Sorry, Finn, But Steffy Just Torpedoed Your Marriage — Plus, Can Heading to Italy Fix What’s Ailing Bold & Beautiful?
Credit: CBS Screenshots (3)
This entire week was sort of a slow-motion move toward the moment when Bold & Beautiful’s Liam would finally ask his wife about her feelings for Thomas. If they gave out Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Achievement in Storyline Stagnation, this show would win, hands down. But by week’s end, we were finally getting some juicy material, so let’s dive in.
Related Story
Dazed and Confused
I really want to like this Hope storyline, because everyone involved is giving it their all. Well, everyone but the writers. They, unfortunately, have simply not given us much to invest in here. If we’re supposed to believe that Hope is having feelings for Thomas — illicit or otherwise — we have to be given some explanation. Whether she’s being drugged or developing a split personality or simply delusional, we need go be given some kind of clue.
I did love that at long last, Hope called out Liam on his hypocrisy. “So you get to spend time with your ex-wife, with your track record, and I take no issue with it,” she spat in frustration. “And yet I can’t work with my lead designer?” What really, really sold this moment were four little words: “With your track record.”
That’s something rarely mentioned.
The conversation between Hope and Liam on Friday’s episode was fantastic… and yet, after a week of buid-up, it went absolutely nowhere. There was no resolution, no real development. Liam again asked Hope to stop working with Thomas, she again declared her love for her husband. There were big facial expressions, much handwringing and tears, but no forward movement whatsoever.
Sorry, Finn!
Anybody watching Liam, Steffy and Kelly howl at the moon had to find themselves asking the same question I was: “Wonder where Steffy stored that portrait of her and Liam that used to hang on the wall, and how long until she’s breaking it out again?”
I mean, Kelly — having clearly learned a thing or two from mommy and Uncle Thomas — is already doing the whole, “Gee, things are so much better when we’re all together under one roof” thing. Throw in the writers allowing Hope to mention, even in passing, Liam’s “track record” and it seems almost inevitable that we’re going to be hitting the “recycle” button again in the not-too-distant future.
Odd Man Out
Here’s an interesting question to ponder: If the show really does break up Steffy and Finn in order to pursue yet another Steffy/Liam/Hope triangle… what do they do with the handsome doctor? In the time he’s been on the show, they’ve done almost nothing to flesh out the character or give him ties outside his marriage.
Sure, Paris crushed on Finn for a hot minute, and he got two parents who (sadly) have not been utilized the way they should have been. But we’ve never really thrown a potential new love interest into the mix. Which is kinda weird, when you think about it.
Pick almost any other character, even one rarely used these days like… say, Wyatt. While we rarely see him and can only sorta assume he and Flo are together, were the writers to decide it’s time to reactivate the character, he could immediately be reconnected with several of his past romantic interests, including Katie or Hope. Finn, on the other hand, has been on the show for three years and remains essentially a blank canvas. He has virtually no life outside of loving Steffy.
So Long, Braylor
The Brooke/Taylor friendship started taking on water this week, and I’m totally ready to see it sink. At first, I thought this was an amazing idea… and I still think it could have been. These longtime rivals as friends — even potential lovers, an idea which has caused more than a little upset among our readers — was a fun one.
More: Could Taylor help both Brooke and Hope?
But all we really got was lots of schoolgirl-like giggling and embarrassing dialogue in which they referred to one another as besties. So yeah, go ahead, let them go back to trading barbs instead of friendship bracelets. My only request (which I am 100 percent certain will be ignored): Don’t have them fighting over Ridge again.
Road Trip!
Next week, we should start hearing the first mentions on air of the highly-anticipated trip to Italy. By now, you already know who’s going and where, the only question is what will actually unfold there.
I’d love to believe that things will get epically shaken up in Italy, with the various characters who take the journey coming home involve in new storylines. But I have a feeling that what will actually happen is yet another reunion between Brooke and Ridge, which is about as far from the much-needed reset as you can possibly get.
More: Check out this unexpected reunion in Rome!
Elsewhere, the fact that Thomas, Hope, Liam and Steffy are making the trip — but, unless his scenes are being taped in the studio and inserted into the on-location footage, not Finn — has me thinking we can guess where that storyline is going, too. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Liam will see something unfolding between his wife and Thomas, overreact and ultimately wind up rebounding directly into Steffy’s arms again.
I could be wrong, but…
Random Thoughts
• I liked the timely, if brief, discussion Hope and Thomas had about the possibility of AI taking the place of designers. That’s something a whole lot of people in the real world are talking about these days.
• It was sort of ironic to have Bill prattle on about how he and Katie share a child and that bond will eventually bring her running back to him… only to then have him warn Liam against letting Thomas use Douglas to gain influence over Hope.
Want to see your favorite soap stars like you’ve never seen them before Check out the below gallery of bloopers and outtakes from supposedly-glamorous photo shoots!
