Anna Yolei

Killing him off would be lazy but there's plenty of ways to write him out of the show that keep a foot for his return. For better or worse, he's been on the canvas too long to just give him the 13 week villain treatment. Let Sheila put him in a coma indefinitely and if need be recast since that's the only way a character changes personality on this show.

The same Sheila Carter who she twisted Steffy's arm into inviting over to Thanksgiving or Christmas (which I'm pretty sure happened *after* the shooting?!) She can sit this one out completely. And not gonna lie, despite my opinions of Tridge today and knowing Taylor pulled a lotta dirty tricks to get him, this was one of the best things to happen to B&B. It gave people a chance to invest in the couple and the conflicts they did end up having were genuinely interesting ones, like Taylor surviving tuberculosis during her already high risk pregnancy with twins and when Kristen's then boyfriend Tony came to her for therapy when he got his HIV diagnosis. OTOH it did lead to the rather goofy ass way they got Ridge to sleep with Morgan so it technically wasn't cheating 😭 B&B definitely has had dogshit stories even in its salad days but back then, not even Ridge was cycling through women as quickly as Liam does. I watched the episodes of 2012 and 2013 I had missed because I was deployed over seas and B&B was the one soap that the Armed Forces Network didn't get. By my count, he and Hope had no fewer than four attempts to get married and split up at least the same amount of times in between. That's absolutely bonkerballs, even for a soap opera and it was why it was years before either pairing got dedicated fanbases. You'll notice that very little of the online discussion surrounding Lope or Steam ever refers to events before 2017 and that was because Liam never committed to either one long enough for anyone to make an opinion or give a solid F about who should have him.

Given how quickly he ran to Steffy, I'm gonna assume that's a yes for now. And God, that's a level of pathetic I didn't think was possible. Given his own divorce earlier this year, I feel even sorrier for Scott Clifton having to make this shit material work and I will be thrilled if he ever decides to leave this show. GH fans still have a lotta good will for his character there and if he's ambitious enough, CBS got a few new Star Trek shows that need casting once the strike is over. My office job in customer service is not as rote and repetitive as the material he and the rest of the cast receives.

Given how nutty Taylor is, she'd probably tell Steffy to take that loser back or shoot Hope to get rid of her outta Thomas'life. Pretty best she stay away TBH. Because Phyllis Summers fills the token sociopath billet at Y&R? Truly every return of this character since 2002, either here or on Y&R, has brought diminishing returns and it's just time for her to be retired for good. To paraphrase from Bill Spencer himself, they literally this match, so now they can watch it burn. What point was there of setting off nearly the entire fanbase off in anger if they're gonna half ass it now that Tom-Ass has finally "won" and they've dirtied up Hope to the point that even her biggest fans have disowned her? Naw boo-boo, y'all opened up Pandora's Box so y'all solve this. Which speaking of that, this more than anything is the biggest fatal flaw of this show. The Bell family never should've started putting up their back episodes online because it definitely puts an end to the lie that it's the short runtime that prevents this show from telling more complex stories. It's not like even in the olden days that the show didn't have dull stories--the Jake McClain story was dragging at times and most things with Katie and Rocco cured my insomnia--but at least you'd know you'd have three days a week at most to deal with it.

It. Has. Been. Three. Bloody. Weeks. 🤦‍♀️🙄 Good lord, was even Ridge this arrogant and full of himself? Usually by the time he started in on this, Brooke or Taylor had been signalling that they were interested or it was glaringly obvious they were with someone else because he refused to commit otherwise. Other than keeping quiet about the kisses, Steffy has been rather neutral one way or the other by her very low bottom-of-the-Mariana-Trench standards. You'd think he'd know better to tell that her interest is lukewarm at best, but the fact that he can do casually swap out pictures of one family for the other says everything about how interchangeable they both truly are to him and how he truly expects them both to give up their lives when he comes calling. I accept that Steam is inevitable barring unforseen circumstances, but goddamn, couldn't they have let Liam earn this even a little? To put even the modicum of effort that he did after Hope left him in 2019, where it took him getting roofied to even consider banging Steffy?

