Wedged between the beach-frolicking, ocean-side bike rides and memory-lane detours lurks a storyline or two. If you pay careful attention, you might detect the plot-tonic shifts in the relationship plates of Los Angeles residents. When the storms of February sweep in, we can expect a landslide of troubles for our beloved couples.
For Brooke and Bill, breaking bad habits ain't easy to do; however, Katie's got a sledgehammer fueled by her smashing willpower. It's sure to break the habit -- or every bone in Brooke's body while trying. Without Deacon to rein Quinn in, she's back on the Liam terrorism front for Wyatt's advancement, but Liam's doe-eyed amnesia and child-like affection might turn out to be the cure to what ails her. Wyatt's on Love Street with Steffy, but what he should be making is a U-turn off Liam-Leftovers Lane.
Cue the beach scenery, waves, and helicopter views of the coastline. Set them to some type of topic-transitioning music. Okay, now that we've wasted sixty seconds on that, flash back on all the scenes -- and flashbacks of the same scenes -- of Steffy and Wyatt at the beach this week. Flash back, if you will, next to Liam and Steffy's "Arms" day at the beach back in 2011. Finally, flash back to back to Wyatt and Hope tossing around a football at the beach. Seeing a pattern here?
The beach is apparently the preferred aphrodisiac of third angles in of romantic triangles. Caroline told Bill, who was trying to rent Katie a private island, that the beach was where Ridge took her to get romantic. "Because he's cheap!" Bill rasped. I guess Wyatt's cheap, too, but the beach day worked like a charm on Steffy, who didn't even know the last time she'd played on the beach like that. Cue up the flashback of Steffy and Liam playing volleyball on the beach near the boardwalk the day before Steffy dropped the tattooed Liam off to yet another doomed wedding to Hope. That's when, Steffy.
Wyatt's not that cheap. He ups the beach ante with gifts sure to win a girl over. We're not talking roses and candy here. For Hope, it was emeralds and a silver bullet camper. For Steffy, it was a brand new motorcycle -- and shiny helmet to boot.
The camper got the goodies out of Hope. Will the motorcycle get Steffy to kicking her pants off again? Wyatt's banking on it because he wants to be by Steffy's side forever -- just like Hope's and Ivy's sides. Life's not a day at the beach, no matter what Wyatt thinks, and if he doesn't make that U-turn mentioned earlier, he's headed for another dead-end relationship while Steffy kicks that new bike in gear and heads straight back to Liam -- just like Hope and Ivy did.
Wyatt's like a geometry flunky who's trying to turn an isosceles triangle into a straight line between him and his brother's exes. It just ain't gonna happen, no matter how many silver bullets, fashion houses, and motorcycles he throws into the equation. As far as his uncanny ability to meet Steffy's needs, it was for a day, not a lifetime -- and he did it using the same words and tools he used on the other women. It isn't kismet, Wyatt. It's the law of averages, and one out of three isn't bad.
Wyatt knows what Steffy needs, but what girl doesn't need a beach day and a free motorcycle? Steffy took it in stride, like it was a new charm for a bracelet and not a vehicle in need of registration, tags, titles, maintenance, insurance, and gas. Gee, thanks, Wyatt, for the extra expenses. You know just what a girl needs -- another responsibility. At least the motorcycle isn't alive, like Bu the cat, who might be on Skid Row at this point, warning others not to commit to Liam.
Steffy's job pays her enough not to worry about it. Heck, Steffy's job pays her not to work. Eric's back in the office, roaming the halls of a building that has gone from a fashion business to something more reminiscent of a college recreation and exploratory career center. Ridge is nowhere to be found, and I don't think his weeble-wabble wife even mentioned where he was when she visited Bill this week.
Don't worry. Ridge will be back. According to Sweeps teasers, Ridge and Rick are set to draw battle lines again when Ridge decides to do a little remodeling. And it's just in time, seeing as Bill just insulted "the hovel" Ridge has Caroline living in.
As for Forrester, it's a little vacant these days. Quinn's MIA. Wyatt and Steffy have gone surfing. Liam and Brooke quit. Ivy walked out (and apparently has grayed over it, by the looks of her new hairdo). Thomas is probably somewhere beneath a model's skirt. Maya hasn't modeled so much as a scarf in months.
