The last 24 hours have been hell on Ridge, but he finally got a fresh change of clothes from somewhere. It sure wasn't from Brooke's house. He left there with only his keys and the bloody clothes on his back after a heart-wrenching goodbye that left Bridge fans wondering why he'd ever leave. Meanwhile, Tridge fans delighted in watching him head back into the arms of his Tridge family. It might be too little too late for Hope and Brooke to realize the pain they caused Ridge, but at the same time, what Ridge is offering Taylor might be a little too little.
Thorsten Kaye said in a Bold Live interview that actors can create chemistry with anyone. His scenes last week with Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke) and Krista Allen (Taylor) steamed with the proof of that. Even though Ridge's hello/goodbye scenes with Taylor and Brooke each made me swoon in the clouds, they also left me brooding in reality. I'm starting to think Ridge needs some alone time to sort himself out before he winds up breaking the hearts of everyone he loves.
In addition to the big breakup of Bridge and hookup of Tridge, we have the game-changer storyline Casey Kasprzyk, B&B supervising producer, promotes on Bold Live. Casey's been tight-lipped about what the explosive content could be; however, B&B fans' lips are flapping and our fingers tapping as we speculate with each other on what might happen.
Get two scoops deep with me as I reveal my five guesses at what big thing might be coming to The Bold and the Beautiful. But first, let's talk about the housing crisis in Los Angeles, dish about Tridge and Bridge, and ponder why Brooke sent a nerd to do a spy's job. Justin could have told her that Liam is worthless at undercover work, right? Let's scoop!
This week, the cliff house reached maximum capacity now that Ridge has taken up residence in Steffy's guesthouse. Thomas is there from sunup to sundown and uses the place for visitations with his son. Thomas might as well grab a pillow and bunk on the couch, so the family won't miss one moment of togetherness. Whether it's for banana pie or high-tech hacking, the Hamiltons and Forresters love spending time together, but they've got to be cramped. After all, this ain't the Forrester mansion, where Stephanie had the luxury of building a couple's suite right across the hall from Ridge.
Taylor should have her own place. Doesn't she need a private place to do her Tridge business in? Why should she have to worry about her kids spying on her like puberty-stricken adolescents? Other characters have privacy. Sheila has a hotel to talk to herself in. Flo had her own space at Reese's old place. Carter has a loft for all his freaky deeky, and Paris has her own place, too, that she now shares with Grace. Deacon even has a broom closet to call his own.
But instead of giving Taylor a home, the writers gave her an office. Instead of Ridge going to a hotel, he moved into Steffy's guest shed. There's not enough room to change one's underwear in there, let alone get horizontal, so what does the lack of a space of their own mean for the Tridge romance? For that matter, what does it mean for the newly wedded Finnegans?
Poor Finn. When does he get any peace and quiet? He probably sleeps on a hospital cot, mad that his parents had to stay at a hotel while Steffy's family takes over his house. To make it so bad, Steffy shuffled Finn and the kids out of the house, so she could create the perfect mating environment for their grandparents. I don't know what's more "eww" -- Steffy setting the mood for Tridge, or the time Taylor caught Steffy rolling around in her childhood bedroom with Bill.
Of course, moneybags Ridge can buy a house at any time, but what about now at this crucial time when he and Taylor ought to be reconnecting and giving us Tridge-solidifying scenes? It's a little awkward to have Tridge wearing out the bed springs upstairs in a silent house while Steffy and Thomas sit in the living room, cooing, isn't it? And you know you can hear it downstairs. Bill and Quinn almost deafened Liam for life, remember?
Maybe the writers will forgo the intimacy and focus on Tridge the family rather than on Tridge the supercouple. Let me know what you think. Do you mind if everyone is packed into the cliff house, or do you think that Tridge -- and Sinn -- need a little privacy? After all, when have Steffy and Finn been alone since they got married? Hey, Eric, maybe it's time to play house swap.
