Cool Breeze

So, in addition to being the face behind HFTF, Hope just has some kind of nebulous executive authority such that Steffy would report to her? This is simply by virtue of the fact that she's with Carter? Ok.

Jerry Jones was actually pretty good. A highlight of the episode. Taylor Sheridan can write the hell out of some dialogue. His story plotting is nowhere near as good.

I'm sure I'm in the minority here but Eric not backing Brooke is something I'm enjoying. The Brooke-Eric relationship is one of the most one-sided on this show. Stephanie was mean to you, Brooke? Go to Eric for support. Need a man to pretend to be the father of the baby you're having with your son-in-law? Go to Eric for support. Brooke uses Eric. They're "friends" when it's convenient for her. The "Slut from the Valley" and most of the other epithets uttered against Brooke are off-base and mean. But if someone called her out on consistently using and manipulating Eric, I would cheer.

Will is Katie's son and Jack is Brooke's bio-son so aren't Will and Jack first cousins? ETA, while I don't have much use for Brooke, her shoving Taylor without breaking stride was great.

How and why does Monty think Rebecca is a "shrewd negotiator"? She's mostly bluff, wildly delusional about how the law works, and she just got her ass handed to her by a college dropout who was in the oil business for exactly two days but managed to increase the compensation to the relatives at a rate four times higher than what she offered. Yeah, she's a real genius.

That was for sure tedious. And I'm so very glad we're spared that drivel. But there's absolutely no silver lining to TK as "Ridge".

There's certainly a lot of "we" from both Carter and Hope when discussing FC business. She may not have conceived of the LLC manager idea, but she certainly owns her share of everything that's followed.

Electra being fired without explanation is so BellLA. Katie (who is head of PR and HR?!) doesn't inquire as to the source of the pics, nor does she make any effort to determine whether the pics are real. It'll be real embarassing for FC if Electra learns what happened and goes public with the fact that she was a victim of revenge porn/deep-fakes. FC could have gotten ahead of this by putting a spotlight on this timely issue of manipulated images but, instead, they just terminate a young girl with no explanation. Dumb.

How is this even Taylor? She barely smiles. She's dour and sour. And she always looks pinched. No idea why they didn't bring KA back. At least she had some of this "light" Steffy's always going on about. This NuNuTaylor is just a little ray of pitch black.

Last night, for the first time, it occurred to me that the Dutton siblings were not close. There was love between and among all of them (excluding Jamie/Beth) but they were not a close-knit family. Beth and Kayce had been away from the ranch for at least a decade each. Jamie and Lee were there but we don't know much about their relationship as poor Lee died in the second (?) episode. So, I could see Beth, who isn't particularly maternal, or even aunt-y, not having a relationship with Tate.

I try to check my anti-Logan bent at the door but I agree everyone is behaving badly in this SL. Carter is a baby. Steffy is just mean. Ridge is mean and cruel. And yet, I think they all have a point. Buried among their obvious biases. Carter is butthurt because the Forresters didn't give his conglomerate idea serious consideration. Sure, some disappointment makes sense, but this? And to turn it into a "no one listens unless your last name is 'Forrester'"? Come on. Steffy is supposed to believe Hope, who hit on Finn twice, that this time, she wasn't? Even though she walked in on her on top of him? But to turn it into "Logans always hurt us"? Come on. Ridge is duly incredulous that his best friend, who's been an invaluable and trusted employee, hasn't been influenced by Hope. But to call Hope a "bitch" and a "slut"? To her mother, no less? Dude. Come on. Hope? I'm not sure what to make of her. She does seem to relish that this week's man (not casting aspersions on the character - this superfast coupling is purely the result of bad writing) is the one with the power. And, while the LLC idea was Carter's, she has encouraged him every step of the way. And the "Logans have been treated like peasants" bit is just way too much. They are not family. Their name is not on the door. Or the giant checks deposited into their respective accounts. They're employees. They're not entitled to anything else. As Don Draper said "That's what the money is for!" You don't go to Apple and, no matter how much you contribute, demand anything. Because it's not your company.

Young Will was actually a bit of a dickhead with his "money, money, money!" aping of his father's worst cartoonishly capitalistic tendencies. So NuWill's elitist comments to "pizzaboy" actually track.

Demi Moore was in one scene, briefly, and had no lines. Pretty much all Jon Hamm does is get in and out of helicopters and talk on the phone with Tommy with only the back of his head shown. Given the hints that Jon Hamm's character has high blood pressure and has to take meds, I can only think he becomes incapacitated and/or dies and Demi Moore's character steps in to run everything. Then we'll get to see her get in and out of helicopters and talk on the phone with Tommy with only the back of her head shown.

The lawyer is terrible. A one-note Beth-clone who clearly has no concept at all of how the law works.

I wonder if John was aware of the prophecy/prediction that the ranch would go back to the Native Americans in seven generations and that's why he was furious with Kayce for impregnating and marrying a Native woman? (Of course, he loves Tate now that he's here but when he was just an idea? Maybe not so much.) And thinking back on the conversation between Kayce and Tate, where Kayce asked him if he wants the ranch to be his life? Yeah, seems as if that's where this is going.