Two brides and a jilted daddy

The wedding was the groom's sham, but the brides pulled off the ultimate ambush. Exposing Thomas felt good for a moment, but here are the two scoops on the hypocrites who have no room to shame Thomas and on the one who will really suffer from the shakedown of the groom.

With Pam being MIA, Quinn hosted her first family wedding at the mansion. She stood in disbelief when it ended with the groom sobbing and running out the door. Somebody should have told Quinn that there is no telling whether Forrester weddings will go off without a hitch -- marital or otherwise. At Zoe's wedding to Thomas, the conspirators abounded. The ultimate plotter wound up hoisted with his own petard when his bride-to-be and the bride he'd wanted to be his exposed his twisted plan to pressure Hope into stopping the wedding.

Thomas is definitely guilty as charged. He led Zoe on. He wielded Douglas as a weapon to lure Hope into stopping the wedding and becoming the bride. He even had a custom dress on standby. Is he scum for pressuring his five-year-old to get him the girl? No doubt about it. But was Thomas the worst person in Eric's living room that day? Not this time.

Thomas was utterly and completely exposed for his machinations, but as he tearfully looked upon the faces of those who refused to look him in the eyes, I had to wonder: were Thomas' family and friends ashamed of what Thomas had done, or were they ashamed of themselves for knowingly letting it get that far? Were any of them worried about someone throwing them their very own outing party for the questionable things they've done?

For example, just this week, Bill and Brooke shared a stolen kiss out of nowhere for no good reason during a visit Bill didn't even need to make to her cabin. Liam still hasn't answered for his stolen kisses with Steffy. Hope, Steffy, and Zoe have known for weeks that Thomas prefers Hope but did nothing to stop his charade until Hope and Zoe collaborated to compete in a bridal gown showdown at the wedding.

The showstopper at the event was Douglas, who declared that he wanted to be with Beth, Liam, and Hope, where Douglas has been the happiest. That's a devastating and "adult" thing to say to his father. Did Douglas come to that conclusion on his own, or did Hope manipulate him into that conclusion now that she's engaged to Liam?

The groom left the ceremony single, childless, and humiliated, but it is hard to believe he will let Hope and Liam live happily ever after with his son. It's unlikely that he'll let Steffy slide for her betrayal, either. Just how will Forrester make it with collections on the line if Thomas is in exile and Sally is on her deathbed? Thomas isn't the best father, but will Douglas suffer without his bio dad?

Let's get two scoops deep into the good, the bad, and the hypocrisy that led to the ultimate takedown of Thomas Forrester. We'll discuss the shame aimed at Thomas by those who might become blinded if their own shameful deeds come to light, and we'll ponder what in God's name got into Bill when he decided to kiss Brooke in a room made of open windows.

Hope's flawed takedown of Thomas Forrester

The moment we've been waiting for finally happened -- again. I've longed for Thomas to get his comeuppance for months after it didn't stick the last times. Now, no one can doubt that Thomas never gave up his obsession with Hope and that he'd been willing to use anyone to get her. His loved ones saw his manipulations laid bare, witnessed his psychologically abusive relationship with his son, and realized that Thomas was the same manipulator he's always been -- again.

We've been here before, folks. Since the Beth reveal, Thomas has gotten caught in one manipulation after another. We've seen people express their disgust in him and go back to giving him breaks he didn't deserve. As big as Hope's retribution on Thomas is this time, I worry that people, including Hope, will soon return to giving Thomas yet another chance and defying anyone who points out that they have "Thomas' sucker" stamped on their foreheads.

Don't get me wrong. I loved the drama. Hope's stunt was the type of thing Stephanie Forrester would pull. It was on par with Stephanie smashing Sally's engagement ring from Eric with a hammer. I applaud the writers for their creativity. However, the stunt was flawed.

