Cool Breeze

I have two opposing thoughts: First, talk about something this show does absolutely right. The relationship between Bill and Liam is perfect. As others have stated, the idea that these two have real, meaningful conversations is great and is, but shouldn't be, novel. If every relationship on this show had that kind of depth and ease, it would be a completely different ballgame. Yesterday's conversation with them was funny - "Sorry, I'm not a great host. But, then, you're not a great guest." and meaningful - "I loved your mother." $Bill was able to be self-aware - "Do you really want to be obnoxious like me?" And he was able to impart sage wisdom and advice - "Winners can afford to be gracious." And Liam's reactions to the father he's only known for a few years were appropriately boyish. With Bill, Liam occasionally has an unconscious response that's like a young boy listening to his dad. That is a really well-created relationship. The opposing thought is this: The problem I have with Liam, Wyatt and Hope is that they are all children. Infants, practically. Ridge, Thorne, Caroline and Brooke were adults when their quadrangle started. And their manner and behavior was that of adults. Maybe it's the difference in generations. Caroline, Ridge and Thorne wore adult clothes and had adult jobs. Hope wears short-shorts to the office and has a "job" that's amorphous at best. I can't even remember the last time Liam "worked". I just don't see how we're supposed to be invested in Liam and Wyatt when they're really just emo boys playing house. There's nothing at all "manly" about either of them. And it's long-settled that Hope is an immature, vapid empty vessel. Maybe they can they be SORASed.

One of the ways TK's Ridge is different from RM's is that NuRidge is just plain mean. He's gruff, extremely rude and mean as a snake. I understand he's supposed to be recovering from his Persian Gulf trauma but his impatience with a fawning, adoring Caroline was just dickish. If you want to write a PTSD SL, then do it. Otherwise this Ridge is just an unrepentant asshole.

I've watched this show from the beginning and there's a very good argument that Brooke earned her position at FC via the BeLieF formula. Eric, obviously, started the company with Stephanie, and, by talent and with determination, created one of the premiere fashion houses in the world. The difference is their progeny have not all earned their positions. The show has told us Ridge and Thorne shadowed their dad at FC since they were children and worked at FC as soon as they were able. And when the show began, Kristen was a fledgling designer sharing an office with another designer. Felicia's the only one who seemed to slide into an unearned role. Rick has earned his position at FC as well, after working at Forrester International, etc. Hope, on the other hand, we've seen graduate from high school. Period. Almost immediately thereafter, though, she was given a line at FC by her aunt for the sole purpose of spiting Steffy. Hope has earned nothing. She is uneducated, untalented and, in my estimation, uninspiring. The idea that she's anyone's "baauuss" is a joke.

And don't forget that his heart was never "Fuller" than when he owned the diamond. Was Quinn holding him hostage? He had to send Wyatt a coded message? Oh, B&B.

That actually was a mature conversation between Hope and Liam. But Liam was 100% right. Wyatt was using the diamond to manipulate Hope and the personal reasons for giving it to her far outweighed any business purpose. Wyatt had made a purely romantic promise to give the diamond to Hope and he was following through on that promise. And Hope knew it. She tried to hide her feelings about accepting it, again claiming it was for "the line". But she knew, and Liam knew, that was complete horseshit. Remember, when Wyatt first gave her the diamond, she accepted it very quickly, with minimal reservation. In her conversation with Liam, she made her acceptance of the diamond all about "trust" but, surprise, surprise, Liam was right not to trust her.

I think the Character vs. Writer debate boils down to this: If the character behaves consistently, that's the character. If the character suddenly behaves inconsistently (or "out of character"), then it's the writing. Since she was reintroduced as an 18-year-old, Hope has always been a princess. From the beginning, she's been admired, honored and adored by her family and every available man of appropriate age but we didn't get good reasons why. If Brooke (and Rick) had acknowledged they were going overboard with praise because of her scandalous conception and Brooke's past, that would have been one thing. But that never happened. The show told us about all these wonderful attributes but I didn't really see them. To me, Hope is selfish and remarkably self-centered. Liam shows up battered, bloodied and bruised at Oliver's house looking for her (Oliver being the next warm body) and Hope's response is "Why weren't you at my party?" Keeping in mind, by the way, this was just one of about 4 parties in her honor in as many months. Why so many parties? Because she's Hope. The bottom line is she's always been a very passive character who just goes the way the wind blows. "He" isn't here but "He #2" is? Ok. And, come on, we all know this is going to play out the same way in Paris. And it will be completely in character for Hope.

