Has your week been bold and beautiful? Did you talk 'til you were blue in the face but got nowhere? Did you trade in your snazzy smartphone for a push-button? Did you tell your wife's rival, "Boom, boom, boom, let's go back to my room"? These and more situations faced the Forrester-Logan-Spencer-Spectra clan this week!
Happy November, Scoopers! It's time again for sweeps and I'll admit that lately, it seems they don't have the same impact on story that they used to, at least on B&B. However, as the week went from convoluted mish-mash to literally explosive, it did rather feel like the good old days. Bill declared the Spectra building was old and moldy, not realizing the irony, since his fixation on "Sky" is long past compostable at this point, too. Let's Scoop about it! (And don't mind the column title -- it's a P!nk song!)
TALK ABOUT IT, TALK ABOUT IT, TALK ABOUT IT, TALK ABOUT IT
This is something I've noticed on and off over the past several years, but for some reason I'm hyperaware of it these days -- for every scene with actual action happening, there are at least two others with characters discussing said action. I guess it's always been that way; it's just on my nerves right now. It feels like filler. I know the actors need their screen time, but I don't need all the hand-wringing that adds nothing to the story.
Steffy was stuck in that cycle this week, first filling Brooke in about Liam and Bill making nice over at Spencer. They asked each other the prerequisite questions about it and wondered their way through their whole scene. Then Steffy did the same thing with Wyatt about Liam's decision to channel the '60s, but more on that later. Especially when story builds up a head of steam, these discussions really slow things down.
Brooke clearly said she was filing for divorce from Bill. The next minute, Steffy asked her former stepmom if she had "made a decision" between Bill and Ridge. Were you not listening about the divorce, Steffy? Conversely, Steffy told Brooke about Bill softening toward Liam, and Brooke literally went, "Hmm." Hmm what? There's nothing to think about, Brooke! Bill burned down Spectra regardless, which is why you ditched him!
TRUST ISSUES
I am getting the distinct feeling lately that the show is just throwing things at the wall, hoping it will stick, yet throwing something new before knowing for sure. It's bad enough Liam got steamrolled by Bill because all his audio files of Bill's confession got magically erased; never mind that Liam could and should have a thousand flash drives full of copies in a safe place. Liam was in I.T.! He'd know to safeguard the file
So Bill sings Liam a few choruses of Kumbaya and suddenly all is right and Bill wants both Liam and Wyatt running Spencer Publications with him. I should have realized we were being punk'd, because the Dollah's emotional turnaround didn't track, not unless he'd been on psych meds for a month. Liam knows who his father is. Liam did what he did because he'd taken enough from him. And he still fell for it.
Well, like Cyndi Lauper, it didn't take long for Bill's true colors to come shining through. Liam had bought the Spectra Fashions building and gifted it to Sally -- except he didn't, because all company purchases go into a trust, and only Bill could sign off on any transfers because he's the trustee. Hallowe'en just passed, but it's already snowing in Los Angeles; we viewers are getting one helluva snow job.
I would argue Bill's right about Liam not having as much of a head for business, but seriously? Liam bought and transferred the building, not knowing about this apparent trust? Either he's really that dumb, or the show decided to retcon this story by throwing in a monkey wrench that hadn't been there before. I say it's both. We get weeks of do-the-right-thing Liam channeling Spike Lee only to have Bill undo everything in one day?
Bad guy Bill is, of course, fun for entertainment value, but he really needs to get his somewhere. And not just "losing" his company, which Katie already pulled off longer, with better results. I mean a jail cell. He's flirted with prison twice: once when he broke Deacon out and then when Rick locked him in a fake cell for messing with Maya. Bill is guilty of arson; Justin, too. Why does no one ever truly pay for anything on this show?
