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Last week’s The Bold and the Beautiful was can’t miss television. It proved to be a stunning week on Daytime’s best drama filled with romance, manipulation and a death that rocked both the canvas and viewing audience alike.
You’re The Woman I’ve Been Looking For
The first showing of the California Freedom (still hate that name btw) line came to quite the conclusion on Monday amid high fashion and high drama. The dresses were… it doesn’t really matter. The best thing about the show was the audience and the goings on backstage. As Maya continued to strut her stuff down the runway, her family looked on adoringly. Well, 2/3 of them anyway. Still attempting the façade of acceptance, Julius more often than not looked irritated and less than impressed by all the flashbulbs for his daughter. He even at one point wanted to leave before the show stopper. Vivienne politely put him in his place and told him they weren’t leaving. And it’s a good thing they stayed or Julius would be missed the moment of the night. The moment that in his mind would put him back into the black.
Instead of a secluded cabin with a secret hanging over their heads, Rick elected to pop the question to Maya for the second time in much grander fashion. On stage in front of the world. As if there was any doubt, Maya happily agreed to be Mrs. Forrester. Once again, this show knows how to bring the swoon worthy romance. While Maya basked in
her newly engaged status, little sister Nicole was side by side with Zende. Ok seriously, can these two get any cuter? Their scenes for the most part where short this week but oh so sweet. Especially when the young interns were called back to Forrester for more busy work. After some coaxing from Zende, Nicole took her turn on the catwalk as a future model. If I’m being honest, I want the writers to go in another direction with that. Nicole can be anything. Why do they have to go the modeling route again? Reign Edwards has a beautiful singing voice. Maybe they should explore that since it’s clear they dropped the computer thing for good. Zende didn’t seem to mind how bad of a model Nicole was though. If anything he was more drawn to her. That was evident in the way he seductively and without warning picked her up off the stage and pulled her into his arms. Again, I swooned!
Mental Health Emergency
Other interesting happenings backstage at the fashion show was Aly’s continued mental and emotional decline. Talking to her dead mother, seeing some form of impurity everywhere she looked, arguing with Steffy, self-isolation. I still have no clue why she was even there. With the show wrapping up and ready to hit the after party, Steffy decided to head out unware that Aly had just shoved a nail through one of her tires. Aly drove closely behind Steffy waiting for the tire to blow and for her moment to arrive. When that moment came and with Steffy crouched down pretending she knew how to change a tire, Aly hit the gas.
Back at the Forrester mansion as the party was going on downstairs Ivy, Wyatt and Liam were hitting the panic button upstairs after finding Aly’s “Hit Board” in her room. Finally after weeks of them blowing off her behavior, they were able to admit that Aly was in dire need of help. After not being able to reach Aly nor Steffy by phone, they checked in with Rick to see if maybe Aly was greeting Throne at the airport. They then proceeded to show everyone Aly’s little art project as Ivy left to track her down along the PCH. In what was a really great use of history, Zende (the only character in the room who was on at the time) told the story of Darla’s death at the hands of Taylor. It was like a light switch was going off with everyone about how far Aly had regressed just in time for Thorne to finally show up and be looped in on his daughter’s mental state.
Where’s My Little Girl?
Back on the highway, Aly and Steffy engaged in a battle royale of words after Aly stopped her car short of flattening Steffy beneath it. After it was clear she wasn’t getting through to her, Steffy’s battle turned from words to tire irons and rocks. Aly in the midst of one of the best psychotic breakdowns I’ve seen on any soap in a long time was determined to kill Steffy. It was as if Aly thought that by ending her life it would finally end the turmoil in her own. As Aly stood above Steffy ready to bash her head in with a rock, the lesser cousin Ivy pulled up to the scene and decided to do it for the Vine and record everything instead of getting out to help. What she caught on tape was Steffy knocking Aly to the ground before she could do the same to her, sending the young red head home to glory with her mother.
After being filled in on Aly’s psychosis by Rick and Maya, Thorne waited around to see his daughter for himself. 
What he found instead was a disheveled Steffy with Liam. She began to try to explain to Thorne what happened on the side of the road but he refused to hear her. He refused to believe that his baby girl could have spiraled that far down. And he absolutely refused to hear Steffy when she told him Aly was gone. Back at Forrester, Ivy was pretty forlorn herself over the night events. One would think she was racked with guilt over filming Aly’s death instead of doing something to prevent it but no, Ivy was too focused on her thought that Steffy murdered Aly for no good reason. Like she hadn’t just found pictures of Steffy with the eyes cut out in Aly’s room. Ivy went on to accuse Steffy of lying to the police and promised to get justice for her friend.
I along with the rest of the audience was left a little shell shocked by these events and completely taken off guard. Special shout out to the show for sending us fake spoilers and recaps. This was truly one of those, what the heck moments. The question now is, was it necessary? At present time, we don’t know for sure if Ashlyn Pearce decided to leave the show on her own or if she was written out. All we know is that the writers had a great chance here to explore an in depth mental health storyline and they opted for shock and awe instead and left a huge hole in the story that they may not be able to fill. Personally, I have never been a fan of the character of Aly but I also never felt like she was beyond redemption. I’m also not a fan of yet another young Forrester dying at the hands of a family member. The fall out to this however could drive future stories for years to come.
This week, the Forrester family mourns Aly’s death and Thomas returns home.
Photos courtesy of CBS.
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