Sunday, June 24, 2007

The Problem With the "Bold" Triangle...

In this week’s “Soap Opera Digest,” columnist Carolyn Hinsey criticizes “The Bold and the Beautiful” Executive Producer and Head Writer Bradley Bell for hiring “an ‘American Idol’ reject without checking to see if he can act (he can’t)…”

Personally, I don’t think the problem is Constantine’s acting skills (I happen to think he has some.). The problem is his story is just not believable….

In order for a love triangle to work, you have to be able to see the person in the middle with both people and I just can’t see Constantine with Phoebe (I can barely see her with Rick.). Because she is so young, both in age and appearance (She’s 18.), Constantine comes off like a dirty old man.

But he’s not the only problem. Rick’s character seesaws so badly, he’s practically bipolar. One minute he’s over Phoebe and telling Ashley that he needs a real woman and the next he’s risking going to jail to save her father. It just doesn’t work.

And are we really supposed to believe that a girl can be that naïve?...

I’m not saying that the show’s not worth watching, because it is. I just seem to be a little more interested in the egg switching than Constantine trying to steal Phoebe from Rick…

Here’s the recap of the last two weeks…

When Rick came to Constantine’s studio, he found Phoebe and Constantine in the recording studio and he misinterpreted what was going on. Rick and Constantine almost came to blows as Rick told Phoebe that Constantine was interested in more than her voice. Constantine threw Rick out of his apartment and Phoebe reluctantly followed. The two had an argument in Rick’s car, and Phoebe admitted that Constantine may be interested in her. In his apartment, Constantine found Rick’s PDA. He played the waiting message to find out who it belonged to and heard a breathy-voiced woman leaving Rick a message: “Hi Rick. It’s me. About last night. Call me. Au revoir” (We know the message is from Ashley.). Constantine recorded the message into his mixing board. After Rick and Phoebe agreed to stop fighting and work on their relationship, Rick realized he had left behind his PDA and he went back to get it. Constantine alluded to the message, but he never admitted he had heard it…

Meanwhile, a secret from Rick’s past began to emerge. When he was a child, he shot his mother’s husband, Grant Chambers. But the incident was so traumatic, he blocked it out of his memory. To protect him, Ridge, Phoebe’s father, confessed to the crime (He was in love with Rick’s mother). That prior conviction caused the DA to charge Ridge with first degree murder in the death of Shane McGrath. To help Shane’s case, Rick would need to confess to a crime he refused to believe he committed…

Phoebe did go back to Constantine’s, where he tried to convince her that Rick was not a good guy. But Phoebe said she didn’t want to hear anything negative about him, so instead of Ashley’s message, Constantine played Phoebe the song he wrote for her, “Girl Like You.” As Phoebe listened to the song, we saw a video for it featuring Phoebe and Constantine in L.A. Phoebe was touched that he wrote a song for her. Finally, after some more Rick bashing, Constantine played the message for Phoebe.

Devastated, Phoebe went to Forrester Originals to talk to Ashley to find out if she knew who Rick could be seeing behind her back; but of course, she didn’t recognize Ashley’s voice. And of course, Ashley acted like she didn’t know anything. Rick showed up to talk to Phoebe about all of the Grant stuff, and Phoebe confronted him about seeing someone else. He admitted that he did see someone while they were broke up, but that it didn’t mean anything (which is not what he told Ashley) and that it was completely over. And, of course, Phoebe fell for it…

Ridge told Phoebe about Rick shooting Grant and Phoebe tried to get Rick to remember, but he couldn’t. But then Rick appeared at the courthouse, just as the judge (wonderfully played by Kevin Dobson of “Knots Landing” fame) was ready to begin the trial. Rick took the stand and recounted how he shot Grant. The judge voided the first conviction, dropped the charge of first degree murder and set Ridge free—all thanks to Rick. Rick visited Ridge at the jail and told him that he lied about remembering for Phoebe. He told Ridge that he didn’t want him interfering in their relationship anymore, and Ridge agreed…

Constantine read about Ridge’s release on the Internet and called Phoebe to tell her how happy he was for her. Phoebe invited him to the pool party celebrating Ridge’s release at the Forrester Mansion so that he could meet her father. When Constantine arrived, Rick threw a fit, but Phoebe calmed him down. Ridge and Constantine seemed to bond over Rick’s hatred for them, and then Constantine dropped the bombshell that Rick had been unfaithful to Phoebe…