It wouldn't be a Forrester wedding (or whatever they called it) without some quality Springer-like drama to spice things up. It was bad enough to have an event last ALL week long and put us all to sleep, but now we had to witness the real family matriarch stumble in toasted. Thorne and his egomaniacal brother almost came to blows over how to handle her...I was half expecting the guests to start chanting "THORNE! THORNE! THORNE!" Jerry would be proud. Now on with the keen analysis...
It's obvious that Queen Stephanie is feeling a little, well, insecure these days. Why else would she end up in a dockside drinking hole with Nick of all people. You mean she could not have gotten loaded at Café Russe? I'm still a little confused on how we are supposed to believe that. Oh well, it's not like the writers are very grounded in reality anyway, right? They both end up commiserating from the bottom of a bottle of Jose Cuervo before cabbing it to Brooke and Ridge's renuptials. Why? What was this whole scene meant to do? Show what an out of control old windbag does when she senses defeat? Or maybe it was to further allow the writers to tear down Nick's character some more in the eyes of the other characters? Either way, I saw little use for those scenes. Did the actors play them well? Absolutely! JW and SF did a great job and provided a little comic relief amidst the old and tired 'recommitment'...or was it 'reconnecting'...wait, it was a 'reaffirmation' ceremony. I knew it was something weird like that. Felicia got a good look at Nick, though, and seems to find him appealing. Notice she wasn't too forthcoming about who she was. Maybe she was a little ashamed? One thing is for certain, she sure has CHANGED since she was last seen on the B&B canvas. Her outfit revealed some LARGE changes that would make any plastic surgeon proud to include on his resume. Oh my!
I'm still not sold on the idea of Nick and Felicia. Ok, maybe the writers won't reunite Brooke and Nick, but I just don't see him really opening up with Felicia. She's too severe, too obvious. Some have speculated that this paring will make Brooke jealous and jeopardize the marriage to Rigid, but I'm thinking the Achilles heel to that union will have more to do with the situation brewing between Rick and Caitlin. I believe Felicia may actually end up with Deacon somehow. Think about it...he needs to stay in the show and since he's not with Bridget, his only other logical tie with the centerpiece family of the show would be to hook up with an available Forrester. That's Felicia. I would prefer him with Amber but this would keep Deacon on the canvas and at the same time drive Eric and Rigid NUTS! I'm all in favor of anything that makes those two crazy as they do the same for me every week. Imagine the next Forrester Christmas party with Deacon and Felicia cutting the rug and getting wide on champagne. I would tune in for sure.
Brooke will have some hard choices to make in the coming weeks as her #1 son moves closer to doing the horizontal hold with our young virginal designer. Will she support her lovestruck son or will she have to come down on the side of her strange little stepson Thomas because she can't stand up to Ridge? Someone needs to tell that kid to speak up when he delivers his lines, geez! Anyway, I would guess she will be sympathetic to Rick and THAT will drive the wedge between her and Rigid. He has already issued his order that Rick stay away from Caitlin and will make life worse for him when he sees his son all depressed that she doesn't want him instead. Here's a newsflash for you Ridge, tone down the dictator rhetoric for a minute, will you? He's become worse than ever with his rants and demands and is now the new horse's ass on the show. I have never seen such a spoiled and belligerent character in a soap in a long time. Between how he treated Nick and Massimo during the whole FBI situation (which he offered NO apologies for and suffered no consequences for), how he talks to Thorne and bullies his way around the company, and now his chat with Rick telling him what he will and will not do, he is setting himself up to be the most despised character on the show and one that I would love to see get axed through a well constructed murder story. He needs to go. And the aging 70's rock star white leisure suit can go with him. Brooke can grieve in the Caribbean and come back to find a real man to love her and give her a great life. Would it be Nick? Not sure if that's in the cards though I would tune in for that everyday of the week. But I believe having Ridge off the canvas would do wonders for her either way. Hey, I can dream, can't I?