As much as I enjoyed watching it unfold, it occurred to me that Hope had influenced Douglas into allowing her to pull a trick on his father. She also did a number on Douglas to get him to relinquish his dream of having a family with Thomas and Hope and instead cling to her vision of a family with Liam as the stepfather. I didn't relish the fact that Hope manipulated Douglas to expose Thomas for manipulating Douglas or that she'd used Douglas to cause his father pain.

The second time Hope went upstairs with Douglas, she had a long talk with him about Thomas' true intentions toward her and Zoe. She explained to the child that she planned to fix it by pretending to be a bride. Apparently, it's okay to trick Thomas like this to prove that one shouldn't trick people the way Thomas did.

Hope convinced Douglas that he was better off in a family with her, Liam, and Beth instead of his father. Although she's probably right, Douglas has been adamantly against having a stepparent. He liked Zoe, but not for his stepmother. I question whether he understands that he'll still have a stepparent in Liam, but this time, he'll lose Thomas instead of Hope.

Most likely, Hope and Liam will try to allow Douglas and Thomas to maintain a healthy relationship, but it's still not what Douglas wanted, which was his parents under the same roof. Liam told Thomas that leaving his father was what the five-year-old said he wanted, but before the wedding, the same five-year-old wanted his parents married under one roof. Vinny claimed that Thomas was putting Douglas on the spot, but didn't Hope do the same thing by empowering Douglas to make an adult decision minutes before announcing it to the family?

Douglas isn't an adult, and he shouldn't be exposed to the problems the adults around him have. He shouldn't be expressing opinions about their relationships or giving them relationship advice. It's messed up to me that his guardians put him in that position instead of working together to shield him from it.

I was uncomfortable with Douglas cowering in the foyer at the wedding as the adults attacked his father. Douglas overhearing them lambaste his dad was another painful consequence of Hope's plan. Douglas didn't need to become privy to the other adults' issues, either. But he heard about everything from the staged kiss to his grandma's issues with his grandpa. He even heard his father yelling at Liam to shut up.

It was just too much adult controversy for a five-year-old. I wish that Vinny had done more than stick up for Douglas by ordering Thomas not to pressure Douglas. I wish Vinny had picked Douglas up and taken him to watch "Baby Shark" in the den or something until the sharks had stopped gnawing on his father.

You might not see Hope's actions as manipulative or detrimental to Douglas. Even if we set that aside, I still find Hope's plan flawed because she already knew Thomas wanted her instead of Zoe long before the wedding. Why didn't Hope act sooner to end Thomas' manipulations?

As hamburger-juicy as it was to see Hope appear in the wedding gown and Thomas discard Zoe like a burger wrapper, Hope could have ended Thomas' manipulations the moment he asked her if there could be a chance for them. From that moment on, Hope could have staged any number of recorded or eyewitness confrontations to garner proof and end the charade long before now.

Kudos to you, Hope, for coming up with your own clever scheme to expose Thomas to the maximum number of people at one time. I just wish it hadn't had to be at the expense of some of Douglas' innocence or in front of hypocrisy-infected people who were hiding their own dirt as they denounced Thomas for his.

The odious sanctimonious among us

There was much hypocrisy in the air at the wedding. The guests reeked of it as they took turns deprecating Thomas for his deplorable actions against Zoe and Douglas. Thomas deserved it, but no one in that room besides Douglas and maybe Eric had a right to dole it out.

Carter is beyond reproach, as well -- even though I suspect that he was in on the plan. He never admitted it, but if you ask me, the wedding officiant doth protest too much for a man attracted to the bride. Not only was I surprised that he'd agreed to marry Zoe to a man he didn't approve of, but he practically dragged Thomas through the ceremony. What clinched it for me was when Hope said she couldn't let Thomas marry Zoe, and without batting an eye, Carter asked Thomas which bride it would be.

Yeah, Carter was in on it, and Carter was the only person in the room who had nothing to say to Thomas once the vows hit the fan. Maybe those with unclean hands should have also gone the silent route rather than cut Thomas down with their diatribes and reproachful glares.

