Given what Brooke is dealing with this week, no wonder she has been turned into a pill-popping ball of psychosis! I would be popping those things like M&M's if I had a moron/stalker/sexual predator that would not leave me alone! I need a pill right about now trying to think of how many adjectives I could use to describe just how bad the writing has become and just how LOW Ridge's character has sunk to in his latest efforts to win back Brooke. Win back??? Good Lord, with efforts like this, I would rather be tied up in a sack with a live cobra than be subjected to Ridge's idea of 'helping'!
My first rant has to do with the insidious and simple-minded attempt on Ridge's part to try to 'cure' Brooke's problems with her father. So what, now we are channeling Sigmund Freud all of the sudden??? Get a grip, people! This man can't admit to himself or anyone else that maybe, just MAYBE there is a woman out there in the world that does NOT want him anymore! But rather than accept that reality, we are dusting off our old copies of Psychology Today and thumbing through them to see what silly 'abandonment' angle may work in making himself look better in Brooke's eyes. Brooke and her father have problems well beyond whatever is holding her back from reuniting with Mr. Simpleton. Are the writers forgetting a key piece of this puzzle? Does Stephen even know HOW much Brooke loves Nick? Did Ridge clue him in on ALL of that or did he skew his picture of what's really going on? And Brooke's issues with her father, to me, have nothing to do with Ridge. But I guess because the writers think we are all suffering from the same nasty case of selective amnesia and therefore can serve up any old piece of nonsense and we'll bite. Uh...NOT!! Stephen has always hated the Forrester's and everything they stand for in this world so why on Earth would Stephen ever back Ridge? And the rhetoric was almost too much to hear last week...'If you can forgive him, we can have our life back' and the more nauseating and fall-on-my-sword garbage of '...hate me but don't make Ridge pay for my sins.' UGH!!! I CAN'T TAKE IT! Somebody needs to 'school' ol' Dad and QUICK about everything that took place between Ridge and Brooke. It's obvious that the gravel-tongued devil left out WAY too much! Like the dual-wife test-drive he subjected them to after Taylor came back from the great beyond...and how about kissin' your granddaughter, huh? Maybe somebody needs to bring Pops up to speed...
A word about Patrick Duffy's performance...I will now publicly eat my words. I did not think he could do it as good as the guy from CHIPS but I stand corrected. I thought he did a very good job and I was further reminded in those scenes with him, KKL, and Ronn Moss that the latter is way out of his league compared to the father and daughter's performances. Sorry, but I have to say it. I don't think anyone can really ignore the huge difference in talent and I am looking forward to more scenes with Duffy and KKL. He brings kind of a sad quality of the character that in light of their last storyline, was played perfectly. Gotta say I was a little choked at the goodbye hug. Kudos to both and if KKL does not get an Emmy for those scenes, it would be a travesty.
Hopefully next week will bring some more info Stephen's way about what's really going on and how much better of a man Nick is for his daughter. As for Brooke, I have to wonder a couple of things out loud. Why has she not put her foot down about Ridge coming and going at will? Does she have a working LOCK on that front door of hers? My local subway stop sees less in-and-out action than her front door! When did she start taking sedatives all of the sudden? Brooke has been many things over the years but a pill-taker? Nah...it's obviously a tiny little plot device to allow Ridge to take advantage of her. Which brings me to my next and most crucial point...
A couple of years ago we viewers were suffering through what was arguably one of the most contentious and heated storylines we have ever dealt with here at B&B...the sexual relations Brooke and Nick had at the foundry just after Ridge's supposed 'death' (we couldn't be so lucky, could we?). The fans of Brooke and Ridge claim Nick 'raped' her and the fans of Brooke and Nick said it was consensual yet probably ill-advised. Brooke had publicly said on at least 2 separate occasions that it was consensual and that Nick did NOT take advantage of her. That's a fact, period. It angered me that the term 'rape' was tossed about among the various boards I check in with. Rape is a very strong word for any person, particularly for women, and I believe that there is a lot of gray area in the way that soaps treat this subject. It better be 'rape' by definition before we start calling it that. Now, having said that, this sequence of scenes including Friday's drug-induced Brooke being advanced upon by Ridge seems to point in a very different direction than our infamous 'foundry boink'. Here's my rationale...
Rape (to me anyway) means having someone force sex upon you when you have expressly said 'No'. We have all heard the expression 'No means no!' right? Right. As women we are all conditioned to make our feelings known verbally and physically if we do not want to have sex. Now, Brooke said stop on Friday and according to the day-ahead spoilers, she says no again and tells Ridge not to come upstairs. He follows anyway and when he gets on top of her she lets him know again she doesn't not want to do anything with him but then appears to pass out. Ridge does not listen to her at any point during these scenes and continues to force himself on her to have sex. Ok...I don't think I or anyone else watching all of this has to be a rocket scientist to see that a drug-impaired Brooke who has verbally said 'No' is very different than a grief-striken but yet still lucid Brooke who gives in to whatever weirdo desire to have sex with Nick without any force being used. Sorry but I remember that scene very well and while it was a little creepy, it was not rape. What Ridge will do to Brooke while nearly unconscious is no more than what all women have commonly know as 'date rape'. I know there were not on a date per say, but how is this any different than a women who is slipped something in her drink, taken back to a room and attacked by a man while in a drugged state and unable to fight back? And the writers are actually going to have Ridge run around town saying he didn't KNOW she has taken pills to calm her? How could he NOT see her barely able to stand and slurring her speech? I would have thought she was bombed on cheap wine a la Taylor with the way she was acting! But he will claim otherwise and the Bridge fans will claim this is 'payback' or something else equally sick. There is a huge difference and even as a Brooke/Nick fan myself, where I have thought the foundry incident was more than weird, it was not rape. Ridge, however, is going to do something that in the real world would land him in jail and I for one feel that this will take his character to a very dark and disturbing place in my opinion. He is slime and this, to me, makes him truly unredeemable. How much of a monster are you that you force yourself on a woman who is basically passed out? No respect and for those Ridge fans out there that will defend it to the end, thank the writers for dragging him right down the toilet.
