Movement in the Force

There was dissension in the Empire as Maya and Nicole worried how Darth Rick would react upon discovering Leia had more in common with Luke, and the Spencers looked to Wyatt as if to say ''Help me, Obi Wyatt Kenobi, you're my only hope.'' That is, until Brooke rode in on the Death Star with the real thing! The Force has got a lot of power, so don't stop 'til you get enough with Two Scoops' Mike!

Has your week been bold and beautiful? Did you bottle up about your bottle? Did your family's takeover bid include an open-door policy? Were you glad you kept your Skype membership paid up? These and more situations faced the Forrester-Logan-Spencer clan this week!

Well, Scoopers, it was getting so you could count on two things in this life: that the sun would rise in the east, and that you could tune back in to The Bold and the Beautiful to find Brooke ranting about Deacon marrying Quinn, Rick gushing about Maya's honesty, and Liam talking to Bill about the Great Nonexistent Takeover Plan of 2015. It's fitting, then, that the Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens trailer dropped this week, because there was definitely movement in the Force in the form of a New Hope. Scoop it, we shall!

Not long ago, in a Forrester office not far, far away, Rick found out Maya was on the pill -- "conjugated estrogen" pills, that is. Hold up. Maya has been taking these the whole time, she's been living with Rick for how long, and now she's careless enough to let her meds slip out of her purse? Naturally, Rick was unsettled, given how much effort he's been putting into building Maya's pedestal, and I have to say, I never thought Rick really had feelings for Miss Avant, but the concern that came through via Jacob Young's nuanced performance has convinced me otherwise. Who knew?

Maya used her showbiz skills to tap dance around Rick's questions for a while before finally realizing he'd simply be confused by her having to take estrogen to "regulate" her girly stuff. And the fool bought it! Now, Maya, come on -- you had the perfect opportunity. A large part of her distress over Rick finding out she's transgender is the fact that she can't have a baby, right? All Maya had to tell him is that she'd had a hysterectomy, and the estrogen was part of her hormone replacement. That would have opened the door for Maya to tell Rick the rest of it at some point, hysterectomy lie notwithstanding.

And maybe there's a reason she never made it in Hollywood -- Maya Avant is a horrible actress. Rick accepted her regulation story; the subject was closed, and Maya was safe. Did she leave it alone at that? No, she suddenly looked as if she were carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, which of course triggered alarm bells for Rick. Given his recent propensity for truth, truth, and more truth (yeah, okay), Rick not surprisingly demanded to know what Maya was keeping from him. Good one, Maya; maybe this is why Room 8 didn't come back for a second season.

Maya asked Rick where their relationship was going, and as Rick went on about the six-month waiting period no one else on the show has to sit through before getting a divorce, Nicole entered in time to hear Rick declaring Maya would see him on one knee once that wait was over. Privately, Nicole felt Maya had gotten her proposal, so it was time for Maya to tell Rick she's transgender. Maya didn't agree, but at least Nicole finally dropped her I-can't-decide-if-I-want-to-blackmail-you stance and fully signed up for Team Maya.

Maybe that's because Nicole finally got a shot at modeling, which is apparently not her fort. At least she wasn't perfect at it from the word go. Nicole then decided she wanted to sing at the next fashion show. Has this girl been watching too many "reality" shows? Even budding songstress Amber never came up with that one. Though in her brief busting, Reign Edwards certainly had pipes to show off! Or, as the mostly needless Othello praised, "Girl, you got some range!"

Othello also talked up Maya's nothing-to-everything story, saying Maya earned all she had worked so hard for. You do know you're on B&B, don't you, Othello? Maya only became a model because Carter asked Rick to give her a job, and then Maya only became lead model because she capitalized on exposing Ridge and Caroline's kisses by sleeping with the boss. Thankfully, Carter's conversation with Nicole was more accurate, particularly when Carter pointed out that his own proposal wasn't enough to get Maya to divulge she's transgender, so it wasn't likely Rick's proposal would do the trick, either.

It's a little like Bewitched (a subject I know a thing or two about), where Samantha didn't tell Darrin she was a witch until their wedding night. Samantha probably should have told him before that, and most are of the opinion that Maya should have told Rick she's transgender long ago. I'm still on the fence about that. The one thing I'm not on the fence about is that it's Maya's secret to reveal, not Nicole's, and not Carter's. It's rather amazing how he's come around. My soap senses tell me that Rick will drop Maya once she spills and that Carter and Maya will find their way back to each other as a result.

That is, if Rick doesn't find out from someone else first. He already suspects Ivy and the Spencer brothers of plotting against him -- and why not, considering Liam is president of Spencer Publications but never actually works. When Rick taunted him, Liam barked how he and Katie had shed blood, sweat, and tears to earn their upper management positions. Funny, Liam; I didn't know you did stand-up! You guys only have your corner offices because of Bill, the business barracuda who has a history of raiding corporations but can't figure out how to commandeer the tiny fashion house it was his father's dying wish to snap up.

