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

[MarkH]

winter dungeon? I think I know what it is, but I am too icked to think more about it....

[bellcurve]

You ain't gotta worry about me casting a vote. I vote neither. "Bridge" is played out and so is "Tridge." I know Ridge can be a chauvinist pig at times, but over the last couple of years, I've really started to like and enjoy the character, because I feel he still has potential. I know people hated Ashley's crossover to B&B, but I feel like she was one of the best things to happen to Ridge in awhile.

IMO, Ridge deserves better than the both of them. Should that be posted in the unpopular opinion section?

Think about that SNL Skit. Colonel Engus. Ringing a bell?

By "what she was," I certainly hope you don't mean that busybody morality bus that she was before. I can handle a moral Taylor who preaches from experiences that she owns up to. But please, God, no more whitewashing, no more forgetting, and no more "Taylor Good, Brooke Bad!"

LOL!

And NorrthCafe, great analysis of the whole Stephanie/Taylor dynamic.

It's refreshing to engage in a B&B discussion that doesn't involve talking about how cheap and easy the show is, how much it generally sucks, when Brad will get fired, or what guest stars can jazz up the show and make it better. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[sheilaforever]

The friendship between Taylor & Stephanie has always been one of the best things about B&B.

Very different woman, great chemistry, for B&B standards a very deepgoing friendship...

[Rakesh]

No freaking way.

[NorrthCafe]

Thanks for the comment, Bellcurve! I think the show is missing out on something huge with these two. We've seen friendships on this show before, but the relationship between these two defies description.

Stephanie loved Caroline as a daughter, but when she thought Caroline was going to tear her family apart, she defended her family against Caroline and even threatened to throw Caroline out of the family home. She protected her boys against Caroline's whims. I believed that Steph shared just a friendship with Caroline because there were limits and real disagreements, and an attempt to find balance. Stephanie doesn't have that with Taylor. She's worshipful of Taylor:

• Stephanie sold Thorne out without batting an eyelash, because she cared more about what TAYLOR wanted. Giving a child she thought was Thorne's to Ridge? Geez, don't worry about Thorne flipping his lid, he only shot his brother once before and was nearly primed to do it a second time.
• She nearly sank FC by hiring Taylor as the 'Face of Forrester' because in her mind, Taylor was the IDEAL woman. Makes you wonder how Steph can 'save' Jackie M's.
• She sold out Allie and Pheebs' mental stability to protect Taylor. It just goes on and on.

That doesn't sound like just friendship, in my book.

Taylor's frozen face and Steph's winter dungeon? LOL, that sounds about right to me! Sorry for the imagery, Vee.

BTW, did anyone else giggle about morally suspect Taylor whining about Brooke sleeping her way 'through the family'? Why won't the writers ever put someone in scene with Taylor who can remind her that not only was she once with Storm (the writers upgraded him to a 'former lover' when he returned), she slept with Storm and Brooke's father, Stephen. She slept with Ridge and all THREE of his brothers in a far shorter period of time than Brooke with the Forresters. Brooke is a rank novice compared to Taylor.

[MarkH]

I hope Brooke drags out that chestnut some day....

But it shows how Brad has ruined Taylor in short order, since most of what you mention (including the Storm retcon) happened since she returned from the dead.

Even with Thorne, I do not believe it was sexual back in the day (i.e., when Thorne divorced Macy via fax to be with Taylor).

The only time Taylor had sex out of wedlock was when she de-virginized James in the moments before they were going to "die" in the avalanche/snowstorm or whatever.

Taylor lost the moral high ground that she desperately needed to be a true adversary for Brooke. Now she's just another slut, if not from the Valley.

I'd like to have Taylor get a scene where she looks in the mirror and says "Damn it, I'm sick of being this person. I WILL be Taylor! I WILL act with integrity and authenticity!" And from that moment, instantly and magically, she is a sober and sensitive woman.

That's what I want.

[Sylph]

I do, too.

[Cheap21]

same here. Ive hated what they've done with Taylor. She used to be the heart of the show; its moral center but now its kind of hypocritical to consider her that. I loved her new assertive and strong personality but not the self destructive behavior that came along with it

[NorrthCafe]

I've never understood the idea of Taylor as 'moral'. I know she speaks in moral tones, but her actions have always said otherwise, which is why I think she and Steph are so PERFECTLY matched, they are the same on that score.

Taylor's actions, even before her latest back-from-the-dead stunt, were not too much different from those around them - namely RIDGE. Taylor was always better able to hide her behavior and present a 'moral' face to those who didn't know any better.

She lied to Brooke about sleeping with Ridge when they were together.

She lied to Ridge about Brooke sleeping with Grant when she knew the truth.

She lied to the Forresters about having known Grant (when the implication was that she was sleeping with Grant while married to Blake Hayes).

She used crazy-as-a-fox Blake Hayes to make Ridge jealous when Ridge was focused on Brooke, sleeping with Blake, tossing him aside and then sleeping with Ridge immediately after.

She lied to Stephanie (and everyone else) about having actually slept with James.

She convinced Brooke to stay with Eric to give Rick time to 'adjust' to their divorce and then went after Ridge.

She tried to use Brooke's children to get close to them so that Ridge leave Brooke when she came back the first time she came back from the dead.

She and Stephanie were wickedly ugly about Brooke behind her back, snooping through her office, Taylor crackling while Steph referred to Brooke as a 'hooker making money for it's john'.

Add her role in the Venice scheme, the fact that she diagnosed Thorne and Brooke as mentally ill only AFTER Ridge told her to stop supporting them, and that she had young Rick lie about her relationship with Eric (something she's still keeping from Stephanie).

That's my short list, LOL!

I've always found Taylor to be a very ugly soul and the more she cackled about her 'moral' behavior. the more of a hypocrite she's become.

Stpehanie and Taylor are kindred. They feel beaten up by the world despite the fact that they've created their own misery. They have such a hatred for the world around them and it would be GREAT if they got together and actually found happiness.

For me, Steph is love-to-hate. Taylor is just there, BLAH. Together? They could actually be interesting. I think a relationship with these two would be amazingly transformational for the characters and allow the writers to open them up in a way they never have.

We've never come close to that with Taylor. she's always been the anti-Brooke plot device. They started to open Stephanie with the abuse storyline, and then shut it down almost as quickly as they started it.

[kentville]

Great and true post NorrthCafe!!

[P.J.]

Did anyone catch the credits today? Was that Martha Byrne's script?

Boy...if so, I thought it stunk.