Speaking of nasty behavior, how about that phone call to end the week between Ridge and Thorne? The writing is on the wall now and the war is on! I hope Thorne comes out on top in this battle, but with the spoilers reporting that Darla unknowingly delivers the new designs to Spectra to copy, I see yet another Ridge speech about how bad an influence Darla is on Thorne. I disagree. I think she has helped him use what God gave him down there and to help him see he is more entitled to the Forrester legacy than his blowhard older HALF-brother. Macy always tried to suck up to the Forrester's and never encouraged Thorne to make waves within the family. Darla may have been a ditsy character when introduced so many years ago, but I really like how the writers have allowed her to grow up and show she's not so 'dingy' as Ridge thinks. I can't believe he keeps insulting her at every turn in front of Thorne! You can't talk about a man's wife and think everyone will be ok with it...Thorne needs to flatten him soon! He has taken enough from him going all the way back to what Ridge did with Caroline while she was married to Thorne. It's YEARS of bad behavior that Ridge will pay for next week and I for one hope it will send him straight to the dentist for some new teeth! GO THORNE!
One more thing I forgot to mention...a couple of weeks ago I caught the scene where Ridge describes to Hope that a kiss should be wet, sloppy and make your toes curl. That is something you say to someone you are in love with, NOT a small child. I received several emails referring to this last week and I share my reader's opinions that it was a very unnerving and disturbing piece of dialogue coming from a man who had no problem making out with a woman that he used to think of as his sister. I know they are not, but it was creepy nonetheless. Between that, how he leers at Caitlin, and this latest inappropriate interaction with Hope, it seems that Ridge is becoming a very unpopular character even amongst some that liked him up until that.
Ok, enough about Ridge. How about that dance between Rick and Caitlin? I thought it was very romantic. I know that many are opposed to this coupling based on age, but haven't we seen many couples go through this? After all, it was confirmed last week that she's 17, not that far from legal. I'm sure Hector and Sam were years apart based on their own backstory. Amber was older than Rick when they hooked up and no one stopped them from being together. Deacon was much younger than Brooke and was much older than Bridget when he slept with them. So what's the big deal? I see more heat between them than when she has Thomas sleazing around her all the time. There is just something about him...can't quite put my finger on it. As with any soap, viewers may not like a certain character but when paired with the right person, they become easier to like and this is the case with Rick. I was never very 'into' watching him, probably in large part due to his marriage to Amber. He got closer with his relationship with Kimberly. But he seems better with Caitlin. Maybe because a relationship with her would not start off as such a train wreck as it did with Amber. The scenes at poolside on Friday did nothing but confirm this for me. She looked desperate and he looked bored. Enough said.
The question of the week was basically split on Rick and Caitlin. Some were ok with it and other thought the age difference was too big. But one theme resonated through ALL the responses...NO THOMAS AND AMBER! Everyone thinks that would be awful and not so helpful to the ratings B&B are trying to recapture. It's too much and I agree, one jailbait story is enough without letting Amber do it again. The writers could have done something to keep Oz around so he could keep her busy.
Ok, this week's question will be very direct and to the point: Do you think Brooke and Ridge's marriage will finally last this time? I'm curious as this subject has polarized so many fans. Will the writers leave them alone and be happy or will something come between them again? All can weigh in as there are many readers I hear from that could go either way. My vote is that they will be together for a while before anything happens and if it did, it would have to be big. The writers have to move on with other characters and keeping these two together allows that to happen. We'll see...
My rant for the week is a simple one: are we supposed to believe that Brooke really cares about Stephanie now? That scene with her holding a drunken Stephanie was too unbelievable to watch. All this 'I'm not the enemy, you are' dialogue coming from Brooke seemed a little forced, didn't it? With Brooke's current attitude about being the 'head' of the family, she could very well end up like Stephanie. After all, what will she do if young Caitlin begins beguiling all the Forrester men? Will she stand for it or will she do everything she can to get her out of the family? Now wouldn't THAT be interesting?
Until next week, stay in touch with your thoughts...it's the best part of my week when I hear from everybody!
