*Brooke Fanfic* Brad’s writing has devolved into Brooke Fanfic and the gross Bridget/Ridge romance is part of this. The idea is to make Bridget cross the decency line and do something just as bad (if not worse) as what Brooke did with Deacon. Consider how Brad wrote the Brooke/Deacon affair: portraying them as a hot couple and diminishing Bridget’s perspective so that the viewer would root for Brooke and Deacon. And then when the fallout happened, no one else finds out about it for months, Stephanie immediately becomes Brooke’s nursemaid, and Bridget quickly forgives her mother. By the time Eric finds out, he’s not even upset with Brooke and the show instead turns Deacon into the sole villain of the storyline as if Brooke did nothing wrong. Brad wants to make Brooke a romantic heroine while still mining the drama from her scandals and the only way to achieve both is to minimize the impact of her scandalous behavior and make other characters just as “bad” as she is. He made Stephanie just as bad by giving her a paternity secret (the Massimo retcon), he’s making Bridget just as bad by giving her an in c e s t u o us romance with Ridge, and he’ll make Taylor just as bad later on by pairing her romantically with Rick and Eric. (If you’re a fan of Macy you should actually be glad she didn’t stick around long enough for Brad to do this to her too!) Brad can’t rehabilitate Brooke or erase her past so the only option left is to drag all the other characters down to her level. B&B is no longer a story structure built on Bill Bell’s foundation and buttressed by archetypes and long-form storytelling. It’s now just a Tumblr dedicated to Brooke.
"B&B is...now just a Tumblr dedicated to Brooke." I couldn't have said it any better! 💯 And you're so right that the effect of the Bridget/Ridge pairing it to even out the grossness with her mother sleeping with her husband.
Excellent analysis as usual! And I am glad you are still here, in spite of all this bad writing. 😊 The strange thing about all of this, to me, is that in many individual scenes, Brooke is actually written _true to her character_ (your "fauxmantic heroine") - we talked about her scenes in Portofino, and @Faye did an excellent analysis of the welcome home party. In all of these scenes, she comes across as inauthentic, as trying to create a romantic fantasy with herself as the main character, but overdoing it. And yet the _overall story structure_ feels like Brooke fanfic, even when the scenes do not.
Glad to still see your posts since we know you hate this storyline. Even with every other situation Brooke causes (her sleeping with Nick and not knowing which one got her pregnant. Her accidentally sleeping with Oliver. Her going after Nick when he’s involved with Bridget, etc), we’re supposed to believe that everyone else is to blame except her and whenever Steph tries to hold her accountable, we’re supposed to view it as her “bullying” Brooke and still being stuck in the past. Even after her affair with Bill both times he’s married to Katie they end up having her forgive her and Donna justifying it and putting the blame on Katie’s depression. NOTHING is ever her fault and after Steph leaves NO ONE ever holds her accountable. It’s no where near the quality show that it was in the first few seasons. Now the focus is on mostly Brooke and Hope and not much of the Forrester family, which is what the whole show is supposed to be centered around.
Why would rich kids be impressed by a limo as if they've never seen one before? 🙄 Also is that the same limo where she na i l e d Connor in the backseat?
Did Ridge just say looking at Bridget was like seeing an unfinished jigsaw puzzle? @Esi and @Sharon and other fans of Bridget’s looks will appreciate that 😂.
Poor JF and JM. Imagine having to do a scene which consists of two people discussing whether or not one of them should have feelings for her brother...
Yesterday I explored how Brooke’s splashy welcome-home party for Ridge’s children unintentionally demonstrated how uninterested she was in being a good mother to the kids, as opposed to having them like her. To me, today’s scenes continued that theme. Knowing that Bridget had left, she could easily have offered to do something that would help them more over time, like helping out with their science or math homework (isn’t she supposed to be some genius chemist?), or even having breakfast with them a few days a week and helping the girls get ready for school. Instead, literally less than 12 hours after giving them cake and gelato, she waltzes in to take them on a limo ride where they will be fed gooey, sweet cinnamon buns (I’m really starting to worry about the kids’ sugar levels, lol). It’s another example of how Brooke actually is - the good-time girl - instead of the good mother and wife she wants to be seen as.