Aren't there some deadlines to meet for spring? Wasn't Brooke talking about a Spencer layout for a Forrester show? Meh, maybe Pam's crocheting some bikinis and baking edible lemon-bar lingerie, since no one else seems focused on production. Except for Rick, of course, who might be the only reason Forrester stays afloat while others drown in their own personal issues, far from the shore of business.
Back to Wyatt knowing Steffy's needs. What happened to that playful, fun-loving Steffy? Was it really the miscarriage that snuffed out her rebel flame? Or is Wyatt right that Liam dampened Steffy's light to mold her into what he needs her to be?
When I travel down Steam's memory lane, I recall a sheltered nerd of a boy whose father wanted to make him into a man. Bill desired to get Liam into extreme sports, but it wasn't until Steffy came along that Liam wanted anything more adventurous than eating Chinese takeout with chopsticks. Liam needs Steffy's fire and unpredictable nature, and Steffy needs Liam's sense of reason. They balance each other out. She teaches him to take chances, and he teaches her when to be prudent.
On the other hand, two wild, fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants people like Wyatt and Steffy, when paired together, might wind up on one of those I Shouldn't be Alive episodes, most likely entitled, "I Shouldn't Have Listened to This Dumbass Who Got Us Lost in the Jungle for Weeks with No Provisions."
Wyatt is like John Forrester, the adventurer searching for that perfect road-trip buddy. Wyatt has a knack for making a girl feel empowered, but he needs to close down the Liam Ex Rescue Organization. He swears he's never going to take in another stray ex, but then there he goes feeding the next one's self-esteem, petting her ego, and providing shelter for the night, only to wake up and find that she's wandered right back home to his brother -- whether Liam lets her back in or not.
Steffy (with her baby-voice tone all week) ought to know better. So much for her resolve to solve her and Liam's problems. She vowed not to give up on them but fell for the text okey-doke, just as Hope and Liam did when Tawny had been trying to break that pair up.
Though leery, Steffy hopped on the bike and faced her fear. As she traveled along the access road near the highway, I had a natural flashback -- not a plot-forced one -- of Steffy on that very same street when she crashed while pregnant. I remembered that she'd taken the fateful ride from that same house and that same carport when Thomas lived there. It was the best use of viewer-induced flashbacks that the writers have done in a long time.
When I was able to create my own flashback of the past, it drew me into Steffy's moment. I understood what it really meant to her and felt like to be back on that bike again, on the same road that altered the course of her life forever. Kudos to the writers.
While I thoroughly enjoyed the scene, I still didn't know what in "Ivy" that Steffy thinks she's doing by letting Wyatt sub for Liam. Wasn't Steffy the one who wanted to ream Ivy a new one for kissing on Thomas while Wyatt was away? The situations are slightly different in that Steffy and Liam are operating under misunderstandings, but one would think that an engagement relationship deserves just a little bit more than three days before the disillusion of it morphs into a new partnership, right? And with her ex's brother, no less?
Who am I kidding? That's the name of the game on this show -- from Hope, to Brooke, to Taylor, to Ivy, to Caroline. It's like musical relatives. With all the triangles going on, no one's ever left without a seat -- except maybe the kidnapped Liam if Quinn has her way.
Liam opened his eyes this week and saw the devil in disguise hovering at his bedside. To him, she was an angel with hair as black and smooth as raven's claws. Quinn has been strumming her mouse through the Internet for DIY coma cures for her Stockholm-Syndrome captive. Fortunately for her, Liam has no memory of her or himself and no idea that he is even in captivity -- yet.
Quinn has memories, though, and they're cryptic. She flashes back to the bad things she's done to Liam, and those memories mingle with the kindness that he shows her while in his amnesiac state. Could Quinn be falling for Liam's unwitting charms like all women do, or is his behavior reminding her of something else?
Sweeps rumor has it that Quinn's "unnerving reactions to Liam might lead to some revelations about her past and what makes her tick." The show has cast actors to play a younger Quinn, her mother, and her past mother's lover. Could these tidbits shed light upon the reason Quinn left Wyatt with his grandmother to host swinger parties? While this is complete speculation, I'm sensing this might go to a dark place about the abuse of a young Quinn at the hands of her mother's past partner.
