Has your week been bold and beautiful? Did you discourage a story because you heard it through the grapevine? Did you stop your girl's confession in the name of love? Were you ready to do the twist but had to convince yourself that big girls don't cry? These and more situations faced the Forrester-Logan-Spencer-Avant clan this week!
Hey la, hey la, Bill Spencer's back! The Dollar Bill who first came to us six years ago this month has returned with a roar, and just in time to give the Maya-is-transgender story the pot-stirring it needs. No one's more amazed than me, but I missed the guy, especially after he rather allowed himself to be emasculated by Katie then Brooke. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Y'all wanted Maya's secret out, so let's Scoop about it!
Nicole must love that song, "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)," because that was her excuse as she sheepishly told Carter how she thought it was a good idea to let Wyatt know about Maya's gender identity. "You barely know the guy!" Carter rightly pointed out. But perhaps Carter putting Nicole on blast is a little of his own guilt poking through; after all, Mr. Walton did mouth off to Ridge on that same subject just two short weeks ago.
Former on-again, off-again marrieds Ridge and Brooke engaged in an intriguing exchange -- intriguing not because they were of similar and differing minds regarding how Rick should learn of Maya's origins but because Bridge's old connection, the one that existed when Ronn Moss inhabited Ridge's shoes, could be felt in the air. Yet that didn't stop Ridge from schooling his ex-Logan. "I didn't make a play for Caroline any more than you made a play for Katie's husband all those months ago," Ridge retorted when Brooke blamed him for breaking up Rick's marriage. "But if that's what you need to believe to justify Rick's behavior as a husband and a CEO, you go ahead." Bazinga!
However, Brooke and Ridge agreed the truth of Maya Avant was a personal matter that shouldn't be made public. That wasn't the position of the Spencer brothers, who couldn't seem to make up their minds about what to do with the info Wyatt sweet-talked out of Nicole. Wyatt felt bad then decided Liam needed to know about the "bombshell" that would "blow Rick Forrester sky high." And Liam, who nearly boffed Steffy to get Rick booted as Forrester's CEO, hemmed and hawed about Maya's story being private. It's like he's waffling between Hope and Steffy all over again.
Naturally, while the Spencer-come-latelys bandied over what steps to take concerning "Myron," Bill waltzed in asking, "Who the hell is Myron?" Katie initially thought her stepsons were pulling a second-grade prank, but Bill saw a golden opportunity in the word "transgender" and frothed at the mouth so much that his wife and kids nearly brought in a veterinarian. Then Liam made my million-dollar point: he didn't see how exposing Maya would get Rick out as CEO. It's about time somebody said it!
Liam also echoed my sentiments by remarking how, in the fashion world, Maya's identity would be met with, "Another transgender model -- whoop-dee-doo." And he's right! All along, I've said that Forrester would probably be hailed as progressive for featuring Maya so prominently on their runway. However, I will concede that Bill's argument, in which he stated that Forrester is "a traditional company with blue-blood clientele" does hold a certain amount of water; it's an interesting dichotomy.
Reasonably sure that stepmommy Katie would keep Bill from splashing Maya's business all over the tabloids (um, isn't that why Wyatt told Liam in the first place?), Wyatt went back to Forrester to work on some big honkin' necklace, apparently with jewelry divas Ivy and Quinn nowhere to be seen, though I'm not going to lie to ya -- I don't miss Quinn. Nicole hoped she didn't miss her guess that Wyatt would keep quiet about her one-time brother, not knowing that Carter was tattling to Ridge and Brooke about Nicole's diarrhea of the mouth.
And then didn't things get fascinating? Nicole put Wyatt on the hot seat about whether he snitched, and Ridge and Brooke superglued him to it. I guess any guy who can pocket a diamond and sit on that secret for weeks can stand up against Bridge's debriefing, because Wyatt barely twitched an eyelash, lying by omission when asked what Bill knew. Wyatt will surely be in deep doo-doo when Nicole finds out, though Nicole will be in even deeper doo-doo with Maya. I wasn't really grooving on Wyatt and Nicole, anyway; she seemed like jailbait next to him. I'd say Nicole will soon pull a Jody Watley and be looking for a new love, baby, a new love, yeah yeah yeah.
Ridge didn't buy Wyatt's bale of baloney and clandestinely confirmed that Dollar Bill was about to make some serious dollars off Maya's biology. Sure enough, at Spencer, Katie came down hard on Bill and lectured him over it being morally wrong to expose Maya. Katie's right, but does she not know who she remarried? Is she really surprised that Bill is clapping his hands with glee over his latest scheme?