@@FayeIL yes indeed. It also shows me how much Brooke makes everything, no matter what, about herself. The kids miss bridgit? Brooke's solution : MEEEEEE, complete with limo and sugary snacks and video games. I feel sorry for the teachers who now have to deal with children on a sugar rush who have been playing video games on their way to school lol. Note : Brooke hasn't even yet talked to bridgit about what her problem was, bc that's not fun, nor is whatever is Bridgit's problem a priority over showing up for Ridge.
@@TriniT21Bridget currently serves no purpose for Brooke and is actually getting in the way by being someone the kids *actually* like and need, so naturally Brooke has no use for her.
Your posts on this have been terrific Faye. Really good character analysis. Brad may not intend to portray Brooke that way but as we know, authorial intent isn't the only way to "read a text" and anyway there are multiple writers on this show, and it's usually other writers who are ding the dialogue and individual episodes. So you sometimes get this tension between Brad's overall destructive vision for the show and smaller moments that undermine that vision (like showing Brooke NOT knowing how to be a good role model for the kids). And your observation that she would rather be fun than helpful shows again that Brooke is a very immature character. She can't ever assume an adult role, not in her romantic relationships or as a mother.
She has a nanny Just like Ridge and Taylor have one. Remember when Taylor left her children to have lunch with Morgan everyday And wait around after in Ridges office
@@-Lily7415again, Taylor put her career on hold to be with her children. It is not the same. One thing is sure and stays true to form: Brooke has never been shown as a caring mother.
So the kids had all that ice cream yesterday, and now all of them have a stomach ache... so let's give them cinnamon buns for breakfast. In a limousine. While playing video games. Great mothering there, Brooke. 😂
@@annieo6527 Brooke is like something out of a Willy Wonka factory.... Meanwhile, why these kids acting like they from the Valley and not living in a big mansion where their dad can get a limo anytime they want? Or video games galore? I'd be so unimpressed by Brooke's limo (courtesy the company that bears their DAD'S name) if I were them.
Massimo just loves using Brooke's children as plot devices. First he used Rick, by coaching him to remove Ridge from Forrester Creations. Now he's using Bridget to keep grandma mattress away. 🤮🤢 Someone please remind him son in laws and stepsons are not off limits when it comes to Brooke.
@@tiroyaonejustinphologolo9763 I said the same yesterday. Bridgit with Ridge will not get rid of Brooke, who has no qualms sleeping with her daughter's husband. In fact, she might go after Ridge MORE since he is married. You know that's her criteria
I refer to 2003-2004 as the "in between years" of B&B because that's when it seemed to get strange and have bizarre storylines. I had stopped watching after summer 2002 when I was in middle school and started watching again in summer 2005 right after Taylor's return. Maybe Hunter Tylo's absence was a big part of the direction the show took, but it sure seemed to improve once she returned(despite eventually changing her character).
Agreed. There were positives. I like the addition of Nick and Jackie. But Amber’s twin, yet another character’s pregnancy that seemed to last forever, Macy’s fate, and losing JF made it a tough time on the show.
I for sure tuned out when these episodes aired. I have zero recall of Brooke being chauffeured around. Seems like the characters were usually driving their own sporty or luxurious cars, often crashing them. Brooke capitalizing on Taylor’s death is so Brooke.
@@tiroyaonejustinphologolo9763 she focused more on the s E x and less on the education. Honestly, when did Brooke ever learn how to run a corporation? She's been at Forrester for years and still doesn't know. And Rick, who is actually going to business school, doesn't know any better either... But anyway I guess he is the progeny of Eric, who clearly doesn't understand running a business and basic things like employment contracts, and Brooke, a chemist who has been reinvented as some kind of business woman
Brooke said she didn't like going to class so how exactly did she become a chemist talented enough to invent a world changing fabric formula? 🙄 I guess she got all the chemistry lessons she needed under the bleachers with the quarterback _and_ the coach.