Over in Brooke's empty mansion, there's daylight as it finally dawned on Hope and Brooke that they might have pushed Ridge too far. Hope admitted she'd been a teeny bit bratty about her daddy, and she could have had coffee with him anywhere but in the middle of Bridge's living room. I'm glad Hope admitted she was a brat, throwing around ultimatums and reneging on them, forcing Deacon on Ridge, all the while knowing Brooke would never let her daughter leave the house, but Hope, you're one New-Year's-Eve-party too late for this conclusion.
To be fair, Hope's been admitting it ever since she did it, but that realization never stopped her from dragging Deacon over for karate on Brooke's porch or to party with Brooke on New Year's Eve. Hope should have been considerate enough to limit him to the cabin and the cabin only.
Then there is Brooke, who couldn't believe it when she finally figured out that she hadn't been respecting her husband's feelings. I don't know why she couldn't believe it. Like Hope, Brooke has been telegraphing the error of her ways in every discussion she's had about it. What she shouldn't be able to believe is that she knew it, but she didn't do anything about it.
Don't get me wrong. I believe Ridge handled the situation like a Neanderthal, but at the same time, Brooke and Hope didn't have to bam-bam him over the head with Deacon's presence. It's strange to me that Deacon is even this much of a problem for Ridge. Ridge's kids have deemed Deacon to be Ridge's greatest enemy, but we all know that is Bill Spencer Jr., not Deacon. The only thing I can think of that Deacon has that rivals Ridge is Hope.
Besides Eric (who Ridge knows Brooke wouldn't want now that he has ED issues), Deacon is the only other man in the world that created a child with Brooke the old-fashioned way, and Ridge can't stand that. Ridge probably fears that Brooke feels the same way about Deacon as Ridge does about his baby mama Taylor.
Whatever Ridge's deep-seated hatred of Deacon stems from, Ridge is right. He did tell Brooke to keep that man away, and as a consequence of her not listening, stupid stuff happened. Yes, Sheila set the stupid stuff in motion, but if Brooke hadn't welcomed Deacon to roam every inch of the property, she would have woken up on New Year's Day to a hangover, not a Deacon sleepover.
Hope and Brooke's realizations about Ridge might be too little too late. Even if Ridge eventually realizes he's a jealous jerk who needs to stay with his wife, I don't know how he can possibly renege on the Tridge promises he made to his kids. Steffy and Thomas have gone into overtime, selling Taylor harder than some mobsters looking to unload swampland. I'm afraid that the only way out of this for Ridge might be death or to leave town and be with no one.
Ridge has a real dilemma. He wants to have his cake and eat it, too, but he'll be damned if Brooke gets the same privilege with Deacon. Ridge thinks it's fair for him to play house with Taylor and their kids, and Brooke should be okay with it because he has two families; however, Ridge refuses to allow Brooke the same courtesy with Deacon. It's probably because Ridge believes that Hope could convince Brooke to leave Ridge for Deacon just as easily as Steffy and Thomas just talked Ridge into leaving Brooke for Taylor.
I don't think it's ever occurred to Ridge that Brooke feels that exact insecurity when it comes to Taylor, and it's never occurred to Ridge that Brooke has chosen to put up with that insecurity instead of demanding that he have no contact with Taylor. Brooke probably wouldn't have borne that insecurity if she'd known how easily Ridge would turn to Taylor -- while sober at that.
All it took was for Ridge to get it in his head that Brooke was defending Deacon. As Eric said, any rational person would have stopped a fight. I wonder if Ridge would have seen himself as choosing Taylor if he'd stopped Brooke from cracking a vase over Taylor's head. No, I don't think Ridge believes that Brooke "chose" Deacon. Instead, I think Ridge decided to run to his safe place with Taylor before Brooke could actually, of her own free will, choose Deacon.
