Has your week been bold and beautiful? Did you trade a shackle for an engagement ring? Did you find you were unable to toe the line? Did you realize you accidentally cut Sugar out of your diet? These and more situations faced the Forrester-Logan-Spencer-Walton-Finnegan clan this week!
Surprise, surprise, Scoopers! And I mean that facetiously. Nobody with even the slightest soap education thought Sheila was really dead. But while Sheila got a fiancé and spooked out a rival on the same soap day that's been going on for two weeks plus, Steffy might want to stop yammering about Deacon and pay attention to Finn, because he and Hope are getting closer and closer! Y'all ready? Let's Scoop about it!
Finn has had inklings of compassion and growing filial feelings for Sheila since they connected at Finn's wedding in 2021, but now, Finn is a full-blown convert. Despite still carrying the inevitable scar from her bullet wound and having been held captive by Sheila in a mock hospital room, Finn no longer wants to be apart from his (say it with me) birth mother. He believes in her!
All this because he and Deacon found Sheila chained up in a piece-of-crap building. Finn officially declared Sheila reformed once she relayed her tale of Sugar taking her place, determined to kill Steffy, Kelly, and Hayes in Sheila's name. Sheila was a hero! Let's assume that Sheila was telling the truth and not making up the ordeal to win sympathy from Finn. Sheila tried to stop Sugar...how?
According to Sheila's own flashback (again, on the presumption it's true), all Sheila did was yell "No!" when Sugar revealed, Bond villain-style, her plan to do away with Steffy. Sugar split and left Sheila chained to the wall. Yet somehow, both Deacon and Finn interpreted that to mean Sheila was willing to give up her own life to save Steffy and the kids. Sheila wanting to come to their rescue and actually doing it are two very different things.
Plus, this talk about Sheila being a changed person is all well and good, but you remember what your high school English teacher told you about "don't tell, show" in your writing? There's way too much tell in Sheila's supposed redemption arc, which started pre-Sugar. It would be nice to see Sheila's shift toward the sane, to take that journey with her. The way it's playing, all we're getting are words. It doesn't resonate.
Over at Forrester, Steffy spent her third solid week barking, "Sheila's dead! Sheila's dead!" to anyone who had ears. First, Steffy interrupted Hope's business meeting with Ridge and Carter to announce this reiteration. Good thing, because Ridge actually believed what he was saying about R.J. and Zende coming up with good stuff for HFTF. Didn't the last non-Thomas stab at designing for that line fall flat?
Since before it was Eric and Zende's collabs that were considered meh, I guess it must be R.J. who's stylin' now and saving Zende's butt. Anyway, Steffy's monotonous moaning was broken up by Charlie, who made a forced appearance to request Ridge's help in resolving a parking dispute. Why was Charlie even there? And what's going on with him and Pam six months after he shamelessly flirted with Y&R's Esther?
This raises a point I'll elaborate on in a moment. Steffy's next recipients for her "we'll never have to deal with Sheila again" overkill were Liam and Bill, who were supposedly at Forrester to do business for Spencer, despite Bill II and III engaging Steffy in her anti-Sheila slamming. We really need to stop having back-burner characters coming in just to talk about front-burner characters.
I know soaps have always done this, but I feel like B&B is really setting records with it. Ridge, Carter, Bill, and Liam all were there only to bend ears for Steffy, and it was boring. There's no reason we can't heavily reduce the repetition and use those precious air minutes to give story to others in the cast. This soap's own YouTubed history proves it can tell two, even three stories in one episode. Can we go back to it?
Hope, perhaps finally tired of Steffy's broken-recordness, offered to talk to her pop about filling Finn's head with ideas about an alive Sheila, but she got an eyeful of the real deal once Deacon answered the door. And Hope fainted! Alas for Hope, Sheila was still there when Hope opened her eyes, and Finn and Deacon regaled Hope with the saga of Sugar and how ten toes didn't equal nine.