Yep, the Spencers are again wringing their hands over how to boot Rick. Sorry to beat a dead horse, but surely the scandal of Rick shooting up Forrester Creations would be a one-two punch. Maybe when Steffy returns May 26, she'll come back with a clue. This is the girl who kissed up to Bill to blackmail him into returning control of Forrester in 2010, but in 2015, she will only combine shares if she can have Liam back. Oy. Liam's new "divide and conquer" tack shows some promise, if not convenient promise.

Maya, who is adamant that her transgender identity be kept quiet at all costs, won't shut up about it in a place of business where anyone can walk in. That's not good, since Wyatt suddenly seems to have As the World Turns Syndrome. I remember one hallmark of ATWT was the high rate of people overhearing others' conversations. Well, Wyatt did the Snyders proud, because he made absolutely no noise when opening the CEO's door and hearing the sisters Avant discussing a secret that could bring Forrester to its very knees!

My question is, how? Maya herself said that the fashion industry wouldn't be likely to freak over a design house having a transgender lead model. She's right! Check out our Soap Central special report on the rise of transgender models. If anything, Forrester would be lauded as progressive! But then Maya backtracked, and Wyatt ran straight to his clan with the news that he'd overheard something. Bill was not impressed with Wyatt's tidbit or the way his son built up to it. "Land the plane, Wyatt!" Best line of the week.

Wyatt decided that the best way to root this secret out was to make nice with Nicole. It works, considering the progeny of Quinn and Bill has already proven himself a bit of a schemer, "stealing" a diamond to impress Hope. But Wyatt needs to work on his cloak and dagger. He was pretty obvious pumping Nicole -- for information, that is -- and it was only Nicole's apparent navet that kept her from seeing it. Instead of going to Maya and reporting that Wyatt was hinting about a secret, Nicole all but asked big sis what underwear the eldest Spencer boy sports. It's Spring Awakening, B&B style!

The interesting part is, the Spencers all think the secret is about Rick. "I can't imagine what Rick could have done," Ivy opined. And this all goes back to, if the Spencers need a secret to bring Rick down, report him trying to pop caps in the asses of Ridge and Caroline! Do I need to walk into Spencer and tell these people? Anyway, Liam's already full hands didn't have room for Quinn, who tried to convince anyone who would listen that she's changed. Liam wasn't buying it. Ivy wasn't buying it. And I wasn't buying it -- though I guess Quinn is to be given credit for merely fantasizing about stabbing Brooke instead of actually doing it.

Speaking of Brooke, are we to assume she's not drinking anymore? What happened to the reports that Jill Whelan from The Love Boat was coming on to pull Brooke out of the depths of drunken despair? And all this credit for Deacon riding to Brooke's rescue in A.A. -- doesn't she have a proper sponsor? Brooke isn't even tempted to drink lately; she and Hope must carry a gene that enables them to instantly overcome addiction.

Brooke was right about one thing: in Alcoholics Anonymous, it's highly suggested that the newly sober refrain from relationships for one year to focus on their sobriety; Brooke said as much when she reminded Deacon he wasn't in the right frame of mind to marry Quinn. That rule applies to you, too, Brooke; amazingly, it doesn't seem that Brooke's resistance to Quinn becoming Mrs. Sharpe stems from actually wanting Deacon for herself. That's new. Maybe Brooke doesn't need The Love Boat!

As for Deacon, he is either still detoxing from his boozy diet, or he's as flaky as he's always been, because he keeps telling Quinn "I know who you are, and I love you anyway," despite having pursued a reconciliation with Brooke. I know Deacon's a reformed bad boy, but he's not even being purposely duplicitous here; he just can't make up his mind. Maybe Deacon's really marrying Quinn because he's afraid she'll aim a gun at him again, or because he thinks she'll put him six feet under like Ricardo Montemayor! (Sorry, not letting that one go until the show deals with it.)

And I suppose there's something to be said for Quinn's consistency, but she hasn't changed a molecule. She's still badgering everyone; she's just being nicer about it. Maybe if Quinn had actually gone through therapy instead of just telling Wyatt about it by text, I could believe she's been working on herself. Though getting some from Freaky Deaky must be a life-changing experience, surely it's not enough to resolve the issues of this sauna-locking, bridge-pushing, rival-skewering stalker.

That being said, Brooke wasn't really fair blaming Ms. Fuller for Hope's miscarriage and subsequent divorce from Wyatt. Yeah, Quinn was constantly in Hope's face, not to mention in the vicinity when Hope fell down the stairs, but Quinn wasn't actually anywhere near Hope when it happened. And Hope ditched Wyatt because he wouldn't keep his mother away from her. So, let's get it right, Brooke.

