Bold & Beautiful’s Steffy and Taylor Deserve Better, and Here’s How They Can Get It — Plus, the Problem With Paris

Credit: Howard Wise/JPI (3); CBS

This week’s episodes of Bold & Beautiful  may best be represented by two lines of dialogue which were repeated on a loop. The first was Brooke flashing back to New Year’s Eve and saying to Deacon, “Slug one back with me, buddy, old pal!” The second was, to paraphrase what half the canvas uttered, “OMG, Paris is so awesome that she’s made of sugar and spice and everything nice!” Meanwhile, several characters vanished and at least one majorly regressed. Let’s dive in… 

Fancy Meeting You Here

I’m still baffled as to why Brooke allowed Ridge to accompany her to that AA meeting. It’s not as if this is her first time at the rodeo. The whole point is to have a safe place in which to speak openly and honestly about your struggles, something she clearly would not be able to do with him in attendance. Katherine Kelly Lang did a stellar job — as always — as Brooke tortured herself, but honestly, watching the endless flashbacks to New Year’s Eve almost drove me to drink.

Above: “My name is Brooke and I’m… er… honey, could you cover your ears for this part?”

Credit: CBS screenshot

More: Star shares near-death experience

The only good thing about the flashbacks was that we got to see Deacon. Sean Kanan has brought so much to the canvas since his return, and I really missed him. Given that Brooke basically banished him, it would have been nice to see how he’s dealing with the fallout from their kiss. Then again, that probably would have simply meant more flashbacks so maybe it’s a good thing he wasn’t around… at least until Friday, when he said what we’ve all suspected from the start: That he loves Brooke, always has, always will. (Of course, he kinda said as much on New Year’s Eve.)

Something tells me that’s the moment we’re going to be flashing to all of next week.

This. Means. War!

When Taylor returned, I guess it was sort of obvious that the show would immediately head back to the Taylor/Ridge/Brooke well. After all, it has a bad habit of chasing its own storyline tail. Unfortunately, in doing so, they’ve completely negated any and all character growth on the part of not only Taylor but Steffy as well. Steffy’s behavior toward the end of the week was downright childish.

Above: When Steffy turns her glare on high, sometimes innocents are caught in the crossfire. Consider yourself warned, Finn.

Credit: Howard Wise/JPI

More: Did Jacqueline MacInnes Wood just let slip a secret? 

We might expect to see Douglas stomp his feet and wish his daddy and “Mommy Hope” would get together, but no, it was Steffy urging her mom to reunite their family. What I don’t get is this: Given how badly Ridge hurt Taylor — and not just once, but repeatedly over the years — why would Steffy even want to see them get together? And Steffy’s dialogue was downright contradictory. “I’m not asking you to compete for a man,” she told her mom. “That’s the last thing I want.But I want you to fight. Fight for your family.”

So, um, you want her to compete for a man.

Steffy then went on to suggest that Ridge was so caught up with the Logans that he wasn’t there for her and Thomas. Ironically, she was saying this to Taylor, who was not there when Thomas had brain surgery or Steffy got addicted to pills.

STEFFY: You taught us to take the high road.
ME: I’ve got one word for you, girlfriend… gondola. #BoldAndBeautiful

— SheKnows’ Soaps (@soapsdotcom) January 13, 2022

Finn wasn’t around for most of these conversations, but he might wanna start paying attention. Because if Steffy’s declaring war on the Logans and determined to reunite her family, it only stands to reason that she might want to steal Kelly’s dad away from Hope.

Do Better

I love Steffy and Taylor and want way more for them than to be caught up in this retread of a thrice-told tale. Why has Sheila’s return become all about her desire to punish Brooke? This all goes back to that scene a few weeks ago in which Brooke said she would do whatever it took to keep Sheila way from her family, especially Steffy, Finn and Hayes. It was a nonsensical moment written for no reason other than to set in motion Sheila’s plot against Brooke.

Above:It took a while, but Thomas and Steffy eventually came up with the perfect name for their new company: Taylor Made.

Credit: Howard Wise/JPI

More: It’s not to late to save Taylor’s self-respect

If they really want to do the whole Logan/Forrester war, why not pursue the idea of Brooke trying to push Steffy out of the CEO spot? Have a fed-up Steffy create her own fashion house, stealing away Thomas and begging dad Ridge to join them. Suddenly, the entire canvas would be choosing sides, the stakes would be high and it wouldn’t feel like the same story that’s been told a thousand times.

2Good2BTrue

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Paris is awesome. This was an actual exchange of dialogue this week:

RIDGE: She’s very special
CARTER: Paris is certainly very special.

I’d hoped that the arrival of Paris’ mom might lead to us learning more about the most amazing Forrester Creations employee of all time, but no. Grace just joined the choir in singing her daughter’s praises. I love Cassandra Creech, but so far Grace has served no purpose whatsoever. Given that she’s a doctor, perhaps they’ll have her cross paths with Finn’s dad, who is currently on the outs with his wife..

Above: It’s fine, Carter, I totally get it. I’d dump me for Paris, too. Isn’t she awesome?

Credit: Howard Wise/JPI

I can’t help wishing that instead of going on and on about how great a guy Zende is, Grace did what any concerned mom would and asked about his first marriage. Maybe then we’d finally find out why he and Nicole divorced

Meanwhile, I guess we’re just done with the whole Katie/Carter thing now that he’s been mesmerized by Paris. I assume any day now, Katie will tell us that Bill proved his devotion (off-screen, of course) and they’ve reunited.  Thank goodness for the opening credits, or we’d never see Katie, Bill, Eric, Quinn… guess they’re all with Donna and the kids getting ice cream at the park.

That’s my take on this week’s episodes… so let’s hear what you have to say. But before hitting the comments with your highs and lows of the week, join us in taking a moment to reflect on one of the show’s all-time greatest characters. Although it was 15 years ago this week that Darlene Conley passed away, the show wisely decided to let the original Sally Spectra live on. As John McCook (Eric) told us recently, “She was one of a kind, and they’ll never be another like her.” Interestingly enough, he could have been talking about either Sally or her portrayer, both of whom we still miss dearly.