Kyle Lowder is an expert in playing in unrepentant bastard; after all, he played a very similar character on Days of Our Lives. But the problem seems to be that the writers are afraid to allow their established characters (Taylor, Ridge, Eric and Brooke) a 'go there'. The best part of the Brady Black baiting was that this brought the worse in established favorites like John, Roman and especially Marlena. It was refreshing to see the icily refined, level-headed Marlena smacked the crap out Brady, shoved him into a wheelchair (dude was on crutches after suffering a gun shot wound to his spine), and took him into a private room and try to school him about how things are going to be in the household. Marlena's foot rarely slipped, but seeing that, you kinda wanted it to slip more often. And even when Brady had someone in his corner (his sister, Belle and potential love interest, Chloe), they could see through his crap and happily call him on it. At any given time during Brad Black's reign of terror, he was held accountable by somebody. For some reason, the Bold and the Beautiful writers aren't doing very much to make Rick's reign of terror a little more bumpy, which is a mistake.
At any rate, Thursday and Friday's shows were... something. They weren't as enjoyable as I hoped, but here are some highlights nonetheless:
- Jackie and Owen continued their pun-filled (versus fun-filled) flirtations, which culminated in foreplay broadcast over speakerphone to Stephanie and Jackie's son, Nick. Okay, I get that Nick's an adult, but EWWW!! And Nick is older than Owen... double EWWW!!! Risky sex can be exciting but not in front of sonny-boy. And given all of her years at Forrester, Stephanie would know the sound of someone getting their rocks off during a business day. Again, I can't stand Owen and I really don't understand Jackie.
- Brooke has a pow-wow with her sisters about her relationship with Ridge. She's worried, as she should be. Brooke may be a chemist, but she must have never heard of Pavlov. Beings can be trained to react to positive and negative associations. And since, lately, Brooke has used sex to try to end arguments with Ridge regarding Rick, Ridge's cock got the message -- Brooke's dewy flower brought forth King Douchebag; Dewy Flower tries to distract me from KD. Flower... bad!!
- Rick attempted to persuade Taylor to dummy up about his relationship with Steffy, since he's convinced that he's thisclose to driving a permanent wedge between Ridge and Brooke. And Taylor seemingly mulled that suggestion over. Listen Taylor... loneliness is better than Rick using and potentially destroying your only surviving daughter, especially when loneliness is an easily resolved problem. And there are plenty of men worthy of loving; Ridge really isn't the be-all and end-all.
- Stephanie gave Felicia and Thorne a heads up about her new job at Jackie M.; they were conspicuously absent from the Jackie M. viewing party held in Eric's office.
- Taylor went to Ridge's office and expresses how gung-ho she is to get Rick out of Steffy's life (see what I mean with the bipolar-type moods the characters seem to possess?). Anyway, it was reassuring to see that she retained (or regained) her senses. Ridge explained that the computer can record anything uttered in his office. Sadly, dude couldn't push the button fast enough, since Rick insisted on doing one of his verbal drive-bys with a quickness. Rick just loves talking dirty... to his fiancee's father. For once, someone overheard the verbal diarrhea; unfortunately, Taylor's credibility hasn't been as set-your-watch-to-it as it used to be. Taylor leaves; Rick comes back; and Ridge got the recording on.
- Steffy, Eric and Donna watched the fashion show. Everyone, except Steffy, knew that Bridget is Madame X, so she was puzzled by Granddad/future Father-In-Law's enthusiasm. Jackie revealed Madame X's true identity and announced that 'another Forrester' will be joining their ranks.
Of course, the other Forrester was Stephanie, news that Eric didn't take too well, despite Donna's cheer leading. And personally, I didn't care for Stephanie saying 'Eat your heart out, Hunny Bear'; it was so Team fill-in-the blank/bitter princessy. And I really didn't care for Bridget reprimanding Stephanie for it either; if I was Bridget, I would be more than a little salty about Jackie referring to me as "Eric Forrester's daughter". But regarding Eric, he must have thought that Stephanie was blowing smoke about getting another job, although I must confess, when Stephanie told him that and he raised his eyebrow, I pictured Stephanie dressed as a candy stripper,a la Days of Our Lives' Alice Horton (BTW... I love you Alice Horton/Frances Reid, wherever you are). It really emphasized how out of touch Eric seems to be, at this point in his life; it also emphasized his arrogance as well. Eric assumed that Stephanie would 'take one for the team', in terms of allowing her silence/absence to be interpreted as affirmation for Forrester's current creative and administrative direction. What he fail to realize that Stephanie merely followed the lead of her non-Ridge children, who had to leave Forrester in order to foster their own visions and skills, along with getting some sort of individual recognition.
And yet again, the so-called faces of Forrester (Ridge, Brooke, and Rick) were grappling with their own personal drama instead of being ahead of the curve when it comes to Jackie M.
My hope is that the writers will allow Stephanie to see this new phase through. If she and Eric get back together, which I kinda don't want, please allow her to keep whatever her Jackie M. partnership, or whatever she earns, and not try to merge it into Forrester. She seems better when there is a significant space between she and Eric.
But the potential confrontation between Stephanie and Eric next week... woof!!!
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