@@tiroyaonejustinphologolo9763 This is why Stephanie always believed Brooke's pregnancies were no accident. She knows that girl was taking careful notes in S ex Ed! 😆
Ridge’s kids: “We don’t want to go to school! It’s boring and stupid.” Brooke: “I understand. When I was a kid I didn’t want to go to school either. I would much rather have been outside -blowing the team quarterback and sometimes the science teachers too, for good grades- in the sun! But if I didn’t go, I wouldn’t have learned how to be a CEO!” Most viewers who know anything about the history of this show, probably: “How did you learn to be a CEO at school, given how you got to be CEO?” Me: “ -By blowing that science teacher- “
I just made a similar joke about the quarterback before seeing your post! 🤣 Only I added the coach too - a precursor for doing Ridge and Eric at the same time.
The family tree is always intertwined in such a disgusting dynamic, even if they'e not blood related affairs. Bridget falling for Ridge, is like a girl who was adopted at birth falling for her adoptive brother. Let alone Brooke who made Bridget and Hope stepsisters.
Taylor's gone and there's nothing that can save Ridge's character from its downfall. He has always been the leader in Bridge' s relationship. From now on he is going to be Brooke's doormat and nothing more. Good bye to Ridge too.
*Brooke Fanfic*
Brad’s writing has devolved into Brooke Fanfic and the gross Bridget/Ridge romance is part of this. The idea is to make Bridget cross the decency line and do something just as bad (if not worse) as what Brooke did with Deacon. Consider how Brad wrote the Brooke/Deacon affair: portraying them as a hot couple and diminishing Bridget’s perspective so that the viewer would root for Brooke and Deacon. And then when the fallout happened, no one else finds out about it for months, Stephanie immediately becomes Brooke’s nursemaid, and Bridget quickly forgives her mother. By the time Eric finds out, he’s not even upset with Brooke and the show instead turns Deacon into the sole villain of the storyline as if Brooke did nothing wrong.
Brad wants to make Brooke a romantic heroine while still mining the drama from her scandals and the only way to achieve both is to minimize the impact of her scandalous behavior and make other characters just as “bad” as she is. He made Stephanie just as bad by giving her a paternity secret (the Massimo retcon), he’s making Bridget just as bad by giving her an in c e s t u o us romance with Ridge, and he’ll make Taylor just as bad later on by pairing her romantically with Rick and Eric. (If you’re a fan of Macy you should actually be glad she didn’t stick around long enough for Brad to do this to her too!) Brad can’t rehabilitate Brooke or erase her past so the only option left is to drag all the other characters down to her level.
B&B is no longer a story structure built on Bill Bell’s foundation and buttressed by archetypes and long-form storytelling. It’s now just a Tumblr dedicated to Brooke.
"B&B is...now just a Tumblr dedicated to Brooke." I couldn't have said it any better! 💯 And you're so right that the effect of the Bridget/Ridge pairing it to even out the grossness with her mother sleeping with her husband.
Excellent analysis as usual! And I am glad you are still here, in spite of all this bad writing. 😊
The strange thing about all of this, to me, is that in many individual scenes, Brooke is actually written _true to her character_ (your "fauxmantic heroine") - we talked about her scenes in Portofino, and @Faye did an excellent analysis of the welcome home party. In all of these scenes, she comes across as inauthentic, as trying to create a romantic fantasy with herself as the main character, but overdoing it. And yet the _overall story structure_ feels like Brooke fanfic, even when the scenes do not.
Could not have said it better👍🏽👍🏽.
I, as a fan of Macy, am glad that they didn't keep the character around to prop Brooke up.
