Thank God the Spencer men had a plot before 2022 ran out, and as usual, I'm loving it. I might fall for any plot filled with all that Spencer testosterone, but this whole mystery about what's plaguing Bill Spencer woke me right up. The story is the best mystery of the year because it's so Bill, yet so out of character. Out of nowhere, Bill started acting like he'd let Sheila eat half his bucket of Kentucky-fried sense, but Bill's motives really do make sense if we think about it.
Bill really has lost the people he loves. Will moved away to school. Bill won't admit it, but he tossed Justin out. Bill lost Caroline, who was like a daughter to him. Taylor shot him in the back, and he had to be resenting letting her get away with that. Next, Katie strung him along for years, and I mean real years, not "reel" ones. On top of that, he lost Brooke to a dressmaker. It's enough to make any ultra-rich sexy playboy in his heyday question his manhood and enter midlife crisis. But as Wyatt just said, Bill doesn't implode; he explodes, causing casualties!
The mystery before viewers is what made Bill so vulnerable and how in the world Sheila Carter was able to exploit it to her advantage in such a short time. It's possible that she's been at this since Deacon noticed her creeping out in her costume to places unknown. The next mystery will be just how horribly this will all end. Will it end with Bill flipping Sheila over a balcony? Bill in a dungeon? We all know it won't be happily ever after.
No one but the show's characters seriously believed the sandals-loving Sheila Carter got mauled by a bear up in the woods. I guess it was what they all wanted to believe -- except Finn, who was dreading confronting the truth of it. It was appropriate that Finn, an emergency room doctor and man with the genes to think like Sheila, figured out that the toe was just too perfect to be the result of an animal mauling.
Though I enjoyed Finn solving the mystery, his investigation should have happened months back, and we should have seen him putting the pieces together from the time he first saw Lina at the fake Olive Garden. It all came together too quickly with Detective Sanchez bringing over a toe in a petri dish that should have been too rotten and stinking without embalming fluid for Finn to even examine and make any kind of definitive determination about how it had been severed.
I enjoyed watching Deacon cover for Sheila, but why wasn't Hope brought into this story? She saw Lena, too, and Hope and Deacon were supposed to be spending time together. Hope never once interrupted sexy time for Deacon and Sheila, and it was a waste of scenes to have Hope show up just the once and later tell the family that Deacon had had a woman at his place.
Only with Sheila Carter can a mother's deep-abiding love for her son turn "accidentally" murderous. Sheila inadvertently gunned down her own child while aiming for his wife, who, frankly, should have stopped talking one threat shy of seeing a cocked gun in her face. Usually, Finn is a mild-mannered man of tin, but nothing brings out the Man of Steel in a husband like a speeding bullet spiraling toward his wife.
Saving Steffy from bullet number one turned Finn into Superman, and encountering her dying son in the hospital transformed Li into a ferocious mama bear, probably the same one Sheila imagined nibbling at her toes. Sheila jeopardized what meant most to her, her own freedom, to find Finn, and Li risked her life and career to nurse Finn back to health. When the three clashed, it was a fight to the "death" in the battle of the mothers, and Finn became Sheila's worst nightmare because she couldn't hurt her own child, even if it meant going to prison.
The story was the most character-driven of the year. Love for others guided each of the characters' choices. Mike Guthrie brought in the comic relief, and Buddha Bill applied a little tenderness and gutsy manpower at just the right times. The best part was that the writers penned the "back-from-the-dead" double feature in unique ways for Finn and Li's supposed demises. Not only did Finn and Sheila spark when going toe to toe, but Li and Sheila sizzled like oil and water. I would love to see Li grow as a formidable enemy of Sheila's.
Not this again. That's all I could think when two thirty-something-year-old, mentally de-SORASed siblings reverted to bratty phone-stealing teenagers of yore. Poor Taylor let her kids hype her up to think Ridge would actually pick her that time, but she should have followed her first mind and stuck with the story she told Brooke about not needing a man. By the emotional way she clung to Sheila and held Brooke, one might think it's a woman Taylor truly needs.
