B&B: Brooke's rape!

[Cheap21]

I just saw the last 2 episodes and I fail to see how Stephanie is responsible for what happened to Brooke. She should not be held accountable

[JamesF]

Regardless of whether Stephanie should be held directly accountable in the strictest sense of the term, anyone who was human would be wracked with guilt over what happened and I'm waiting to see whether she will be. As I've said before, Stephanie didn't tell Andy to rape her or know he was crazy but she did tell him where Brooke's key was (hey, this is the woman who brought a loaded gun into the same house when the kids she professes to be fighting for were living there -- it's no surprise).

The problem as per was that Stephanie's line about Brooke's key was ambiguously written so it could be seen as a guess by those who wanted to absolve her. Just as it was never truly determined whether she threw Jackie over the balcony, yet another example of one of Stephanie's actions accidentally hurting someone. Same goes for co-ercing a teenage Morgan into an abortion but not being responsible for her ensuing mental breakdown. The woman never thinks her crazy schemes through past the execution because she doesn't care who gets hurt. And it doesn't matter that she's not always right as demonstrated by her extreme and unwarranted reaction to Ridge's involvement in Shane's death.

But the fact was Stephanie was pushing to get Andy into that house even though he was clearly a sleaze and Felicia made it clear Brooke wasn't interested. She was trying to manipulate Dorothy Bascomb to go over there and walk in on them having sex. That was her immediate plan admittedly but she didn't care about the consequences. It certainly wasn't for Brooke's own good or even for the kids' wellbeing -- as someone in the thread has pointed out, she's already slipped and admitted she wants to raise them. How can anyone be accused of using this latest 'mistake' to railroad the character when it's all so painfully transparent?

It's Stephanie's own reaction to this that I want to see because I know that if anything like it happened to me in real life, I wouldn't be able to live with myself.

I'd love to read Cat's reaction to this whole story and in fact the show at the mo so I hope she finds her way over here this week.

[bellcurve]

She didn't throw Jackie over the balcony. That crazy British ****h was pulling and tugging on her, what do you expect? Stephanie asked Jackie to let go of her and Stephanie ended up pushing her off. I think Stephanie just pushed a little too hard and there she went. I even think Stephanie's reaction to it spoke volumes about it being an accident. She was just as shocked that Jackie went over the railing.

All Jackie had to do was just leave Stephanie alone after the dozens of times Stephanie yelled "get out of my house."

Any other way a fan spins that story, I yell at them... "It's Propaganda!"

I agree...but I'm almost frightened to know what her reaction will be. I'm hoping she doesn't take the Bill Maher stance, which is what I assume a few staunch Brooke Haters are doing. What I mean by that is when Maher was still doing POLITICALLY INCORRECT, he showed the panel an ad from a rape awareness non-profit with a woman in a short, short, skirt and the tagline read, "This is not an invitiation to rape." Maher replied, "No, but it certainly opens the door."

I'm hoping Stephanie doesn't go there, because it will make her look like a misogynist and will make her somehow condone Andy's actions.

Brad Bell not only wants an IT-story, but he NEEDS an IT story. The ratings are tanking fast(not because of him, but because of what's going on all across the board).

He needs to generate the kind of buzz Jimmy Reilly did with DAYS in 93 and 95 without going all sci-fi or wacky.

I'm not sure if the Brooke story will do it, but I know for a fact the Constantine Story won't.

DAYS, in many markets, is moving to a new home this fall. The viewers of that show that watch on lunch breaks or whatnot will either watch B&B, AMC or defect to cable(the latter being the likely option).

If Brad is smart, he will greatly reduce the time of the musical montages and Phoebe/Rick and focus on some good character-driven storytelling.

Me too. Where is she?!

[JamesF]

Oh that line was bizarre. I have no opinion on whether Stephanie did it or not but my point was that it was ambiguously written which is why it still gets debated now. Nobody in the family really seemed to believe Stephanie anyway. And even after telling Jackie to get out she said something to the effect of "stay here and argue with yourself I'm going upstairs" so y'know, she caused some confusion. It was exactly the same with Brooke's miscarriage years ago or Taylor shoving Morgan though and I seem to remember Brad saying at the time that it was deliberately shot in a certain way. I wish he'd just have the courage of his convictions sometimes and state it one way or the other.

Stephanie is just written far too crazy these days. It's weird, someone's been uploading all these clips of her from 1987-1988 and she's actually a fairly nice woman to all extents and purposes. Manipulative but she has a heart. These days she's just a big old loon which is a shame because I'd find the story far more interesting if she were wracked with guilt and I just don't think she will be.

As for Cat, your guess is as good as mine. I miss her observations.

[Evan]

I want to see Stephanie pay, and pay big for this!

KKL is gonna rock this week, I can't wait for Monday's episode and the subsequent days.

My feeling: the rape will totally change Brooke, she won't be involved with chasing men again(the torch will be passed on to Donna). I think instead Brooke will be focused on the healing process and being able to trust again, and her career and the kids will be more important priorities for her in future.

[Cheap21]

That will only last for a few months, as long as it takes the story to play out. She will go back to being a skank after. If theres one thing that BB does is go back to the former status quo and the characters never get to move forward for too long without taking several steps back