I GOT MORE MARBLES THAN YOU DO, NYAH, NYAH, NYAH
And just because Bill hasn't gotten away with enough (ask Amber sometime how she almost fell off a cliff while pregnant because of him), he diabolically turned his "let's all work together" schtick into "there's three of us, and majority rules." I'm sorry; in what universe does that scenario work? It would almost always become a case of two against one, which is hardly fair.
If Katie has Wyatt you-know-what-whipped at home, Bill's got him by the lady parts at work. I seriously don't buy Wyatt happening to share Bill's beliefs about all this; it just feels like he goes along with whatever daddy says. For as much as Liam has annoyed me over the years with his endless flip-flopping, at least he's been taking a stand against Bill and drumming up some backbone to do it.
Good thing Liam stocked up on that backbone, because Bill took a millisecond to roll his freakin' "Sky" model back into the office and feel it up. Dear soap gods in whatever soap heaven you reside! Is anyone else as sick of that damn building as I am? How long have we been on this? Six months? Eight? Nine? Bill oughta just marry "Sky" already, because the building may never get erected, but I can't say the same for Bill every time he talks about that friggin' building...
Well, didn't Liam's beard bristle when he found out Bill had every intention of flattening Spectra -- which, thanks to Liam and that trust punk, Bill now owned. Oh, and let's put it to a vote! I'm for, you're against -- how are you going to vote, Wyatt? Amazingly, Wyatt managed to remove his lips from Bill's posterior long enough to tell Liam building "Sky" was a good idea, because of course he did. Grab 'em by the Wyatt!
SPOOKY SPECTRA SPOKESWOMEN
Did you see the special Hallowe'en opening credits? The usual models were instead werewolves, vampires, ghosts, etc., and the sequence got an old film makeover. But I think it would have worked better if it had been applied to the short opening that doesn't include the cast. Plus, the show went to the trouble of doing special credits and still didn't take Thomas and Zende out? Now I'm nitpicking. But that's what I do!
So Saul and Darlita donned these really cool costumes that made them look like cartoons. After putting Sally in a princess dress, Steffy strolled in, as usual unable to decide if Sally is friend or enemy. Sally took the time to change, and in Saul and Darlita's next scene, they were in regular clothes with their makeup washed off...even though they were going to a Hallowe'en party later in the same costumes. Huh?
At least we didn't have to sit through another cornball party ourselves, like the ones we had in '15 and '16. Sorry, but reality "stars," Thomas macking on Ivy, and Zende getting drunk because he didn't get his way, all cavorting among extras in costume, didn't do a whole lot for me. This year, Shirley came as a vampire of sorts, pushing for Sally to suck more than Liam's blood.
I love Patrika Darbo; it's just a shame she's given little else but a one-dimensional character to play. Shirley hated Thomas until he forked over 100 G's to save Spectra; now, in terms of Liam, she's telling her granddaughter, "you need that man! We all do!" Is money all this woman cares about? And don't get me started on Shirley being able to accurately assess Sally's designs. She's a baker!
But back to Steffy. She lowered the boom on Sally regarding Liam, and that was before the silly plot device of Grams putting his picture on the wall. Steffy gave her usual "you better not step up on my man" speech, then got quite the look when she found out Sally knew about Bill setting the fire. I somehow expected it would be a bone of contention when Sally discovered Steffy had known about it all along, too, but nothing happened.
MEET ME HALFWAY ACROSS THE "SKY"
There was a little whirlpool going around and around that I got caught up in while watching Bill and Liam attempting to compromise. I couldn't quite decide whose idea was better, whether cooler heads were prevailing or if the brisk atmosphere was just temporary. Adding to the effect was the fact that father and son repeated themselves more than once, and on more than one day.
Bill offered to pay to relocate Sally and her crew to the building of their choice, "within reason," somewhere that would be up to code and modern. Yet Liam insisted that the Spectra building had been part of that family for decades and was part of their legacy. Bill thought Sally could design anywhere, while Liam felt they should give Spectra a year to get off the ground so they'd have a strong footing before relocating.