Once Sheila damaged Brooke and Ridge's marriage with the label switch, Thomas and Steffy began winning the war they declared on the unsuspecting Logans. They ostracized them from family dinners, and Thomas' child-custody power plays had won him inroads with Hope. Thomas, however, overplayed his hand when he decided to call CPS on himself and frame Brooke for the call.
What made this storyline unbearable was Steffy's incessant yapping about how much her dad loved her mom, even when Ridge said several times that he loved his wife and wanted his marriage. Yes-man Finn condoned the husband snatching, even though Sheila had hurt Li by having an affair with Jack, and Finn had been hurt when Steffy had a one-night stand with Liam. Furthermore, if I had to hear one more word about the "Forresters" and "biology," when Eric is the last biological Forrester on the show, I think I would have screamed.
What made me label this storyline the worst, though, was that Thomas got thrown under the bus, the train, the plane, and the boat in this plot to make Steffy and Taylor look blameless. Thomas did wrong, but - Steffy told him that they had to get rid of Brooke at all costs. Plus, Thomas saw how much his grape-throwing mom wanted Ridge. These two women know what a sociopath Thomas is. They should never have been saying this stuff in front of him, but somehow, he gets the sole blame for the parent trap while Taylor and Steffy live to scheme another woman out of her husband on another day - and then along came "Shill."
Douglas Forrester was made with sugar and spice and everything nice from the Spencer, Marone, and Douglas genes inside of him. Either that, or the donor Karen used to conceive Caroline deserves all the credit for how moralistic Douglas turned out while under the influence of a sociopath. Douglas has had a year littered with moral battles from whether to tell who grandma was kissing on New Year's Eve, to whom he really wanted to live with, to whether he should out his father's lies again and hurt Grandma Taylor or to stay silent, thereby hurting Grandma Brooke. Douglas was courageous in standing up to his father, even when Thomas tried to gaslight him. Douglas is clearly the family's true north, not his Grandma Taylor, who'd take advantage of her son's crime.
Steffy needed an enormous glass of shut-up juice in 2022. She couldn't stop trying to talk Ridge out of his marriage and filling her mom's head with hogwash about a kiss, knowing good and well that a kiss in Monaco might be "quite continental," but Taylor ain't nothing but Ridge's best friend. If Steffy wasn't blabbing about her parents, she was all "One, two, three, four - I declare Logan war" against a family who wasn't coming for her. Steffy went on and on about how dangerous Sheila was for shooting her and Finn but neglected to mention that she'd shot Sheila, and Taylor had shot Bill. Well, Bill just handed Steffy a tall glass of that shut-up juice, and I have a feeling Steffy will be mighty quiet in the New Year.
It was the year "why" for Brooke Logan. Why did she drink? Why is Deacon in her bed? Why did Ridge leave her? Why is Ridge kissing Taylor in Monaco? Why is Ridge marrying Taylor? Brooke had no idea the knives were out for her and her marriage, and all the while, she vied to hold on to Ridge and defend family members who were knifing her in the back. Ridge, on the other hand, knifed her right in the front with a flagrant emotional and then sexual affair with Taylor. A victim of Sheila, Steffy, Thomas, Taylor, and Ridge, Brooke finally found her voice and stood up for herself. Her mistletoe-loving lips, however, haven't yet gotten the memo to stay away from her great geyser of pain and tears, Ridge Forrester.
I don't even know where to start with Ridge, but I do know that it finally ended with Brooke and Taylor having had enough of his ping-ponging ways. For now. Ridge is the worst person of the year because he denied Brooke and Hope the exact same kind of relationship with Deacon that Ridge enjoyed with Taylor and their kids. And now we know why! It was because he knew that you can't have that kind of relationship with an ex and not get caught up in old feelings!