I'm just going to say this and then go sit in a corner. TK is not as charismatic or compelling a presence (at least in this role) as RM was. All the attention and focus on Ridge as the center of the Forrester family, angst over his possible demise, etc. just rang hollow. I kept thinking, "all that over this guy?" And then his speech yesterday just highlighted for me that TK's "Ridge" is not the leader of this family as RM's Ridge. RM very likely wouldn't have been able to hit the same emotional beats as TK, but this is a soap opera. To fully inhabit a role, acting chops are only part of the equation. And with TK as "Ridge", that equation doesn't add up.

I'm not sure Ridge's amnesia is completely gone. I think TPTB are going to milk this for awhile. He'll probably still have "gaps". He's certainly not going to remember Justin piloting the helicopter right away. I'm sure they'll drag that out.

RunTheTable, I was thinking the same thing about the Ridge "reboot". I think this will be like Caroline's balcony plummet. It probably won't be as successful but it may provide a much-needed reset of the character. And exactly how selfish is Hope? Calling a meeting and being dramatic with her "I have news . . . . " I know this is a soap opera but come on. That seemed unnecessarily cruel, drawing out the reveal when the family has been anxiously awaiting news for days. And her speech telling everyone to love each other, blah, blah, blah. Self-absorbed and narcissistic.

Hope does not need to be all cuddly with that white kitty cat. She's immature and glossy-perfect-princess enough without a boo-boo-kitty. With it, she's nigh insufferable.

KM smoking and wearing black leather would be about as believable as Olivia Newton-John's similar transformation in "Grease". She can wear the clothes and the attitude but both will be glaringly ill-fitting.

Flight time between LA and Dubai is about 16-17 hours. So, when Eric mentioned the "day and a half", maybe he was referencing the travel time plus local time? I have to say it was refreshingly realistic to see Ridge sleeping, in the dark, on a long flight. We never, ever see a change in the time of day or someone behave normally on a flight. Usually, it's just a couple holding each other all the way from LA to Paris! And Quinn skates again. When is she going to get hers?

If Liam had half a brain, he would have gone up to Eric's office, in his towel, to tell Hope (and everyone else) what just happened.

But Brooke is not doing the right thing. She's using documents she knows were signed under false pretenses, i.e., $Bill claiming to want to reunite with Katie. While Brooke doesn't know Bill slept with Katie as part of that pretense, Brooke was furious enough with Bill over this deception to break off their relationship. And let's not forget the Logan Sisters United act she put on when she sided with Katie and said "Bill lied to us! He hurt us!" Huh? I'm all for $Bill getting SP back and getting joint custody of Will. But if those papers were so tainted, and the methods Bill used were so repugnant, that Brooke broke up with Bill over them, how is it they're ok to use now? I think Caroline the First would disagree with the opinion that Brooke's done nothing "nefarious". Brooke hid love letters, misdirected her "best friend" Caroline time and again, sabotaged rendezvous, all in the name of landing Ridge.

The problem is that Brooke has committed numerous "sins" and was never really held accountable for any duration. She had sex with Oliver thinking he was Ridge? After two days, Ridge's attitude was "Oh, Logan" like she's Lucille Ball or something. She had sex, in a public place, mere feet away from kids she was chaperoning! Even without the whole "I-can't-tell-the-difference-between-a-20-year-old-and-the-50-year-old-I've-had-sex-with-for-decades" thing, that's just horrific judgement. Now, with the $Bill situation, FRidge is chastising her for something that happened while he was away, that speaks to Brooke's character, sure, but really shouldn't hurt him the way it seems to. He should have held her accountable for all those historical misdeeds, but his response here is disproportionate. And I'll add there's no way, not even in soapland, she should ever, ever, have been forgiven for sleeping with her daughter's husband. Luke raped Laura, they subsequently became the biggest soap couple in history, and 30 years later, there are times he still has to deal with the fallout from that night. But Brooke sleeps with Deacon and Eric asks his own daughter to forgive Brooke? Really? If that's not a crime that speaks to Brooke's character and judgement, I don't know what is.

While the recast may give TPTB some new avenues to explore, make no mistake, Ridge was always the favorite son of both Stephanie and Eric. I've watched this show from the beginning and, in the ensuing decades, Ridge could do no (ok, maybe a little) wrong. He sleeps with his brother's wife, he sleeps with his father's wife? Well, that's just Ridge! Maybe the reaction wasn't that casual, but there were no long-term repercussions. Thorne was the second son, in every sense of the word, both professionally and emotionally. And Rick was an afterthought. Ridge was always #1 with Brooke too. She never felt anything with Eric that came close to her feelings for Ridge. Sure, she and Eric have a comfortable relationship (that she uses to manipulate him every chance she gets) but it was always Ridge, first and foremost. With TK now impersonating Ridge, maybe they'll take Brooke in a different direction. Re: Darla's floating head, I think we may be seeing the head only as the actress may not be as camera-ready as she would like. I don't think she's worked in a while so maybe she doesn't feel comfortable being fully onscreen? It works, though. Makes Aly seem bananas.