Let's start with Quinn. She seemed shocked and chagrined that Thomas had perpetrated the fraud on Zoe and pressured his son into begging Hope to be the bride instead. It was almost as if Quinn hadn't talked to Thomas about his ongoing obsession with Hope while he was dating Zoe. Almost.

Quinn is just as much of a manipulator as Thomas, and he even had to rein her in. As she moaned about how Thomas had made Eric feel, she should feel lucky that Thomas didn't respond with, "How would granddad feel about you spiking Brooke's juice?"

And then there's Vinny. Vinny was distraught about Thomas' treatment of Zoe and Douglas, wasn't he? So why didn't Vinny expose Thomas before it got so far that Thomas wound up losing his kid? Vinny was at Forrester somewhat frequently and could have told someone.

Zoe and Hope wouldn't have listened, but Vinny could have figured out who would listen. For example, Liam or Brooke, the two people Thomas constantly seethed about to Vinny. Or maybe Ridge would have listened if Vinny started out by saying, "Remember that night you got drunk at Bikini and your wife found out about it?"

Next, there is Thomas' unwitting bride, Zoe. She was willfully ignorant. Many people, including Thomas himself, had told her that she was the second choice. Zoe was appalled by Thomas using her, but that was a two-way street. She'd used Thomas, too.

When Zoe sought to silence Emma, who did she turn to? Thomas. When Zoe wanted to get her job back, whose ranting did she put up with? Thomas'. When Zoe needed somewhere to stay, who did she lean on? Thomas. Zoe had also twice conspired against Thomas.

Will Thomas ever know that, when he hadn't moved fast enough to regain Zoe's job for her, she teamed up with Liam and Steffy and let them use her to get Thomas to slip up? It wasn't until she thought there was a romance with a Forrester in it for her that she tried to convince them that he was over Hope. After that, Zoe joined Hope's plan to expose Thomas, probably hoping that Hope would make a fool of herself in the wedding gown when Thomas proceeded to marry Zoe despite Hope's pleas to him.

When Ridge accused Thomas of dragging an "innocent" woman into it and asked Thomas what Zoe had ever done to Thomas, I murmured, "I can think of some things."

That brings us to Ridge, who was also willfully ignorant about Thomas. Brooke and Ridge blame Thomas for their marital problems, but here are two reasons for their problems that have nothing to do with Thomas -- Ridge's and Brooke's lips. Thomas set Brooke up to find out about Ridge's night with Shauna, but Ridge was the one who kept on kissing Shauna, just like Liam did with Steffy. Is the way Thomas led Zoe on until he could have Hope in any way fundamentally different from the way Ridge is leading Shauna on until he gets Brooke back?

If Ridge had listened to his wife in the first place, it never would have gotten as far as a failed wedding between Thomas and Zoe. Even with Thomas exposed, it isn't clear that Ridge will listen to Brooke now. Brooke said that Thomas needs mental help. Brooke said that Thomas is dangerous. None of those points got addressed at Thomas' intervention, and they probably won't be once Ridge finds out about Brooke's secret -- kissing Bill.

Brooke claimed to feel guilty about not being able to trust Thomas, but does she feel guilty about kissing Bill? Brooke bemoans the fact that Thomas is obsessed and has hurt her daughter. Has she forgotten that Bill, who has been obsessed with Brooke for years, has hurt Hope worse than anyone else on the planet up to this point?

Liam and Steffy came down hard on Thomas for setting up that kiss. It was almost as if Thomas had hacked Steffy's remote-controlled lips and forced her into it. Can we consider Steffy redeemed for coming clean about it? I don't. Steffy betrayed her friendship with Liam. She kept quiet, knowing that Thomas had followed Hope to the cliff house on a mission to end Lope.

At the wedding, Steffy told Thomas that Hope isn't dumb. Hope knew what the second dress was for. Well, Steffy isn't dumb, either. She knew Thomas hadn't pursued Hope out to Malibu solely because he wanted his sister to have a shot with loser Liam.