@@TriniT21 I am with you there Trish. I am actually relieved Macy left before her character was completely destroyed the way Taylor's was.
Glad to still see your posts since we know you hate this storyline. Even with every other situation Brooke causes (her sleeping with Nick and not knowing which one got her pregnant. Her accidentally sleeping with Oliver. Her going after Nick when he’s involved with Bridget, etc), we’re supposed to believe that everyone else is to blame except her and whenever Steph tries to hold her accountable, we’re supposed to view it as her “bullying” Brooke and still being stuck in the past. Even after her affair with Bill both times he’s married to Katie they end up having her forgive her and Donna justifying it and putting the blame on Katie’s depression. NOTHING is ever her fault and after Steph leaves NO ONE ever holds her accountable. It’s no where near the quality show that it was in the first few seasons. Now the focus is on mostly Brooke and Hope and not much of the Forrester family, which is what the whole show is supposed to be centered around.
That bIack and white montage of Ridge and Bridget was the scene we never knew we absolutely did not need.
Did not!!!!!
NOTTTT
Lol.... I warned everyone that Bridget and Ridge were coming. And... it gets worse. YUCK!!!!!!
@@annieo6527 Did. Not. Need.
when i heard the music i couldnt stop laughing
“If you weren't my sister I'd probably ask you to marry me” is cruaaaaaazyyyyy
"If you weren't my sister I'd probably ask you to marry me." 🤢
Don't feel special, Bridget. He probably said that to Kristen too.
@@NewYorkNick0607😂😂😂😂
@@annieo6527 this whole episode was cringe after cringe...
@@NewYorkNick0607 He did say something similar to Kristen.
@@Esi-741 I knew you would know! 😄❤
Why would rich kids be impressed by a limo as if they've never seen one before? 🙄 Also is that the same limo where she na i l e d Connor in the backseat?
@@SuzanneAllen-ne2nr same thing i asked... They just flew to Italy in the Forrester private jet for goodness sake 🙄
Did she have sex with Connor? 😮😮 I thought they had more of a platonic relationship
@@MT-sw8rf they had s E x from their first date. It wasn't platonic between Brooke and Connor.
Did Ridge just say looking at Bridget was like seeing an unfinished jigsaw puzzle? @Esi and @Sharon and other fans of Bridget’s looks will appreciate that 😂.
I think you meant me instead of Sharon. I'm the one who said she looks like a bag of door knobs. 😜
@@SuzanneAllen-ne2nrAh, sorry! I did 😂.
@@SuzanneAllen-ne2nr😂🤣😂🤣
I’m late to this but I just had to find the scene 😂 🙌😛
Poor JF and JM. Imagine having to do a scene which consists of two people discussing whether or not one of them should have feelings for her brother...
Yesterday I explored how Brooke’s splashy welcome-home party for Ridge’s children unintentionally demonstrated how uninterested she was in being a good mother to the kids, as opposed to having them like her. To me, today’s scenes continued that theme. Knowing that Bridget had left, she could easily have offered to do something that would help them more over time, like helping out with their science or math homework (isn’t she supposed to be some genius chemist?), or even having breakfast with them a few days a week and helping the girls get ready for school. Instead, literally less than 12 hours after giving them cake and gelato, she waltzes in to take them on a limo ride where they will be fed gooey, sweet cinnamon buns (I’m really starting to worry about the kids’ sugar levels, lol). It’s another example of how Brooke actually is - the good-time girl - instead of the good mother and wife she wants to be seen as.
@@FayeIL yes indeed.
It also shows me how much Brooke makes everything, no matter what, about herself.
The kids miss bridgit? Brooke's solution : MEEEEEE, complete with limo and sugary snacks and video games.
I feel sorry for the teachers who now have to deal with children on a sugar rush who have been playing video games on their way to school lol.
Note : Brooke hasn't even yet talked to bridgit about what her problem was, bc that's not fun, nor is whatever is Bridgit's problem a priority over showing up for Ridge.
