Has your week been bold and beautiful? Were your kid's first words "cha-cha-cha?" Did you still worry that your hubby would once again cheat on more than his taxes? Did you finally make sure "ex" didn't mark the spot? These and more situations faced the Forrester-Logan-Spencer-Finnegan clan this week!
Happy 34th anniversary, B&B! And happy March Madness, Scoopers! Well, not so happy in that it means a lesser number of eps this week. I wanna give a shout-out to Drew Beattie, the Lauren to my Sheila since 1996, when we first met online and he made VHS copies of missing episodes for me. He knows he better not mess with me, or I will send him puzzle pieces of his husband in the mail. Oh, YES, it will be the END for you, Lauren!
Okay, shout-out over. Steffy was doing her own shouting as her baby got a new last name and her finger got a CEO-sized rock, both courtesy of Finn. Hey, not bad, considering she cheated on him with Liam. The fatherhood fracas spread across town, but a shrewd soap watcher can't help but wonder -- what do we really know about Finn, anyway? Is he truly "almost too good to be real," as the song suggested this week? Let's Scoop about it!
I know a lot of you grumbled last week about how Finn spent a whole episode going around in circles and proposing to Steffy without even first telling her Liam wasn't the father of her baby. That's suspense for ya, but sometimes our show does have a tendency to drag things out. Monday began thusly, with Steffy constantly interrupting Finn's attempts to spill the paterni-tea he learned from Vinny.
In fact, it took Steffy running away before Finn finally just blurted it out! Is it healthy for a woman heading into her second trimester to sprint in high heels like that? Near a cliff, no less? Maybe that's why Finn stopped squeezing orange and got the juice. Cue lots of scenes of Steffy not believing she was carrying Finn's child until sweeping music and 360-degree panning shots convinced her otherwise.
Steffy took the rest of Tuesday's episode to gush, thankfully remembering to make a call so Amelia and Kelly didn't fly off to Paris. Steffy also remarked that she liked to wear Finn's scrubs as pajamas. And Finn spent a lot of time kissing Caitlin -- er, Kayla Ewell, Tanner Novlan's wife, who used to play Caitlin Ramirez from 2004 to 2005. Hey, I understand the COVID workarounds. No shade here.
I just felt like there was too much of Steffy and Finn babbling about how happy they were, and maybe not enough of any real verification of Finn's forthcoming fatherhood. Had I been Finn, I would have gotten a printout of the pre-Vinny test results and brought it with me as backup. Then came the ceremonial belly rubbing. Mothers, is it good for unborn babies to massage them all the time? Is that why B&B ladies do it so much?
Steffy had one moment where she seemed to feel bad for Liam, though she didn't say that specifically. In fact, she cemented her devotion to Finn by doing something we've been waiting for her to do for months -- SHE TOOK THE DAMN PHOTO OF LIAM DOWN! That's right! No more Sears Portrait Studio for this expectant family. The soon-to-be-Finnegans decided to move Finn in and put pics of themselves and Kelly up instead.
Did anybody else out there find that moment cathartic? I admit, it's been hard for me to invest in Sinn because the couple couldn't develop the way we'd usually see, not with the COVID restrictions and all. No going out on dates, no heavy make-out sessions, no bed scenes. It's always felt like something was missing. But watching Steffy finally rid the wall of Steam's picture made Sinn real. And it's about time, I say.
Kelly even got into the act. Steffy and Finn threw a lot of stuff at the three-year-old, and she probably barely understood any of it. But, upon finding she was getting a baby brother or sister and a second daddy, to boot, Kelly kissed her yellow crayon and exclaimed, "ta-ta-ta." It took me a while to realize she was saying "cha-cha-cha." Leffy/Lope flashbacks from 2012 aside, it was a cute moment.
So, all's well that ends well in the who's-the-daddy dilemma of Steffy and Finn. Sort of. See, the thing is, I find myself thinking we don't really know much about Finn at all. And that's not just the pandemic; B&B hasn't been that thorough on character development for a long time. But the pandemic didn't help. We know Finn is a doctor and that he can throw down with exes as well as throw a punch when needed.
But that's kinda it. Other than the fact that he lives not far from Steffy in Malibu, we know nothing about where Finn comes from, about his family, or about his past. I'm not suggesting there's anything dark about Finn per se; I just think that, now that Steffy has his chunk of ice on her finger, she ought to know more about what she's marrying into. Though it's a relief she's not marrying a Spencer this time.