Ridge, a lousy excuse for a husband, beat Deacon down to make himself feel better about a drunken kiss between Brooke and Deacon, and all the while, Ridge was playing tonsil tennis with Taylor. Upset that Brooke posed for a photo with Deacon, Ridge slobbered all over Taylor. He can leave the country with his ex and kiss her, but Brooke's exes better not show up at the office and pose for a picture beside her.
Ridge demanded honesty from Brooke about the CPS call when he was hiding the fact that Thomas had colluded with Sheila. Ridge took the first chance he got to cheat on Brooke, annul their marriage, and start a new life with Taylor. He promised Taylor it wasn't about something Brooke had done, but at the altar, he dropped Taylor like a used tissue to throw himself on Brooke's mercy. He didn't even call his bride to say the wedding was off!
My rant about Ridge could take days, so I'll end it here and let you pick it up with your feelings about why he's the worst person of the year in the comments section below.
I can't believe I'm about to say this, but Carter, can you please put your clothes back on? Your coincidental stripteases are not sexy or entertaining anymore. Carter instantly drops his clothes for women like a Chippendales' Door-Dash delivery man, and I'm over it. Seeing Carter half-naked has gotten just as bad as seeing Brooke in lingerie on the daily. However, his half-dressedness isn't what makes Carter the least self-aware person of the year. It's his puke-worthy audacity to judge Bill Spencer or Thomas Forrester for their actions after what Carter did to Paris and Eric.
Carter admonished Bill for his double profession of love to Brooke and Katie, but Carter seems to forget he used Grace's daughters like Kleenex to hide his feelings for Quinn. He humiliated Paris at the altar to hook back up with Quinn in the middle of his wedding. Oh, and did I mention that he demolished Zende's heart in the process by taking up with Paris? Carter chastised Thomas for hurting Ridge, but Thomas did nothing compared to the ways Carter humiliated Eric in his marriage. Is there some more of that shut-up juice to go around? Because I'm not trying to hear from Carter how Thomas' actions hurt the company, considering how Carter's affair with Quinn damaged the Forrester family and business and lost them the jewelry line.
And one more thing to prove just how lacking in self-awareness he is: Carter is seriously diving into the deep end of a relationship with Katie after jilting Paris at the altar for Quinn, the love of his life who just left him. Katie will make his third serious relationship in one year. Can we all sign a petition against Carter ever dating again?
For me, the best romance of the year was Sheila and Deacon's unlikely romance. They started out as annoyances to each other and learned to be friends. One of the most gripping moments in their relationship occurred when Deacon rushed to Sheila to tell her that Finn had been shot. Deacon did it because he really cared about Sheila's feelings. Even though Sheila had known what had happened, her emotions were raw as she tried to understand how it could have happened.
The relationship blossomed despite Deacon's resistance. Sheila was bad news for his relationship with his daughter, toxic to his freedom, and fire in his bed. Deacon lived vicariously on the run with her, believing each day could be their last and wondering where she went all those times she slipped out in her mask. Could she have been visiting Bill Spencer?
Deacon and Sheila had the best romance of the year because their relationship was a plane crash just waiting to happen, but they each pulled the rip cords on their parachutes just in time. What will Deacon think when he finds out Bill, once his competition for Brooke, is now his competition for Sheila?
A pinecone fell on Ridge's head, and he decided that his destiny was with Taylor. While Thorsten Kaye and Krista Allen had chemistry to spare as Ridge and Taylor, there was something sophomoric about the coupling, and Taylor appeared to be trying way too hard, always with her butt on his desk at his office or with her feet up, slurping noodles. Ridge seemed to be all about the physical aspect of the relationship, and she put the brakes on his married behind way too many times to suddenly think she could trust a word he said just because he'd chased her up a mountain.
Taylor was a dumbed-down dum-dum who deserved what she got for chasing a married man after complaining that Brooke had wronged her the same way, but Ridge is an other-worldly cad to allow Taylor to buy a multi-million-dollar beachside boom-boom bungalow for him when he wasn't being truthful with her about his feelings. Ridge's relationship with Taylor was purely reactionary, and he proved Einstein's theory that an idiot in motion will remain in motion unless acted on by an outside force.