On the other side of town, we have Bridget still openly moping about the fact that-GASP!-Felicia lives and wants to spend time with her son! The horror of it all! How DARE the mother of that little baby want to be with him! I have never hated Bridget's character more than I do now. She is even willing to go toe-to-toe with Stephanie over this and have the nerve to make statements like 'I need that baby!!!' Is she nuts or what? I think Ridge should use all of his astute psychological knowledge on helping fruit-loop Bridget instead of Brooke. Anyone ever see that movie 'The Hand that Rocks the Cradle'?? A creepy movie about a nanny that gets revenge on a family by trying to take the kids affection for her own. The nanny lost her baby and then turned her sights on the baby of this quaint little suburban family. Murder abounds and ends in the death of the homicidal nanny. I can see Bridget filling this role nicely as she has clearly lost touch with reality where little Dino (snicker-snicker) is concerned. Yeah, yeah...too bad she lost hers but that doesn't mean you try to attach yourself to another when their mother is alive and wanted to be there for him after an amazing Forrester-style brush with death! A trip to Italy now? No wonder Felicia and Stephanie are worried...probably that she'll never return with the baby and they will disappear into the Tuscan countryside never to be seen again! We'll see Bridget on America's Most Wanted...it'll be crazy!!! Bridget will have plenty of time with that child when Felicia's contract runs out and she kicks...so why be such a pain in the butt now? Let mother and son spend the time together they need to and STOP being such a user. She used her and Nick's baby to keep their marriage together. She is using Dante to help her keep using the baby as a substitute for her dead daughter. User, user, user. Not a flattering picture of what used to be such a great character to watch in years past. Between her psychotic dialogue and her bulging evil eyes, she is hardly recognizable as Bridget Forrester.
While I'm on a roll...I'm supposed to buy Megan and Massimo as a 'couple', even if just for the sake of espionage? Oh come on writers...we weren't all born yesterday. As far as I can remember, those two hardly ever were in the same scenes with each other before. Now she is a willing participant in helping bring his evil plan to fruition? And who can even stomach watching them get close with each other? EWWWWWWWWW!! This whole scheme to put Jackie in the clink to force Nick to dump Brooke is just awful. Not awful because I would love to see Nick and Brooke prevail, but awful in the sense that someone in the writing bullpen could have come up with something more imaginative than this! Now if Jackie and Stephen hook up as a result of all this nonsense, than that could potentially make me forget how stupid the whole story was. I think there could be some scorching chemistry between those two! Eric is too weak for her as made abundantly clear by his waffling about Stephanie. Let Jackie have some fun and get her good reputation back.
If last week's emails were any indication of how viewers feel about Ridge, I would say the writers better start doing some damage control. It got a little ugly in the Inbox this week as I posed the question of why folks either loved Ridge or hated him. Needless to say, the 'hated' emails far outweighed the 'loved' emails. It was the third highest email total from my readers behind the Foundry Boink and the Ridge/Bridget kiss. Guess I struck a nerve, huh? Below are some snippets of what the readers said in describing their opinions of Ridge...
"...he is only interested in his kids when they are useful in his agenda..'
"...the guy is creepy and he can't make his own decisions.'
"...he is full of crap and will say whatever he thinks a woman wants to hear.'
"...his self-centered, smirking, know-it-all attitude make me sick."
"...I wish RM would take a break from B&B as Ridge is totally useless!"
"...I dislike Ridge because loves those around him when it's convenient."
"...he looks like a Ken doll and acts like an idiot."
"...Ridge needs to go do his music tour...maybe then I'll start watching again."
"...watching Ridge slither around makes my skin crawl."
"...if his character left the show for good I would cheer out loud!"
"...enough of Ridge getting a free pass and never being held accountable".
"...he treats Brooke like a possession and he behaves like a stalker."
"...I liked Ridge from the start of the show until he started chasing Taylor."
"...Ridge need to get a life and grow up!"
"...he sickens me to he point that I tape and FF when he comes on."
Well, that was just a sample and I would be typing for another 5 hours to get through all the emails that skewered Ridge. Yikes! I'd like to add one other thing here if I may...the things Ridge was saying to Brooke Friday also made it clear what their relationship has ALWAYS been about...sex. I have watched from the beginning, too, and let me say that I have always believed their relationship had no shred of decent foundation that wasn't grounded entirely on their sexual attraction. That's ALL those two ever had in my opinion and it was nice to finally get some small validation for that opinion as Ridge was saying 'oh come on Logan...there has been too many words...this is what we are about...feeling and connecting'....blah-blah-blah! HELLO??? It's all about sex. Nothing more, nothing less. In these last few years that Nick and Brooke have been on-again, off-again, I have never thought that about their attraction. It seems more real and grounded in something that we all would want a relationship to be built on. Trust, (of course) a physical attraction, laughter, love and mutual support. Ridge has never delivered on any of those things except sex. All tears and no laughter with Ridge, she couldn't count on him to stick around, he has judged her to no end, and he never gave her the support he gave his precious mommy which left Brooke constantly looking over her shoulder wondering when the other shoe off Stephanie's foot was going to drop. The way I see it, Brooke could have paid a male prostitute all these years rather than deal with the pain of loving Ridge. All the sex without the aggravation. Sounds like a better deal, huh?
Ok, so the question of the week is.....how do you feel about Patrick Duffy's performance as Stephen Logan so far and would you want to see him stick around a while?
Have a great week!