I haven't felt any chemistry between Ridge and Taylor since she returned to the show. It's because the do-no-wrong Taylor isn't my cup of tea. In fact, Steffy is a maniac for telling Hope to stop defending her mother when all Steffy does is sing the praises of her hypocritical, oath-breaking, attempted-murdering, medical-file-stealing, adulteress mom. Taylor would never do this to Ridge? She did this exact thing to Ridge -- on a New Year's Eve, at that.
I have no love for Taylor, but I will say this. When Taylor and Ridge had their moment in the bedroom, and he kissed her, I felt it, folks. There was heat, and there was a sizzle. But then came the fizzle. Faster than I was swooning, I was already brooding because I know that Ridge isn't in love with Taylor.
It doesn't even matter that Taylor asked Ridge not to do it if he doesn't mean it. He's incapable of looking beyond his own feelings, or he'd see that he did this to Shauna and Katie. I felt sorry for Taylor, because I was thinking, "Girl, how are you going to pick your cracked face up off the floor this time? More importantly, how are you going to stop Steffy from pulling a knife on him or stop his son from running him off the road before he can make it back to Brooke?" Will Taylor even want to stop them? I wouldn't.
Ridge should already know that you don't play with crazy, and his kids are unstable cray-cray, made with the very Douglas genes that led Pam to tie Donna up to a chair for a bear-mauling. Going back to Brooke will completely devastate those kids, and you know what? I might hand Steffy the switchblade because Ridge ought to know better than to do this to them again.
How do I know he's doing it to them again? Did you see that Bridge goodbye? I've never seen two people so in love and unprepared to part from each other. If Ridge wanted to leave Brooke, he would have gone upstairs, showered the blood off, and packed his bags as he told her that he was leaving her for his real home with Taylor. Instead, what did he do? He laid his head on the banister and let Brooke pet him. He said he loves her with all he has. She's the one.
Yeah, yeah, Ridge added that Brooke was the one he was young with, but that's a bunch of bull. According to history, he was damn near 30 when he married Taylor. Besides, if he wants Taylor, he could have added, "But Taylor's the one I'll grow old with."
This man loves Brooke so much that he could not tell her the truth about what he was doing. He couldn't even say goodbye. Why? Because she's his Logan, that's why, and I loved every moment of it. I was swooning, waiting for destiny to appear. But then I started brooding when I realized this is Brooke's destiny. She's destined to watch Ridge walk out the door over and over for some other, perceived-better woman.
Brooke might have made her mistakes, but Ridge is the one who can't get his feelings together and stick with one woman. Who but Ridge, all on the same day, can tell his wife he will work it out with her, get mad at her for not letting him beat a man to a pulp, and then go declare himself to his ex and spend the night with her -- the exact thing he's upset with his wife for doing? But he did it sober! If Ridge can't see the hypocrisy in that, he's blind.
When it takes a serial waffler and cheater like Liam to tell Steffy, "But he's married," you know the whole show has gone off the rails!
Ridge said he and Brooke are too old for this. Yeah, they are. So are Taylor and the Tridge kids. Who thought their midlife crisis would be their parents' love lives? I know Ridge didn't have a great role model for the role of family patriarch, but he needs to stop being a selfish, jealous baby, and do the right thing by all of his children, including R.J., and by Taylor and Brooke. Ridge needs to leave. He needs to leave Brooke, Taylor, and L.A.
Burn the Bridge. Drown the Tridge. End both relationships. Ridge needs to pack his freaking bags, go to Paris alone, and stay single. He needs to give Brooke and Taylor chances to find real love. Well, at least Brooke. Taylor will die "stanning" for Ridge. If that's her choice, fine, but Ridge has no right to make her his consolation prize just because she's too thirsty to move on.
Here are a few random remarks I have about other occurrences during the week:
Who else thought Quinn was missing from Eric's side during his visit to Brooke? Once Brooke revealed her night with Deacon, I was waiting for Quinn to run in, yelling, "Gotcha, bitch! I got you now! Shauna, welcome to the family." Actually, as Deacon's ex-wife and as Ridge's former mistress respectively, Quinn and Shauna are sorely missing from the story, aren't they?
