Best of 2022!
Last week on The Bold and the Beautiful, Carter gave Katie a heart-shaped necklace, Brooke and Taylor’s pact of not being with Ridge but still constantly talking about him continued and Bill took Sheila’s side in a puzzling standoff with Finn and Steffy.
This week, Bill and Sheila came out as a freaky new couple – right before he ratted her out and got her arrested – while Steffy and Finn fretted and recapped a lot about it and Carter and Katie… well, they were there, too.
So little story, so many problems
If you told me a 13-year-old boy who’s never watched a soap opera had taken over the writing of B&B, I would believe you.
It’s not just that none of Bill and Sheila’s insta-romance makes sense on any level of character, show history or even basic human behavior.
Sheila must have some super-powers of seduction to have both Deacon and Bill wrapped around her little toe… I mean finger!
Man pain isn’t new here
This silly and completely illogical tale of Bill Spencer’s blue balls of delusion really started when he begged Brooke and/or Katie to take him back.
Why, oh why can’t this blubbering billionaire get laid? Right off, believability is out the window!
It’s not that a story being driven by man pain is new to B&B. In fact, you could argue it’s the bedrock of their storytelling.
But there are heaps of organic drama possibilities from the histories of Bill and Sheila, two complex and unpredictable characters, to sift through for story ideas.
Off the top of my head, Sheila blackmailing Bill over a dirty business deal would have made more sense and achieved the same story goal of setting Sheila free without shredding Bill’s character in the process.
Instead of doing something logical like that, the writers decided to make Bill a sad incel desperate for a woman and Sheila putting all her trust in an untrustworthy man.
Let it never be said that the B&B writers will let common sense, logic or criminal law get in the way of the story they want to tell.
Sacrificing Bill to save Sheila
Nevertheless, it baffles me that the writers have chosen to sacrifice Bill to keep Sheila on the canvas and out of prison.
Was it just for the one day of shock value or is this a whole new villain arc for Bill?
He seems to think Sheila is going to stay with him after she’s been freed and Bill has outlived his usefulness to her, which just shows you how far the once mighty stallion has fallen.
I have a feeling that at some point, none of it will matter and the writers will read our tweets and backfill this story with a reveal that Sheila has been drugging Bill all along.
It still wouldn’t make the story work and I won’t like it, but can’t you see it happening?
What am I missing?
I’m not at all opposed to a Bill and Sheila alliance, at least in theory. My issue is just how plot-driven and character-damaging what we’re seeing is.
I can understand one character being written to make an odd, out-of-character choice to propel a story.
It’s a necessary evil of the soap genre that sometimes a character will do something way out of left field to get a very specific plot moving.
But Sheila risking her freedom to follow Bill just because and Bill not turning her in just because is too much to ask of the audience.
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B&B opinion: What’s Bill getting out of being with Sheila?
What will Taylor do?
The big question for next week is what will Taylor do when she finds out about Bill’s threatening to get her thrown in prison.
After all, Bill and Sheila’s harebrained scheme is entirely dependent on Taylor.
It only works if she gives into their blackmail and goes along with it.
In B&B‘s version of reality, Taylor is facing not only a possible prison sentence, but most likely the end of her career as a mental health professional.
Taylor’s hard choice
Do you think will Taylor go along with Bill and Sheila’s convoluted plan to save herself by setting Sheila free?
I certainly hope not!
I couldn’t understand the Taylor we thought we knew letting a psycho killer roam free to save her own skin.
Maybe Taylor will do the noble thing and turn herself in, confess to the shooting and take whatever consequences she gets so Sheila goes to prison and stays there.
That would be an unexpected twist that actually makes sense!
I’d love to see Sheila and Taylor end up in the same cellblock and give us that Shaylor love story.
This plot is a better fit for Thomas
The whole thing would be better if Sheila had teamed up with Thomas to stay out of prison and stick it to the Forresters.
The so-gross-you-have-to-look pairing of an angry Thomas and his nutty former step-granny would have been kinky hot and made a lot more sense.
Hear me out!
Thomas is anything but sane. He’s got a wobbly moral compass, a lot of mommy issues and an ax to grind with the family that just ousted him from the company he’s devoted to and made a lot of money for.
Sheila knows a good opportunity when she sees one!
Can you imagine if Sheila and fallen golden boy Thomas blackmailed his own family and threatened to send his mother to jail, not just to free Sheila but to put Thomas in charge of Forrester Creations?
At least there would be understandable motivation and inter-family conflict.
If B&B wants us to believe that the Forresters are rock solid, they should take a wrecking ball to them, make the story of the wreckage, and then rebuild them every once in a while.
DRAMA!
Where’s the real drama for Finn and Steffy?
Speaking of drama, I thought we’d get some when Bill let Steffy’s cat out of the bag about their night of passion way back when.
You’d think that when a soap character like Finn finds out that his wife, who cheated on him with her ex, also cheated on the ex with the ex’s father, there would be at least a ripple of drama.
After all, it’s not the first time the Finnegans have had issues with honesty and communication, like a lot of real people watching B&B have.
Soap couples with relatable problems are more sympathetic to me than folks battling Satan and magic masks.
I care more if I can imagine what I would do if I were in their shoes.
Instant forgiveness is not believable
I said this on Twitter and got a lot of blow-back, but I’m saying it again.
Finn instantly forgiving Steffy for not mentioning her thing with Bill both make Finn look weak and avoids organic, character-driven drama.
And before you remind me every man isn’t emotionally fragile and prone to violent outbursts, remember that we’re talking about B&B, where the average man’s skin is paper thin.
Put this couple to the test
Steffy’s excuse that she didn’t tell Finn about Bill because she never thinks about it (yeah, right) was lame and not very believable.
If Finn and Steffy are supposed to be the young supercouple of B&B, we need to see them face and overcome challenges with the strength of their love and commitment.
Make our hearts break, make us worry about them, make us keep watching.
That’s the way of love on a good soap opera.
Quote of the week!
Li, to Sheila in jail: “I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see you in your natural habitat. Blue isn’t your color by the way.”
What do you think?
Will Bill double-cross Sheila and save the day?
Will Sheila become the next Mrs. Bill Spencer?
Will Taylor choose freedom or justice?
Leave a comment and feel free to read more of my opinions on B&B on SoapsSpoilers, which includes some fun alternative storytelling ideas!
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