This goes back to what I was saying before -- even Justin told Bill, "I haven't seen that look in your eyes for quite some time." Bill rolled onto the show like a bulldozer back in 2009, running roughshod over anybody and everybody. Not someone you'd want to hang out with in real life, but he was badass. Then, somewhere between Katie and Brooke, he lost his edge. He strove to be "a better man" for either Logan sister, and Katie bought his schmaltz about having changed when he asked her to remarry him. Maybe he even believed it.
But love him or hate him, that's not who Bill is, and Katie sounded ridiculous demanding that he not humiliate Rick and Maya to regain control of Forrester. It's just like when Katie took Bill to therapy for plotting to push a pregnant Amber off a cliff, or the time Katie insisted Bill stop drinking. Did you notice Bill knocking back whiskey while Katie waved her finger at him? I agree with Katie's stance, but she knows who Bill is, what he's capable of, and that her caterwauling never stops him. I predict Marriage #2 will go down in flames before summer is over.
Opinions are mixed on B&B's transgender tale -- on its pacing, and whether it should be done at all. But they're at least hitting the right beats in letting viewers know what transgender people are up against. Katie told Bill how these men and women are persecuted and murdered. And Maya's old friend, Nick (played by transgender actor Scott Turner Schofield), warned how transgender women are often savagely beaten by the men in their lives. It may seem a little ABC Afterschool Special, but it's a tragic fact of life that needs talking about.
That said, Ridge recalled how ballistic Rick went over Ridge's indiscretion with Caroline. Are all these mentions of violence harbingers of what's to come for Rick and Maya? After all, Rick did shoot at Ridge and Caroline, and that can't be ignored. But I can't see Rick responding to Maya's confession with brutality. He already skirted the line of irredeemability with his gunplay; if he lays a hand on Maya, not only would that send a dangerous mixed message (speaking out against violence toward transgender people while perpetuating it), but Rick would be finished as a character. I think the mentions are merely educational, though I don't see Rick reacting well in any case.
This is a man who's been a broken record about honesty, honesty, honesty for months. He even went on about it during his romantic Big Bear trip with Maya. If Rick simply accepts Maya being transgender and withholding it from him all this time, that would be both implausible and out of character. Plus, there's no soapy drama in that. I doubt he'll snap, but I'd like to watch him reject Maya, at least initially, while he wraps his head around this. And maybe, by the time he comes around, Maya and Carter will have found their way back to each other, and Rick will be alone.
Because that's the thing: both Rick and Maya are due some serious comeuppance. Rick's treated everyone like crap in his power-hungriness, and Maya simply laughed at her coworkers' plights, to say nothing of going after Rick when he was married. Losing Rick, for a while anyway, might teach Maya a lesson. And Rick deserves to crash and burn at Forrester, which is what makes Bill's tabloid tactic so tantalizing. Maya being transgender is irrelevant. Payback is a bitch she needs to know!
After Rick welcomed Nick with open arms (and I hope we get to see more of Maya's friend), Rick whisked his beloved off to Big Bear, and glory be, it was good to see that cabin again, even if it's not the original because the first one got destroyed in that '94 quake. That was on Monday. By Friday, Maya was still trying to tell Rick about her identity, and therein lies the issue a lot of you are having with this story.
Some have expressed displeasure with Maya's secret slowly leaking out these past two months. I have no problem with that; I've always felt Rick should be the last to know, and I'm glad that's how B&B is rolling this out. My problem is the repetitive dialogue. Granted, new viewers, perhaps folks coming on board specifically for this storyline, need to be schooled. But as a regular follower, hearing characters say the same things over and over gets quite tedious after a while. If you're going to milk a story, make sure you're getting the tasty, full-fat version and not that watered-down no-fat kind!
Look, I am all for maximum impact, plus it stands to reason Maya would have a hard time getting these all-important words out. But I got dizzy watching Rick and Maya going around in circles. Then, just as Maya was about to reveal herself, Rick suddenly decided he was horny and interrupted with a round of hot-and-heavy! How could Maya even get it on with something this major on her mind?
Major was the word at Spencer Publications, as Bill lied to Wyatt, Ridge, and Katie that he'd back off publishing the Maya exposé, only to turn around and tell Justin to go ahead with it. (Wait -- Justin's a lawyer. How can he initiate a story?) Bill even decided to doctor a snap of Maya's infamous portrait to go along with his headline, "Forrester Family Matriarch Once A Man." A little overkill, considering Maya's not the matriarch, and wouldn't be, as Ridge and Thorne's wives would have that honor before Rick's, but juicy anyway. You know Bill's twisted spin on this will be highly entertaining!
The question is, will Rick learn Maya is transgender from the lady herself, or will it pop up as an alert on Rick's phone, which he conveniently has pinging on the table? We won't know until Monday, but Maya stopped Rick's post-coital pampering by getting back to her story -- just not before they got dressed and bust out the bubbly. Really? And every time Maya got close to a full confession, Rick would wax poetic about Maya's attributes. Rick, would you just shut the hell up already? Suspense has to be doled out in the proper amount, and this amount was too much.
