At the Hall of Fashion, Rick and Maya set out upon their mission to advertise fashion to all mankind with photos of the fresh-faced Sasha, taken by the newest up-and-coming photographer, Zende. That's right. Rick and Maya are back to making decisions at Forrester, and they might as well be, because Superman Ridge and his Louise Lane Caroline are too busy with off-screen flights in the clouds to return calls or run Forrester.
Where's Wonder Woman Steffy? Somewhere being too weak and vulnerable to wrap her golden lasso of truth around Liam's flight to Australia -- or run the business. Liam got a good dose of half-truth when he finally made it home from his economy flight around the world and discovered Wyatt asleep in his bed with Steffy.
With Liam now wanting to lessen his role at Forrester and Brooke off playing Electra Woman and Dyna Girl with Katie at Spencer, Rick might as well ease on into the big, green chair at Forrester for some light report reading and decision-making. And Jacob Young is so handsome and dynamic doing it He makes a childish competition between besties worth watching.
Rick aspires to be Super Giver, but Sasha's presence has put him in a couple of awkward positions since Christmas. He gave his new family the gift of Hawaii for the holiday and had to apologize to Sasha because it was a trip for family only. Maybe if he'd known she'd be there -- or that she was his sister-in-law -- the magnanimous Rick would have gotten her a seat. In his next act of kindness, Rick decided to give the novices Zende and Sasha a shot at stardom, only to have to tell Sasha to never mind when Nicole came down with the worst case of jealousy sickness over the time Zende was spending with Sasha.
Frankly, Nicole's jealous over anyone getting more than two seconds of Zende's time, and she doesn't hide it. It's apparent in her glares and catty words. She even staked her claim on Zende to Veronica, the new, hot extra who spends her time in the sky lounge, where the shirtless Carter just happens to always be. To my amazement, Veronica had the clueless nerve to tell Carter that a number of women at Forrester would be happy to pick up any of Nicole's slack with Zende.
Was Veronica being serious or just strategically refusing to pump Carter's ego? What super powers does she have that make her resistant to Carter's kryptonite abs and pictorials? She can't seriously not notice Carter's super fine-ness. What woman sees a single Whopper like him but wants to wait around for the Whopper Junior to be done with his current relationship?
Carter is a fine-assed, established lawyer and an executive of some sort at Forrester. Zende's cute in the same youthful way Rick described Sasha the other day before he passed her up for the modeling job, but he's an interning boy wonder compared to Carter. The writers really need some reality juice about Carter. It's unfathomable that Carter is single in a workplace apparently rampant with women who only have eyes for Zende.
If Nicole's so worried about Sasha competing with her for Zende's affections, her problem could be solved with two ingredients -- Carter and an "accidental" steam room encounter.
Instead of playing Sasha's game, the beached-whale-feeling Nicole exploded all of her insecurities on Rick and asked him to clean up the mess by un-inviting Sasha to model at Forrester. Rick's no Martin Luther King, Jr., but Rick handled it with so much grace and peace that it was impossible for Sasha to be mad at him, and she wasn't. She'd sadly reconciled herself that it had been just a silly dream -- until a pesky door latch didn't catch again, and Sasha overheard that Nicole had put Rick up to turning Sasha down as a model.
Sasha's in tears, and I wonder if this catty move will backfire on Nicole. Zende wasn't pleased by Sasha's dismissal, and because he will advance at Forrester and not her, he's sure to feel indebted and guilty. I imagine Zende encountering the sobbing Sasha in the hallway and feeling the need to console her with a hug that turns into a kiss. Or maybe it's just a misunderstood hug that Nicole spies from yet another cracked doorway.
Rick's desire to do anything for Nicole is perfectly reasonable. At the same time, Carter's leeriness of the whole surrogacy mess is understandable. There might be some arguments on the horizon between Carter and Rick about how Rick is handling the whole situation. Carter feels fatherly and desires to protect Zende. Rick is protective of Nicole and wants the best for her. Rick believes that Zende is what's best for Nicole, but Carter thinks it's not in Zende's best interest to be tied down and waiting.
Can Carter and Rick work together for the couple's best interest, or will Carter push Zende toward the single life, causing a turbulent pregnancy for Nicole, Maya, and Rick? On the flipside, will Sasha take an interest in the sexy Carter, causing Zende to catch the jealousy flu?
