By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman
In decades, I’ve rarely raved about a single storyline. But the Rick-Maya-Caroline imbroglio that has played out over the last month or so has just been superb. It’s a can’t-miss-a-day tale of betrayal, ambition, narcissism and, above all, surprise.
Eric Forrester decided he wanted to take a year off and wanted Rick to take over as CEO of Forrester Creations. But he would only give Rick the reigns if Rick would reconcile with his wife Caroline. Rick complied, nominally, even though he had caught Caroline sharing a few innocent kisses with his brother Ridge. However, unbeknownst to anyone, Rick was carrying on an affair with his ex, Maya, Forrester’s lead model who is an ex-con and a major, major gold digger.
Rick had the company ownership transfer papers drawn up and just after Eric signed them, Rick revealed to everyone — especially a stunned Caroline — that he was still carrying on with Maya and wanted to run the company with her as his partner. Newly in power, Rick moved Maya into the Forrester mansion, replacing Stephanie’s over-the-mantle portrait with one of Maya. Caroline was left reeling, and so far has not stopped begging Rick to come back to her.
The real appeal of this story is that it was produced with something rare on today’s soap operas: genuine surprise. Caroline and Ridge — and the audience — were shocked during the revealing scene in which Rick announced he was going to run the company openly with his mistress. Caroline’s surprise and anguish were especially poignant. And the betrayed father Eric lit into son Rick with a fury.
Of course the success of a storyline like this has a lot to do with the acting. I’ve always thought of Karla Mosley (Maya) as a good to average actress, but she has been wonderful here, the kind of wonderful that invites an acting award nomination. Jacob Young has been great as always as the scheming, betraying husband. But the superstar among stars here is Linsey Godfrey as the betrayed wife Caroline. Beneath the grief and the shock, Godfrey finds strength that is as touching as it is admirable, and you can’t help but to root for her to get her husband back.
And the fun of this storyline isn’t nearly over. There’s still lots to play. Will Caroline persist in her efforts to get Rick back or just give up? Can Maya live peacefully with her conscience? Will she ever develop a sense of guilt out of stealing another woman’s husband? Will Rick stay with Maya or, underneath it all, does he still love his legal wife Caroline? It’s a great story, and I’m staying tuned.
Hi Marlena,
It’s nice to see you back. Hope your holidays were happy.
As for B&B, all I can say is, the writers are finally giving the viewers classic soapy goodness. I have to say even though my go to soaps ,AMC(now defunct) and GH haven’t delivered this soapy goodness since the mid nineties and mid 2000’s for me. But B&B, my once in awhile vacuous and fatuous good for a laugh soap is literally on fire with good old fashioned story telling. It didn’t seem we would ever be over with the high school antics of the Young and Promless Hope and her hopeless loves Wyatt and Liam, but out of the blue comes this and with it…. Caroline Spencer portrayed by the not only beautiful but talented Lindsey Godfrey. Caroline, who knew she had a spine of steel! Hopefully the soap gods will not give her husband back. I just about fainted when I saw the palpable chemistry she has with Thorsten Kaye. Forbidden love , I love it. And they have adult conversations addressing the ‘other Caroline’ at the onset instead of the viewers having to sit through Caroline talking to a friend about it and having said friend advise her to ask Ridge. Great surprise there. His pairing with Heather Tom had a pall of ennui over it but this one!…maybe it’s the forbidden factor. This pairing has put some spark into Thorsten Kaye’s performance. While I believe he’s a very talented actor, the goings on now require more forceful verbal skills here then skillful stares and looks. I think this might be coming. I hope the writers give that to him.
While Jacob Young is playing Rick really well, he, for me is just reprising his Adam Chandler Jr. role. He’s as smarmy,hateful and weaselly as ever. Playing characters with shortcomings seem to be his forte. When he plays it nice, he is as interesting as watching dough rise. Karla Mosley is fine too but I hope her and Jacob Young’s characters get their comeuppance because otherwise they will be just hated and not loved to be hated. I cannot root for Maya at this point because of her viciousness. Keeping her always grasping but being close to attainment will give me something to root for in her.
B&B is now my go to soap! Loving it.
Marlena says: Thank you and I agree about B&B