Credit: Howard Wise/JPI (4)
Even as The Bold and the Beautiful has Sheila gloating to Li, (character) assassinating Finn and infuriating fans, it is all in on the villainess’ redemption arc. But is it really all it’s cracked up to be? If Steffy wanted to stop this hooey in its tracks, all she’d have to do is bring back mom Taylor — or heck, import Sharon from The Young and the Restless — to play the following scene.
Which, obviously, the show isn’t going to.
But imagine how satisfying it would be if Steffy agreed to embrace her monster-in-law if only she underwent one session with Sharon — with herself, Finn, Bill, all of Sheila’s detractors present. “You say that you’ve changed,” Sharon begins.
“I say that because I have,” Sheila replies. She’s cool, confident. “I’ve got this,” she thinks.
“At what point did you change?” Sharon asks.
“When I revealed myself to my beautiful baby boy,” Sheila says, beaming at Finn.
“You mean Finn, yes? The beautiful baby boy that you shot and left for dead in an alley?”
“That was an accident,” Sheila says. She doesn’t like this line of questioning, but she can handle it. She has this answer memorized after all.
“I’m sorry, you left your son for dead accidentally?” Sharon says.
“I shot him accidentally,” Sheila clarifies, thinking that she herself has skillfully dodged a bullet. Deacon offers his fiancée a reassuring smile from the sidelines.
“Riiight,” Sharon says, shaking her head as if Sheila’s response makes sense. “You shot Finn accidentally when you were trying to shoot his wife. Was that also accidental?”
“I… ” Sheila doesn’t know how to wriggle out of this one. [Bleep!] “There were extenuating circumstances.”
“Let’s talk about that,” Sharon suggests. “You’re a changed woman. What extenuating circumstances would cause a changed woman to point a gun at her son’s wife and pull the trigger?”
“You don’t understand,” Sheila argues. “I didn’t have any choice. She wasn’t going to let me see Finn, see my grandson… She was going to tell everybody that I switched Brooke’s nonalcoholic champagne for the real champagne.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Sharon says. “You tricked a recovering alcoholic into drinking?”
“When you say it like that,” Sheila admits, shrinking beneath Brooke’s glare, “it sounds bad.”
“Yes,” Sharon replies. “It does.” Deacon squirms in his seat; this is taking a turn. “Now let me get this straight,” the therapist continues. “Steffy wasn’t going to keep your secret, and she wasn’t going to let you see Finn and Hayes because you’d already shot her mother, her stepmother, her grandmother… “
“Yes, but that was before I changed,” Sheila interjects.
“And after you changed,” Sharon goes on, “you shot her because she wasn’t going to let you anywhere near her family.”
“OK,” Sheila says, relieved. “I think now you’re starting to understand the extenuating circumstances that were at play.” She visibly exhales and relaxes in her seat. Even flashes a “Whew!” smile at Finn. He isn’t smiling back, though. Steffy is. More of a smirk, really.
“I think I get it now, too,” Sharon agrees. “Your extenuating circumstances were that you were not going to get your way. And your response to that, as changed as you say you are, was to murder your son’s wife in cold blood. Does that about sum it up?”
Sheila stiffens. Her face contorts in anger. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“Of course you did, Sheila,” Sharon says, rising from her seat as if finished. “You could have just accepted that there is a price to pay for your past crimes and moved on.”
“No,” Sheila cries, seething. “No! Who could do that? Who could turn away from their own son?”
“A changed woman,” Sharon concludes. “That’s who.”
With that, Sheila lunges at Sharon and has to be kept from pummeling her by the Forresters and Logans. Never again would Steffy and Finn have to hear about what a “changed woman” she is. Better yet, neither would viewers.
