B&B: April 2012 Discussion Thread

[Cheap21]

I hate how Bill is acting in regards to Hope but he doesnt hate her. He just hates her with Liam and right now is trying to prove that she's too unstable to be with him. He is WAY too invested in his grown son's love life. him waging war on some teenage girl is pathetic.

[VirginiaHamilton]

She's still a teen? I thought that she was at least 21.

As for Dollar Bill's vendetta against Hope - at least this show isn't trying to pretend the he is the one that we should sympathize with.

[Cheap21]

She should be turning 20 this summer. as she was 17 when she was SORASED back in 2010. They made a point of saying she was underage when she was drinking in Mexico earlier this year but it was okay bc the legal drinking age was lower in that country

[P.J.]

I'm tired of Steffi period. The "cha-cha-cha" thing is just stupid. I hate her hypocrisy---she "wouldn't wish this" on Hope, yet the very fact she continues not to annul the marriage IS the act of "wishing" that the pressure breaks up Hope and Liam. When she and Taylor were arguing with Brooke, she couldn't dare admit she LIED and MANIPULATED Liam into marriage (which six months after the fact is ridiculous) but then today she turned around and admitted that very thing to Brooke, as if it's too damaging to Mommy to hear her little girl is a schemer. She tells Liam she's not "judging" Hope (re: seeing a psychiatrist), but later scenes with Hope say otherwise.

As for Bill---I'm not sure hate or vendetta are the right words. I don't believe for a moment he "likes" Hope either. He hates and despises what he considers weaknesses in others. Hope could be the perfect girlfriend to Liam in every way (the best little rocker of the Spencer schwang there ever was) and Bill would still think she wasn't worthy of his son. Steffi is his idea of perfection.

What I do wonder is why he thinks any plot that "breaks" Hope is going to work. Liam is exactly the kind of person that "sticks around" which is why Bill was able to emotionally blackmail him into "staying with his dying wife".

[Juliajms]

And yet, he is the one I'm rooting for.

[DRW50]

That's because they spend all kinds of time showing how cool and fun Steffi and Bill are. Hope does nothing but angst all over the place.

I think the story is very disturbing. He treats young women like pieces of meat. There is no acknowledgment of what he is doing. Even moving beyond his vendetta against Hope (which to me goes beyond her being with Liam - the words he uses to describe her and the loathing he has for her seem personal), his treatment of Steffy, pushing her and pushing her because his son needs the right bride...who would do that to someone they supposedly loved?

He reminds me so much of Stephanie, but at least Stephanie's motivations were made clear. Bill just basically stomps all over these girls to keep the plot going.

[JellicleCat]

And there really is no reason why Bill is so against Hope. To most people she would have been the ideal daughter-in-law, a sweet, kind, pretty girl with values, and rich on top of that. So why is he so dead set against her?

[Cheap21]

bc he wants Liam to be like him. He initially didnt want him with Hope bc he felt LIam was way too young to settle down. He wanted him to be a playboy, sleep around and be with alot of women like he was in his younger days. He felt Hope repressed and held him back. He also felt her virgin campaign was sickening and dint like how Hope dragged Liam into that.

[DRW50]

If that's what he wanted he wouldn't keep going on about how Liam must be with Steffy. If the writing were saying he is using Liam to get close to Steffy in the only way he can, I'd buy that, but it isn't mentioned.

[VirginiaHamilton]

I must've missed that part about her being underaged. Thanks for clarifying.

LOL

[P.J.]

Well, to be fair, Bill treats everyone like pieces of sh*t. There isn't anyone in his acquaintance that he doesn't steamroll, denigrate and bully. Even his "friend" Justin gets ordered around like some servant. The minute Katie steps out of line, he pours on the emotional blackmail, and even his "whatever" Steffi gets things "done for her own good" without consultation. And she's the closest thing he has to an ally.

As much as Bill professes to want to mold Liam in the Spencer image, he's simply a control freak. He's threatened by what he can't control, and he clearly can't control Hope. Steffi has no problem going along with Bill's schemes---therefore she's not a threat to come between him and his son.

[DRW50]

I think this version of Bill makes sense (and is more of Stephanie), if they would write it. Instead it just feels like they don't know what to do with the character, beyond Don Diamont's usual smarm.

[P.J.]

They don't know what to do with any of the adult characters. They all revolve around their children's love life. Bill's obnoxiousness is really grating---he reminds me of Nick around the time he was married to Brooke. And that ain't good.

I guess if this were twenty years ago, TIIC would get some credit for "staying true to Bill's roots" and not softening him in any way. But it's like Bill has the snark that would have been spread over three or four characters on any other show. It's so unrelenting it sucks the air out of the scene.

[VirginiaHamilton]

Compared to the other assholes on soaps whose nastiness/dirty deeds are explained away with some flimsy excuse, Dollar Bill is a breath of fresh air because this show has no qualms about depicting him as he really is - an unrepentant jerk. Would I feel this way if more soaps had the balls to do this with their !@#$%^&*] characters? Probably not, but that just goes to show you where they fail and B&B succeeds (though I'm sure some may say by default).

[Juliajms]

A good, soapy character? Everyone from J.R. Ewing to Dorian Lord has engaged in trying to manipulate their children's romantic lives. It doesn't get any soapier. I'm not interested in watching Bill being a kindly father in law to Saint Hope. I don't watch soaps to be bored out of my mind by people doing the right thing.