B&B: March 2021 Discussion Thread

[AbcNbc247]

Unfortunately, no 

 

No Hope/Liam/Steffy for 4 days lol I've watched B&B for a few years, but I think that just might have been the biggest break from them that I've ever seen 

[SFK]

Zoe is annoying af and Zende is corny as sh!t. The real couple is Carter and Paris, but they are both too goody-goody and would unceremoniously be sent packing for their lack of conflict.

[Chatty Cakes]

Zende is like an old man. 
I love Carter, get him someone nicer than Zoe!

[soapfan770]

This! The quad is would’ve been a lot more interesting if Paris had been interested in Carter as well. Then Paris could’ve confided her interest in Carter to Zende with him telling her pursue Carter all the while Zende is having a full blown affair with Zoe.

 

Yet that would been wayyy too much for Thudley to even dream up to make this quad work. Not to mention Zoe is played by very subpar actress than just comes off annoying. Yikes! 

[Faulkner]

WTF was Zende’s MUAHAHA and then a cut to the opening credits? This show is just so half-assed.

[AbcNbc247]

Alright, Zoe needs to get slapped just as much as Liam does

[Faulkner]

I’m gonna need Paris to slap the lip gloss off her face and snatch that ugly, gaudy-ass costume jewelry from around her neck (is it attached to her chemise?)

[AbcNbc247]

Lmaoo yes. Not only is she a horrible character, they dress her horribly as well

[Faulkner]

She’s just doesn’t work at all. Get rid of her.

 

For a 30-minute show, B&B feels awfully padded with filler.

Is this really how this Vinny/Thomas story gonna play out? These plots are so anticlimactic.

[AbcNbc247]

Yeah, I don't get it. 

 

Paris/Zoe, Hope/Liam, Thomas/Vinny have literally had the same conversations about four times already, yet at the same time the stories are moving too fast. It's like Brad wants to rush through everything, but not play every beat. 

[FrenchBug82]

I will be the one to put it out there that I have always thought that for a show about fashion, B&B usually doesn't dress its female characters very well.

 

 

Bell does not like to play beats. 
Bell's pattern is easy: he gets ideas, gets enthusiastic, plays it to the hilt, gets bored shortly thereafter and doesn't want to take the time to carefully unravel it and transition to the next one. He just abruptly drops it with a throwaway scene.
Like a child, when he is bored with his toy, he throws it to the side and moves on the next one. He doesn't take the time to put it away neatly.
One of my B&B traumas is how he undid three years worth of Brooke/Thorne in less than a week. But look at all the stories that drove the show for a while and then were dropped abruptly without any clean-up or fallout. Steffy's addiction was cured in a hot minute. Thomas dumps Sally suddenly. Caroline was killed off-screen. Maya and Rick are suddenly divorced. I could go on.
He makes no investment in telling what happens AFTER the story and, as you said, he doesn't care about the beats. He gives us tons of repetitive scenes by secondary characters speculating about what might be happening while it is happening but no discussions of the fallout once things have happened, which would be so much more interesting.
Even in the 30m format, it is beyond frustrating and lessens our emotional investment.

[AbcNbc247]

Lol that's sad.

 

There was so much potential with Steffy/Finn and JMW's pregnancy but instead he chose to do the same crap with Hope/Liam that everybody's been dealing with for years. I've only watched B&B for like two years, and already I'm tired of it

[Forever8]

I don't know what happened with Steffy's addiction story?! Was it because when he found out JMW was pregnant IRL so he decided she might've thought doing the story was stressful. Or was this just a plot point to get Finn "acclimated" onto the canvas? Or another thought I had was he got scared if COVID ramped up again meaning production had to be suspended he was fearful of not being able to finish out the story? They could've had Steffy dealing with her addiction for months. Until it was time to usher JMW off-canvas on her maternity leave. Steffy could've went to rehab somewhere in Palm Springs or Santa Barbara for 30/90 days. 

 

I'm beyond ready for Brad and Co. to explore Finn's background. All we know about the man is that he is a good-looking doctor who got caught up in Brad's latest WTD storyline who is overly-dedicated to Steffy who can stand up to Liam. It just seemed he created this character to shut up the fans who've been crying for a new male character to be on the canvas. 

[FrenchBug82]

I think you are being too kind. As I said, I just don't think Bell wants to tell stories over the long-run. He never has. He wants the build-up, the shock of the story and then on to the next one.
That's why so many things have been memory-holed - including as mentioned earlier in this or February's threads so many past couples. Things happen and then are never acknowledged or used to build up nice little moments or references or follow-up stories.
He just doesn't do consequences. He does build-up and climax but nothing is every followed up on. Even when he has something a bit more interesting than the latest triangle going on, like Steffy's addiction or Brooke's rape, he does them OK while they were going on and then drop the ball despite all the potential in the world for the story to provide really great material to enrich and mature the characters in question.

I am not a Bell hater as much as some of ya'll but I think he'd be better off writing and letting someone else headwrite - meaning sowing the storylines together, weaving the larger picture, etc.
Left to his own devices he just jumps from story idea to story idea.

Edited March 9, 2021 by FrenchBug82

[Chatty Cakes]

What a waste today’s episode was. Zoe is still going off on Paris and Thomas on Vinny.