Despite just having blacked out, Hope had enough presence of mind to consider that Sheila literally rearranging Sugar's face had not been a cool thing to do. "It was a desperate time," Sheila recalled of her 2005 actions. Yeah, I guess running around in disguises and poisoning necklaces ranks as such. Sheila also noted that Sugar had been a tortured woman even before that; given we only ever saw Sugar once, in 2003, with little backstory, that's one story point we can take as probably true.
"But are we really so convinced that she's not the same woman capable of murder?" Hope rightly asked. Finn wasn't about it, though. Sheila was better -- she had done the work. Again, what work? Plus, there's only Sheila's word for any of the entire captivity story. Come to think of it, what was Sugar going to do with Sheila once she killed Steffy? Leave her chained there? Release her in hopes Sheila would be arrested? And what the hell was in Sugar's pocket? Gaaaaah! I've got to know.
When Deacon took Sheila out to catch up on her daylight and fresh air, Finn thanked Hope for listening and not thinking Finn was nuts. Hope promised she wouldn't judge him and that she would provide him a safe space if he needed to talk. Uh-huh. It's happening. Finn and Hope have been growing closer all year, and I think it's very possible they'll be getting together soon, because ain't no way Steffy's gonna stay Mrs. Finnegan after hearing that Finn is creating Mother's Day cards for Sheila.
Indeed, Hope remained a voice of reason and reminded Finn that Steffy was not going to take too kindly to Finn wanting a real relationship with her not-dead monster-in-law. Finn pooh-poohed it all. He felt that Steffy would be relieved she hadn't killed her husband's birth mother and was sure that everything would work out. Is Il Giardino serving Kool-Aid now? Because Finn is really guzzling it down here.
It's a good thing Deacon's restaurant is never open during the day so he can have memorials for and discussions with amazingly alive girlfriends. Deacon was thrilled. It never made sense to him that "Sheila" went after Steffy! Wait -- why wouldn't it? Was Deacon not in the room when Steffy once again used Sheila as a punching bag? Sheila retaliating would have been more rational than Deacon never having customers!
We then got one of the more unusual soap proposals in recent memory. Deacon dropped to his knees and...kissed Sheila's foot. The one with only four toes. If Freaky D's a foot fetishist, more power to him, but I don't know that we need to see that kink played out on-screen. After Deacon offered Sheila the chance to become Mrs. Sheila Sharpe (which I admit is catchy), Sheila wistfully said she'd never had a family before.
Um, so, raising baby Mary with James before you went crazy again in 1998 was just playing house? Same for Sheila's claim that no one had ever given her a chance until Deacon. I think Scott, Eric, and James would all refute that statement. And I would gladly accept Sheila gushing that all she ever wanted was to be loved...if we hadn't already heard that in 1995 when she attempted suicide. This comes up too often now.
Hope returned to FC and stood in her office, stunned that Sheila was alive and wondering how that reveal would "work out" for Finn. I could understand Ridge barging in on her -- he's her boss -- but what was Liam doing following him in? He doesn't work; he just drops off or picks up stuff for the kids and kisses his exes. (Did Ivy really have to bust a move on Liam her first scene back?)
I was sure that Hope would keep her mouth Krazy Glued shut about having seen Sheila, but she defied my expectations and did the exact opposite. Hope told Liam and Ridge everything, even about Sugar! Ridge replied that he had heard the stories about Sugar, too. Well, his radar should go off about her; Sugar only helped Sheila kidnap Ridge during his 2003 honeymoon in South America.
Neither Ridge nor Liam could believe that Sheila wasn't dead. As I keep saying, why? Ridge should be a believer in people rising from the grave -- he's seen Sheila do it more than once, and he even dug up a grave to prove that Taylor was alive. At this point, all the major players on this show should at least be open to the possibility that Sheila dodged death yet again.
But when Sheila's continued existence finally started to sink in, Ridge went into full rant mode upon hearing that Finn was glad his biomom was still around. So, what did Hope do? She defended Finn to both Ridge and Liam. Did I tell you? Hope and Finn are getting sweet on each other. If it keeps Hope away from sometime stepbro Thomas, I'm down. Thomas is also peripherally related to Ivy, but at least they didn't grow up together!
