A Critic’s Review of Bold and the Beautiful: Free ‘Spirits’ and Instant Regrets

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. Here, we lead with optimism. Unfortunately, we don’t always get what we want. So here’s a review of B&B’s week that was, which entirely focused on the morning after Donna and Eric’s impromptu wedding. The players for this abrupt and accidental sex story were Luna, Zende, RJ, and Poppy.

What I’m Feeling This Week: Happy Mints? Disastrous Consequences

Ever since Poppy (Romy Park) popped into town, everybody’s been calling her a “free spirit.” Well, Luna (Lisa Yamada) learned exactly what that meant this week on B&B. This accidental sex story, courtesy of super strong “mints,” ignited much debate about consent in this matter, despite the characters absolving themselves of that aspect of this mess repeatedly.

This isn’t how I ever thought they’d create drama between RJ (Joshua Hoffman), Luna, and Zende (Delon de Metz). But now that it’s happened, it’s clear that the show had to work really hard to make all these events happen. Too hard. And when you have to work so hard to create drama, is it a viable plan?

And then putting so much focus on it. Every character either talked about RJ and Luna’s relationship or Poppy being such a wonderful, free spirit, and caring mother. Devoting an entire week to it gave viewers no choice but to analyze and dissect every inch of this particular plot. It was a risk.

Plus, this kind of story has happened on daytime TV before. In last week’s article, I mentioned Drucilla and Malcolm on The Young and the Restless. But you don’t have to go that far to prove a point. It’s happened multiple times before…on B&B. So why go back to this well? What’s the purpose?

In order to make this story materialize, certain events had to fall into place, and the audience had to suspend disbelief in a number of areas.

• At Eric’s (John McCook) party, RJ saw Luna acting oddly. He seemed to worry about his girlfriend, especially when she said she was suddenly tired and had to go home. Yet, he just let her leave the party by herself to catch a ride share. Wouldn’t he, as her boyfriend, have driven or escorted her home because he was so worried? This is something RJ would definitely do. After all, he’s been in Prince Charming mode ever since he met Luna.
• Zende, seeing Luna in his bed, didn’t once think that there must be something wrong with Luna and RJ if she’s here right now? Why not ask her about it?
• Is the gatehouse really located RIGHT THERE? I don’t know. Seems all too conveniently located for my tastes.
• How many of the edibles did Luna pop? It was multiple, right? After all, she really worried about her breath. I feel like the effect of the “mints” would cause her to, at the very least, pass out, if not worse.
• Why did Eric suddenly visit Zende in his gatehouse? This hasn’t happened recently, to my recollection. Eric’s been good to Zende. They are definitely family, but lately, he’s been all about RJ. And only RJ. So, I definitely had to suspend my disbelief that Eric would visit Zende and talk to him about how he’s as appreciated at Forrester as anyone else. And that awkward part of the conversation where he asked Zende to look after Luna at Forrester. What?

Too. Much. Work.

What I Appreciated About The Zende/Luna Story This Week

Delon de Metz and Lisa Yamada did their absolute best to sell this story. I really enjoyed their performances starting the morning after.

When Luna opened up to Poppy and then, ultimately, found out it was the pills that did her in, Yamada (who talks about the Zende threat here) was on fire. From her performance to her worn-down look, it totally worked. I liked seeing her fiery, vindictive side erupt. Especially when she channeled her Aunt Li (Naomi Matsuda). I needed to witness Luna like this because so far, we’ve seen her sweet, saccharine, can-do-and-say-no-wrong side. This shows me there’s more to the actress and the character. I hope we continue to see more of Fiery!Luna as the show continues.

Meanwhile, de Metz has the unenviable task of carrying out a story that threatens to damage everything about his character. After realizing Luna thought she had sex with RJ, the actor made sure to bring Zende’s devastation to the surface. Lately, Zende’s been all bluster and bravado. Suddenly, all of that was gone. And we saw this guy who a) Felt pain and loneliness after discovering Luna didn’t want him at all and even believed he was RJ the entire time; and b) Even though he insisted he didn’t take advantage of Luna, that had to be in the back of his mind. De Metz killed it in these solo scenes. And even in the scene opposite McCook’s Eric.

Before this, I chose Team Poppy anytime she faced down her sister, Li (Naomi Matsuda). Li’s extreme anger towards Poppy felt harsh and unnecessary. I knew there had to be a story there, and while we still don’t completely know. I’m coming around on Li again, which makes me happy because I loved Li when she first came on the show. She’s the one who excised Jack (Ted King) out of her life because of his cheating with Sheila (Kimberlin Brown). And, the one who went toe-to-toe with Sheila.

But now I’m starting to understand Li’s side of things a little more. I mean, I wish she’d deliver the message in a less judgmental (and quiet) way. But there’s validity to her Poppy resentment. Hope the show gets to the bottom of the sisters’ drama.

Other B&B Thoughts

Random Comments:
-Please stop the RJ and Luna propping. Let their relationship develop and evolve organically. Even Hope (Annika Noelle) and Thomas (Matthew Atkinson) got sucked into that line of dialogue in Friday’s episode.
-Poppy begging Luna not to tell RJ what happened is not cool. Such bad advice. And this is the party line for Zende, too. Speaking of which, Luna will “lose her reputation, too?” What decade is this, the 1950s? Also, nobody in Los Angeles or the fashion world knows who Luna is. Her reputation will be fine.
-Poppy, keep your hands off Zende. That push was not appreciated.

What I’d like To See: Luna being so mad at her mom over her happy mints and the madness it caused, decides to find out who her father is, which is something Poppy’s fought against. That, or she sucks up to Li and gets in tight with her and pumps her for information about her mom and her free spirit days trying to find out who her father is.

Burning Question:  If B&B is still showing Diamond White in the open, does this mean we will see Paris on screen again?

The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS. For more about what’s coming up in Los Angeles, check out all the latest posts on B&B spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.