Has your week been bold and beautiful? Did you literally have only one purpose in life? Did you love the '90s so much you battled with your longtime rival like it was? Did you play Queen's "Keep Yourself Alive" for your son on auto-repeat? These and more situations faced the Forrester-Logan-Spencer-Walton-Buckingham clan this week!
Holy reversible soap deaths, Scoopers! While Brooke and Taylor went back to their old ways in sparring over Ridge, and nobody really cared about the developing Zende/Paris/Carter/Quinn/Eric/Donna "sextangle" ("sex tangle" is definitely a good description for it!), B&B pulled out their promised further shock by revealing that Finn is alive, if not well -- a twist executed almost marvelous-Li! Ready? Let's Scoop about it!
Well, wouldn't you know, Grace popped back up after many weeks, and the first thing out of her mouth was that Paris should be with Zende. Seriously, does this woman have any other purpose in life? Eating? Sleeping? Maybe getting a storyline of her own? Even Paris asked, "Do you ever stop?" -- which could be the most spot-on line of dialogue the young Buckingham has ever delivered.
I pretty much just tried not to let my eyes permanently roll back in my head as Grace kept championing Zende, no matter how much Paris said she didn't want him. "You're supposed to care about me and what I want," Paris reminded her mother. Amen. What exactly is Grace's investment in Zende, anyway? And with her one-track-mindedness about him, why should we care?
The only place we can go with this that might be somewhat interesting is that Grace goes on about Zende so much because she wants him for herself. Other than that, the mama bear act is old, old, old. Why create the character of Grace if this is all she does? Moving on. Besides, if Grace really knew the cluster...truck going on just outside of Paris' orbit, the woman would really go nuts.
I didn't make the connection until someone posted about it in a B&B Facebook group, but...Zende wants Paris. Paris wants Carter. Carter wants Quinn. Quinn wants Eric. Eric wants Donna! Talk about a six-y situation! Seems to me all these folks need to get together and just shift their relationships over by one. Then, everybody would be happy. Well, except Zende, but then he could always get with a cougared-up Grace.
Zende looking like he was about to flame Carter for Paris' interest in Carter, only to give Carter "permission" to be with Paris, albeit hostilely, was mildly interesting. But the real spark in this sextangle so far was Paris and Quinn bringing out the Meow Mix. These two sharpened their claws on each other right in front of Carter, who isn't involved with either one of them!
Yes, it did my soapy heart good. Quinn and Paris are clearly jealous of each other, and my mind reels with all kinds of glorious possibilities. We already know Quinn isn't above pranking Paris with gastronomical goodies. But we also know that the Buckinghams all seem to have screws loose. Reese is a baby-napper, Zoe was a stalker. Grace isn't proving to be too tightly wrapped. Could the legacy continue with Paris?
I don't really care who any of these people end up with. Well, except maybe Eric, because he's the OG B&B, and I'm extremely attached to him. Other than that, anything goes. If Carter were any more flaky (Zoe, Quinn, Katie, Paris), he could use his Room 8 cred to do Head & Shoulders commercials. But Paris and Quinn battling each other with a cray-cray bat? I'm here for it!
Ridge was mad because Thomas had come so far as a recovering psycho, only to lie again about Sheila punking Brooke's not-champagne on New Year's Eve. Taylor got Ridge to agree that Thomas' knowledge about it didn't have to be public knowledge. Okay, this is why there's so much foolery in, say, our political system. There are no consequences. Thomas shouldn't be exempt. He should at least have to face Brooke.
Indeed, Thomas had a point the previous week when he implied that he bore responsibility in Steffy and Finn getting shot, because Steffy had confronted Sheila about what Thomas had known. But his parents didn't parent, instead babying Thomas and letting him off the hook. Thomas feeling guilty, having to live with that guilt, and facing up to it would generate more drama than anything Carter and they are doing.
Brooke walked in on Taylor and Ridge's mommy-daddy convo, which shouldn't have had anything to do with putting their hands on each other's legs. But Brooke took the high road and expressed how sorry she was that Steffy was having to go through such crushing grief because of Sheila. Taylor was so touched that she gushed about wanting to be there for Sheila victim Brooke, as well!