There have been lots of rumors and spumors this week about who Finn's mother might be. It's Shauna! It's Sheila! Finn is really Jack, the baby Taylor birthed from Brooke's egg! But that would mean Steffy is about to exchange vows with her brother. Eww. Though on this show...I'm just sayin', Scoopers. I'm just sayin'.
I know it's natural for a soap to want to tie a character into the canvas better by making him a family member, but I don't feel like I need Finn to be related to anybody we already know. I would just like to find out more about his background. Maybe he really is this nice. And I'm leaning toward hoping so, because there are enough jerks and psychos running around on B&B as it is. Wouldn't you agree?
Suddenly, Bridge was on the screen, talking about what a bummer it was that Steffy was popping off to Paris. I know the news of Finn fathering Steffy's baby, and not Liam, hadn't reached them yet, but Bridge's appearance felt random and out of alignment somehow. Plus, I'm still scarred from watching Ridge and Brooke talking/arguing about their kids, again, from Leffy/Lope's early days.
I mean, just because Mr. and Mrs. Destiny aren't having problems right now doesn't mean they shouldn't have their own storyline. But we soon found out the daddy discussion was so Thomas could burst in and school his dad and one-time Taboo crush on what he'd learned from Vinny. Ridge wasted no time calling Lt. Baker and ordering Vinny's arrest! Nice touch! (But leave the hot dogs at home.)
Ridge was also miffed that Vinny had punched Thomas, knowing Thomas had recently had brain surgery! This is another good nod to continuity. Thomas reported that the hospital was going to do a full investigation on how Vinny could have pulled off the paternity switch. Maybe the Vin-man read about how Sheila tried to change Bridget's test, and then-nemesis Mike Guthrie spun the carousel with the test tubes in it?
Ridge was ready to throw Thomas a parade, but something on Brooke's radar pinged when Thomas admitted the first thing he had done was run to Hope with the news. Brooke did some unusual seesawing during this scene. She was mistrustful of Thomas, then acknowledged his progress, then became mistrustful again. Brooke wondered, after all was said and done, if Hope was the only woman for Thomas.
Thomas didn't answer directly, but he did say that all he wanted was for Hope to be happy. Now, Thomas should have brought proof of the paternity switch. Unlike some of you, I don't think Thomas set this whole thing up just to make himself the hero. But I can't say I trust Thomas again, either. I think maybe he's come far enough to actually find some romance in his life; I just don't want it to be with Hope.
It's hard to take a character as far as B&B took Thomas and then just go back to thinking of him as a normal guy, convenient brain surgery or not. It's too bad the soap didn't actually show Thomas struggling with mental illness and overcoming it. Then we could have felt his recovery, and there would be little doubt as to his intentions regarding Hope. This way, we're always going to wonder. Or at least I am.
Backtracking a bit, Thomas told Hope the whole story about Liam not being the father of Steffy's baby...including the part where Vinny had done it for Thomas, thinking it would clear the way for Thomas with Hope. I admit, that was pretty decent of Thomas. But remember how Vinny was apparently crushing on Steffy? Quite a turnaround, going from that to messing up Steffy's life just so her brother could score.
While I'm at it, I will also say I'm strangely grateful that B&B got this paternity truth out so fast. I was sure we were going to have that hanging over our heads for the better part of a year. I often whine about how speedy the pace on the show is, yet I find myself glad we've got this arc over with. After Thomas teased Liam that his revelation was going to change Liam's life forever, Thomas split and let Hope do the changing.
And then, much like Finn getting to anything but the point and being kept from getting to it by Steffy, Hope also got caught in this loop with Liam, although I did like that she acknowledged it by saying she was just trying to find a way to deliver her news, since she knew it might cause Liam to feel a sense of loss. But finally, Hope managed to tell the now-bug-eyed Liam that he wasn't going to be a daddy again.
Hope realized that Liam might feel disappointed about not having another child after months of thinking he was, and despite the circumstances that created that child. Liam did pivot twice and try to talk about Hope's feelings, but he eventually admitted that it did seem like something had been taken away from him. After an "I could kill him" regarding Vinny, Liam decided he had more questions about Thomas.