Finally, Rick's interruptions were quashed by Maya recounting how her outside didn't match her inside, and that she'd come to Los Angeles in search of a doctor who could help her live as the woman she was meant to be. Rick clued in about Maya's estrogen pills at long last and started freaking out with her talk of birth certificates and statement that "there was no Maya Avant until after I came to L.A." Maya admitted she once had a boy's name -- because her parents raised her as a boy!
Fade to black; sorry, that's it for the weekend. Monday will be Day Six of this confession, and we may still not get a full one. I once knew a guy whose parents wanted a girl so badly, they raised him as such. Maya could leave off right there and let Rick believe that's all there is to her past. But we'll know soon enough, and, for whatever bumps B&B's transgender story has, I'd rather watch this than years of Leffy/Lope!
How do you think Rick will react? Make your predictions in the Comments section below or on the Soap Central message boards, or simply click here to submit feedback. Your comments could wind up in a future column -- like these!
• "I will stop watching the show if the transgender storyline continues. I do not want to watch anything about it. Please discontinue those type of stories. I have watched The Bold and the Beautiful since the beginning and have enjoyed it. Please, please, please do not go in that direction." -- CandyThat's what we're here for, Lorraine! Yes, when Maya first arrived in January 2013, she demanded that Dayzee get her adopted baby back; they learned later that the child died in a car accident. B&B has since explained to us that Maya's little girl was not hers biologically; she was Jesse Graves's daughter, whom Maya was raising as her own. That works because Maya never said outright that she'd given birth to the girl, except in one May 2013 scene where she told Bill about having carried Jesse's baby. That's the only remaining plot hole; hopefully Maya and Bill will have a scene where she says she told him what he wanted to hear.• "I would love to see Thorne return to the show! It is time to have ... Steffy, Thomas and Thorne return! With all of the upcoming turmoil (people finding out that [Maya] is transgender) it would be nice to see the family come together." -- Andrea
• "I am in Holland, thus we are still getting episodes from late 2013. Nevertheless I have read ahead about Maya. Didn't she come on the show in the first place trying to recoup her adopted baby from Dayzee? How then can she be transgender? I realize from seeing some recent AOL stories that transgender is the latest hot topic in the U.S. but using the character of Maya for this seems like the scriptwriters chose to ignore their own storyline. I hope you can write me back with an explanation..." -- Lorraine
While we're at it, how about a few more Points to Ponder?
Kudos to the show pointing out that no one in the fashion industry would care about a model being transgender -- and adding the layer that housewives who buy tabloids would... Wyatt and Liam admitted it would be interesting to see a photo of Maya when she was Myron; I admit I'm hoping we are provided that image eventually... Bill barked about protecting his 12.5% share in Forrester then sneered that the Maya scandal would rock the company. Isn't that contradictory? Even Eric thought Bill would be more concerned about his investment!
"I do the PR," Wyatt said of his duties at Forrester. Huh? Wyatt did promotion solely for the Hope for the Future diamond; it's not like he handles it for the entire design house. Wyatt then surmised that Carter was still unhappy about Maya cheating on him with Rick. Maya has done many unsavory things, but to my recollection, Maya didn't get physical with Rick until after Carter dumped her...
Bill had Justin dig up dirt on Maya in 2013. It fits that Bill would say "I didn't trust that disingenuous gold-digger from the beginning." But how 'bout adding, "I knew something was different about her!" And are we really to believe Bill's initial investigation didn't uncover Maya's designation at birth?... Eric laundry-listed everyone who knew about Maya but apparently didn't know Pam and Charlie were clued in, too. What was the point of the baking couple learning about Maya if they were just going to keep quiet about her?... Maya bringing up her birth certificate was a cool way of getting into the topic of her childhood, but why did she have to give it to HR? Usually new employers only require a driver's license and social security card!
Since the transgender twist is a chance to increase our awareness of a community many of us have trouble understanding, I thought you might appreciate this video that explores how transgender identity is something that happens in the brain, making it biological. Like they used to say between Saturday morning cartoons, "Betcha didn't know!"
Betcha also didn't know Zende Forrester is returning, all grown up! Kristen Forrester and her husband, Tony, adopted Zende from Africa in 2001 -- the boy was 10 years old then, and now he looks to be about 25, perhaps making him the most accurately aged child in B&B history! And remember "I'm looking for a new love, baby"? It would seem that Nicole will recover from Wyatt's betrayal with Zende!
Okay, B&B -- your entire transgender saga hinges on what happens in the coming five episodes, particularly in how Rick reacts to Maya's confession. Chanel's got that covered in the next column, and I will be back June 2 to continue chronicling the fallout. Keep watching, be alert, and most of all, be bold! 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 -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