Hey, Thomas, Star Trek wants its shirt back. That's all I have to say about that. While we're laughing at Thomas' Next Generation shirt, we might as well laugh at Brooke for sending a nerd to do a spy's job. Did she really think that Pinky and the Brain Steffy and Thomas wouldn't figure out that Double-O-Lame was there to spy for her? It's frightening, though, when Liam Spencer turns out to be the only adult in the room -- at both houses!
This week's Bold Live features Diamond White (Paris) and Lawrence Saint-Victor. During the show, Lawrence said that Paris was the right girl and the girl he wished Carter had met before the other women. My only question for Lawrence is how can Paris be the one if she doesn't want to be in a serious relationship? Isn't that what Carter wants?
Next, I'd like to enlist a volunteer who's brave enough to tell Sheila that being #TeamTaylor for Ridge's affections does not benefit her. Sheila persists in having a nonexistent rivalry between her and Brooke, but Brooke hasn't even thought of the woman since her booze-buying fail.
Sheila believes that Brooke is persuading Ridge to be against Sheila. Sheila must think that if Ridge is with Taylor, he'll come around and let her into the family. Sheila is in for a rude awakening. Ridge is the one who paid for the cliff house guards. Ridge is the one who orchestrated the restraining order. Ridge is the one who had to raise his kids after Sheila shot their mom. Ridge is Sheila's real enemy, not Brooke.
Who will Sheila hurt next once she realizes that having Ridge at the cliff house just reduced her chances of being in the family down to zero?
As many of you already know, Casey Kasprzyk revealed during Darin Brooks's (Wyatt Spencer) Bold Live that something big this way comes! In two months or less, something will happen so big that Casey feels it's a game-changer. Fans have been speculating for weeks about what it could be, and I've compiled my top five guesses based on my own thoughts and some fan insight about what explosive plot the show might have in store:
5. The death of Ridge Forrester. A lot of fans think that because Thorsten Kaye has voiced his desire to take a break from the show, the big thing down the pike is either the real or presumed death of Ridge Forrester. While it would be shocking, I put it at number five because I don't think it's likely that Ridge will actually die, and since Ridge has been presumed dead before, I don't think fans would see his "death" as earth-shattering when it first happens. He'd have to be gone probably three years for us to get that he's really gone.
4. The death or exit of Eric Forrester. None of my soap buddies think I'm right about this one, but I suspect the big news might be that John McCook (Eric Forrester) retires, and Eric dies or joins Sally Spectra on her never-ending vacation.
3. Taylor was never held prisoner by Prince Omar. I think it's time we learned what Taylor was really doing during the "decade" she was supposedly held prisoner by Prince Omar and when she was supposedly in Africa. I think the shocker storyline should be that Taylor was actually raising a royal family with Prince Omar, and her "other" family comes to town to rival Thomas and Steffy.
2. Steffy is really Phoebe. I'm a big fan of Guiding Light, and no story shocked me more than learning that Sonny was really her sister Solita. During a psychotic break after her twin died, Solita had assumed her twin's identity. Yes, we saw Phoebe's dead body. Yes, Phoebe and Steffy got turned into fraternal twins -- but so what? If Omar can raise Taylor from the dead twice, and if Sheila can get her face back from Phyllis, then anything is possible!
1. Ridge is really married to Shauna. What if Ridge tries to get a divorce from Brooke only to learn that the divorce a couple years back was valid, and he is legally married to Shauna? Now, that would be a shocker gamer-changer, wouldn't it?
That's it, folks. That's my two scoops worth. Thanks for joining me this week, and I'd love to hear what you think about the Bridge and Tridge scenes last week in the comments section below. Until we scoop again, stay bold and beautiful, baby!
Chanel
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