The Wise & the Lack of Self-Awareness

Wow. Yesterday's episode of The Bold & the Beautiful gave us several scenes of people actually acting like grown-ups and showing each other some decency and empathy.

Brooke and Steffy had a nice, rational conversation in which Brooke extended her sympathies to Steffy for the end of her marriage, and was openly impressed when she learned that Steffy was the one who actually stood up and ended things with Liam. And Steffy listened graciously and you could actually believe that these two people were once de facto mother and daughter.

Will wonders never cease?

And then Hope and Steffy had a restrained but respectful conversation in which they spoke to each other with kindness and even reflected on the fact that, in many ways, they really are sisters. 

Hope: It was supportive, and it was nurturing, and it was fun.Steffy, we used to laugh all the time and we had each other's backs!

Is there a donkey outside my 30th floor window?

And Hope even went to Bill try to bury the hatchet with him, but then of course that devolved quickly since Bill rejected her completely and said a bunch of Crazytown stuff, which was ironic since the point he was trying to make is that Hope is mentally unstable. Pot! Kettle! I'd like to make an introduction! Which Hope bizarrely responded to with some nonsense about how she'd hoped Bill could be a father figure in her life. Good god, woman. I guess she is a little crazy. 

And then things devolved even further when Stephanie gave Liam some legitimately stellar advice, about which she is blind to the irony.

Stephanie: You know, it's not really so great and romantic to find out that you never completely fill your husband's heart because part of it belongs to another woman. 

If you missed the episode, you might be understandably confused as to which woman she's referring to. Allow me: she's saying that Liam has feelings for both Hope and Steffy, so it's unfair of him to marry Hope when he still has feelings for another woman. Absolutely! Right on! But what was her argument in support of? Allow me: Liam getting back together with Steffy.

Okay, I got it. He should have stayed married to Steffy even though he still has feelings for Hope, but it's wrong to marry Hope when he still has feelings for Steffy. This is downright spectacular logic. Why can't this jackass just NOT BE MARRIED FOR FIVE SECONDS.

Stephanie also hilariously called Liam Spencer "honorable." You have got to be kidding me. It's super-honorable to run around making out with one woman while you're committed to another, regardless of which woman it is, and to keep two women on the hook because you've got no spine. Man of the Year. I might even try to see if we can get him the Nobel Peace Prize.

Then Brooke showed up and said some other wise things about how none of this is up to her or to Stephanie or anyone else besides the involved parties, which was also hysterical because she certainly thought it was within her rights to try to strong-arm her favored outcome two days ago -- as did every other adult on canvas. Stephanie basically responded to this by telling Brooke her daughter is a nut-job who belongs with no man, which I keep getting baffled by since Hope (bland though she may be) is pretty damn un-crazy for a soap opera character. But no matter! Stephanie thinks Hope has daddy issues, and since Steffy totally doesn't... oh wait.

I wish Dr. Stacy Barton would go wave her degree around in the middle of the town square and point out that all these grown people running around creepily preoccupied with the love lives of their much younger family members means that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM HAS SERIOUS ISSUES. Making the stone-throwing the laugh riot it's surely (?) intended to be.

And how could we forget...

Just to further drive home the point that all these people have major, major baggage, they offered up a little reminder that Steffy and Liam's father were all hot and heavy just last year. But they've apparently forgotten that completely, and Steffy's super-cool with the fact that Bill rigged things to make her think she was five seconds from death's door. Bygones, y'all!

Anyway, since Bill's whole Deacon plan is intended to bust up Liam's wedding in Italy, he wants Steffy to go ahead and accept Hope's invitation that she be a bridesmaid (I assume that's what she meant by, "Will you stand up for me at my wedding?" Why can't these people just use regular words now and then? Like butt-dial! Yay!) so that, naturally, once Hope is exposed as certifiable on her wedding day, Liam will just turn around and marry Steffy if she happens to be standing there. Oh. Bill actually knows his son quite well, since based on his history that's exactly what he'd do!

Comments

[Bourgeois Nerd]

Asking your husband-to-be's newly-ex-wife to be a bridesmaid? I think Hope might just be a little crazy after all. Either that or a SPECTACULAR stealth bitch.

[Louise]

Yeah, it was a pretty big stretch in contrivance-land just to get Steffy at the wedding.

[Pinky]

Good for Hope! She is not out to hurt Steffy, she never was. She doesnt play games, she doesnt scheme around like Steffy. She is not afraid of her, like Steffy was afraid of her.

Of course it was Steffy who was bragging about her "marriage" and daddy Rapist forced Hope to toast for his precious daughter and her new husband. I think it was at christmas dinner. Well karma is a bitch...

And Brooke... Thats my Brooke, the though girl with a heart of gold. Her goodness even extends to the bitch who not only treated her like dirt but stalked her sister's husband and her daughter's boyfriend and fiance.

Something tells me Steffy is heading for Bill.

[Anne]

Making Stephanie's advice to Liam even more spectacularly illogical is the fact that Stephanie spent years of her life trying to make sure her oldest son did in fact stay married to one woman while another occupied a significant portion of his heart. And she married Eric knowing that Beth occupied a significant portion of HIS heart. Snagging men who are torn between you and another woman is pretty much the single most consistent dynamic on B&B - now that I think about it, it's the defining element for just about every major relationship on this show, ever. And yes, triangles, soaps, but B&B has a phenomenal track record of keeping a major male character waffling between two women. Ridge, Eric, Thorne, Nick, and now Liam. And that's just a partial list, because I'm focusing on men who waffled between the SAME two women for years on end.