Liam has vehemently vowed to protect Hope and Douglas from Thomas. I suggest that Liam start with the man in the mirror. You know, the man who kissed Steffy again and said that he wanted to show her his heart? That guy. Liam needs to battle his feelings for Steffy. Until he does, he is the biggest threat to the family that Hope and Douglas desperately want, not Thomas.

A kiss reignites the Brill flame

Bill is a Brooke-aholic. Once he's had just a taste of Brooke, she becomes all he thinks about, and before he knows it, Katie is onto him. From that point on, his life is a living hell until Brooke goes back to Ridge. Like Liam with Hope, Brooke has almost always chosen the dressmaker over the moneymaker, so why would Bill undermine the inner progress he's made, everything he and Katie have built for Will, and Katie's health for a taste of Brooke?

First of all, I don't even understand why Bill went to see Brooke. He showed up unannounced in the cabin where she was babysitting. He hadn't even used seeing Beth as an excuse. I wasn't aware that Brooke and Bill even confided in each other like that anymore. Not after they promised Katie their attraction wouldn't develop again.

If I recall correctly, Katie hadn't wanted to get engaged to Bill until she knew for sure that his wandering eyes had gone blind. She'd even set him up to have Shauna seduce him to prove that he was serious about their family. Bill spent a lot of time shunned by his children, working to prove that he was worthy of his family and of Katie. It's disappointing to see Bill return to his obsessive, cheating ways before he and Katie even remarry.

Bill claims that the kiss was merely an expression of his empathy for Brooke's problems with Ridge and Thomas, and it didn't make him any less committed to Katie. I'd like him to try that logic on Katie. He and Brooke promised to never do it or speak of it again, so there goes another of his and Katie's promises to each other -- to tell each other everything.

Brooke and Bill's conversation was pointless because the writers have failed to let Bill act on any threats he's waged against Thomas. Bill vowed to protect Hope and Brooke from Thomas if Ridge wouldn't do it. Bill has been raging about Thomas with no action ever since they found out about his connection to Emma's death and the baby-napping secret. The writers have Bill lurk on the perimeter of the Thomas storyline like a pit bull with no teeth. If Bill really wants to protect Brooke, Hope, and Douglas from Thomas, unleash Bill already!

It is incredible, though, that Bill wants to protect Hope. Just the other week, he urged Liam to leave Hope and Beth and stay with Steffy and Kelly. Bill has always looked out for Steffy, to Hope's detriment. Brooke knows that, which is why she should trust Bill even less than she does Thomas when it comes to her daughter.

Frankly, there is no reason for Bill and Brooke to betray Katie for the third or fourth time. I'm appalled that Brooke didn't smack Bill back into reality and tell Katie and Ridge what had gone on. My guess is that the kiss is set up to make way for Shauna and Ridge. It's my opinion that just like the writers desire to make Flo look innocent in the Wally breakup, they are going out of their way to paint Shauna as the innocent bystander in the Bridge breakup.

Thank God the writers aren't trying to kill Brooke off to make a path for Shauna and Ridge -- or is that where Katie comes in?

For this reason, I think Shauna is the one who was on Brooke's property at the cabin for some purpose that will be even less credible than Bill being there, and she is the one who spotted Bill and Brooke kissing. Earlier in the week, Shauna brought Ridge coffee at work, left, but came back. I couldn't figure out the reason for her double visit at first, but ultimately, I concluded that she'd chickened out on telling Ridge what she'd seen. Shauna will undoubtedly tell Quinn, who will be more than happy to do the dirty work of alerting Ridge or Katie.

Let us know what you think about the action-packed week. Was the Thomas takedown everything that you'd been waiting for, or did the stench of sanctimony wafting off the guests rob you of your complete satisfaction in Thomas' salty tears? Do you hope that Bill and Brooke's kiss will lead to a summer revival of Brooke and Bill and the beginning of Shauna and Ridge? We welcome your comments and emails on these subjects and all things B&B.

Until we scoop again, if you wind up being the consolation bride, make sure you do it Zoe-style and outshine the bride who's in first place. Anything less just wouldn't be bold and beautiful, baby!

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