Bill detests "convicts," or maybe he just abhors Deacon for his lack of conviction in life. At year's end, Bill has developed a penchant for convicts and even went so far as to tell Steffy that he was moving on with one. This is probably going to be the worst mistake of Bill's love life, even worse than when he tangoed with Quinn again in a lust-only relationship.
One woman's trash is another woman's treasure, and Sheila is a master at picking the unwanted man up off the floor, dusting him off, and making him do her bidding. What could be in the Sheila pudding that transforms men like Deacon, Mike, and Bill into helpless minions?
Bill Spencer showed up at the cliff house like "Big Daddy" in American Horror Story, season eleven, and we should have known his role in this story was gonna be horrifying for Steffy and Finn. On the other hand, anti-Taylor fans have waited a damn long time for Taylor's crimes to come back to haunt her, and the writers delivered in an enormous way. We still don't know how it happened, but Sheila and Bill did a lot of bonding over the holidays. Sheila even knows where his bullet scar is, and when Steffy claimed there was no way she and Finn wouldn't go to the police after Sheila had shot them, Bill uttered, "You go to the police. I go to the police."
Sheila might have nine toes, but she just gained her tenth life when Bill unleashed the ultimate threat on the Forrester family. If Steffy turns Sheila in for shooting her, Bill will turn Taylor in for shooting him. Sheila uniting with Bill is like a star imploding into an ever-expanding black hole, and Bill finally returning to being Dollar Bill just made 2023 a must-see year! Maybe Taylor will do the right thing and turn herself in, but if her actions at her last wedding can be any clue...
I'm glad Brooke and Taylor squashed Ridge's audacity to think he could choose between them, but Christmas gave us a pretty good indication of who Ridge would have picked. Pam and Charlie were in Bridge's corner, and Pam even evoked the name of Stephanie to condone the union. If that doesn't telegraph the future, I don't know what does. To top off the Bridge fest, Charlie and Pam used his new fishing rod to hang mistletoe over the unsuspecting Brooke and Ridge, and Brooke could not resist giving Ridge a cute little kiss.
Why is it that the writers can't remember that anyone else on this show but Brooke is a recovering alcoholic? While it's probably logical that Deacon would fall off the wagon, and it was especially funny when he poured himself and Steffy double shots but none for Finn recently, it'd be nice for someone to remember that he is, in fact, dragging himself behind the wagon when he drinks. As for Katie, she was so fumed with desperation that she drank liquor from a broken decanter. She's also a recovering alcoholic, but Carter cracked open the wine to celebrate her steady heart. If she's so worried about her heart, should she even be drinking?
And lastly, there's Gin and Tonic Taylor, having cocktails and Champagne the whole year through until Brooke knowingly handed her sparkling water to celebrate dumping Ridge. My advice to writers is if in doubt, write it out. Alcohol isn't needed in the scenes, and if you don't know who's a recovering alcoholic, then just don't use the prop.
Monaco is always a treat to see when the show does location shoots. This time, it was extra special because Finn was on a mission to reunite his family. Steffy's attire screamed Diva and CEO of Couture. Even though Ridge dressed like he'd lost a fight with a lounge singer imposter, I can't blame Taylor for letting him kiss her. Hell, it's the magic of Monaco.
While the campy scenes of Quinn riding a bike down the beach to stop Carter's wedding were scenic and endearing in a bumbling way, her destination actually wasn't located at the beach. Going by the footage the show plays before scenes at Il Giardino, the restaurant appears to be in the city, possibly on Rodeo Drive even, but nowhere near a beach. When Quinn arrived at the place, it looked nothing like what the outside of Il Giardino is supposed to, and it gets worst location shoot because this inconsistent detail ruined the soapiness of the scene for me.