Wow! A turning point in a decades-long feud! But before you could finish reading the closed captions from that exchange, the war was back on. Thanks to Thomas, who resumed badgering Taylor about pursuing Ridge, although Taylor had specifically told Thomas not to, Taylor made a beeline for the Forrester compound to see Ridge -- and caught Brooke in conference with Eric.
Taylor was right that Brooke had come to Eric for help with Ridge. But the war was back on for Braylor. Krista Allen totally channeled Hunter Tylo's latter-day Tay as the world-renowned shrink picked a fight with the slutty chemist from the Valley. That's right -- Taylor started it! This after Ridge had told both her and Brooke that they all needed to be united for Steffy and Steffy's kids!
You'd think that Taylor would be inclined to do anything Ridge asked her to, as it would further endear her to her I-haven't-been-married-to-him-since-2006 ex-husband. Nope! Taylor threw so much shade on Brooke, so fast, that Eric chose not to take sides and got out of there as fast as he could to play, er, Pickleball. You know, 'cause that's what they call it these days.
Brooke took exception to Taylor's exception to Brooke reaching out to Eric re: Ridge. "If Stephanie were still alive, you'd have had her pleading your case!" Brooke rightly presumed. And then, Taylor unearthed some resentment I didn't realize she still had. "[Stephanie] wanted you with her in her final moments," Taylor sniffed to Brooke. That was rather a new layer. Kinda made Taylor's actions make more sense.
The interesting stuff pretty much ended there. Brooke and Taylor fought over Ridge like it was 1992. "What Ridge craves is passion," Brooke asserted. No, what I think Ridge craves is women fighting over him. But any time a man steps up on Ridge, the Dressmaker goes ballistic. At this point, put Bridge back together already and let Taylor move on with someone new. Bill, maybe? I know Taylor shot Bill, but ya know, that kind of stuff turns Bill on.
Speaking of Bill, he advised Hope to think of Liam as being "on loan" to Steffy for a while, since Steffy needed the extra support. Hope agreed, but Brooke didn't, again trying to stir the Steam pot. Look, Brooke, just because you grieved for a presumed-dead Ridge by shagging his half-brother, that doesn't mean Steffy rolls that way. Steffy is not going to mourn Finn by letting Liam boff her. That's all I have to say about any potential Leffy/Lope anything, because no one wants to see any more of that mess.
For the hordes of you who have been wondering if Finn was going to get a memorial service, wonder no more. Steffy brought up the subject herself to Taylor, although Steffy wanted to involve Li in the arrangements. Steffy was out of sorts because Li had taken on "all the end-of-life details" and even had Finn cremated while Steffy was unconscious!
These are details that certainly didn't come up in real time. Last we saw or heard about Li, she was telling Sheila that she, Li, would take care of her son. Steffy sensed Li's distance, but Taylor reached out to the other Mrs. Finnegan herself. When Li arrived, Steffy and Taylor informed Li that Sheila was the one who had killed Finn. Li didn't seem particularly surprised. If anything, it was as if Li expected it.
But when Steffy broached the subject of a memorial service for Finn, Li threw up a wall far faster than...well, another certain person who went on and on about walls. Steffy deemed the bolting Li's attitude as "super strange," but here's what's super strange to me. Everyone keeps referring to Finn and Steffy as husband and wife. Am I the only one who remembers they never signed their marriage certificate?
It's true! Steffy refused to sign until Finn promised to keep Sheila away. Sinn got past that, but they never resolved the oversight...at least on-screen. That was way too important to not address, but the show skipped it, anyway. I'll go with the idea that Steffy and Finn were actually married, but that dropped detail still niggles at me. Kinda like never finding out why Zende and Nicole got divorced. For one example.
