Looks Like Bold & Beautiful Is Ready To Send ‘Lope’ For a Loop — Plus, Sheila’s Dumb, Dumb Move
Credit: Howard Wise/JPI (3); CBS Screenshot
It almost felt as if someone at Bold & Beautiful has been listening to my weekly rants and raves as we had two — and occasionally three, if we count Katie/Carter — storylines playing out this week. And one of them even had forward movement! As for the other two, one treaded in place and the other actually managed to throw itself into reverse. Let’s take a closer look…
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Can Thomas Be Trusted?
I felt pretty bad for Hope this week, given that she spent the entire time sandwiched between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, everyone at the office kept insisting that Thomas was the only one who could save her line. But on the homefront, Liam actually had the gall to be the voice of reason, suggesting that maybe, just maybe, someone other than Thomas might be able to ride to Forrester’s rescue.
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“I don’t care what Steffy’s telling you,” the concerned hubby insisted. “It’s not always just about the numbers. What is the cost of your sanity? What is the cost of your safety? Just look me in the eye and tell me that you understand that nothing good has ever come from you and Thomas being together!”
When he suggested looking for a new designer, Hope insisted they had… which was pretty much news to me. How hard did they look?
Point, Counterpoint
Look, we all know Liam hates Thomas for reasons that range from totally reasonable to borderline ridiculous. But in this case, he’s definitely saying all the right things… including my favorite line of the week. In response to Hope pointing out that Taylor believed her son to be making excellent progress, Liam sniped, “Oh my God, Taylor always says that he’s making excellent progress right before he turns around and does something psycho!”
I mean, the guy’s totally right.
Oh, and minutes later, Liam topped himself with this doozy, complete with a pretty hilarious imitation of his wife. “He could literally throw an intern out of the window of the Forrester CEO office right in front of you and Steffy, and you would shrug and go, ‘Well, he is a very talented designer!'”
As they say, it’s funny because it’s true: A few years back, Thomas pushed Rick out the very window about which Liam was speaking!
The Apology Tour Continues
We also got Thomas begging Brooke to forgive his actions, and I have to say that Matthew Atkinson did a lovely job with these scenes. And darned if we didn’t get actual scenes of the troubled young man having a therapy session with a doctor other than his mother! Okay, fine, Taylor was in that session too, but still. It was a start!
I want to buy into Thomas saying that he’s “had moments where I’m still attracted to her, but I’m not fixated on her,” but they’d be a lot easier to buy if he was at least trying to move on with someone else.
What The… ?!?
Friday’s episode had not a whisper of the Bill/Sheila story, focusing instead on four different sets of characters talking endlessly about the Thomas/Hope situation. The writers tried making it as dramatic as possible, but we all knew where it was going. If Hope didn’t take Thomas back, there was no actual point to the plot. And then, they went and made the most baffling move ever.
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Suddenly, Douglas rushed in and, upon finding out his parents were working together, declared he wanted to move back in with Liam and Hope. Which means him deciding to live with Steffy and Finn was nothing more than the writers wanting to play a dramatic plot point (Douglas shocking everyone in the judge’s chambers) without there being a single bit of fallout from that decision?
This show… sigh.
But with Liam and Hope very clearly heading for major trouble now that she’s agreed to take Thomas back at HFTF, it’ll be interesting to see how Douglas factors into things. Will they have the kid manipulate Thomas and Hope, maybe plant thoughts in Liam’s head about what’s really going on? Time will tell…
Plot, Meet Point
I’m still not buying the Deacon/Sheila/Bill triangle. Why? Because it makes no sense to me that two of the three characters — that being Deacon and Sheila — would risk everything they’ve ever individually wanted because we’re suddenly supposed to believe they’re wildly in love.
Nope.
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I don’t get Bill’s actions, but we all know there’s something more going on there. But Sheila waltzing in claiming to have been shopping without having purchased anything? Nah, she’s too good a liar to make that kind of rookie mistake, especially if she’s supposedly afraid for her life. And since when is Sheila afraid of anyone or anything? Plus, if she were really that afraid, why would she take Deacon’s call and then practically coo to him while under Bill’s roof?
It’s called a mobile phone for a reason, girl. Go somewhere else to do some heavy breathing exercises with loverboy.
Mixed Messages
Thursday’s Katie/Carter scenes were downright awkward. From her talking about what an awesome friend he is to them trying to convince us — and one another — that “we have fun!”, the whole thing was cringe inducing. Worse, it was weirdly staged. Who talks about being pals while in one another’s arms as if about to kiss?
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The scenes eventually morphed into Katie talking about how she didn’t want to mess things up and revealing her vulnerabilities. And then, when Carter assumed he was being friendzoned, she was somehow shocked that he’d jumped to that conclusion. You know, what with her repeatedly talking about them being friends.
Random Thoughts
• Given that Thomas is wandering around apologizing to people, why not have him visit Liam? Not that it would do any good — Liam’s never, ever going to budget when it comes to Thomas (unless demanded to do so by a plot point) — but it would make sense for Thomas to make the effort if he really wants to work with Hope again.
• It was nice to see Wyatt, but would it have killed Liam to say, “Oh, hey, what’s up with you and Flo?”
The key to what’s next for Hope might be found in the pages of the gallery below, in which we take a closer look at the highs and lows of her tear-stained life.