Here's how fans at Soap Central weighed in on the competition between the besties:
• Sasha will tell Zende or she'll use the secret to get Julius to tell Nichole to change her mind. -- BonnieJeanI agree with the posters. I understand where both women are coming from and wonder if Nicole is any more underhanded than Sasha, who slipped into Zende's room and into the photo shoot. They've been competing since Sasha arrived, when Nicole cooed that Sasha would be jealous of Nicole's relationship with Zende. All I have to say is let the best bestie win.• I felt badly for Sasha today. She did handle the whole thing with class when she thought it was a legitimate business decision. When she overheard Nicole, she was genuinely hurt. I imagine she will lash out with her "secret" now, but that doesn't change the fact that Nicole was wrong. -- LMSG
• Nicole has been dating Zende for what, two months and she thinks he is hers? She needs to take several seats. She's using Zende as an excuse to screw someone over that she claims to love because she's insecure about choices she has made. I hope Zende dumps her pronto. -- bluejazz
• I'm sure Zende will dump Nicole in the future for Sasha. However I do understand why Nicole was jealous, Sasha was all over him. I thought it was so inappropriate when she went into his bedroom when he was shirtless, she was practically drooling. I wouldn't trust her either. -- shmotis
Things at the Hall of Media are progressing in a similar fashion. Spencer also has its sisters/besties duo, but while Nicole immediately zeroes in on the possible threat and squashes it, Katie has no idea that her cape-crusading sister has already kissed Bill and activated his weakness for the blonde. When I say cape-crusading, I'm dead serious. This week, Brooke wore a cape -- a white dress with a cape, that is -- as she portrayed herself as the innocent recluse, looking to reconnect with Bill and Katie as friends and family members who work together at Spencer.
The Bruce Wayne in Bill pretended that he hadn't even thought about the past relationship until Brooke mentioned it -- again and again and again. But the Batman in Bill longed to use his Batarang on Brooke again. At this point, Bill will either succumb to passionate memories or wind up in another scotch intervention because, ever since Brooke got assigned a corner of Liam's completely remodeled office, Bill has been drowning his hormones in liquor.
After pouring a drink, Bill ordered himself to remain a husband and father and not to go there with Brooke. He might wind up with alcohol poisoning if she doesn't stop finding convenient times alone with him to talk about how she doesn't want to come between him and Katie. Ironically, each time Katie arrives in his office, Brooke is in front of his desk -- literally standing between Katie and him as Katie enters.
Brooke and Bill are flashing back to their romance like crazy, but we haven't seen Katie flash back even once on the horror of finding Bill in Brooke's bed or on Taylor's long-forgotten warnings about Brooke. Nope. Katie's barking up the Alison tree instead.
The other day, Alison brought in Will, a child we might not have even seen in 2015. You scoopers let me know if I'm right about that. After Katie and Alison exchanged barbs, Katie griped to Brooke about Alison wanting to be Bill's work wife -- which would be okay except Bill's wife actually works there, too.
I don't know what Katie's been drinking, but wouldn't a work wife do what a home wife would do? If being a wife means that Katie's at home in her underwear, making sandwiches for Bill, then it must mean Alison's at the office in her underwear, making Bill sandwiches. It is a wonder Bill had the stamina of a stallion with a work and home wife!
All joking aside, I would never share the wife title with any woman for any reason. I do not share my hard-earned titles at work or at home. I even get upset if I hear my nieces and nephews call someone their "play" aunt. Katie had better get a clue before she eventually winds up sharing or exchanging the titles of Bill's wife and sister-in-law with Brooke.
With a work wife, a wife at work, and an ex-lover traipsing around Spencer, Bill will have his hands full. While he wasn't thrilled about Liam using his private shower and wearing his spare clothes, he might welcome Liam's help managing all the estrogen in the building.
Bill might be in trouble, but I welcome a purely adult storyline, even if it's one that revisits a triangle. Frankly, Brooke and Bill do have unfinished business. They were set to marry before Ridge's helicopter incident made it an impossible mission, and Brooke gave Bill back to Katie as if he were a set of hand-me-back bed sheets.
I'm also enjoying the humor in Bill trying to fight temptation. Last weekend, my mother, who isn't a regular B&B watcher anymore, told me that what's-his-face was kissing Brooke in a preview, and Brooke was saying that they couldn't do it. I told my mom, "No, you had to be looking at an old clip somehow. Bill isn't interested in Brooke. He's in love with Katie." My mom insisted that it wasn't Brooke kissing Bill; it was Bill kissing Brooke, and Brooke was telling him they had to stop.
I bet my mom that she didn't know what she was talking about, and she bet me that I was wrong that Billy Abbott on the Young and the Restless already had a new actor. She just knew Billy would die. Well, it turned out to be a draw this week as the camera panned up to the new Billy Abbott and as my jaw dropped watching Brooke bust open Bill's shirt!
But just like Sasha's modeling career, the make-out session was a fantasy that went up in smoke when it became evident that Bill had been daydreaming. It was just one of those scenes to fake viewers out like the one of Thomas and Caroline carrying on -- in Thomas' mind -- when he'd first arrived in town. Caroline and Thomas evidentially did it for real. Will the same happen with Brooke and Bill?
How will work-wife Alison handle it if she walks in and discovers her work husband cheating on her with his workplace mistress?
Of Brill Part Deux, here's what our board members are saying:
• GOTCHA! I really did NOT think it was a dream sequence -- and when Brooke ripped his shirt buttons off today, I thought WOWZA -- they're going to go right at it on the desk!!...Anyone else surprised? Also, WHY can't Brooke work on a different floor and answer ONLY to Katie... and not be directly in contact with Bill at all?? -- zenstellaI agree that Brooke brings up the past feelings way too much, but I'm not sure if it's an agenda for Brooke or just repetitive writing. For example, Katie has said how happy she is and how great it is to work with Brooke about a million times within the last week.
