I think Steffy will die? No. The universe can't be so cruel as to let Ridge and Taylor lose their other twin daughter. Besides, it's Steffy's destiny to find that snotty fifth-grader who stood her up and knee him in the nuts. Even though Steffy will live to annoy me another day, I still hold Taylor responsible for BFFing Sheila against everyone's advice.
Ridge warned Taylor against Sheila earlier that night before the shooting, but what does Taylor do? She hugs Sheila the moment she sees her! I am aware that Taylor doesn't know what Sheila did; however, no one else knows, and no one else is hugging her. No one except that dummy Deacon, but at least he can say Sheila never tried to kill him -- yet.
Taylor likes to sing and put her kids in musical bubbles. I think it's time someone burst her little bubble and awakened Taylor to the reality that her children need a warrior like Li fighting to keep bogeymen like Sheila away from them. A preschool song ain't gonna cut it, Taylor. Stop singing the Rainbow Connection with Sheila and get your son before Sheila hospitalizes him, too.
When Steffy's hurt, you can rest assured that the Rescue Ranger will come running in with his ready-made speech about what a kick-ass badass Steffy is. She has to pull through because Kelly needs her. "I need my..." he uttered. What? Liam needs his what? His doormat? His second-choice bed warmer? His pinch-hitter wifey in waiting?
Is it trash day Thursday? Has Finn's body been picked up by the garbage service yet? Because as a Finn fan, that's how I feel. I'm disillusioned that Finn's body is still cooling down in the morgue, while Liam is two stories above him, moving in on his wife. It's disgusting.
Some will say Liam is just expressing how he feels in case Steffy dies. Liam is married, and no married man ought to feel like he can't live in a world without his ex. No married man ought to be having montages of his weddings to his ex before they even had a daughter together. No married man ought to be thinking about frolicking in the water with his ex.
However, Liam is a Spencer, and he gets his perverseness from his daddy. I was gobsmacked when, earlier in the week, Bill reminded Liam of the passion he'd had with Steffy. Bill got in on that passion, didn't he? How sick is it for Liam's father to remind him about passion with his ex-wife when his father's passion with this ex-wife is the reason the ex-wife got ex-ed?
And let's not forget Hope is at home, completely understanding Liam's feelings because Steffy is "the" mother of his child. It has triangle regurgitation written all over it. Finn can't even get a week of mourning and respect before it gets started, and this viewer feels that it's patently disrespectful of Finn's memory. How do you feel about Liam's emo visit to Steffy?
Thomas figured it out. Somebody give that boy a mannequin! He has already figured out that Sheila is behind the alley shooting. Maybe I ought to hold on to the mannequin prize until we see how easily Sheila talks him out of his theory. After all, he is merely "Pinky" while Steffy is "the Brain."
Did Sheila forget her scrubs disguise? Anyone else wondering what's taking Sheila so long to toss on a hospital disguise and get in there to finish Steffy off before she wakes up? For that matter, she probably could have slipped into the morgue to see Finn, too, without Li ever even knowing. Get it together, Sheila. Your grief's making you slip up.
So, Ridge, how do you like Deacon now? Deacon saved Steffy's life. He could have stepped over her and gone back inside to finish his side work like the sleazebag Ridge thinks he is. Will Ridge cut Deacon some slack and realize that if Deacon hadn't been working there while trying to forge a relationship with Hope, he wouldn't have been there to help Steffy?
Bridget and the hot dog man. Welcome back, Bridget (Ashley Jones). We hope you stay a while and definitely say hello to Deacon. Speaking of returns, the shooting/robbery just became a real investigation. Deputy Chief Baker is on the case. You know what that means. He'll be eating hot dogs while someone else solves his case for him. The first step should be locating Steffy's phone in the alley and finding out who sent Finn out there to find Steffy. Was it the waiter who watched Sheila and Steffy leave?
Taylor talks Sheila off a ledge, literally. Bell said the show is doing things it's never done before; however, Sheila has been on a ledge before, and she actually jumped. Taylor ought to let Sheila jump because saving Sheila's life means putting a target on Steffy's back.
According to B&B's head honcho, Brad Bell, there's an unexpected kink in Steffy's recovery (You can read all about that here). Let me guess. She has amnesia? She's a mute and paralyzed on her right side? She thinks she's Phoebe or that she's married to Liam?
Taylor and Ridge disagree about Sheila's place in their lives. Please don't tell me Taylor is about to move her evil unicorn into the cliff house! So, this is how Taylor has less drama than Brooke? Is this how Taylor listens to Ridge and minds his feelings better than Brooke did about Deacon?
That's all the scoops I have for the week. Hopefully, you have some good ones for me down in the comments below. I'd love to hear what you thought of the big shocker, Finn's exit, and Liam's romantic montage of Steffy in light of Finn not being dead even a day yet.
Until we scoop again, stay bold and beautiful, baby!
Chanel
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