I know many are tired of back from the dead, but no one does undead better than The Bold and the Beautiful. In 2022, the heroes cheated death, and the villain created a death scene that should serve as the blueprint of fake demise for the unrepentant criminally insane. Even though some think it's soap cliché, it wins the best one in 2022. Three presumed deaths are a lot for one year, but each was executed in a unique and stunning manner. For Finn's "death," I never expected Li would harbor such a secret from Finn's loved ones. For Li's, she went out in a blaze of water, only to be rescued by Buddha Bill, and Sheila's little piggy took one for the piggy team.
Why do all the good things happen off-screen? I have to admit, though, when Zende and Paris hooked back up off-screen, I was like, "Meh..." However, it was infuriating when Quinn dumped Carter off-screen after all the effort she went through to get him. Viewers had to accept that they'd seen Quinn for the last time and hadn't even known it. We're trying to live with it -- but...
Bill and Sheila, the most epically toxic hookup ever, happening off-screen? Unacceptable. To make it up to us, the writers had better use the most overused plot device to fill us in!
The whole year through, viewers were spammed with the same flashbacks over and over and over and over. First, it was Sheila's obsessive flashing back to the label switch. Next, our brains' inboxes were inundated with replays of Brooke and Deacon with that silly Santa hat. Earlier, I said that Monaco was the best location shoot, but and however, we didn't need an episode's worth of flashbacks from it. You know what? I wouldn't be surprised if at least a week's worth of time on the show in 2022 was taken up by flashbacks, would you?
Sheila's double shooting -- With the flash from a gun muzzle, several lives would never be the same, especially Sheila's, because she'd just shot the person she loved most in the world -- at that moment, that is. As Steffy defiantly dialed for help, Sheila turned the gun on her, too, and made the double event look like a robbery.
Finn is alive -- Most fans sensed that Li wasn't acting like a mother in mourning. She was extra witchy to her widowed daughter-in-law, and it wasn't because she wished Steffy had caught the first bullet out of Sheila's gun. We soon learned it was because Finn was fighting to heal and return to Steffy, who Li saw playing house with her ex-hubby, Liam.
Steffy comes through for Douglas -- Steffy will call Brooke out. She'll call Sheila out. She'll call Thomas out, and for good measure, she'll even call her own mama out if she has to. When Douglas depended on his aunt to deliver for him, Steffy sacrificed the childhood dream she'd had of her parents reuniting in order to show her nephew what integrity was all about.
Bill's double profession of love -- There couldn't have been an empty barf bag left on the planet after Bill Spencer professed his devotion to Brooke and then proceeded to troll over in Leftoversville when Katie showed up moments after Brooke let him down. Lay down with waffles and get up with sleaze. It was almost a new low for Bill, but was it a record flip? I think Liam still holds that title for giving Hope's still warm engagement ring to Steffy during the Ajax wedding story. So, what exactly is the new low for Bill? Hooking up with Sheila Carter.
Ridge's mountain hike -- I'm not one to point out the characters' ages, but I will say this: what in the back-aching, knee-cracking, asthma-choking, bunions-burning hell did Ridge think he was doing huffing and puffing around that mountain for the love of a runaway ex? Has he never heard the moral of Little Bo Peep? The most grody part about it was Taylor, after swearing she wouldn't fall for his rebound routine, hopping right on him, and he didn't even have a good "come back to me speech" like Bill did for Katie and Brooke!
Steffy wants her "sweet husband" -- I'm still waiting for the point of this husband-sharing subplot. Were writers teasing "Steam" fans and literally steaming Lope fans when they caused Steffy to wake up with amnesia and call out for her sweet husband, Liam? It was a slap in the face to the Hubby of Steel who'd just taken a bullet for Steffy.
Surprise! Thomas calls CPS on himself. If you saw that one coming, you deserve to win the soap mystery sweepstakes. Thomas was insane to call CPS on himself and risk losing his son in the system. He'd just better be glad CPS didn't show up while he was peeling that apple.
Surprise! Katie's not gonna die. How many of these heart rejection scares are we going to go through? Of course, Katie isn't going to die, and of course, Storm's heart is the strongest transplant heart on the planet. What Franken-Katie needs to look into is a brain transplant if she thinks she'll have kids and a family with the Hokey-Pokey lover man Carter.
