Taylor’s Bold & Beautiful return left me with a whole lot of questions, including “Why?” Meanwhile, the Logan women were kinda outta control, Steffy did her damndest to rain on everyone’s parade, and Brooke broke the internet. There’s a lot to talk about, so let’s dive in…
Caller I.D.
When Bold & Beautiful showed a mystery woman watching Brooke and Ridge from a distance, we jokingly suggested it might be Taylor. Little did we know that the next day, we’d be proven right. What followed was perhaps the most ridiculous re-introduction scene in history. I kinda suspected we might be in for a rough ride when Steffy’s phone rang and the caller ID read “Dr. Taylor Hayes (Mom).”
What followed was a competition to see whether Steffy or Taylor could say the word “mom” more often. But by far, the “winning” line of dialogue went to newbie Rebecca Budig who, as Taylor, got to say, “I love you my daughter. I love you Steffy. Mama’s coming home.”
The episode should have come with a disclaimer reading “No actors were hurt by the dropping anvils.” I’m going to assume that when the scripts were written, the show hadn’t yet decided whether or not to go the whole “the role of Taylor Hayes is now being played by” route. Which of course, they ultimately did, rendering the scenes which followed even more hysterically funny.
Here We Go Again
For months, it’s seemed as if Bold & Beautiful had absolutely no idea what to do with Brooke and Ridge. They reunited in Italy, declared their undying love and then… nada. Guess having tied the knot approximately 436 times, they aren’t in any hurry to marry again. Turns out, the writers really didn’t know what to do with this pair unless it involved Taylor.
I’m willing to bet that any day now, Brooke and Ridge will announce plans to marry. Because while there was no reason for them to rush down the aisle before, Taylor’s presence on the canvas will change that. Personally, I’d love it if the show threw Taylor into a new romance. Let’s chemistry test Budig around the canvas before throwing her back into the triangle from hell. But I think we all know that ain’t gonna happen.
Logans Gone Wild
When it comes to the Bold & Beautiful audience, most viewers seem to fall into one of two camps: They are either #TeamLogan or #TeamForrester. Neither side cares for the other much, and both love to trash-talk the other. Both the on-screen feud and the off-screen fan wars can become tiresome, but it’s also exactly what soaps thrive on. People are invested in their favorite characters to the point where they will happily call anyone who doesn’t see things their way “biased.”
More: Look who’s returning to B&B!
Because I “ship” storylines not couples, I’ve been accused of bias by both sides, which is sort of ironic when you think about it. That said, this past week I kinda understood why some viewers have a hate-on for the Logan sisters. I mean, Katie’s running around telling anyone who’ll listen that Bill has shacked up with a murderer, the entirety of Forrester Creations seems to rely on Brooke selling undies, and Hope spent the week either declaring her mom the savior of them all or fantasizing about Steffy’s husband.
I mean, it was a lot.
To be fair, Steffy wasn’t exactly a treat, scowling her way through the Brooke’s Bedroom presentation and taking every opportunity possible to downplay Brooke’s not insignificant role in the success of Forrester. (She was right, however, to say that everybody talking about the launch would mean nothing unless and until sales backed up that excitement, which it soon did.)
As Steffy and Hope were bickering, I kinda wanted them to break into a spirited rendition of the song “What Is This Feeling?” from the Broadway show (and upcoming movie) Wicked. (Listen to the lyrics in the version below, as performed by an adorable group of girls, and you’ll understand why!)
<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/f2rVHunzJFA?si=wF134ClgGmN9xlsY” title=”YouTube video player” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
The Business of Pleasure
Let’s talk about this big Brooke’s Bedroom launch, shall we? It struck me as odd that they gathered all those reporters but didn’t have a big screen on which they could watch the video. Instead, they all had to take out their phones in order to view the — say it with me now — “social media drop.” And yet later, Brooke and Ridge were seen in a lovely tent… with a big screen behind them running the promo on a loop.
More: What’s next for newly-returned Taylor?
Weirder still, Brooke made her little speech, then she and Ridge wandered off to canoodle and congratulate themselves, completely ignoring the gathered media. Until later, when suddenly all of those gathered had cameras and questions.
Let’s just say that continuity is not Bold & Beautiful‘s strong suit.
Dear Poppy…
The other big story this week involved the letters mysteriously showing up in Luna and Poppy’s apartment. We’ve been told that the mother and daughter have always been extremely close, yet Luna sure was quick to accuse Poppy of murder! Meanwhile, rather than calling R.J., shouldn’t Luna have maybe called the police?
Meanwhile, the show has a bit of an Il Giardino problem. If everyone thinks that Sheila (or someone else) is killing people at the restaurant, why do they continue to go there? Only moments after Brooke literally asked, “What’s going on with the deaths at Il Giardino?”, she and Ridge sent R.J. scurrying there for a pizza as if there aren’t any other places in town to get a pie. At the very least, the could have had it delivered!
Random Thoughts
• I wish they’d relaunched Brooke’s Bedroom with the slogan “Forever Brooke,” which would have not only been a great ad campaign but would play into the fact that it’s been a couple decades since the line was launched. I also wish that, in keeping with the spirit of empowering women, they’d had Brooke be the face of the line, but surrounded her by women of all colors, shapes and ages. Talk about a missed opportunity!
• When Katie told those assembled to watch the promo that she had something “of a personal nature” to discuss, I thought maybe she was going to tell everyone that she and Carter had broken up. But nope. It’s weird that a show which loves repeating things over and over has only made brief, passing reference to the end of that relationship.