Meanwhile, Sheila finally consented to a trip to the ER, where Deacon and Finn should have taken her far earlier in this two-weeks-long soap day. On her stretcher, Sheila heard Li's voice on the other side of her partition. After which, Sheila asked the attending nurse to be seen by Dr. Finnegan. Said nurse approached Li and would only say that her patient's name was Sheila.
Welcome to Contrivance City! What medical practitioner would introduce an incoming patient by first name only? Of course, that was only to maneuver Li into approaching a situation armed with just the name "Sheila." Likewise, no professional would tell a patient that their name reminded them of someone awful. Did any of these people go to medical school? Or watch St. Elsewhere, maybe?
But it was worth it for Sheila to gleefully cover herself up, barely able to contain her laughter, and pull the sheet up to reveal her nine toes for Li to live her worst nightmare to. Li screamed, and Sheila amusedly reminded Li that she was a nurse, and Sheila was sensing some hypersensitivity. No wonder, because Sheila looked pretty good for a corpse, Sheila taunted.
What a fun scene! B&B could have gone for sheer dramatics, but the comedy really amplified the bitchy dynamic between Jack's exes. After the joviality, Sheila explained that she was there -- alive -- because of Finn. Sheila's sweet boy had saved her, and even called her "Mom"! Well, Li wasn't here for it and lunged at Sheila. It had all the makings of a good old-fashioned catfight!
Teh sads, we didn't get that because Deacon broke up the melee, but Li shouted, in earshot of him, the nurse, and anyone who happened to be out in that hallway, that next time, she would kill Sheila herself with her bare hands! Not for nothin', but if Sheila were to turn up dead soon, for real, the cops would have a suspect in Li in less time than it takes to order fusilli bolognese from Il Giardino.
Remember that Christmas special where Charlie Brown got the little skimpy tree and practically hopscotched his way to the gang to present it to them? That's how it felt when Finn, buoyed by the existence of the extant Sheila, went home to share the glad tidings with his understanding wife. Sheila must not be the only one with a double, because I can't imagine the real Finn being this far in denial.
Steffy initially coaxed Finn to tell her his miraculous news, probably thinking his reverie meant his hospital actually had enough beds for everybody. But no such luck; Finn confused Steffy by talking about sugar (like Steffy ever has carbs!) and confused her more by going into stories of doppelgängers and chains and convenience stores and renegade actors from the original Star Trek.
When the conclusion to the tale added up to Finn stating that nine toes were better than ten, Steffy became convinced that Finn had truly gone over to the Deacon side. Surely Deacon had successfully finished brainwashing Finn! It's natural that Steffy would scratch her head about Sugar, but as I'll keep repeating, Steffy already went through one of Sheila's returns from the dead, so Steffy shouldn't be so adamant that it couldn't happen again.
Unless, of course, deep down, Steffy really has believed it's possible and has just been trying to push that contingency away from her. From what we saw, though, Steffy obstinately clung to her surety that Sheila had died right there on her carpet. Until little rays of light began shining through the cracks, and Steffy started to realize that the whole crazy story wasn't really very crazy, after all.
Most married couples endure strain because of finances or dwindling intimacy. Not many suffer because of killing an in-law only to find out that in-law had a double. Oh -- plus, same in-law having left both partners for dead, bleeding out in an alley. So, I doubt very much that Sheila's latest return is going to do wonders for Steffy's marriage, especially now that she realizes Finn is firmly Team Sheila.
What team are you waving your banners for, Scoopers? Should Steffy have known on some level that Deacon's claims about Sheila were true? Are you convinced that Sheila has really reformed this time, or do you think it's just a ruse? Does Sheila deserve a shot at happiness with Deacon? Are Li's murderous yowlings just threats, or will she do quality control and make sure Sheila is dead herself? And will Finn and Hope's strengthening bond over Sheila spill over into a romantic relationship? Cheer on your thoughts in the Soap Central message boards, or simply click here to submit feedback!
Next week, Steffy comes face-to-real-face with Sheila, and rut-ro -- Luna's taking a test to see if she's pregnant! Or is that "preg-mint"? It's Maytime on daytime, so keep watching, be alert, and most of all, be bold!
-- AMJ
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