I can see merit on both sides. I have to admit the scales tilted toward Bill a bit when he pointed out that Spectra would just be paying to fix up a building he would be tearing down in a year anyway. It's just that Bill is still being a butt about the whole thing, if a nicer butt. He doesn't see how his relentless persecution of Sally is something that he needs to make up for, which is why I find myself Team Liam on this one.
SIT-IN AND SHUT UP
Sulky Liam pushed past the "Sally Says Recycle" sign (wait a minute! We saw that burn up in the fire!) to deliver the bad news to nuSally: Bill owned the building after all, and it ain't no lie, but it's bye bye bye. "How many times do we have to go through this?" Sally lamented about her Bad Luck Schleprock business. Yeah, preach to the choir, sister. Sally has barely caught a break since she arrived in February. It seems wrong.
Hearing the news, Shirley said she didn't care what the law said, which doesn't surprise me. But it gave Liam an idea: he and the Spectra gang would mount a sit-in! Shirley was right that the concept is very '60s, but it's certainly not missing from the present day; we could use a little more of it, actually. Liam couldn't stop Bill from demolishing Spectra the business way, so he'd stage a protest! What a truly kick-ass idea!
Or it was, because somehow the show dropped this storyline ball like it was a wrecking ball into the side of Spectra. The first thing Liam did was run home and tell Steffy about his plans. Dude, did you get hit in the head again? Liam would have to know Steffy would be against it -- that she'd try to talk him out of it, go to Bill with it, or both. To say nothing of her being torqued about the Sally angle.
How much better would it have been had Liam just chained himself to Spectra without telling anybody first? Instead, he blabs to Steffy; then we find ourselves into the next day, which means Steffy would have had all night to harangue Liam about not doing it. Continuing this descent into story invalidation, Liam then went to Bill himself and told him about his protest. No wonder Bill laughed!
Okay, I can see that maybe Liam hoped a last-ditch attempt would get Bill to back off Spectra, but they'd already reached a stalemate on that subject. Besides, informing Bill would only give him a chance to stop the sit-in, not that he tried to. I also found it off somehow that the demolition workers came in to find the Spectra gang in residence, but maybe that's just me. I just figured they were already done setting the explosives.
I would have thought Bill and Steffy finding out at crunch time that Liam had barricaded himself inside the building would have had a lot more impact than Bill knowing about it beforehand. Also, Shirley declared the whole world would watch if they got arrested. Why didn't Liam call the newspapers and TV stations? Why wasn't Sally Facebook Live-ing the whole thing to gain viral support? The dynamite was lit, but it never went off.
JUST PUT YOUR LIPS TOGETHER AND BLOW
Bill made sense when he fumed to Steffy that Liam gets off playing the hero. Now, Steffy should be getting off there, too, because that's how Steam even became a thing -- Liam rescued Steffy from drowning in a bathtub in 2011...while she was boo-hooing over not getting to boink his dad, by the way. I guess we're still no closer to getting Still. We got teased the same way Bill and Steffy did when Taylor busted up their boudoir.
Wyatt scored a few points, too, when he told Steffy that Bill and Liam were acting as though they were trying to see who would flinch first. Grandstanding is what Bill does, so you kind of have to admire Liam for consistently looking Bill in the eye on this one. Amazingly, Bill had Spectra's equipment moved out but never bothered to tell Sally et al, who wondered for two seconds why all their stuff was gone.
In the old office where Stephanie and the O.S. (original Sally) used to scrap, it was one for all and all for one -- until Bill cut the power. Then suddenly Shirley and Darlita wanted to run like frightened deer. Some protestors they turned out to be. Liam rallied everyone with a telling speech about how it was time to teach Bill that power and greed have their limits (amen), but the Dollah wasn't done yet.
