KerleyQ

It's like there are two different Taylor characters on this show. You have Brooke's BFF Taylor, who I genuinely enjoy. Then you have Thomas's mother Taylor, who just sucks. Hope should be furious with Steffy. She was the one who told her to stand firm against Thomas coming back to work on her line. She's led Hope to believe that she will stand firm on Thomas's demand for 24/7 access to Douglas. Two ambushes from Taylor and Thomas, and Steffy does a 180 on Thomas. She should tell Steffy that, if she is going to tie Thomas's return to her line remaining active, then he needs to work remotely, because she will not be put into that proximity with him again. She can inform Steffy about him trying to make a move on her after the fashion show as evidence that it's not in the company's best interests for her to be forced to work closely with him again. They can hire a courier to bring Thomas's designs into the office, and the two of them can communicate via emails. Also, Hope needs to talk to a lawyer about the custody issue, because if Steffy is already weakening towards Thomas on the work front, it won't be long before she weakens about Douglas, too.

I admittedly don't know a ton about the life cycle of a fashion line, but there doesn't seem to have been nearly enough time between the show with Thomas's designs and now for there to be an ongoing downturn in HFTF sales that wasn't due to his designs. If what they're saying is true, then Thomas's designs are the reason for the poor performance. I can't imagine that Zende and Eric's designs would have been in stores long enough for there to be an ongoing drop in sales. At most, the most recent figures could, maybe, be the first numbers from their designs, but I'd think they'd still largely be from Thomas's. I would have forgiven Steffy for a lot if, yesterday, when Thomas walked in, she told her mother "if you can't come over without springing Thomas on me when you know I don't want him dropping in unexpectedly, then you can't come over." Also, Steffy, you were just talking about how Finn worries about you being home without him with Sheila on the loose, and a few minutes later, Thomas barges in. Do you not lock the doors when a psychopath who is obsessed with your family is on the loose? That seems like the bare minimum effort on that score.

I think a lot of us have been in that situation - the guy is perfectly nice, he's attractive, he's attentive, and our friends think we should go for it, but you just feel this uncomfortableness right beneath your skin, because that "it" just isn't there for you. I felt second hand relief when she put an end to things. And, yes, the anvils were flying. Hmm... who is in Brooke's life who already knows and cares about her, who will show her affection? The show was not subtle, which gives me hope that they truly are going to go there. I just really hope it doesn't end up being some kind of placeholder storyline until TK's return. Let him come back with a new woman he's met while he's been away "finding himself."

At this point, Braylor is the only pairing I feel emotionally invested in on this show. I'm going to be so let down if it doesn't happen.

Why are they treating Deacon and Sheila like some great star-crossed pair? Hard pass, show. Hard pass.

Bill's doctor friend (played by Vincent Irizarry) was right there, show. Liam and Wyatt could call him because they're worried about Bill, and that ends up with him interacting with Taylor and Brooke.

Even if they don't want to go for a full blown relationship thing, Brooke can have a fun one or two night stand with the guy, just to remember that she can be with a guy and just have fun, without all the 24/7 drama that comes with Ridge.

I caught that bullshit, too. Apparently, since Paris is so fucking thirsty for Thomas, she's just going to be a mindless Thomas stan. Hope and Liam have never kept him from Douglas. Even after his most recent bullshit, he was just over at their house spending time with Douglas the night before the "I want to live with Aunt Steffy" hearing. Hope has always talked about wanting to make sure Douglas has a good relationship with Thomas. It's one of the million reasons she's been a far better parent to Douglas than Thomas has ever even considered being. I like Taylor a lot more when she's not involved in her kids' lives. When Thomas went into his whole "poor persecuted me" spiel, Taylor looked at Steffy and said "do you hear this?" like she was in complete agreement with him and expected Steffy to drop to her knees, apologize to Thomas, and send Finn out to buy bunkbeds for Douglas's room, so Thomas can move right in there with him. Taylor, your son sucks as a human being. He needs therapy (not from you), and he needs to make amends to a lot of people, including his sister and his son. You can't just expect that Steffy is going to roll over for him just because she's your more reasonable child and she wants to make you happy. She's doing the right thing right now for herself and for Douglas. If you want to lean on someone to fix things, lean on your dumbass son who keeps fucking up because he has no impulse control and can't stand being told "no." I still can't believe nobody has brought her up with the whole Douglas custody thing. Hope has mentioned that cliff twice, but it hasn't occurred to her to worry about the psychopath who is obsessed with Finn, Steffy, and Hayes? Sheila's name would have been the first damn thing out of my mouth when Douglas said he wants to live there. Also, we all know something is going to happen with that cliff, right? I mean, it would be nice if that was simply a mother worrying about her son's safety when he's moving into a house on a cliff, but this is a soap. She mentioned it twice, so someone is going over that cliff soon. Maybe Douglas can push Sheila over it?

