Bold & Beautiful’s Liam, Brooke and Ridge Deserve What They Have Coming From Sheila and Deacon, Who Have Basically Saved the Show

Credit: Howard Wise/JPI; CBS screenshot

Anybody else find themselves really enjoying The Bold and the Beautiful this week… at least whenever Sheila and Deacon were on screen? They might be the best thing to hit this show since the original Sally Spectra. Meanwhile, the Righteously Indignant Duo (Brooke and Ridge) gained a sidekick, Thomas made me look at my friends in a whole new light, and the show’s attempt to tell a modern story ran into the immovable wall that is its own weirdly old-fashioned morality. Ready to take on this week’s episodes? Then let’s do this! 

Double Trouble

The week kicked off strong thanks to my new favorite show-within-a-show, Day Drinking With Deacon and Sheila. Whoever thought to pair Sean Kanan’s bad boy with Kimberlin Brown’s psycho wins all the prizes, because it’s been a long, long time since Bold & Beautiful was this much fun. Better still, their scenes were fantastically scripted, veering unerringly from cutting remarks to a booze-fueled pity party.

Above: “You know what would be really funny, Deacon? If we made out for a while. You know, just for, um, laughs.”

Credit: CBS screenshot

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What I particularly enjoyed was that someone in the writers’ room made Deacon the voice of the audience. “Finn?” he said upon hearing the name of Sheila’s son. “As in Huckleberry? That’s his name?” He then went on to call out the timing of Sheila’s decision to play catch-up with her son. “You stayed away until you found out that old Finny boy was getting hitched to a Forrester, and then presto, there you are, in the flesh!”

It’s like he’d been reading the collective feeds of #soaptwitter.

Now Seating Hypocrites, Party of Three

For weeks, Brooke and Ridge have been downright insufferable as their sole purpose has become to cast judgment upon others, with absolutely no one bringing up their own sordid pasts. This week, as the Righteously Indignant Duo set their sights on Deacon, making it clear exactly how they felt about Hope’s daddy, each — as is their wont — oblivious to how unself-aware they sounded, given their own tawdry pasts.

It’s infuriating listening to how high and mighty Brooke and Ridge hold themselves! I really wish Hope would throw it in Brooke’s face how embarrassed she felt to have her as a mother growing up.

— obisgirl (@_obisgirl) October 14, 2021

But this time around, they had a sidekick in the form of Liam… and it was downright hysterical. Because with a totally straight face, Liam uttered this gem about his father-in-law: “It’s a pattern. You open yourself up to him, he hurts you. You open yourself up to him again, he hurts you again. Because that’s what he does.”

No, seriously. Liam said that… and he wasn’t talking about himself. But wait, let me give you another reading from the Book of Liam. “It’s OK to tell some people, ‘You’re out of chances. You’re not welcome anymore.’”

Above: “Did you hear what Liam said?” General Hospital‘s Carly asked Sonny and Jason. “And people call us hypocritical!”

Credit: ABC

More: The twist Liam and Steffy won’t see coming

By the time Liam “saved the day” by throwing Deacon out of Forrester Creations, I was ready for Bold & Beautiful to break the rules. What do I mean by that? It’s sort of Soap 101 that bad characters — in this case, Sheila and Deacon — lose to the characters we are supposed to see as “good.” Stolen babies are returned, crimes are exposed, psychos are punished. So it seems somewhat inevitable that Brooke, Ridge and Liam will defeat the perceived interlopers.

But should Sheila and Deacon manage to do some serious damage to the Forresters and their ilk along the way, I think I’ll be good with that.

Let’s Talk About Sex

Moving on to the Eric/Quinn/Carter story… ugh. I’m about to do something I really don’t want to, but… yeah, here we go: Ridge was completely right when he said that no matter how much his father pushed them to do so, Quinn and Carter didn’t have to sleep together. In fact, that particular plot point gets to the heart of what’s wrong with this story.

Above: “But Eric wrote a note! We have to make love!”

