In Case You Missed It… and Even If You Didn’t
Bless its repetitious heart, the show devoted a great deal of its airtime this week to reminding us of things that we already knew. Liam has a brain tumor. Steffy’s super sad about it. Finn’s the bestest. Carter still loves Hope. Deacon feels the urge to karate-chop Carter every time he sees him. Luna doesn’t like how everyone treats her just because she murdered a couple of innocent people. It was very much lather, rinse, repeat, only with extra tears. I did have to laugh, though, when Carter tried recapping to Daphne, and she spoke for all of us when she huffed, in essence, “For the love of Pepé Le Pew, I know!”
But maybe Bold & Beautiful was just trying to dull our senses with all of the repetition so that we wouldn’t notice the way that it telegraphed Liam’s fate. I’d been assuming that miracle worker Finn would create a magical ice cream scooper that would pluck out Liam’s tumor at the 11th hour. But can that still happen now that the soap has trotted out classic “Steam” and “Lope” flashbacks? The powers that be can’t put us through the emotional wringer that way and then let Liam live, can they?
The Cheat Is On
Plus, Bold & Beautiful delivered the fraught, fantastically acted episode in which Steffy broke it to Hope that their favorite ex-husband wasn’t long for this world. Jacqueline MacInnes Wood and Annika Noelle were so raw in those scenes, you couldn’t help but be moved. Even an old crankypants like me got misty-eyed. So the soap basically told us, “Yeah, this is for real. He’s gonna die.” He’s got to.
If Liam lived now, after all this, we’d be like, “Damn you, Bold & Beautiful! You made us care, only to go, ‘Nya nya, you didn’t really need to! Psych!” As sorry as I’d be to see Scott Clifton leave the show, I’d feel cheated if Liam didn’t go to the grave. The show has pulled this stunt on us too many times before. Remember when it “killed” Finn… and Li… and Sheila? Heck, it was just last year that we spent months bracing ourselves for Eric’s demise, and look at him now. He’s as right as rain; doesn’t even suffer from ED anymore!
Random Observations
Shouldn’t an ex-con like Deacon be a lot more hesitant to open a can of whupass? Wouldn’t assaulting someone like he wants to Carter (again) violate his parole? Oh, what am I saying? Theoretically, associating with other cons — like his wife, Sheila — would violate his parole. This is Bold & Beautiful, not Law & Order. • Could there be an easier job in the world than that of a Forrester Creations intern? All Will does is make out with Electra and occasionally ooh and/or aah at a bauble. • If Daphne wants to seal the deal with Carter, perhaps she should consider not keeping him at arm’s length. (See photo below.)
Those are my thoughts for the week; Richard will be back from the high seas next time around. Drop your observations in the comments below after you check out our new Mother’s Day photo gallery of soap stars and their real-life moms.