Here's what some Soap Central message board members think about the plot-tonic shifts happening between Wyatt, Steffy, Liam, and Quinn:
• The fact Wyatt keeps doing the same thing and expecting a different result, just goes to show how stupid he is. How long before your learn from your mistakes? ... He can see how much these women are in love, but yet there he is trying to move in on them the second Liam's gone. So I don't want to hear him whining when all this comes back to slap him in the face. -- IknowbetterQuinn might learn something about herself from her kidnapping experiment. She could possibly fall for Liam -- or at least learn to respect him a little after this -- but how will Liam feel about it once he regains his memory? Will he be like Y&R's Hilary, who regained her memory but not the same feelings from the past? Will Bill find out that his psycho baby-mama kidnapped his other son? Even if Liam doesn't press charges against Quinn (he never does), how will others react to what she's done?
\ • [Steffy and Wyatt] are so darn sweet together! I don't know what's gonna happen with these two, but I really do enjoy their scenes. I like the friendship and connection they have established between them. -- Santeenluvtheme• What [Quinn] is doing is wrong on so many levels. Keeping Liam away so that Wyatt can possibly bed Steffy is sick.... The longer Liam stays in this state, and the more Quinn keeps him away is the deeper she will dig her grave..... Bill will never forgive her for this. Wyatt will not forgive her for this. Steffy will never forgive her for this. No one will forgive her for this. What she is doing is cruel. -- Camsey P
Bill's got quite a mess on his hands -- and I don't mean with just Quinn. Sweet little naïve but should-have-been-suspecting Katie happened upon a door crack and overheard what Brooke was determined that Katie never know. Brooke's still in love with Bill. Katie flew into a rage in Liam's office, breaking pictures, taking shots, and working herself up until she fell on the floor.
As God is Katie's witness, Brooke will not get Bill. What Katie doesn't know is -- Brooke's already got him, "just like that." Katie thinks she and Bill are so connected, but she couldn't even connect the dots between all that squirming in his chair Bill's been doing all week and the fact that he had not even a modicum of the outrage about Brooke's feelings that Katie had. If Katie had held off on pitching her heart-palpitating fit across the hallway and listened longer, she might have heard that it was Bill who struggled to keep it professional and familial, not Brooke.
"Bill, how do you feel about what Brooke told you?" That should have been the first question out of Katie's mouth. Instead, viewers had to sit through three in a series of long rants about "the kind of woman" Brooke is. Brooke just takes men. Brooke uses tears. Brooke is betraying Katie again. Brooke, Brooke, Brooke, Brooke -- but no Bill. In no way is Katie holding Bill accountable.
Katie's treating Bill more like the last piece of her mother's famous fried chicken, and she'll be damned if she's going to let her sister get it this time. Why is Katie confronting her sister and not the last piece of chicken about what's going on? Because Katie's a big chicken herself. She doesn't want to know Bill's true thoughts and feelings about it. Knowing might send her into cardiac arrest.
Bill's the greatest love of Brooke's life? I don't even want to get into a debate about that. She had a bigger love affair with Nick, in my opinion. The love to trump them all is written in big hearts in the sand and on the Eiffel Tower. The Bridge love affair caused the monumental changes in Brooke life from where she lived and worked to who'd father her children and what kind of lives they'd have in the future. The Brill love affair got Brooke the same thing that the Breacon one got her-- a lot of shameful trouble. At least with Breacon, she had Hope. Brill is hopeless.
Who would Katie find more disgusting at this point, I wonder. Brooke for voicing her feelings or Bill for getting hard-ons every time her sister's in the room? Maybe it's the reason Katie wants to claw Brooke's eyes out. Katie knows the real truth. The Stallion has grazed Brooke's fields long and hard, and he knows the grass is greener on the other side.
Whatever the heart of Katie's problem is, I'm over Katie dragging in everybody, their mama, and the kitchen sink to validate herself. Katie managed to make Beth, Stephanie, and Storm roll over in their graves with the smack she was talking -- and giving. Katie shot Storm and wound up with his heart. Why doesn't she honor him by taking herself to get checked out instead of aggravating the heart with liquor and temper tantrums over what she started?
Katie handed Bill over to Brooke with a big bow on him, and she has never taken responsibility for it. Nor did she take responsibility for taking Ridge from Brooke. She blabbered on about it always having to be about Brooke's feelings, but what about how Katie kept Bill from Will? What about how Katie imposed her will over Bill about his extreme sports and his scotch? And when she couldn't wait to fire Alison for doing nothing but being loyal to Bill under his tenure?