[Pinky]

And Satanie... I loathe her. Could she be more disgusting?

All her life she trashed Brooke for "stealing men". Meanwhile when the topic is Slutty, it is perfectly ok. Once again Satanie's goal is out in the open, to one up Logans. She couldnt care less about Slutty.

The rape facilitator opens her mouth to talk about "honour".

"Stephanie: You know, it's not really so great and romantic to find out that you never completely fill your husband's heart because part of it belongs to another woman."

Is that why she was pushing Taylor to Rapist? And poor Hope was seeing this creature as her "grandmother". Hope is crazy but Steffy is stable? What is this woman smoking? Unbelievable...

[slappie jones]

Pinky: "daddy rapist"? Is that Ridge? Did he rape someone before I started watching B&B? Ick.

[Gio]

Ridge raped Caroline while she was married to Thorne and he raped Brooke while she was engaged to Nick, so yeah, he is a rapist.

[Lisa Too]

Ridge is the original douchenozzle. SO GROSS.

Ugh, I have to stop watching this show. It burns...it freezes my brain.

[slappie jones]

Gio: I don't remember Ridge raping Brooke when she was with Nick. What the hell? Why did he do that?!?

[Anne]

Brooke was doped up on some kind of medication - don't remember exactly what or why - and told Ridge to leave. She went upstairs, he followed, got into bed, and had sex with her when she was neither willing nor able to give full consent. However - I'm in a huge minority on this - I think that, given their history and the way the episode was written and filmed - there was just enough ambiguity around what Ridge understood about her condition to make "rapist" an overstatement. Which doesn't mean he wasn't dreadful, but considering how many years Brooke spent trying to tempt him away from Taylor sexually, I think the dynamic between Ridge and Brooke was already thoroughly disturbing as far as one using their sexual attraction to convince the other one to leave someone else goes. As for Caroline - I didn't start watching until after she died. What were the circumstances of that incident?

[Gio]

Anne, I watched that scene, and IMO, the word RAPE was not an overstatement. She told him to leave and went upstairs. She was already groggy from the pills and woke up to see him in her bed. She asked "What are you doing," and passed out. He (Ridge) informed Taylor later that they had sex and it "Wasn't exactly consensual."

[slappie jones]

Thanks for the backstory everyone. Umm, yes I definately consider that to be rape. What was DOCTOR Taylor's reaction to that? Im assuming he never was arrested and the whole incident was just a speed bump on the way to "destiny". I think Ridge is slimy anyway, but wow...

[Gio]

Well, Taylor decided to tell Nick, Brooke's fiance, and she acted like maybe "Brooke wasn't really over Ridge" or some such junk. Pinky might know more. Then she confronted Brooke and badgered her, claiming that she had yet to "prescribe a drug that rendered a patient unable to consent" and implied that Brooke was using the pills as "An excuse to have sex with Ridge, guilt-free." She's (Taylor) such a snot.

[Lisa Too]

From the little I remember (please someone correct me where I'm wrong) is that Caroline was married to Thorne but she still loved Ridge. I can't remember why they were drinking but Caroline was completely out of it and Ridge moved in on her. Caroline thought she was about to sleep with Thorne and I THINK she said his name. I don't remember if Ridge was drunk or not but it was obvious Caroline thought she was with her husband, but Ridge slept with her anyway.

It seems to be his modus operandi. Yuck.

[slappie jones]

Thanks Gio (and eveyone who answered)! Between Brooke and Caroline, Ridge has at least two sexual assaults under his belt. I would up that to three if TPTB hadn't changed course during the 'Ridge and Bridget' almost pairing. I have floated in and out of B&B/Y&R over the years... before the days of dvr's. Has anyone noticed what a bad kisser RM seems to be? It always looks to me like he is trying to unhinge his jaw and swallow Brooke whole. How this dude has been a sex symbol all these years is beyond me!

[Ziyal]

B&B is usually crazy, but this recap makes it sounds uber-crazy!

[Pinky]

Sorry Anne but imo leave means leave. There isnt another option. I understand what you are saying but a woman being at peace with her sexuality can not be used to excuse a man.

Of course "doctor" Taylor didnt miss the opportunity to torture Brooke some more. She hightailed it over to Brooke's house and accused Brooke of "having her cake and eating it too". If i remember correctly she claimed she didnt know any drug that would make the affect the pills Brooke take had on her. And Ridge was bragging to Nick that Brooke loved sex and no one could satisfy Brooke like he did.

As for Caroline, she was drunk, she thought Ridge was her husband.

Of course after some time passed, "magically" Caroline knew it was Ridge all along. Satanie sets Brooke up to be raped, Bratley's way of showing us "idiots" "what real rape is". Same Ridge was talking with little Hope about toe curling kisses! And he was about to bed his sister/daughter/step daughter.

[Gio]

ITA with Pinky. Brooke did in fact tell Ridge that she wanted to be alone, and she had informed him for months prior to the night of the rape that it was NICK she wanted, period. And no matter what her sexual history was, she had the right to say NO and be heard.