Sanchez whips out a mummified toe. Every face in the room told the tale of the stench in the office when Sanchez pulled out Sheila's mummified toe for their viewing displeasure. Can anyone say walking biohazard? I wonder if a photo of it is still Ridge's phone wallpaper now that everyone knows Sheila really isn't dead.
Deacon realizes he just slept with Sheila. Tip to Scoopers -- never let anyone follow you home from a bar and never drink so much that you can't even tell you are kissing a silicone mask. I'll never forget the horrified look on Deacon's face when he realized his one-night toe-curling fun had been with the nine-toed Sheila Carter.
Hope puts the brakes on Thomas -- again. (activate voice changer for sportscaster's voice) "She gives him those long eyes. He senses she's feeling it. He goes in for the kiss. Ouch! Denied!" Hope will never love anyone but her "sweet husband" Liam. How much rejection can one man take from the same woman without going crazy? Maybe we ought to ask Bill.
Last year, I launched an investigation into the disappearance of Flo and Wyatt. Wyatt resurfaced, but there is still no word on what happened to Flo and the minivan dreams she and Wyatt shared. They no longer have a home, either, because Taylor's chickens are home to roost in it. The disappearance of Flatt might have turned into a cold case, so we're moving on to a couple of other character disappearances in 2022.
Bridget Forrester -- Last scene June 29, 2022, grossed out to find her dad in bed with her aunt. Why did the show bother to bring Bridget back merely to play a walk-on doctor (like they did to Vincent Irizarry's character)? Bridget's appearance in the summer was the biggest waste of a legacy character and an enormous missed opportunity for the show.
Instead of watching endless flashbacks, witnessing Steffy pine for her sweet husband Liam, seeing Hope meet Lina, or any other dead-end subplot of the year, I would have preferred to watch Bridget come face to face with Deacon and slay the shame dragon that has been following Deacon and Brooke around for decades. Bridget and Thomas are not related. What would have been the matter with a real romance for Thomas?
Bridget was also part of the egg switch storyline that left Taylor birthing Brooke's baby. In light of Brooke and Taylor's "budding" -- err -- relationship, Bridget could have been instrumental in locating Jack, the son Taylor and Brooke share. I implore the writers to bring back Budge and put her in a front-burner storyline ASAP.
Quinn Forrester -- Last Scene August 29, 2022, having a romantic dinner with Carter. One moment, Quinn was pedaling toward Carter, and the next moment, she was backpedaling away from the relationship -- off-screen. Viewers were robbed of Quinn and Carter's heart-to-heart conversation about their relationship. Quinn just up and left without a word to anyone about where she was headed. She handed in a resignation to Eric, but her absence was barely on the radar as Steffy only had time for the reunion of her parents.
For all of Rena Sofer's hard work and impeccable acting, Quinn deserved far better than to slink away from her relationship, her career, and her family without a fight. No one knew why Quinn did what she did, and Shauna showed up to shrug along with the rest of them. Her best guess was that running was what Quinn did. I only know Quinn to run from crimes, so...what gives?
It wasn't like Quinn to skip town without talking to her son about it. I don't think I heard Wyatt discuss his feelings about his mother leaving town with Bill or with Liam. In fact, Wyatt is more worried about Bill than Quinn. I wish Wyatt would be checking for his mom as hard as he is his dad. I loved to hate Quinn, and I grew to love to love her. I will miss Quinn Fuller, won't you?
If you know of other characters who dropped off the face of Los Angeles in 2022, launch your own investigation by logging it in the comments section below. Until we scoop again, thank you for getting two scoops deep with me in 2022. Don't forget to check out AMJ's Best and Worst column from last week. Do we agree? Disagree? Find out! Cheers to a bold and beautiful 2023, baby!
What are your thoughts on The Bold and the Beautiful? What did you think of this week's Two Scoops? We want to hear from you -- and there are many ways you can share your thoughts.