@@TriniT21Bridget currently serves no purpose for Brooke and is actually getting in the way by being someone the kids *actually* like and need, so naturally Brooke has no use for her.
Exactly! She isn't genuinely connecting with the kids - she is _br i b ing_ the kids so they won't stand in the way of her and Ridge.
Your posts on this have been terrific Faye. Really good character analysis. Brad may not intend to portray Brooke that way but as we know, authorial intent isn't the only way to "read a text" and anyway there are multiple writers on this show, and it's usually other writers who are ding the dialogue and individual episodes. So you sometimes get this tension between Brad's overall destructive vision for the show and smaller moments that undermine that vision (like showing Brooke NOT knowing how to be a good role model for the kids). And your observation that she would rather be fun than helpful shows again that Brooke is a very immature character. She can't ever assume an adult role, not in her romantic relationships or as a mother.
She abandons new baby Hope everyday!
She has a nanny
Just like Ridge and Taylor have one.
Remember when Taylor left her children to have lunch with Morgan everyday
And wait around after in Ridges office
@@-Lily7415again, Taylor put her career on hold to be with her children.
It is not the same. One thing is sure and stays true to form: Brooke has never been shown as a caring mother.
@@babs4848Again , you’re wrong.
@@vicg7367 baby who?? Oh, you mean that baby that only means something to Brooke when it's convenient to her...
@@TriniT21 the baby that shouldn't have been.
So the kids had all that ice cream yesterday, and now all of them have a stomach ache... so let's give them cinnamon buns for breakfast. In a limousine. While playing video games. Great mothering there, Brooke. 😂
@@annieo6527 Brooke is like something out of a Willy Wonka factory....
Meanwhile, why these kids acting like they from the Valley and not living in a big mansion where their dad can get a limo anytime they want? Or video games galore?
I'd be so unimpressed by Brooke's limo (courtesy the company that bears their DAD'S name) if I were them.
@@TriniT21 IKR! Why is the bar so low?
Massimo just loves using Brooke's children as plot devices. First he used Rick, by coaching him to remove Ridge from Forrester Creations. Now he's using Bridget to keep grandma mattress away. 🤮🤢
Someone please remind him son in laws and stepsons are not off limits when it comes to Brooke.
@@tiroyaonejustinphologolo9763 I said the same yesterday. Bridgit with Ridge will not get rid of Brooke, who has no qualms sleeping with her daughter's husband. In fact, she might go after Ridge MORE since he is married. You know that's her criteria
"lf you weren't my sister l'd ask you to marry me"
Someone else Other than Brooke that Ridge would consider marrying
I refer to 2003-2004 as the "in between years" of B&B because that's when it seemed to get strange and have bizarre storylines. I had stopped watching after summer 2002 when I was in middle school and started watching again in summer 2005 right after Taylor's return. Maybe Hunter Tylo's absence was a big part of the direction the show took, but it sure seemed to improve once she returned(despite eventually changing her character).
Agreed. There were positives. I like the addition of Nick and Jackie. But Amber’s twin, yet another character’s pregnancy that seemed to last forever, Macy’s fate, and losing JF made it a tough time on the show.
I for sure tuned out when these episodes aired. I have zero recall of Brooke being chauffeured around. Seems like the characters were usually driving their own sporty or luxurious cars, often crashing them.
Brooke capitalizing on Taylor’s death is so Brooke.
I had my AirPods in but wasn't looking at the screen and I thought this was a squeaky door hinge: 9:10
😂 Thank you for the timestamp. I have completely stopped watching at this point.
See how Ridge and the kids are at home and Brooke can't stay away from Ridge
This Bridget and Ridge thing is just sick. Why is B&B always trying to hook up family members? It's just gross.
That's because they like to "keep it" in the family which is very very gross🤮🤮
Brooke went to school to learn to run a corporation?? 😂😂😂
Lawd the rewrites write themselves.