Looking at the old episodes available on YouTube, I can understand the appeal of Ridge. It still falls under "Not for me" category but the guy could make women laugh and you'd actually get a fun vacation or two out of the deal. Literally the only reason Steffy or Hope ever had to keep dealing with this lemming was to spite the other and because their idiot mothers encouraged this shit, but as of right now, they aren't beefing or anything. This ain't beating out Beacon for the worst thing Brooke's ever done to her children but it's definitely a photo finish second for me 😒

I mean....doesn't Brooke also talk to Bridget? A woman who is one of the very few in all of B&B canon that doesn't suffer fools lightly? She and Nick had their final divorce and she went about her business without blaming Aggie for spilling the beans or trying to get back with him. Hell, she was never even the one chasing after him during their breaks anyway. Bridget seems to be doing fine once she cut the waffles out of her life and once Hope ditches Thomas (because I agree w everyone saying that she is only about herself in that situationship), she'll be fine, too.

I genuinely think Brooke has honest to God forgotten what it looks like for a woman to live without a man or to otherwise be completely done with a man's bullshit. It was bad enough that she was encouraging Lope in the 2010s after Hope damn near had a nervous breakdown the first time they had sex and she felt like she sold out her values but now? A whole decade, two kids and multiple back-and-forths later? Hell, for all she's aware of, Steffy is happily married to Finn, so it's not like she has anything to prove to Taylor even. It's also funny that she wants to lecture about rushing from one relationship to the next--Brooke Logan, the woman who infamously had a bed set up in her office to seduce Ridge and would later fuck Deacon on; who took a red-eye from Sydney to LA without a second thought to chase Nick--an man that she broke the sound barrier to divorce a year earlier; and who literally didn't even wait for her own sister to leave the property before boning her husband because "she took her ring off." THAT Brooke Logan. Okay. 🤡 I do think she is still very much over-hated in proportion to her sins (none of which includes criminal acts that her detractors Taylor, Quinn and Stephanies I and II have skated off of), but I'm reminded of why it took me years to even remotely like this character.

I'm about halfway through season 5 on the YT playlist and have some thoughts: -the first 4 seasons were just *chef's kisses. Kinda got bored with Katie and Donna's thing with Rocco but the writing was great otherwise. Although Clarke Garrison is one of the biggest tools of a man ever created for this show, Liam Spencer included, and I am waiting for his comeuppance in season 6. -Although speaking of Clarke, he had more romantic chemistry with Ridge than any woman they put him together with and Kristen and Margo had more chemistry with each other than Clarke -i actually like early Bridge! I was surprised by this too! But then,this version of Ridge was able to crack a smile and make jokes. It was by far his best personality trait and I have no idea why they made him so dour after the recast :( -I used to live Tridge in the 2000s when I first watched the show and didn't have the full backstory. Watching now, I can't say I'm really warming up to them now. I'll reserve judgement until after the St Thomas trip, which seems to be the thing that put the pairing over the top for many folks, but for now...Eh. -I was not prepared for how little romantic chemistry Brooke and Eric have. It's not like I care about the age gap, although given his history w Beth that didn't help, but....egads. it definitely felt like a rush job of a pairing that they threw together because KKL was pregnant at the time than anything organic. -God, I miss the Spectras so much :( I certainly feel like CJ at least should have a place on the show. In general, I miss the show not being so Forrester-centric and worshiping them as #FamilyGoals because they absolutely are NOT.

Yeah, and each day that passes, I am more and more glad she didn't waste time or energy grovelling for forgiveness. For all that Liam claims that it was Thomas that was the issue, I have the feeling he'd act the same way if it were anyone else she had kissed. But boy am I disappointed that he hasn't made a peep about Beth's custody since the divorce. Here was a slam dunk thing to give Liam any kind of autonomy but no. We don't even get that much. This show is SUCH a joke.

Hell, can they just get together period? We know Wyatt doesn't have problems with MILFs lol

Truly, it had run thin for me the minute they put Phoebe and Rick together but even there she got a 2nd guy who was not part of the Forrester clan to date.

From what I can tell from Twitter, they are. There's a bit of a Marvel Civil War thing between the Sinn fans and the few Steam fans who are brave enough to announce that they in fact do stiil exist somehow, like a rare species of tree frog or parrot that people thought went extinct by the early 1900s and understandably didn't buy into the Ken doll accessory that is John Finnegan being Steffy's soul mate. Although why they'd want the guy who treats her as a second choice to have her is beyond me.