Then...Li snuck into a small apartment or hotel room, fresh off of fuming to Steffy and Taylor that everything had been fine with her, Jack, and Finn until Sheila had shown up and ruined it all. Out of nowhere, we heard some beeping -- had Li forgotten to change a smoke alarm battery? No! It was hospital equipment...hospital equipment that Finn was hooked up to! Finn was ALIVE!
B&B did say there were more shocks to be had in this ongoing saga, but that one, although much wished for by many viewers, I did not see coming. At least, not until the day of Finn's reappearance, when Tanner Novlan did some promotional rounds. I think B&B should have waited until the next day. Because they did rather ruin the effect for me by letting the dog out a little too early.
But hey! Finn's in some damn good company, especially in his "wife's" family. Taylor thought coming back from the dead was so nice, she did it twice! Ridge was presumed dead twice, in a South American foundry and a Middle Eastern ocean. Thomas was presumed dead, and vat's the truth. Even baby Steffy was thought to have been eaten by a shark. Imagine the Forrester-Finnegan note-comparing around the Thanksgiving table this November!
Did I miss something? Lt. Baker interrupted Liam and Steffy's third episode in a row together by bringing in a paper bag...a bag filled with the Finnegans' wedding rings and Finn's wallet! When did the cops find that stuff? And where? I don't remember any mention of Sheila's hotel room being raided, and even so, Sheila's not stupid enough to keep the items she pilfered to set the scene for her fake robbery.
I'm also trying to follow along with Li's explanation for how Finn happened to have survived. For the most part, I loved the blank-filling from Li's perspective, which included Finn's bloody, post-alley presence and a medical professional explaining to Li that a weak pulse had been detected in the ambulance. Remember, at the scene, paramedics had declared Finn dead. But it's not impossible he could have rebounded, even briefly, after that fact.
Finn was said to exhibit no brain activity, and Li was notified that her son was essentially gone. All right, so far, so good. Then Li, rather expositionally, "told" Finn how lucky it was that he happened to be brought to "her" hospital instead of where Steffy had been taken. Now, that happens. But "her" hospital? Since when does Li work at any hospital in Los Angeles?
When Jack and Li first showed up ahead of Finn's wedding to Steffy, it was clear they were out-of-towners, though we were never told from where the Finnegans hailed. They were in a hotel right up until the time Jack confessed to Li that he was Finn's biological father, not just his adoptive one. (Steffy did mention that Li is still not talking to Jack, so that explains Jack's absence, finally.)
So...what? Did Jack go back to wherever he and his family supposedly came from, but Li stayed behind in L.A. to be near Finn and took a job at a hospital? I'd buy that, but without clarification, it's another Point B that doesn't exist between Point A and Point C. I suppose I take more issue with that than I do Li actually harboring Finn in her new pad, unlike a lot of you, from what I've been reading.
Li says she signed Finn's death certificate and smuggled him out of the hospital. Yes, I wonder how that's possible, too. And there was a lot of foul-crying among you this week. But it's not like there's no B&B precedence for this. Prince Omar got Taylor out of the hospital after she flatlined in Ridge's arms. And Stephanie told her family that Felicia had died from her cancer, all the while forcing her comatose daughter to undergo an experimental treatment. So, Li is also in good company.
Most interestingly, Li again growled that everything had happened because of Sheila. We really don't know Li -- is she capable of going psycho, too? Is Li going to pull a Sheila on Sheila? That would be fascinating. But then, Li also blamed Finn's condition on the fact that he had gotten caught up in Steffy's world and the world of the Forresters. Uh-oh.
Li cooed to Finn that he would soon regain consciousness. And then what? From the sound of it, and from Li's actions, it sounds like Li won't want Finn near Steffy again. Yet, Li relayed that she hated to see how much Steffy was hurting and that before long, Finn would be reunited with Hayes. So, is Li anti-Steffy/Forresters or not? Will Li insist that an awakened Finn take Hayes and run away with her to further protect Finn?
Buoyed by Liam's encouragement, Steffy decided to call Li again and try to persuade her to make funeral plans for Finn. When Li arrived at Steffy's, she caught a glimpse of Steffy hugging Liam and gave Steffy the Super Stink Eye! Grace and Li may have to start up a podcast together called Intense Mothers. But Li tried to be friendly when Steffy invited her in.