As Wyatt backed off his distaste for Deacon and gave his mother his blessing, go-to minister Carter intriguingly told Deacon that maybe his wedding day jitters were from "marrying someone as unstable as Quinn," following up by admitting he was "kinda glad" he didn't marry Maya, since "she wasn't who I thought she was." Over at Forrester, Liam was getting the same impression, as he pulled a Wyatt and listened in on Maya and Nicole continuing their say-it-without-saying-it convo about Maya's identity! Dang, Forrester must own stock in WD-40 -- they've got the quietest doors!

You can see where this is going, right? Everyone is going to find out about Maya being transgender, one by one -- except Rick, who will, of course, be the last to know. And that's not a complaint: such a formula is classic soap. I don't mind B&B stretching this reveal out old-school, as long as we're not going in circles with it. Like Liam hearing the same non-information Wyatt heard the day before. Who will secret-hater Rick be more furious with -- Maya, for keeping her identity from him, or everybody else, for knowing but not telling?

Back at the ranch -- I mean Taylor's old beach house -- Deacon and Quinn pooh-poohed the lack of guests (sorry, Quinn, I don't feel sorry for you) and went ahead with their leather-for-honeymoon wedding. But Brooke had a plan, and it must have involved the Millennium Falcon. She was at Katie's office in West L.A. as Deacon and Quinn were about to exchange rings and flying through the door in Malibu by the time Carter could ask for objections. Talk about making a jump to hyperspeed! Brooke didn't interrupt a wedding with a horse this time -- instead she rolled up with a new Hope! Dum, dum, da-dum, dum-da-dum, dum-da-dum! I am your daughter, Deacon! Come back from the Dark Side!

Will Hope's Skyped transmission compel Deacon to say, "I'm not going that way, it's much too rocky"? Can Liam Skywalker and Wyatt Solo topple the Empire? And can Maya convince everyone "These aren't the droids you're looking for"? Tell us your galactic predictions in the Comments section below, speak your mind on the Soap Central message boards, or simply click here to submit feedback. Your comments could wind up in a future column -- like these!

• "[B&B's] been [horrible] for months now. Seriously the same thing happens everyday." -- "Sam the Mailman"

• "Advance the storylines and get some new ideas. " -- Doreen [AUTHOR'S NOTE: Are we sensing a pattern here?]

• "Great read, as always bud! I just wanted to address the questioning why Ridge and company don't simply leave and find a new place to work, or a place of their own. Not sure if you watched the episode a couple weeks back where they had a meeting, Rick made it clear where contracts stand, and whatnot. Many of them, Caroline included, are bound by contract and can't leave or will have steep penalties." -- "Wendirella" [AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yeah, I guess I missed that, but that never stopped anyone from bailing from Forrester before, eh?]

• "Maya's story could be a good one, but I can't see Rick being tolerant (it would be nice and a sign of growth), but the writers keep giving him lines about how he hates people who lie to him or don't tell him the truth. I don't see him overlooking Maya's omission." -- Sandy

Let's do, not try, for some Yoda-like wisdom with Points to Ponder!

"Women like Quinn eventually revert to type," Brooke told Katie, and Brooke would know from having grappled with Sheila! Too bad there was no mention of Naughty Nurse Carter... Maya figured the collection of screwball comedy DVDs in the mansion meant Stephanie was a fan. I can just see La Forrester watching Bringing Up Baby and It Happened One Night, can't you?

Everyone worried that Rick and Maya would be permanent fixtures as Mr. and Mrs. CEO if they got married. Rick's contract only gives him irrevocable control for a year; taking a wife doesn't change that... Apparently cockeyed optimist Quinn felt that "maybe people will take notice" of her changes and therefore attend her wedding. Who outside the Forrester-Logan-Spencer clan would even know Quinn was a problem?

Rick snarked that Quinn had alienated herself from everyone. I thought Rick was the master of that! Rick also stated that he had "failed miserably at all my marriages." All? Rick's only been married twice -- to Amber, who did the failing the first time by lying about her baby and the second time because she kidnapped the long-missing Little Eric and messed up their custody rights...

Liam balked when Rick claimed he was just like Bill, insisting he would never treat his employees like servants. Yet I recall Liam did exactly that once, in reaction to the Dollah shaming him into acting like a Spencer... Nicole told Carter she had bitter parents who weren't about to make the same mistakes with her that they did with Maya. Where, oh where, are Darnell Williams and Debbi Morgan as the Avants? That would be Emmy-worthy soap gold!

Speaking of the Emmys, they're hittin' on April 26, so hit Soap Central's one-stop page for all the Emmy reaction interviews you can shake two scoops at. Chanel will columnize again for you, as only she can, next week, and I will get to talk about May(a) sweeps on May 3. Keep watching, be alert, and most of all, be bold!

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