"And you know this absolutely without a doubt?" Liam put to Hope about Thomas' paternity admission. Hope made the point that Finn had also been witness to Vinny's confession, but I still would have liked to see Liam call Finn, or, again, someone bringing documentation to substantiate the claim. Liam might have gotten all paranoid about Thomas, as usual, yet it was hard to argue with his rationale for doing so.
Liam hoped that not expecting a baby with his ex meant he and Hope could finally move forward, although he let his jealousy of Thomas peek through again during his attempts to convince her. Liam got annoyed when Hope insisted Thomas had some good qualities. "Name one," Thomas scoffed. "Loyalty," Hope spat right back at him. Ouch. That's gotta hurt. You know Liam felt that one in his disloyal crotch.
Proving he is still stricken with apparently incurable foot-in-mouth disease, Liam tried it, suggesting the reason he's vulnerable to Steffy is because Hope kept pulling Thomas in! Dude! Hope didn't put you on that couch with Steffy and a bottle of tequila! Way to help your own case, Waffle Boy. And Hope. Was. Not. Hearin' it. She wondered if things had ever really been good between her and Liam at all!
Hope really boiled when she asked Liam if, during his adulterous boink, he had told Steffy he loved her, and Liam's answer was, "I did say something like that." Hope deemed Liam selfish (wow! Like most of us!) and said that he simply wanted to be liked and loved, which, for him, came at a price. "You should be grown enough to know that was completely inappropriate!" Hope seethed about Liam's profession of love to Steffy.
Hope actually echoed my own thought -- that, despite the baby's paternity changing from Liam to Finn, Liam still cheated on Hope, and Steffy still cheated on Finn. Hope wanted more time to sort through things. Meanwhile, Thomas had a flashback to telling Hope he'd always love her. Can we just be done with Thomas and Hope anything by now? Stepsiblings! Eww!
I don't know how I feel about whether or not Hope should take Liam back again. You can only go around so many decades with the same couple, you know? It might be good for Liam to fly solo for a while; he does rather have Brooke Syndrome, in that he can't be without a bae for more than a few minutes. Go six years like me, Liam; then you can sulk. Just let's please keep Thomas away from Hope? Did I say "eww?" I did? Good. Bears repeating.
What are your thoughts, Scoopers? Should we know more about Finn before we can comfortably watch Steffy walk down the aisle with him? Do you think Hope should give Liam yet another chance? Is Thomas really being truthful when he says he had nothing to do with Vinny switching the test results? And are you glad Steffy took her tribute to Liam off the wall? Get Finn-icky in the Comments section below or the Soap Central message boards, or simply click here to submit feedback. Your comments could wind up in a future column! Like these!
"And letīs not forget that the baby seller, who demanded to be forgiven by the Logan family, did not think of forgiving Sally for kidnapping her but ratted her out to Summer...Flo has no decency at all but claims to be forgiven everything because she is 'Stormy's daughter'...why, Stormy didnīt even know she existed, he was just some kind of sperm donor, involuntarily, nothing more." -- "Suzannah14_54"
"I don't want Finn to be the father, he is far too good a man for tart Steffy." -- Trudi
"not a fan of Felony Flo. She should have been tossed into the slammer right next to Reese. They ruined Sally for this? But Sally may be getting the last laugh if she ends up with Jack Abbott. I might have liked it better if they had made DEACON Flo's father. That would have made her Hope's half sister, and that might have made for some good drama. Also, Deacon is still alive and could return at any time. I believe he's in prison now, but he's gotten out of the slammer before. The point is that Flo's father should have been someone who is still alive so he can come back. Do NOT want to see some lame re-write in which Stormy is suddenly back from the dead." -- Christine
"Flo can take a one way trip to the Bermuda Triangle as far as I am concerned. She had to be talked into donating her kidney and even when she gave in [she] still did it for the wrong reason. Wyatt is the world's biggest PUTZ! Not only does he move in with the woman who sold his niece (and spent the money she got on herself) but then he goes to his ex (also his father's ex) and claims what a wonderful person Flo is and that she deserves forgiveness..." -- "Lynxcat"
I've seen some cybertalk that we may be finding out more about Finn in the coming weeks, but nothing official, so don't quote me on it. I think now would be a good time, though! Wonder if we'll actually see a Sinn wedding -- or any wedding scene -- with COVID still going on? Keep watching, be alert, and most of all, be bold. And don't forget, protecting yourselves and others from a virus and getting vaccinated for it is always beautiful.
Mike
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.
