Best of 2022!
Last week on The Bold and the Beautiful, Sheila escaped a police chase, Katie got good news at her annual check-up and the Forresters hosted their Christmas party – which was strangely lacking in actual Forresters.
This week, 2022 came to a close as Carter gave Katie a heart-shaped necklace, Brooke and Taylor’s pact to stay away from Ridge (but constantly talk about him) continued and Bill took Sheila’s side in a standoff with Finn and Steffy.
What does Bill get out of this?
In probably the stupidest shock moment in recent memory, Bill revealed to a stunned Finn and Steffy that he wasn’t going to save them from Sheila.
In fact, the blubbering billionaire was on Sheila’s side and gave her a long kiss to prove it.
YUCK!
Bill Spencer never did anything that didn’t help him, so I just don’t buy his explanation that rejection has turned him to the dark side.
If you’ve got theories to make this shock plot twist make sense, I want to hear them!
The best moments of 2022
For my final column of 2022, I thought we’d end on a positive note and look back on the best moments of the year on B&B.
Yes, there were some!
In no particular order, here are my picks for the moments that made B&B memorable (mostly in a good way) in 2022.
Finn and Steffy reunite in Monaco
Soap fans have been starving for big budget location shoots since the world went into lockdown and soaps halted production back in 2020.
Bravo to B&B for being the first on the scene with international glamour and drama!
The Monaco locations were lush and beautiful. The cinematography was stunning. It was almost everything we’ve missed on soaps.
Sure, the story of Finn’s miraculous recovery and escape was silly and could have benefited from some dramatic heft, but that’s not the show B&B is.
All in all, the week in Monaco was a win for the fans.
John McCook wins his first Daytime Emmy
I don’t care about awards as much as some fans do, but I’m always glad to see the stars of daytime get recognized for their work.
This year, in his fifth decade in daytime, John McCook took home his first lead actor Daytime Emmy as Eric Forrester.
Can you believe that, despite racking up four nominations in the category, this was McCook’s first-ever win as the flawed but frisky Honey Bear?
Bravo to McCook and many thanks for his years of service!
Thomas gets fired from Forrester Creations
If there’s one constant on B&B, it’s that the men don’t pay for their crimes. There’s no better example of this than Thomas Forrester.
After being nailed for making the CPS call, I was sure that Thomas would suffer no consequences for his bad behavior, but I was so wrong!
In a scene that almost made sense, random employees of Forrester Creations sat down with Thomas and took turns telling him what a jerk he is, culminating with the final blow: Thomas would no longer be part of Forrester Creations.
Finally! But what’s next?
Here’s an idea: instead of pretending he’s all better, why not embrace Thomas’s mean streak and write him as a villain intentionally in 2023.
Sheila’s going to need a break while she’s juggling two of Brooke’s cast-offs, so let Thomas pick up the slack in the meddling and intimidating department.
Deacon and Sheila’s weird romance
This year, Sheila escaped prison, cut off a toe, faked her own death and seduced a suddenly interested Deacon. Not bad!
While their lack of story didn’t do the show any favors, the creepy chemistry between bickering bedmates Deacon and Sheila was impossible to ignore.
Other duos were sweet and cuddly, but Deacon and Sheila were always raw, passionate and slightly scary.
Compelling performances by both Sean Kanan and Kimberlin Brown made their match fascinating, even when they were just marking time until the next story.
The year of Katherine Kelly Lang
Brooke was talking sense all year, from being worried a widowed Steffy might go after Liam, to figuring out Thomas and Steffy were plotting to blow up her marriage.
But it was at the end of 2022 that KKL’s work really picked up, with moments like Brooke telling Ridge not to come back until he’s done some soul-searching, commiserating with Taylor about their shared obsession and tearing strips off Thomas during the Forrester board meeting.
Yet, despite being a stalwart of B&B, KKL has been consistently overlooked by the Daytime Emmy judges.
If this underestimated powerhouse of a performer does not get nominated for Best Actress this year, there is no justice.
Steffy and Douglas expose Thomas’s deception
As 2022 came to a close, Steffy finally seemed like the next matriarch of the Forrester family instead of an immature brat obsessed with her parents’ sex life.
The highlight was the scenes between Steffy and her nephew Douglas, who had figured out what his father Thomas had done with the voice app to frame Brooke.
Not only did Steffy barely blink before taking her nephew Douglas’s side and vowing to protect him and then immediately told her mother the truth about the CPS call, knowing it would ruin the wedding that Taylor had been dreaming of for about a week.
When Taylor couldn’t bring herself to tell the truth at the makeshift altar, Steffy gave a sly look to Douglas, who played the voice app recordings that exposed his father’s deception.
Child actors aren’t often front and center in a story, which underscored Henry Joseph Samiri’s performance as a conflicted and confused Douglas as one of the best of the year.
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B&B opinion: Bill’s personality shift
Eric and Donna get back together
In another shocking moment from 2022 that fell from the sky, Eric was revealed to be hooking up with his favorite ex-wife/sister-in-law, Donna Logan.
I have to admit, I was not into this surprise affair at all when it started, mostly because it was cast from the well-used B&B mold of a man waffling over two women.
But once the dust settled and Eric and Donna were an official couple, I grew to like them. Not only does Eric seem happier than we’ve seen him in years.
Donna has settled in nicely as a Forrester, surprising everyone with her chess skills and occasional snarky comebacks.
Now they just need a story. Actually, I already wrote one in a past B&B column that you can read.
Spoiler alert: Donna messes up big time and Steffy makes a difficult choice with the help of a surprise partner.
Sheila shoots Finn and Steffy
WTF?! scenes are never in short supply on B&B, but they often shock us at the expense of character and story.
Not this time!
Sheila and Steffy’s showdown in the alley, which seemed to leave Finn dead and Steffy clinging to life, was the climax to weeks of antagonism between the women.
After Steffy’s quickie recovery, she struggled with life as a widow, while Taylor struck up a strange friendship with Sheila that nearly cost her life and Brooke stuck her nose into everyone else’s business.
For a couple of magical weeks, it was the kind soap opera umbrella story that affects the entire show, which is a rarity on B&B.
Brooke and Taylor kick Ridge to the curb
When you’ve spent your entire adult life trying to make the same relationship work, is that really a happily ever after?
That was the question that Brooke and Taylor asked themselves at the end of 2022.
After three decades, most of us are tired of Ridge having two loves – so those two women are driven to outcompete and humiliate each other – so retrograde and tiresome.
So it was a happy surprise that B&B cribbed my story wrote an entirely new kind of story, at least for this show.
There have been a lot of smiles and chuckles so far, but I’m hoping for big drama for these insta-friends in the new year.
Krista Allen joins the cast as Taylor Hayes
The biggest casting announcement of 2022 had to be Krista Allen joining the cast of B&B as Taylor.
The role of the world-renowned psychiatrist seemed impossible to recast, but in a matter of months, Allen revitalized a tired triangle and brought new energy to every one of Taylor’s relationships, including Ridge and especially Brooke.
Taylor did some dumb stuff this year, from turning down the prospect of romance with Deacon to sharing her belief that Douglas’s blood relation to Thomas trumped Hope’s ties to her adopted son.
Even so, Allen’s interpretation of a brighter and slightly less neurotic Dr. Hayes made her an overnight fan favorite.
Quote of the year!
Katie: “Do you think there’s a man in Los Angeles who doesn’t want Brooke?”
What do you think?
What were your favorite moments from B&B in 2022?
What do you think should have been added to this list?
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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