B&B Breakdown Weekly Blog

Ridge? Brooke? Bueller? (CBS)

“The Bold and the Beautiful” for the week of July 21-25:

Obviously Ridge’s pursuit of the truth and Bill’s pursuit of a bride took up much of the week, but a continued mix of characters kept things fresh. Thoughts on this week’s storylines:

The satchel.
I may have been a touch hasty to judge Deacon last week, assuming he would palm the diamond, because the way Wyatt was flaunting the priceless gem around, just tucked away in his college boy messenger bag, was downright irresponsible. Ivy made mention that Ricardo’s death was big news in the industry, so how did none of the Forresters know about it? You’d think at least one of them would have set up a Google alert or something after he was gracious enough to lend them such a gift to boost their sales. Just sayin’. Still, if Wyatt was going to insist on toting around that huge diamond all the time instead of security, there are much better choices than a beat-up satchel. Guess it’s as close to living life on the edge as he can get without Quinn around.

Unfinished business.
Speaking of Quinn, something about how she left for the looney bin is still very unsettling – and unfinished. This must be how Liam felt, waiting for her to pop out of a dark corner. It did give time for Wyatt to begin to assert himself as an independent, but maybe it’s time for her to come back. Do you think she’s had enough time to get her head on straight? Vote in Soaps.com’s B&B Poll: Should Quinn come back?

Smidge.
Bill summed it up nicely when he called Ridge Smidge this week, which I took to as a mashup of Smug and Ridge. At this point, Ridge has attacked Justin – twice – and tried to toss Bill out over LA traffic. Is that any better than Bill wanting Ridge to “cool off” after flying across the world to ruin his wedding with Brooke over what was really a non-issue for everyone but Ridge? Meh. He comes off just as bad as Bill, if not worse, and those Logan woman should not overlook that. Ridge is no hero, and his constant bullying of Brooke is not romantic for anyone – especially Katie. How much more of his obsession with breaking up Brooke and Bill can she take?

Work ethic.
Ridge made such a big deal about returning to work, so where’s the effort? While everyone else was working on covering up yet another scandal, keeping the HFTF line on top, and transitioning a new designer into the mix – all while merging international production - they also had to wonder where Brooke and Ridge were, again. Really, these two never work. Ever. If it weren’t for Eric and Rick, that company would just close up shop. Not that Bill is much better, and Liam is worst of all. He spends way more time at Forrester than the magazine. Ugh. Worst work week goes to Justin though. He was choked, knocked out, and busted for his part in the copter debacle, and after some maybe-sparks with Alison, was given no more thoughts by her at all once Deacon rang her up. TGIF!

Character growth.
Hope’s maturity continues to show, and there is a big boost of confidence that wasn’t there a year ago. Now whether that is from gaining more sexual experience with Wyatt or not having to compete with Steffy for Liam’s affections, it’s nice to see her become more of a woman. Deacon is also delivering on change. Jury’s still out on what his true intentions are, but for now he’s coming off as wanting to make inroads with Brooke and Hope. Time will tell how far he’s willing to go to make that happen. The steamy flashback with Brooke was fun, but only hammered home no one is really getting any lately.

On the other hand, Maya has gone from evil muckraker to overt brown-noser in just one week. One has to wonder if she’s simply angling to get into Eric’s good graces, especially since her last few photo shoots have been sub-par, or if she’s looking to bag a new man with the ultimate authority on all things Forrester. Where’s Donna when you need her to scare off a siren after Eric?

Backburner.
Kind of a bummer that we never really got to see a strong, romantic payout for Oliver’s knight routine last week. No romantic dinner or strong reaffirmation of feelings with his girl. Just, back to work as usual at Forrester. If it was necessary to put them on the backburner so we could get more Ivy time, fine, but let’s fast track everyone so we can get some new sizzling relationships working other than the ones involving Brooke and her daughter. That intimate rooftop moment Ivy captured on camera ought to help.

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Header photo: CBS

- Hollie Deese