B&B: Could Stephanie and Taylor work as a couple?

[NorrthCafe]

Does anyone else wonder if that's the direction the BnB writers are headed in? Steph could have gotten fancy new digs, like Jackie did. The writers had her moving in with Taylor. Why?

Stephanie has supported Taylor and protected her, even when it meant she had to betray her own children:

• She protected Taylor's adultery with James.
• She forgave Taylor's bigamy with Omar.
• She hid Taylor's 'confession' letter from Ridge.
• She forgave Taylor for lying about killing Thorne's wife, Darla, and getting close to him and his daughter Allie as a way of 'helping' them. She knew they were tormented about not knowing who killed Darla. She became engaged to Thorne and nearly became Allie's stepmom.
• Believing that Taylor was pregnant with Thorne's child, Steph tried to get pregnant Taylor to leave Thorne and go back to Ridge (knowing the pain it would cause Thorne).
• She forgave Taylor for leaving her granddaughter Phoebe's catatonic and hospitalized in keeping the secret.

It would be interesting, to me at least, if Steph and Taylor finally realized that they've protected one another over all others, including their family members (Taylor betraying her brother Zach and easily forgiving Steph for throwing her father aside). Their friendship never made sense because it was so extreme and seemed only to be based on hatred for Brooke. How could Steph forgive all of that in Taylor, but hate Brooke who was so faithful to her son?

The irony? Eric would finally realize what it was like to be shoved aside for a younger woman! He's done it to Steph for so long, if Steph fell for Taylor, it would blow him away (and so many others).

In true soap fashion, imagine teen Allie coming back angry at her grandmother, not because she's in love with a woman, but that she's in love with THAT woman, the woman who took her mother's life and then deceived her!

[Cashton]

I can't imagine even B&B being that ballsy. And I love SF - but I don't want to see her in bed with Taylor - that's just...no.

[YRBB]

I actually think their friendship makes perfect sense; they seem to have this wonderful mother-daughter like relationship. Often, I think Stephanie views Taylor as the daughter she never really had; Felicia was always a pain in the ass for her, and she harbored extreme resentment for Kristen at times... But Stephanie and Taylor respected one another and I'm not sure I'd like all that to be thrown away just for a possibly successful lesbian relationship.

[NorrthCafe]

I use to think that Taylor was just a weapon for Steph to use against Brooke, not that she cared for Taylor.

That she would betray her own children for Taylor? Even if she couldn't stand the girls, she LOVES Ridge (more than any man - she once told him). There has to be some reason she would betray even Ridge to keep Taylor in their lives.

That she so quickly forgave Taylor for the Darla thing made me wonder what the writers were up to even then. She sent Taylor back to Thorne and told her to stop feeling guilty. WHAT THA'???? This was after telling Darla she was the finest Forrester wife there ever was!

I'm starting to wonder if the writers were giving us romantic relationship overtones the entire time!

[MarkH]

I am advocating for gay stories everywhere...but this is one I hope they leave as what it USED to be...a dear friendship and almost maternal bond. With Stephanie being Taylor's cheerleader and impetus to defend herself in the Brooke war.

Taylor, in this scenario, is romantically challenged but sane and likeable.

Could we get back to that? Please? I don't need Taylor driving front burner crisis stories ever again. I like her as the stable one.

[NorrthCafe]

Glad you brought that point up, MarkH. I haven't seen a 'war' with Brooke. Brooke isn't at war with them. She never has been. She's done everything in her power to make peace with the two of them and they continued to keep coming after her. Is it a war they created to use as a way to keep themselves together, witout ever admitting that there's been no war with Brooke? The writers could really use that history to frame their relationship.

Taylor has never been the stable one, in my book. She's created on crisis after another to use as an excuse to run to Stephanie. They've used Ridge and Brooke, in my opinion, to form their bond, but I wouldn't call it friendship. I just don't know what to call it. It's certainly symbiotic/parasitic at times.

[bellcurve]

Maybe B&B will have Stephanie constantly catch Taylor in her bra and panties or naked in the steam room too? I mean, that seems to be so commonplace at B&B for Stephanie these days.

