A Critic’s Review Of The Bold and the Beautiful: Saving Grace & Losing Steam

When it comes to The Bold and the Beautiful, every fan has their own opinion – and Soap Hub is no different. For five days, we sat and watched the good, the bad, and everything in between, and now we offer you a handy review, and a cheeky critique, of B&B’s week that was.

The Bold and the Beautiful: The Critic’s POV

Just when I thought that I could brief a sigh of relief and rejoice in circumstances preventing the maligned Hope/Liam/Steffy triangle to continue eating the show, B&B goes and returns to the equally dry well that is Eric vs. Ridge for the future of Forrester Creations — a plot line that began to lose steam soon after being introduced in the pilot episode some thirty-six years ago.

The saving grace of this storyline? John McCook [Eric Forrester] is front and center — though does EVERY storyline this man has had have to feature his body betraying him? At this point, what does function as it should? — and the writers staying true to Ridge’s (Thorsten Kaye) throughline of being an egotistical, insensitive, son of a Stephanie.

What doesn’t work is the betrayal of the always solid Eric/Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) relationship. If Brad Bell had decided to keep his characters in character, Brooke would have already sided with her favorite ex-husband, rather than deflating Ridge’s ego and hitting him where it hurts considering it’s Brooke that’s been inspiring his latest rash of designs. Now there’s the already built-in conflict that Bell should be mining.

Further B&B Musings

* For once I’d love for Katie (Heather Tom) and Carter (Lawrence Saint-Victor) to have a conversation about Katie and Carter instead of trotting the two out of the mothballs to play Greek chorus, especially seeing as how they’re merely regurgitating dialogue that will again be parroted in a complementary scene moments later.

* SSS…AHH. Man, it really must have hurt you Thomas (Matthew Atkinson) lovers to hear Eric deem RJ (Joshua Hoffman) “the anointed one” and Ridge declare that his youngest son was probably the most talented of all the Forrester men.

Speaking of, I have a bone of contention that I must address. Does Brad Bell even remember that Ridge’s biological father is Massimo Marone? I’m going to guess no, considering how he just LOVES to hammer home RJ’s talents coming from his “Forrester genes” and how it’s “in the blood” that they all share (and it’s a real pity, considering that storyline was the probably the last great one that Bell managed to concoct).

And I get it, believe me, I. GET. It. Atkinson and Annika Noelle [Hope Spencer] have sizzling chemistry. But I didn’t watch Skinemax for the storylines, and I’m not looking to B&B for softcore porn in the afternoon. It would behoove the soap greatly to get Hope off of Thomas’s lap and get the two embroiled in an actual storyline.

* When the news broke that Lisa Yamada was poised to join the cast in a mystery role, here I was thinking that maybe B&B would (FINALLY) be filling the vacant “young catalyst female” role previously occupied by the likes of Amber Moore, but I can see that — that concerning phone call she received aside — Luna appears to be no more and no less than this soap’s typical saccharine, salivating ingénues.

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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