If they're anything like the beaches in San Diego, probably not. But I will say to anyone not familiar with water that if you ever see what looks like a flat,calm section of water in between waves to avoid at all cost because it's a rip tide and they take out a LOT of people. I fully expectwd a custody battle not unlike the one Nick Newman gave Sharon after she continued carrying on with Adam but damn. Just...crickets. Guess they really are gonna sink Sinn for this crap ass Steam part 42069, huh? Well that's fast, even for them lol

Hey now, let's not insult rabies or Chihuahuas like that! 😂 This is a guy who has gotten bonked over the head far too many times to count and that even Quinn got the jump on him with that baby sword necklace. Steffy OTOH has inhereted her namesake's proclivity for shooting. He can just sit this one out.

The last time they did that, it damn near ruined the character for most of the fanbase.....gotta be more specific that that! ;) Jokes aside, I'd definitely prefer his love life not be so entwined with his brother's but given the options available, Wyatt is easily the least terrible. I assume this is rhetorical, given their history, but it says so much that once again he's choosing the option of least resistance rather than make any attempt to win Hope back. And while I don't begrudge him for walking out over than paternity test, if he really wanted to be there for Steffy, he could have. Let's not forget that it was HOPE in a then to that point rare moment of grace who had to encourage him to go to the first sonogram appointment. If she hadn't been there encouraging him to support Steffy, would he have just ghosted out of Kelly's life? While that's a probability I hadn't considered, the more likely thing is to bring is another waffle for Kelly and Beth to fight over, which is why they were born six months apart. Just perfect for them to both get SORASed together ☠️

Also interesting that he's had absolutely nothing to say about Beth being around Thomas, who has been a far bigger danger to her than Sheila has been to Kelly 🙄 I'm honestly fine with that and it's still better than what that psycho deserves. Maybe now that they pulled the trigger on that, we can end Thope for good and then Thomas and Hope can meet new people.

And honestly, with Lame's track record, even that shouldn't be enough to put him over the top because damn, what else can even be said about him at this point? The minute he gets Steffy and Hope snaps out of her dick love spell w Tom-Ass, he'll be going back to her anyway.

Truly, I'm trying to think of literally any patient of hers that Taylor hasn't banged but I'm coming up blank. If Finn ends up on Taylor's shrink couch, it may as well be considered foreplay.

Hope had a discussion with Liam at the Sinn wedding about Sheila and her other kids and I know she and Finn were having discussions around the complicated issue of their estranged parents so I'm assuming he has to know by now. As was laid out in the above post, TPTB won't go there because the timeline with all the kids is jacked up (especially Mary) and Daisy and Ryder were unique awful in their own right that I genuinely do not remember what happened to either of them. I'm pretty sure one of them is legit dead, not that death means anything to a Carter anyhow. And if they didn't bring up Diana apart from her one brief mention as a baby when the alleged father was on the canvas, they certainly won't now. Lord knows Finn is the Ken to Steffy's Barbie with even less autonomy to exist separately from her, but as bland as he is, I don't fault Steffy fans for clinging to the character like a life raft if it stops Steam from ever happening again. My God, their whole thing started because she was angry about Bill dumping her and Hope coming by to rub her nose in it. Would be cool to have her acknowledge that most of their relationship was not ever about them but her beating Hope in their mother's rivalry, fighting a grudge that started long before she was born like she's Jotaro Kujo slaying DIO in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. I've always said that she deserves better than what Taylor was willing to put up with. Personally, I would've liked her to have a man not unlike Nick who can call her on her shit, see and acknowledge the flaws without handwaving them off like Finn, and still love her anyway.

I've long hated the trend of soaps glorifying bio family over everything else in general, but this case in particular is especially egregious. If this was coming from those reconned twins of hers on Y&R who grew up believing she had died and didn't have the greatest upbringing with her sister, I could get it. Hell, I could understand Mary Warwick having complicated feeling considering Sheila changed her name and groomed her to go after Eric's son to live out her fantasy by proxy. But Jack's lying notwithstanding, there's been none of that here. And this is one of the rare instances where I'm on Steffy's side of things: whatever relationship he wanna have with Sheila is on him but she has a right not to want Hayes anywhere that, or Kelly by extension. All that said, I suspect this is less about Finn and Sheila and more about the reunion of Seamless and...*sigh* I'm so fucking tired. Finn's gonna go against Steffy's demands or Sheila does a Mrs Doubtfire, Liam gets to swoop in to play hero and BAM! Steam. It's as predictable as a clock at this point.

