On paper, it might not have been the best idea for Finn (Tanner Novlan) to visit his incarcerated birth mother — Sheila — on The Bold and the Beautiful. Fortunately, for lovers of solid drama, he did and Novlan delivered the dramatic goods during his trip to the local jail.
Tanner Novlan – Performer of the Week
Finn wasn’t just being summoned to visit his criminal mother because they’re related but because he was her doctor, too, having saved Sheila’s life after she’d had a recent heart attack. However, Sheila was soon informed that while Finn made the call to uphold the Hippocratic Oath it doesn’t mean he wants her to be in his or his family’s life.
Novlan and the show’s director, Jennifer Howard, made the choice to have Finn stay standing during his visit to jail, which sent a message to Sheila (Kimberlin Brown) that he wasn’t going to be influenced by her. Finn let his birth mom know that he was one step ahead of her for once — or at least she wasn’t a step ahead of him — by telling her he knew that Sheila called Jack (Ted King), Finn’s dad, a lawyer, to try to enlist his aid in winning her freedom.
Sheila continued to play the “I’m still family” card and that her shooting of Finn and Steffy were accidents but Finn wasn’t hearing it. “This is your life now. You’re going to spend the rest of it in a prison cell,” Finn blasted Sheila. Novlan maintained Finn’s stance on emotional matter. He didn’t falter and he kept pressing even when Sheila (predictably) continued to profess that she could still play a role in his life. Finn didn’t grow up with Sheila being around but in the few short years that they’ve been acquainted, he’s come to learn that she doesn’t take no for an answer easily.
Novlan raised his voice, dug his heels in the sand, and kept hammering away that Sheila was not getting out of jail and she was not getting back into his or Hayes’s life. “No more letters. No more email,” Finn declared. A delusional Sheila said that he didn’t have to respond to them, implying she’d be sending them anyway. Even the most possessive person in the world would start to get the message Finn was delivering. It’s. Over.
“I won’t visit you again. This is the last time we’ll ever see each other,” Finn firmly informed his mother. Kimberlin Brown never fails to bring to life Sheila’s persistence. This is a woman who will not take no for an answer. It’s easy to see why Finn is her son because Novlan brought equal tenacity to his performance.
“You did this. You put yourself in this position by your own actions,” Finn reminded his mother since she has a habit of blaming everyone else around her for her position in life. Novlan embraced the solid dialogue provided by B&B writer Tracey Ann Kelly and used the lines to send Sheila a message.
“Use this time,” he challenged the psychotic nanny. “Better yourself. Not for me. Prove to yourself that you can be a positive influence on the world even from a prison cell. Goodbye.”
Going up against one of Daytime TV’s greatest villainesses can’t be easy, but Tanner Novlan has once again proved he brings more to B&B than a chiseled good looks — he’s got solid acting chops as evidenced by these jailhouse scenes between Sheila and Finn.
The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS. For an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.
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