Earlier in the week, Katie justified her idiotic decision to convince Brooke to work with Bill by telling Eric that Brooke's her sister, and Katie and Bill are better than ever. It was almost as if Katie felt confident enough, finally, to flaunt her victory over Brooke day in and day out at Spencer. In truth, Katie is so insecure, she sees Bill's assistant as competition in her marriage. Katie's heart will explode straight out of her chest once it comes out that Bill still has the hots for her sister.
As for Daddy abandonment issues, Katie needs to look straight in the mirror. Stephen left you, too, Katie. And you're damned lucky you were playing heart attack victim when you smacked Brooke because it might be the only thing that kept you from getting whacked back. In my book, Katie's the fool for not having "the Bill Talk" with Brooke before taking it upon herself to dictate what Brooke's next career would be.
"We just wanted to help her," Katie has the nerve to say. It's like kicking the stray dog who bit you when you tried to pick it up. Your fault for deciding to blaze in and save the day, Katie. Brooke turned you down to start with, but you just pushed and pushed. As you shed your victim tears, you accuse Brooke of the same manipulation. As you put on a heart-grabbing, counter-clenching show for Brooke, you accuse her of making people feel sorry for her.
Our message board members had a wide range of reactions to the Katie/Bill/Brooke saga:
• [Katie] is so deluded...She wasn't betrayed at all. She left her husband. She forgets that. She forgets what she did to Bridget and Donna and her fake faint. Or how she clutches her chest to keep others from calling her out..she's been doing that for years. She will outlive them all. She's a phony. And a liar. -- bmillerSo what of Bill's predicament? He knew he'd done wrong because, before Katie even confronted him, he'd been planning a private island vacation for Katie to wear her tiara to. The trip was merely a show of appreciation. That was Bill's defense when Alison asked him what he'd done wrong.• After watching yesterday's episode, Katie has me a tad concerned about her mental state right now. LOL. The way she told Bill to get rid of Brooke and that she will never let him go...I was like... Heck even Bill looked worried. I would love to know his thoughts at the end of that scene yesterday. -- juwalker
• [Bill] just looked ridiculous standing there letting Katie go on and on. He's so happy to let Brooke take the fall after all his fantasizing and dreaming of her. Not to mention that he still wants Brooke to stay, knowing how he feels about her! As for Katie, unless she actually catches them in a physical situation, she's so desperate to keep Bill so Brooke doesn't "win." -- lucario2000
Bill has two choices. He can side with his wife and watch while Katie brands a scarlet "A" on Brooke's chest. Or he can confess to Katie that it takes two to tango, and he's got his dancing shoes on. Bill seems disquieted by Katie's vitriol against Brooke and obsessive declaration that Brooke wouldn't have him -- even if he wanted Brooke, it seemed. Is it concern over losing Will and chunks of Spencer if he confesses, or is he worried about destabilizing Katie's fragile heart and mind?
As we wait to be swept up in next month's sweeps, a quick word about the Emmy pre-noms this year. Per Soap Central's pre-nom article, the Bold and the Beautiful picked up nine shots at acting Emmys. Does that number reflect upon the talent on the show or the writing?
The answer is a sword more double-edged than anything Quinn's ever wielded. Some actors can make dialogue about a can of tuna compelling, but for some, no matter how they work the scene, repetitive dialogue reeks like spoiled fish. Have repetitive dialogue, hours of flashbacks, and regurgitated storylines hurt some of our favorite actors' chances for an Emmy?
Karla Mosley need not dust off any Myron-reveal reels. It's unfortunate because a cisgender woman playing a transgender woman is a demanding role, and Mosley rose to the occasion. We might see her in one of Jacob Young's reels. He was prenominated to the Outstanding Supporting Actor category.
We can look forward to some psycho Aly footage from Ashlyn Pearce, who landed in the Younger Supporting Actress category with Ashleigh Brewer and Reign Edwards. These young ladies need to do us proud because B&B seems to be completely shut out of the lead actress category due to a huge gap in storylines for our veteran actresses.
Were you surprised by the pre-noms? What were you expecting and what do think of B&B's Emmy chances this year?
See you again for Valentine's Day, but until then, be careful around tearful sisters, raven-haired angels, and suitors bearing motorcycles. But whatever you do, stay bold and beautiful, baby.
What are your thoughts on The Bold and the Beautiful? What did you think of this week's Two Scoops? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