From where I'm sitting? Probably when someone replaces Brad Bell as show runner. 😒

Bill and Katie. I honestly do still hate the thought of them more than any other pairing because they've only ever had one top of conversation since the day he hooked up with Brooke. But Seamless is a a close 2nd by 1/1000th of a second that never goes away, like fucking herpes. BITCH SAYS WHAT NOW?! I'm sorry, did I miss the part about Hope playing ANNNNNY part in his leaving Steffy over sleeping with Bill? Which BTW would've never have happened if he hasn't decided the most appropriate thing to do in what he thought were his final moments was to kiss the only other woman with him?! I didn't see him making much of an effort to get with her after Kelly was born when he found out Bill had set Steffy up. I do remember him hooking up w Hope after a showing, Steffy seeing this and deciding to put herself and her newborn daughter and walk off the Marry-Go-Round, tossing her ring to Hope on the way out with Liam standing their quietly as per usual. Nor did he move on to Steffy when for the first time they were both free and clear after Hope's grief-driven divorce. I can't hold him to actions while unknowingly drugged but I will say I don't blame Thomas for assuming they'd get back together the minute they smashed. I have never felt more sorry for any actor on this show as I do for Scott Clifton, and that includes KKL who's put up with more character assassination than I can shake a stick at and Sharon Case on Y&R who spent all the 2010s getting dumped on. But at least those two ever given a code identity to assassinate to begin with. Liam has been less a character and more of a carnival prize to be fought over. I can't fault an actor to sticking it out with a long running show because Los Angeles ain't cheap but I've been on deployments at sea that were less monotonous than that his job has to be. As for the rest of the recap, word to all of it. Annika Noelle has been on fire with her best performance since the "death" of Beth. And while I intellectually know Lope will never be done so long as SC has a contract with B&B, it does read a whole lot differently from their many other breakups. There's no screaming or crying, nothing. It was not unlike the night Hope herself was born and her based older sister gave Deacon his walking papers, but even that had more (well earned, TBH!) theatrics than this. It's so over. Or would be for good on any other soap but honestly, I've waited years for this so I'll take it if only because it justifies me paying P+ for another month. Annika better get a fucking Emmy out of this.

It's also worth pointing out that at the time they first started dating, it was shortly after Brooke and Oliver's accidental wall sex was made public and given Hope had only just learned about her true conception months earlier, her mind was an absolute mess as it was. Vegas odds all expected Hope to get wild like the children on As the World Turns usually did for far less, but her way of coping was to double down on her "values." And there was a good amount of time where Steffy wasn't as issue but they still had things that should've given her pause like that wild party Bill threw for Liam to get him laid (??? It's been a while) that led to him thinking he was Amber's baby daddy. Lope is often compared to Bridge, but I see them more akin to Sharon and Nick--two young kids who got together when they had more passion than sense and keep trying to stay together when they've long grown apart. But damn, even Sharon, as much as she's been shit upon by the writers, has gotten to have a fulfilling sex life separate from Nick. CH definitely helped, but it helped a LOT more that Thomas himself acknowledged a lot of this shitty behavior and had made a clean break from pursuing Caroline well before Sally was ever in the picture. There were no gimmicks, no lingering anything and that never changed, not even after she and Ridge split and they were both free. I will never not be mad at how they gave him one of the best redemption stories in all of B&B history and that he was acknowledging his own privilege and TIIC just Thanos snapped that out of existence to force a romance that no one ever wanted, needed, or asked for. I am glad for Matthew Atkinson's sake that he got cast because he was so bland as Summer's husband that I don't even know the character's last name or anything besides the fact that he cheated with Abby and it came out at his funeral. He's got range, and much like Scott Clifton, it'll all be squandered eventually.

Ugh, I didn't think I could think of a WTD story worse than Sally's on Y&R but this one would blow it well out of the water for awfulness. Hope is mentally free for the first time in her adult life and she should be able to enjoy that without another baby in tow. God, SAME. Please just let Steffy and Hope both be done with this loser. The guy came into their lives as low points when they were on the rebound and both should have outgrown him like mint in a garden bed.