After talking to Liam and telling his demolition guy there was "a better way to do this," Bill decided to blow up the Spectra warehouse I didn't know they had, since, you know, that was a better way to do "this." Did that moment make anyone else besides me think of the time Bill told Justin to "cool [Ridge] off" by dumping him into the ocean? Liam may get off playing hero, but Bill was totally juicing over the idea of causing rack and ruin.
First Shirley, Saul, and Darlita wanted to celebrate because it got quiet outside for one minute. Then, one little explosion, and they lost all their resolve and scattered like roaches when the lights go on. Hey, I didn't want them to be in danger, but they got zero on the respect meter from me for their cowardice. Sally also decided it wasn't worth it and told her great-aunt in absentia that she had done what she could.
Sally looked at the building like Antonio Banderas in Shrek, thinking back to the few months she actually had anything to do with the place. I guess we've seen enough Old School Sally flashbacks, but nuSally's recollections didn't match the gravitas of the underscore to me. Anyway, Liam and the Spectra gang ran out into the CBS parking lot and its set trailers, happy they were safe and sound.
I have to say, what happened next was truly suspenseful. Through binoculars, Justin saw everyone run out of the building and told Bill they were good to go. (Did you hear Aaron D. Spears is now on contract? I wonder if unpunished criminal Justin will get to do more besides dirty deeds for Bill!) But Justin put the binox down long enough not to see Liam and Sally deciding to go back in.
Justin decided to have another look and panicked when he noticed Sally and Liam were no longer among the group of protesting evacuees. Interestingly, Bill couldn't hear Justin's frantic call because he had been given a pair of ear protectors in advance of the coming detonation. What a great moment when Steffy rushed in just as Bill kicked back the safety on the device.
And like any man who's finally gotten some after waiting and waiting, Bill gleefully flicked the switch and probably needed a tissue after he was done. Hey, at least we don't have to hear about Bill wanting to level Spectra anymore, 'cuz he did it. Was that just some really well done CGI, or did B&B get to film an actual demolition? Because that looked damned good. And you know I don't hand the show compliments easily!
Satisfied that dust plumes were spreading across downtown L.A., Bill gloried in the moment just long enough to get a text: "STOP!!! LIAM AND SALLY STILL IN BUILDING! STOP!!!" And it was in all caps so you know it was serious. Well, that party was over quick, because Bill put two and two together -- he probably killed his kid. I guess that cancels out the need for his new majority rule with Liam and Wyatt, doesn't it?
Yep, as silly as the setup was, I'm not gonna lie: that sequence was explosive. Are Liam and Sally dead? Will Bill finally learn his lesson? Will Bill and Steffy end up having grief sex the way Brooke and Nick did when Ridge was "killed"? Push the button in the the Comments section below or on the Soap Central message boards, or simply click here to submit feedback. Your comments could wind up in a future column! Like these!
"YAWN. So once again, a criminal gets away with it entirely and kisses and [makes] up just in time for the big Thanksgiving scene at Forrester manse. [This is] awful [storytelling]...[the show is just] a series of lame vignettes with no real payoff and no real consequences.." -- Eileen
"Not Bill's fault! He offered a FAIR plan to FULLY compensate Sally but it wasn't good enough for Liam. Then they run BACK IN? Their fault." -- Brianna
"Liam really doesn't need any recording if he wanted to turn his father in. He has his own testimony along with his brother's, his wife's, Sally and Katie's. And really, all it would take would be a tip to the police and they would have to investigate and would turn up a lot of incriminating stuff about the arson. Also, there is a huge plot hole in all of this. Bill signed away his CEO position to Liam. That legal document doesn't go away just because the recording is gone." -- Rupert
Only one thing left to say about the Spectra demolition: cleanup on aisle 10! Keep watching, be alert, and most of all, be bold. And remember, now more than ever, no matter color, creed, religion, gender identity, or orientation, we're all beautiful.
What are your thoughts on The Bold and the Beautiful? What did you think of this week's Two Scoops? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