Only thing Brooke paid attention to was s ex Ed class 😂
@@TriniT21 yet she didn't learn about contraceptives.
@@tiroyaonejustinphologolo9763 she focused more on the s E x and less on the education.
Honestly, when did Brooke ever learn how to run a corporation? She's been at Forrester for years and still doesn't know.
And Rick, who is actually going to business school, doesn't know any better either... But anyway I guess he is the progeny of Eric, who clearly doesn't understand running a business and basic things like employment contracts, and Brooke, a chemist who has been reinvented as some kind of business woman
Brooke said she didn't like going to class so how exactly did she become a chemist talented enough to invent a world changing fabric formula? 🙄 I guess she got all the chemistry lessons she needed under the bleachers with the quarterback _and_ the coach.
@@tiroyaonejustinphologolo9763 This is why Stephanie always believed Brooke's pregnancies were no accident. She knows that girl was taking careful notes in S ex Ed! 😆
@@NewYorkNick0607 the student has become the teacher... 😂
Ridge’s kids: “We don’t want to go to school! It’s boring and stupid.”
Brooke: “I understand. When I was a kid I didn’t want to go to school either. I would much rather have been outside -blowing the team quarterback and sometimes the science teachers too, for good grades- in the sun! But if I didn’t go, I wouldn’t have learned how to be a CEO!”
Most viewers who know anything about the history of this show, probably: “How did you learn to be a CEO at school, given how you got to be CEO?”
Me: “ -By blowing that science teacher- “
@@FayeIL well I want to know what school Brooke went to, to learn to be ceo. I guess school of getting everything on your back.
I just made a similar joke about the quarterback before seeing your post! 🤣 Only I added the coach too - a precursor for doing Ridge and Eric at the same time.
Massimo was trying to break down Eric's family unit, so he could have his own.
Why is it that when Stéphanie dies brooke doesn't cheer up Eric this same way??or eric isn't an "OLD FRIEND"😂😂
Poor cj his relationship with Becky was ruined know this pairing they had no intentions of keeping around
I liked him with bridget
Ridge is showing his age more. He's almost catching up to Brooke.
When it started playing I thought I had accidentally clicked on a recent episode of the show from 2024 because Brooke looks 60 in the limo scene. 😂
I don’t think she looked like she was 60 yrs. old in this episode.
They broke up Marcus and Steffy so that Rick could be with Steffy
I wondered how Massimo would of squared up with Bill Spencer
@@PaulBonds-k2r I'm rooting for Bill. So far Massimo hasn't come up with one good idea yet
this is sick
The family tree is always intertwined in such a disgusting dynamic, even if they'e not blood related affairs. Bridget falling for Ridge, is like a girl who was adopted at birth falling for her adoptive brother. Let alone Brooke who made Bridget and Hope stepsisters.
It's even worse. Bridget spent the first several years of her life believing that Ridge was her _father._
Brooke didn’t make them stepsisters. She made them stepmother and stepdaughter.
Well if massimo were to pursue bridget ,that would be quite normal , in comparison to some of the sick storylines
Absolutely the most stupid idea with Ridge and briget 🤢🤢🤢🤢
All that money but no speech therapy for phoebe and steffy?
Taylor was not a much of a mother i suppose
@@Html962no where near as bad as Brooke!
Exactly. They both talk like Betty Boop
11:42 Stefano erm I mean, Massimo, best dressed soap opera Dad! 🕴️
I am grossed by this story with Ridge and Bridgette…I liked them together as a family but now it’s gone way too far
Taylor's gone and there's nothing that can save Ridge's character from its downfall. He has always been the leader in Bridge' s relationship.
From now on he is going to be Brooke's doormat and nothing more. Good bye to Ridge too.
@@babs4848 YES! It's only downward for Ridge from here.
What happened to Sally? Or did I miss an episode after her "heart attack"?