For Liam's part, he offered to give the in-laws privacy...but only meandered a few feet away to the kitchen! Dude, there's a whole beach back there to make yourself scarce on. Li went on alert when Steffy said she wanted to see Finn. After all, Li had had Finn cremated before Steffy had woken up in the hospital! Huh? How could Steffy see Finn if he's in an urn somewhere? And why did Li freak? Fill a traditional urn up with any ashes, and Steffy would never know the difference.
Li also went the obvious route when Steffy tried a second time to include Li in a memorial for Finn. Li said all kinds of cryptic things, like "I'm the only one who will take care of Finn" and "I would do anything for Finn." That's a pretty tired trope, at least on this show lately. Li again got her feathers all fluffed up and left a confused Steffy and Liam in the dust. Either Li is just a bad liar, or she likes giving herself away.
Still steaming from the visions of Steam, Li returned to wherever and told Finn about the visit. Now, what would have happened if Finn had woken up while Li was gone? That didn't occur to Li, who thought of Steffy's embrace with Liam and sneered to Finn that she hoped Steffy would remain worthy of Finn's love! Double uh-oh! Sounds to me like Steffy isn't safe, even with Sheila in jail!
You know who would dovetail perfectly into this storyline? Grace! She's also a doctor -- how awesome would it be for Grace to be helping Li? Maybe Grace worked with Li to smuggle Finn out of the hospital and cover the tracks. (Not that any good hospital wouldn't notice a body missing.) Grace was married to Reese, who knows about such scams. And it would sure give Grace something to do besides meddle in Paris' life! Come on, B&B -- time for Li to get a Grace period!
Have you had a chance to pick your jaws up off the ground, Scoopers? Were you shocked to learn that Finn is still alive? Or did you sense it all along? Could Li prove to be a worse nightmare for Steffy than Sheila was? Would you like to see Li out-Sheila Sheila? Do you think the Tridge/Bridge triangle has any gas left in it after 30 years? Do you find the six-way ties between Zende, Paris, Carter, Quinn, Eric, and Donna interesting? And would Grace be more interesting if it turned out she was aiding Li? Smuggle your thoughts into the the Comments section below or the Soap Central message boards, or simply click here to submit feedback. Your comments could be in a future column! Like these!
"[Steffy] taking on psycho Sheila in a dark alley DID cause Finn's death, but she won't see it that way...As for Paris...she sounds like a hysterical 12-year-old when discussing her love life...just because you 'love' someone doesn't mean they care for you. BTW, dumping Zende was a smart move, someday he will come out of the closet..." -- Rhonda
"Steffy was dumb to go into an alley with a crazy person, but it's...totally on [Sheila] that she killed Finn. She was spot on though when talking to Brooke at the jail...Brooke only cares about Brooke (and a little bit about Hope). But that's it...Brooke went to see Sheila because she's mad that Sheila got her drunk. Boo-hoo!...Now she's going to be mad when she discovers Ridge is covering for Thomas knowing. So what? Brooke lied when she thought Thomas died at Hope's hands. She let Ridge twist in the wind for days wondering where his son was at and if he was alive. Brooke thinks it is fine to lie and cheat and whatever else as long as it's her getting her way..." -- Kasi
Talking of Logans, where the hell is Bridget? She's been AWOL since Steffy got out of the hospital, and it would be criminal not to have Budge run across Deacon at least once. As for closets, I keep waiting for Thomas to come out of one! Thorne already mused that Thomas might be gay in 2010, and it would explain Thomas' screaming failures with women. Hey, Thomas, I'm available...
If you're into switcheroo romantic partners, we've got a Forrester Creations lobby full of them for you in the coming week. If you're like me and you wanna see what Li's gonna do next about the on-life-support Finn -- and what's gonna happen once Finn wakes up -- then keep watching, be alert, and most of all, be bold. And no matter where you are in the world, democracy and freedom are always beautiful.
AMJ
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.