Bill told Brooke he hadn't given it a thought ... until she brought it up. And, isn't that what Brooke hoped would happen? --Dorothy12102• Brooke keeps almost pressuring Bill to admit he still has feelings for her. That way, when he really grabs her and kisses her, she can blame it on him and act like the injured party. Or at least act like the one that didn't start it. -- Safarah
Back to Liam using Bill's office as a hotel room -- I wondered three things about that situation: One, why didn't Liam use his own office? Two, did Liam borrow Bill's spare underwear, too? And three, if he did, did they fit? The underwear of a stallion might be hard drawers to fill.
For those who missed it, Liam paid a gazillion dollars for an immediate return flight to Los Angeles, even though it's the airline's fault for not checking for unconscious passengers in the lavatory before taking off for Australia. He spent the flight talking with fellow passenger Howard about desserts of the baked and the female variety. Howard wanted Pam's number after hearing how well she baked, but Liam said Howard didn't want to add the peculiar Pam to his ex list.
While Liam was unintentionally insulting Pam, I thought about whether he considered that Steffy's issues might be hereditary. Pam's father was abusive to Stephanie. Stephanie chased Liam around a bar while trying to assault him when they first met, and Pam -- well, she covered Donna in honey so a bear would attack her. The Douglas genes aren't that stable, you know?
For as much venom as Poison Ivy spewed about Steffy, Liam still wanted to marry Steffy and had decided that nothing could stop them -- nothing except finding Steffy under the covers that he'd paid for, snuggled up in his bed, and sleeping with his brother, that is.
The sight of it seemed to almost make Liam pass out. Either that or he's been flying around the world with a concussion. Since the airplane fall, he has been periodically disoriented. The reasons for it haven't been revealed on-screen yet. Whatever is going on, it made him crazy enough to drive to Spencer and sleep in the office instead of shoving Wyatt and Steffy off his own bed so he could finally get some much-needed rest.
If I were Liam, a traveler jetlagged by a thirty-hour round-trip flight around the world, I would have knocked Wyatt and Steffy straight off the bed like the stack of pajamas I forgot to put in the hamper that morning, and I would have gone straight to sleep in my own damn bed. Once I was rested, I would have asked them what was going on instead of jumping to conclusions.
Liam has been caught in enough compromising positions and been forgiven enough times to know things might not be what they look like. Take for example when he hugged Steffy on his wedding day to Hope. Or when he woke up on a rooftop with Steffy on his other wedding day to Hope. Or when he was rolling around in bed with Steffy on his Italy wedding day to Hope.
Liam never thought it was fair when Hope broke the whole thing off over it, so why would he react like Hope? All I can say is I guess he knows how it feels now. Technically, he knew how it felt when Hope did it to him with Wyatt, but Steffy's never done it to him, so she deserves a chance to explain. After all, he did just take off to another country with his ex without explanation.
Liam is disillusioned, Steffy is devastated, and Wyatt is once again an afterthought in the aftermath. My prediction is Wyatt will keep being Steffy's shoulder to cry on as her ring sits on the same mantel as Hope's first ring did so many years ago. When Liam told Steffy to put the ring anywhere, I immediately recalled Hope's discarded ring and thought that Steffy and Liam had finally come full circle. Will Steffy and Liam get married? I say it'll happen by Valentine's Day.
What's your opinion of Liam and Steffy's misconstrued confusion? Was Steffy acting in character to shut off her phone and miss work? How do you perceive this new vulnerable and reactionary Steffy?
What about Wyatt? Was it believable for him to walk into the bedroom, expecting her to hook up with him? I mean, it worked for Thomas, right? Or do you think that Wyatt was just lost and hurt after Ivy left him the way she did? Steffy had on some cute lingerie, but I was disappointed that she didn't cover herself in front of Wyatt. Her feelings for Liam didn't ring true while she sat on his bed in her underwear with his brother, and if she didn't want to give Wyatt mixed signals, why did she let him hold her while she slept?
How innocent was that night with Steffy and Wyatt, really? I can't help but think that sleeping in my underwear with another man is crossing the line. Is a kiss, such as between Ivy and Thomas, worse than spending an entire night with another man and his loins nestled against you? Wyatt had to be at full attention, to put it delicately, so I have to conclude that Liam might be right in breaking up with Steffy. I mean, who knows what kind of touching and grinding went on?
Bottom line -- it was inappropriate, and having Wyatt in Liam's bed was disrespectful. Katie didn't even have that bad of an ordeal when she found Bill in Brooke's bed. Liam better watch out because Bill and Brooke went ahead and made Katie's erroneous conclusion a reality, and Wyatt and Steffy might just do the same thing to Liam.
We're interested to know what you think about the plights of our heroes and heroines and your predictions of how things might unfold in the coming weeks. If you've got time, check out a fun pictorial from CBS about how to know if you're a super fan.
Until next time, make sure your door latches are pulled tight, and whoever you cuddle with or fantasize about, 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 -- and there are many ways you can share your thoughts.