Anyway, I like Stephanie and Taylor's mother/daughter bond. But I loved Taylor when she was the Forrester outsider for that split second. It was so great to see Taylor bitch out "the queen." It was a glorious, beautiful moment on B&B. Alot of people view Taylor's downward spiral as her "jump the shark" moment. I view it as part of her evolution. I hated how goody-goody Taylor was and always preferred Brooke over her. But this new Taylor, that emerged post-Hector and post-James isn't the same sanctimonious hypocrite shrew that she was before Sheila shot her. This Taylor makes mistakes, but learns from them, and fully acknowledges her slutty behavior instead of being sneaky about it. Yes, Taylor played the "wounded hoe" card with Rick and spun it in a different direction when it came to telling Steffy why she shouldn't date Rick and why she went after her daughter's ex-boyfriend. But I still forgive Taylor for that because at least she a)owns up to it instead of using words like "fate" and "destiny" to excuse it and b)she's not throwing her "moral" values and her holy water at everyone. It's great to see these two back to where they were before, but I think it's great that Taylor told Stephanie about herself at least once before they went back to the way things were.

But with that said, I lobsterlove seeing her get worked up. The chicken dance is an artform. LOL. Thanks, BadZoe!

[ReddFoxx]

I don't see that one working. As others mentioned, Stephanie and Taylor has a friendship that is mother-daughter like and it would be jumping the shark to have them get involved.

[bellcurve]

Oh PLEASE. Brooke flipped her f%ck!ng sh!t when Taylor started dating Rick. Yeah, Rick is her son, but that doesn't have a damn thing to do with her. Also, Brooke promised repeatedly that she would stay away from Nick and Taylor and baby Jack. But the second Taylor's marriage to Nick crumbled, what did the Valley girl do? She ran in and accused Taylor of not bonding with the baby, instead of doing what she was supposed to do, which is LET GO! Not to mention leading Nick on AGAIN! EGADS!

[MarkH]

Oh damn...I fear we're gonna get into some Tridge vs. Bridge stuff. Yuck

I was always "team Brooke" ... no matter how awful she was. But I still want/love stable, sensible Taylor. On the other hand, where Brooke is concerned, I cannot respect her if she ever looks at another man again. And she will...you just know it. They ruined by beloved Brooke, IMO, when she veered -- even for a second -- from her "destiny" with Ridge.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I think Taylor should be written out...

[MarkH]

Sigh. Maybe. I wouldn't miss her. Not if they can't get her back to how she was in some logical way.

[YRBB]

Two things I think need to be done, in order for Taylor to stay:

1) She must be written, as Mark said, like she was. She can, and should, become the moral center of the show. That doesn't mean they have to wipe out her complexities, or forget the mistakes that she has made, but she still can be the flawed center.

2) Tylor has to seriously stop portraying the role the way she has been. Arms a flyin', bossom a rockin', no, enough. I remember emotional scenes were Tylo really got to me (no matter how unpopular that may be) and she was awesome, but now... I don't know.

I want my Taylor back. Why is Bell letting her get away with this? Then again, he does have Moss and others to care about...

[NorrthCafe]

Taylor written out? I could live with that... EASILY!

For years I'd thought of Ridge as someone else's son because it was the ONLY thing that made sense of Steph's preoccupation with him at the expense of her other children. I thought the writers did a good job of figuring out that they had to make sense of it all. The others were Eric's, Ridge was the child of a man who loved her and respected her.

Steph having feelings for Taylor is the ONLY thing that makes sense of her preoccupation with her at the expense of her children, including Ridge. The accident with Darla, the cover up, and Pheeb's and Allie's breakdowns should have been the last straw for Steph, but she always protected Taylor. The writers have to make sense of it somehow. Steph is like the bad mom who chooses the significant other over her children. There's nothing Taylor could do to her children that she wouldn't forgive.

Even Sally wanted to rip Darla's head off for hurting Macy. It took her a while to forgive Darla and she loved her like a daughter.

I never saw Steph and Taylor as mother and daughter, more like partners in deception.

[Vee]

Thanks, I just got a mental flash of that frozen-ass face going down on Susan Flannery's winter dungeon. Now I'm blind and insane, like those who look upon Cthulu.