Bold & Beautiful’s Hope May Have Just Made An Enemy of Bill — Plus, Rating May Sweeps and Zoe’s Latest Fashion Faux Pas

Credit: Howard Wise/JPI (2); CBS screenshot

We got to see a different side of Bold & Beautiful‘s Hope this week as she opted to not only stand by her man but defend him fiercely. Frankly, it was a nice change of pace. Meanwhile, Ridge and Carter ignored the Shauna-sized elephant in the room, Quinn and Carter refused to stop talking about the thing they insisted could no longer be talked about, and Zoe wore what might have been the most outlandish outfit to be featured on the show yet… which is really saying something. In other words, we’ve got a lot to talk about, so let’s get to it! 

A New Threat

I’ll admit up front that I’ve long felt it’s time to stick a fork in Liam and Hope’s marriage. They’ve fallen into a rut in which he does something epically stupid, they temporarily break up and then she forgives him despite his doing absolutely nothing to have earned back her trust. This latest reunion is no different.

This week, however, they allowed Hope to be more than just the long-suffering woman married to a weak-willed waffler. Instead, we got to see her rightly defend Liam while trash-talking his dad. “You had an accident,” she rightly told Liam. “Your father is the one who turned this into a crime!”

Better still, when Bill — apparently sensing that his son was about to turn himself in — barged into the cabin, Hope had absolutely no problem standing up to him. Although Bill convinced his son and daughter-in-law to spend 24 hours considering the consequences of their decision, even he knew Liam would be turning himself in.

Bill’s disgusted (and perfectly in character) response to their determination to do the right thing? “You two and your damn principles!” Which got me thinking… what if Bill gets it into his head that the real problem is Hope’s influence over his son? Might he go so far as to try and break them up in order to try and lure Liam over to the dark side?

I kind of like the idea of watching Hope do battle with Bill, with him perhaps finding out that she’s a more worthy opponent than he at first imagined. Were she to go to Wyatt and Katie with the truth and turn them against Bill… well, that could lead to some big-time drama.

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That said, it was pretty annoying that after an entire week of Liam and Hope debating whether or not to go to the police, the Friday “cliffhanger” was them still trying to decide. I was sure the whole 24-hour thing was a way to stretch out the drama so that we could end the week with Liam saying to the police, “I’m here to confess.”

The Missing Link

Regular readers know just how crazy it drives me that characters on this show never reference their own history, even when it would make perfect sense for them to do so. This week, Ridge grilled best bud Carter about his supposed relationship with Shauna. Yet at no point did either of them mention that Ridge was briefly married to the blonde!

At one point during the men’s chat, Ridge brought up that Quinn and Eric’s recent marital issues were due to her having tried to come between him and Brooke. Seems like that would have been a perfect time for Ridge to express a little concern for his friend.

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“You know,” he might have said, “just be careful with Shauna. Look how far she was willing to go in order to get me to put a ring on her finger!”

Look Who’s Talking

The Carter/Quinn story continued to be my favorite part of the show, if only because it’s both sexy and (sometimes unintentionally) hilarious. The two of them have daily conversations in which they mutually agree that they can never again talk about what happened between them.

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In between these conversations, Zoe waxes on and on about what an amazing friend Quinn is, and anyone who crosses paths with Carter praises him for being the most upright, loyal, trustworthy man to ever walk the planet. (I keep waiting for someone to dub him “a friend to all, be it plants or fish or tiny mole” ala Russell the Wilderness Explorer from the movie Up.)

May Sweeps Wrap-Up

If there’s one major way in which Bold & Beautiful differs from any other soap, it’s that it focuses almost exclusively on matters of the heart. So while other soaps broke out mask-wearing kidnappers (Days of Our Lives) and gun-toting mobsters (General Hospital), this one managed to pull off the biggest shocker simply by throwing Quinn and Carter into bed together.

Somehow, this unexpected tryst wound up being a way bigger twist than the fallout from Vinny’s death, which never really delivered on the “murder mystery” we were promised. Instead, we spent a whole lot of time watching Liam worry that his secret was going to cost him Hope, which probably would have been a whole lot more interesting had we not spent months playing that exact same scenario after he slept with Steffy.

Random Thoughts

• I’m not sure which struck me as odder: Brooke continuing to meet with Bill (instead of, say, calling him) despite their past, or her suggesting they throw a party to celebrate Liam and Hope’s reunion. Has Brooke completely forgotten the debacle that was the party to celebrate her reunion with RIdge? You know, the one at which the video of her kissing Bill surfaced which leads me back to the question of whether or not she should be spending so much time alone with The Stallion.

• My favorite moment of the week, hands down, was when Paris took it upon herself to warn Shauna to stay away from Carter. The look Shauna gave Paris said, “Who do you think you’re talking to, little girl?” Apparently misinterpreting the look as one asking, “I’m sorry, do I know you?” Paris introduced herself as Zoe’s sister… at which point Shauna said, “Yeah, I know,” while her face added, “And I still don’t know who you think you’re talking to!”

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• Oh, and before I leave you, we need to discuss this outfit…

Even Zoe seems to be looking at it as if to say, “What the hell am I wearing?” Now, had the show explained that Zoe just came from a fitting or that she was heading to a photoshoot, maybe I’d have bought it. (Then again, this is not at all in keeping with what we know to be Forrester Creations’ style, let alone that of Hope for the Future.) But this was apparently just, I don’t know, something Zoe woke up and pulled outta her closet. She then looked in the mirror and said, “This. This is what I’m wearing to work today.”

So now it’s your turn. Hit the comments with your thoughts on this week’s plots, May sweeps or Zoe’s wardrobe. But first, make sure to check out this gallery in which we offer up summer preview and predictions for not only Bold & Beautiful but all the daytime soaps… and even a few primetime dramas.