Credit: Howard Wise/JPI

More: The fight that got Bold & Beautiful alum killed off

I want to give Bold & Beautiful credit for telling a modern tale about adults making decisions regarding their own sexuality, regardless of what others might think. This plays directly in to something I’ve always thought soaps should explore more, which is the idea that we don’t really know what goes on behind closed doors. For all we know, those nice people next door might be attending key parties on the weekend. (Don’t know what that is? Ask your parents… and hope they don’t know, either!)

But at the same time, this show has always operated with a sort of 1950-ish morality. So of course, Eric having erectile dysfunction translated into him being unable to satisfy his wife. Because how else could he possible have accomplished that goal? Weirdly, not once has anyone said this, with everyone instead acting as if there is one and only one way for a man to pleasure a woman.

Above: “Well, I’m all outta ideas!”

Credit: Howard Wise/JPI

This week also saw the show very clearly equate sex and love, as if one couldn’t exist without the other. During her heart to heart with Eric, Katie acknowledged that he and Quinn were sharing the same space, but asked if they were sharing themselves. “I mean, I know you can’t physically, but are you sharing your love for each other? Your plans for the future?”

Clearly, she believed it was impossible for them to be doing that if Quinn was spending time in Carter’s bed. Because she — and by extension, the writers — can’t envision a world in which those two facts could co-exist within a marriage. I think there’s a good story to be told here, but I’m not sure Bold & Beautiful was the right show to attempt it. Kudos for at least trying, though.

Random Thoughts

Above: Katie, how many times must we tell you: This is not how one plays hard to get!

Credit: CBS

• Yet again, Bold & Beautiful is taking the shortest route possible between plot points. Rather than show us Bill trying to prove he’s a better man and deserves another shot with Katie, we’re told it. We’ve seen him do absolutely nothing that would give her a reason to think he’s changed. He hasn’t wooed her. He hasn’t sent her flowers every day (ala The Young and the Restless’ Victor to Nikki) or made any sort of grand romantic gesture. Instead, he’s borrowed a page from Liam’s script (almost literally) and simply said, “I’ve changed… and this time, I mean it!” How are we supposed to invest in them reuniting as a couple when the show hasn’t?

• I’m now completely convinced that folks in the writer’s room believe that Taylor’s maiden name is Hayes. When I’ve said this in the past, some longtime viewers — far more generous than I — pointed out that Taylor had gone back to Hayes after one of her divorces. But listen to what Deacon said to Sheila regarding Steffy’s son’s name: “Hayes was Steffy’s mother’s name before she got married.” Translation: It’s her maiden name. Which it totally isn’t… Hayes was the name of her first husband, who turned out to be abusive.

• It was nice that when Thomas spoke about Hope’s capacity to forgive people, now matter what they’d done to her, he included himself as one of the people who’d been the recipient of her benevolence.

• Speaking of Thomas, I laughed aloud when he said to Paris, “Take my apartment! It’s fully furnished… you can have it for free… this is what friends do for each other.” I’m sorry, what? Apparently, I need to get a better class of pals because not once have any of them simply handed me the keys to a furnished place and said, “It’s yours!” Stranger still was Thomas and Paris deciding to move in together. Feels like the kinda thing that she should have discussed with Zende… and possibly the HR department.

• I always love when a show makes reference to past events, but how would Deacon have known that Sheila used bees to kill someone? To the best of my recollection — and please, correct me in the comments section if I’m wrong! — that was never public. Only she and her victim would have known.

• I’m sort of obsessive about opening credits, so I loved that they were updated this week to include Sheila and Deacon.

That’s my take on this week’s action… now let’s hear what you have to say. Do you agree that Liam should have been more supportive of Hope’s desire to reconnect with her dad? Do you have any friends who casually handed you over their apartment… and if so, can you introduce me? Meanwhile, with Halloween rapidly approaching, we thought you might need a bit of inspiration in the costume department, so we put together the photo gallery below which is just full of suggestions! (It’s also quite useful if you need to disguise yourself in order to infiltrate a fashion show or maybe spy on an ex… we’re not here to judge!)