Today's last scene of Thomas was no different than any scene where Sheila is monologuing to herself about Finn and Hayes. Also, was it me, or were those happy memory scenes Thomas was flashing back over all from the time period where he was gaslighting, manipulating, and abusing Douglas to try to get into Hope's pants?

I've never liked Steffy and Finn more than when they were shooting down Thomas's fantasy that he's just going to move right on in and get 24/7 access to Douglas. Also, I think TN needs his character to have adversaries. He's a much better actor when he's going toe to toe with someone. If they aren't headed for a Braylor pairing, I would love to see Brooke picking up on some flirty spark between Deacon and Taylor and deciding to fix the two of them up. (Not because she thinks it clears the path for her to reunite with Ridge, but just because she genuinely likes both of them and wants to see them happy.) Of course, any storyline involving Deacon is destined to blow up because of his relationship with fucking Sheila, so...

I wasn't watching during Amber's time on the show, but is it weird that just from whatever I'd see about the character in SOD that I hated her?

I hope Steffy and Finn both stonewall Thomas when he tries to start showing up constantly. Thomas seems to be forgetting that Steffy is the one who just talked Hope down from considering rehiring him. And Finn isn't going to want Thomas disrupting their lives every day. It's clear that Douglas is looking at this like it's going to be a 24/7 fun vacation. But I do wonder if he's going to start to get homesick once this becomes just his daily life and it's not a constant party like Thomas made living at Eric's house. And even with that 24/7 party, Douglas still wanted Hope there, too. I doubt Hope and Beth are going to be sleeping over at Steffy's house every night, so Douglas may start asking to spend nights back at the cabin soon enough.

I was wondering about that, too. That's another issue Finn should have raised to Steffy. I know that, because this is the BellA legal world, and not real legal world, that bringing Sheila up in the judge's chambers wouldn't have mattered because she's not been charged with anything, so there's no reason to consider her a threat. But, in the family discussions, everyone should be pointing out to Steffy that with Sheila out and about, her house is not the safest place in the world. Hell, Liam should have already been having that conversation with her about Kelly.

I saw some speculation that Finn is going to resent Steffy talking him into this, and it will eventually lead to a split (all the conversations between the two of them and between him and his mother about how perfect everything is between them being anvils). Then she'll get back together with Liam after Hope becomes single-minded about getting Douglas back, to the neglect of everything else in her life, and then Hope ends up getting together with Thomas so the two of them can fight Liam and Steffy for Douglas. I will shoot my TV. I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again, pairing up Hope with Thomas is my single "no go" couple on this show. She should never, ever. Yep. I made the mistake of reading some reader comments on an article about this story. After the fifth time I read something along the lines of "Steffy is being the bigger woman by letting Hope take Douglas home. Hope ripped Phoebe right out of Steffy's arms and raced out of there without a single care," I had to stop. Yes, folks, because BOTH Douglas and Beth are Hope's children.

Except we had those scenes of him talking to Li about how poor Douglas just needs some stability in his life. He's totally going to be all on board with him moving in with them so they can provide that stability. This is absurd. First, the judge should have asked Douglas to explain why he doesn't want to live with either one of his parents. Or she should have caught the part where Douglas told Hope and Thomas that he just didn't want them to fight. Then, the best answer here was to say either that he could stay with Steffy for a brief time (provided she and Finn agree), or he could stay where he is, and his parents will be required to engage in some counseling and mediation to come up with an acceptable split custody agreement so that Douglas doesn't have to keep feeling like he's stuck in between fighting parents. But, nope, the judge does none of that. I feel pretty sure that Steffy and Finn are going to end up getting Douglas, and the writers will feel like this is some kind of payback to Steffy's fans who still think that "Hope took Phoebe from Steffy." So Steffy lost her adopted child to Hope and now Hope will lose her adopted child to Steffy. Fuck that. Thomas gets extra asshole points for coming from a hearing where his son asked to live with his aunt, because he hates being stuck in the middle of his parents, and saying "well, this isn't so bad for me, really." I am still waiting for the day that Hope realizes how huge of a dick this guy is and just lands one really good punch on him.

I'm annoyed by both Bill and Deacon being willing to trash all of their existing relationships to be with Sheila, but I admit, I will laugh for days if Ridge comes home, finds Brooke and Taylor both uninterested in jumping through hoops to be with him, and ends up falling for Sheila.

