Today, Soaps.com is taking a closer look at Bold & Beautiful, specifically its strengths and weaknesses. Read on and see if you agree with our evaluation of the current state of Young & Restless’ sister show.

These days, few and far between are episodes that aren’t dedicated to the daytime drama’s foremost Luna-tic. Lisa Yamada never fails to go

 

 

for broke as the villainess, but what are we supposed to make of the character? She’s not a fun, love-to-hate baddie, she’s a remorseless murderer and rapist. And no, whining, “God, I said sorry!” is not a show of remorse.

Pot-stirrers like Amber and the OG Sally, we could get behind. They were misguided and mischievous but not homicidal maniacs. Luna is flat-out sick — and she makes everyone around her look dumb for not getting her some intensive therapy. Li, for instance, kept her alive but did nada to ensure that her granddaughter had her head screwed on straight enough to make anything of her life.

 

 

We’re fine with some suspension of disbelief when watching TV. But are we really supposed to buy that no one has flagged Luna’s body as missing from the hospital? And if Bill is powerful enough to get Tom and Hollis’ killer paroled “’cause I want her to be,” wouldn’t he be powerful enough to have her locked back up in some cush prison’s maternity ward? There’s no reason for him to have made her his houseguest again.

 

 

We suspect that Bold & Beautiful wants us to care that Sheila’s worried her marriage may be in trouble. But we don’t. If anything, we want Deacon the hell away from the murderess who cackled about Luna’s magical night with rape of Will. For too long, the show has had its cake and eaten it, too, where Sheila’s concerned, writing her as alternately “reformed” and just as awful as she ever was. Maybe she should’ve been left dead when Steffy stabbed her/Sugar.

Will and Electra have been cute from the start, but is there any there there beyond their discussing how wonderful each other is? Crew Morrow and Laneya Grace are capable of way more. If nothing else, the chaos that swirls around Luna may give them a chance to play meatier material and prove that their characters aren’t just pretty people in puppy love.

 

 

Bold & Beautiful is using Will’s rape — even though it refuses to use the R word — to bring Katie back into Bill’s orbit. And heaven knows Don Diamont and Heather Tom can sell any story that they are asked to. But sensibly, who would want Katie back with Bill after the way he discarded Poppy, took in Luna and then got her paroled? He was a lousy husband before, and now he’s worse!

The moment Ridge dumped Brooke, we all knew where the story would go. He’d run to Taylor, then turn around and dump her. And he did. And the show was so uninterested in “Bridge” 3,000.0 that it didn’t even bother to dress them up for their zillionth wedding. We did, however, get what seemed like hundreds of flashbacks to their magical moment overseas. Which brings us to another issue…

Bold & Beautiful has fallen into the dreadful habit of overexplaining to us (“But Taylor, you and Ridge, your former husband, have two children together whose names are Thomas and Steffy!”) and filling half-episodes with nothing but recap. What more can we say but go ahead and keep moving? If the story’s exciting, we’ll keep up, and if we fall behind, make it so thrilling that we are inspired to catch up.

Not sure about the reasoning for playing important beats off screen. We heard about Thomas and Paris’ breakup but didn’t see it. We heard that Grace turned herself in but didn’t see it. We know that Remy realized he was gay and started dating Deke, but how? When? We didn’t see any of that. Maybe if Bold & Beautiful didn’t skip beats, it wouldn’t spend so much time rehashing what’s already gone down. Speaking of skipped beats…

We understand that for the sake of continuing drama, some things have to be filed under “bygones.” But take Ridge’s treatment of Hope, for instance. They’re both back at Forrester now and working side by side… without ever having had a conversation about the fact that he called her a slut and escorted her out of the building like a trespasser. Him acknowleging that he said some things he “wasn’t proud of” was a start but by no means a satisfactory new beginning.

Poor Carter’s engagement to Hope was doomed from the start. And while we’re not thrilled that the show is writing off the ways Liam and Hope have hurt one another in the past (and hurt one another and hurt one another), we are hopeful that her split from Carter will unleash the character and let him have some fun. No more Mr. Nice Guy. Date the hell outta Daphne and flaunt it all over town that you’re handsome, wealthy and not related to either of the show’s nut jobs, Sheila and Luna.

We’re stoked about Jacqueline MacInnes Wood’s imminent return as Steffy for oh, like a dozen reasons. 1. She won’t put up with any of this “But what about the baby?” crap where Luna’s concerned. 2. A “Lope” reunion is bound to give Steffy capital-F Feelings (even if she doesn’t want him back). 3. She might get Thomas to stop sad-sacking around and remember that he’s a Forrester playboy and therefore should be doing some playing. Need we go on?

Ever since Bold & Beautiful let Luna rewrite history to say that she had a terrible upbringing, it hasn’t just been Li who’s treated Poppy like dirt. We’d love to see the town pariah come into her own, stop apologizing and have some damn fun already. We were hoping she’d be paired with Deacon, but it looks like his post-Sheila dance card is already filling up. On that subject…