So, clearly, nobody at B&B does even a tiny bit of research into their legal stories. My husband (a lawyer) wandered into the room while my son and I were watching, and he was so pissed off at the stupidity of it all. Also, since apparently a little kid can just pick to live anywhere, and it has to be legally binding because his parents agreed to let him pick, we all agreed that Douglas should have blown right past Aunt Steffy's house and decided to live at Disney World. And that whole "and this is where you will live and who will make decisions for you until you reach maturity" thing is beyond laughable. At most, the judge would agree to let Douglas stay with Steffy for a limited time (provided neither parent has a legitimate objection to that placement), while all three of Thomas, Hope, and Douglas get some counseling and the judge makes a determination on custody (because, clearly, the job of having to decide between his two parents is too overwhelming for Douglas). It's going to be beyond absurd if Monday sees the judge saying "OK, Douglas lives with his Aunt Steffy until he turns 18. Tough luck, mom and dad." Also, show, reminder, split custody is a thing that exists and is very common. Precisely because this kind of all or nothing shit is absurd. You know, this hearing should have taken place after Taylor moves in with Brooke (if that is going to happen). Douglas could have picked living with both of his grandmas.

Hope has her hopes up so high for this that you just know the show is going to pull some bullshit and Douglas will end up with Thomas. Although it would be great if Steffy does the right thing and tells the judge all about that whole scene at Eric's house on the day of their parents' non-wedding. And now that I say that, I'm confused - if the whole deal is just supposed to be that Douglas is going to say who he wants to live with, then why does Thomas need a witness? Is Steffy supposed to appeal to Douglas on Thomas's behalf? Or is this actually going to be more of a custody trial than Thomas let on to Hope and Liam, so he can blindside them? And, seriously, even taking into account that the Forrester family has money and influence, there's no way Thomas magically got a court date for tomorrow like that. Unless it's an emergency, the court isn't going to let you drag someone else in with no preparation time or time to consult with their own attorney. Not to mention that, being smart for his age aside, Douglas is too young for the whole "the kid can tell the judge where they want to live" thing. Bottom line, though, I feel like Thomas is going to somehow manipulate Douglas. Or we're going to get some bullshit about how Douglas only told Hope he wants to live with her because he didn't want to hurt her feelings, but he really wants to live with his asshole father, who has no home. If they don't pair Brooke and Taylor up, they're trolling us pretty hard with their scenes. I would love it if the two of them found out about the custody hearing, busted in, and both went to bat for Hope, with Taylor saying that she loves her son, but he has some work to do on himself to get to a better place for his son.

At least the doctor in the storyline eventually got around to some skepticism. But, yeah, they all just wanted her to be dead and gone so badly that they collectively just went with it.

I think that the scene she set up was supposed to be that the toe was somehow all that was left of the bear attack, as opposed to her having just somehow lost the toe, and it causing her death.

My initial reaction to this was that Sheila knows they all hate her, so she would be suspicious. But, giving it more than a few seconds, I remember that Sheila is the master of magical thinking. She truly believes that she is owed everyone loving her and giving her what she wants. And she is still convinced that, despite shooting Finn and Steffy and leaving them for dead, she's going to have a close relationship with Finn and Hayes. So, yeah, if everyone started doing a 180 and saying things like "oh, we were wrong, we see how good you are for Bill, and how happy he is. We're so sorry we've misunderstood you in the past. We want to welcome you to the family," she'd just tell herself "they finally get it!"

Even if they don't want to give the whole thing away yet, they've got to give us a little bit more than the complete blank slate we've got now.

Are we building up to Sheila killing Katie? Because I've noticed that, other than angst for Taylor (to bring her closer to Brooke?) the focal point of this storyline seems to be moving solidly to Katie. And Katie has clearly shown Sheila that she is a threat to her relationshit with Bill. We know what Sheila does when she thinks someone is in her way.

This storyline is a showcase for HT. Not so much for anyone else involved. Unless comedy is their goal, they really need to stop doing those end of scene closeup shots of Steffy's dramatic reactions. JMW is so laughably bad at those.

So, Hope started a fashion line to help promote her values to young women. And now she gets one lukewarm review for a new collection, and she wants to bring back in the designer who emotionally abused her son, placed a fraudulent CPS call to break up her mother's marriage, and manipulated her to try to seduce her and break up her marriage. Way to hold firm to those values, Hope. WTF? I still fear the show wants to put Thomas and Hope together at some point in the not too distant future. And that should just be a permanent no-go for Hope after everything he's done. I saw some speculation, based on that Liam/Hope conversation about the night Bill was shot, that we're going to get a reveal that Liam is really the one who shot Bill, and that Bill has been keeping that secret, but somehow Sheila found out, and she's using that to manipulate Bill. And at first I was thinking "OK, that makes some sense" (other than how in the world Sheila would have come across this information). But, if Sheila was basically blackmailing Bill into blackmailing everyone else, why are we getting the vomit-worthy lovey-dovey scenes between the two of them when nobody is around?