Objections may be closer than they appear: The Bold and the Beautiful Two Scoops for the week of October 14, 2024

It was a week of head-scratching moments in front of the camera and behind it when Carter wrote his own future, and Hope couldn’t decide about kissing.

Meeting of the Mutual Admiration Society

One kiss in, Carter stopped pretending to be coy and told Hope everything she could want to hear from a breathing male. Carter showered Hope with a seemingly endless list of compliments, and her eyes widened and eyelashes batted as she dreamily hung on every word.

After all these years, I still haven’t figured out what it is about Hope that makes grown men lose their senses around her.

But Carter went from zero to hero overnight. One minute, he’s printing off numbers to fire up Steffy and Ridge about HFTF’s sales flatlining, and the next, he’s coming off like he’s an obsessed co-worker. Not creepy at all.

Aside from Carter revealing out of nowhere that he likes to picture Hope in her mom's lingerie, here's the weird part for me: Lawrence Saint-Victor, who plays Carter, is also writer on the show. While you marinate in that for a moment, I'll move on to my next thought.

Hopelessly Devoted

Carter's sudden infatuation with Hope is out of left field and eerily reminiscent of how Thomas thought he owned her. Is Carter the creep we don't see coming?

Let's walk through what's going on here. Okay, so Carter finds Hope attractive, this isn't a stretch. But he is the COO of the company, and he is one of the decision-makers of her fashion line — a line that has been barely hanging on by a thread for a while and constantly threatened to be axed.

I know I suggested that Hope should go for the guy who counts the numbers and reports whether or not HFTF is making money, but I didn't actually want to see it happen.

And hey — does HR know about these two hooking up?

Carter is one of Hope's bosses (and superiors), and they should not be involved. Secondly, he has dated her aunt, or they were friends with benefits or something, so that should make everything from board meetings to holiday dinners awkward. I mean, it won't, but it should.

Carter was almost married to Paris, who is now engaged to Hope's ex, Thomas. The point is, Hope and Carter didn't just meet recently, so when did this attraction start? Has he been secretly harboring these feelings for a while and, with the teensiest bit of encouragement, is all in like he owns her?

All we know is that Carter had been having sexual fantasies about Hope while working with her. As for Hope, he told her she was pretty, so that got her on board right there.

Jeepers Creepers

Once Carter told Hope he thought she was the most amazing woman he ever met and all the reasons why, they kissed. Carter said that if two hot people were attracted to one another, they should act on that, but he may have undersold his intentions.

After that one kiss, Carter hasn’t stopped thinking about Hope at work. That might be a normal reaction when smitten, but he took things a little far and started waving so many red flags I thought the circus was in town.

Last week, he was taken aback when he came to canoodle and found Hope's lips on Liam's pizza. He offered to leave, but didn't. Then he offered to leave again, but didn't. Then, when Liam was playing with Beth, Carter barked he was interrupting and made them stop so he could have attention. He still didn't leave and found an excuse to look at his phone instead.

Since then, Hope has told him that Liam wanted to reunite, but she wanted to see where things went with Carter. He doesn’t need to keep acting insecure about that, she’s been following through. He comes off as clingy, and it’s not a good look.

Carter In Charge

Somehow, during all of this distraction, Carter stayed up all night with strings and pins on the wall and put a full effort into creating a presentation to save HFTF — without Hope knowing.

Carter didn’t even talk to her in advance or give her a heads up that he intended to speak on her behalf. He surprised everyone by adamantly championing for her line to be saved. Hope just sat there, gazing in awe as he talked on her behalf, even though she had no idea what he would say next.

Carter has already admitted to changing numbers and said he expected projections to be better. Did that not work? He didn’t mention it at the meeting. Instead, he wanted everyone to bow down to Forrester’s saving grace, the pinnacle of everything they didn’t know they needed.

Carter is the COO of Forrester, but he wouldn’t even answer Steffy’s questions. At one point, he even asked if she and Ridge were going to be replaced by Eric.

Maybe that would have gotten more of a reaction, but everyone was dumbfounded when Carter called Hope a beacon of light and said that everything that Forrester was was because of Hope. Huh? Maybe Eric should come back, and Carter could explain to him what that meant.

Carter was completely offside, oddly disrespectful, and way too possessive at that meeting. Is this just bad judgment by the guy who is writing his own storyline? Or is Carter creeping us out for real?

Carter Has Thomas Vibes

From passive-aggressively interrupting Beth and her parents to taking over Hope’s line without a conversation, I wish I had confidence in Hope to see the red flags here, but everything is tinted through her rose-colored glasses.

Carter is starting to make me wonder what’s up. He’s known Hope a long time, and we’ve seen him in other relationships. He falls hard, sure, but there’s something different this time.

Maybe it was the way Carter was so creepy about Hope modeling lingerie in his mind. Or maybe it’s the way he’s been all-in after having no more than a thought about being with her, but…Carter has stalker vibes.

Inviting an employee over to celebrate after dominating her line at a meeting had a real ick-factor to it. But diving straight into sex for the first time moments after she walked in the door didn’t help.

Am I the only one missing the connection between these two? I didn’t think sparks were flying that fast, maybe I’m wrong. But it feels like Steffy’s not the only one questioning what’s really going on. Carter is acting out of character, and it’s creeping me out. Even when she pulled away and said they shouldn’t go that far, he said, “But we could” in a little sing-songy voice and tried again.

I’m confused whether this is supposed to be foreshadowing of Carter becoming a controlling, manipulative boyfriend, or if the writers think that’s what a girl wants. Or, maybe Carter just needs some chakra clearing so he can calm down a little.

Leaning toward the latter

Carter’s not the only one who's making us raise eyebrows. Yes, we know it’s a fashion house, and yes, there are models walking the halls of Forrester.

But it’s 2024, and I was really liking Will. Please don’t make him into a girl-chasing modelizer from the 90s.

The upside is, Will will meet Electra next week. She’ll sweep him off his feet from the moment they meet, and all the other females at Forrester will be safe from his love ‘em and leave ‘em dreams.

The downside is that it will likely turn into a triangle with Zende...or, dare I say it...RJ.

Ridge and Taylor save energy

Ridge delighted Taylor when he told her that he had gotten some referrals from Li and Grace, had done some research, and had hired someone to help heal her.

Little did they both know that not only would Ridge be well-versed in spiritual healing but that it would actually work.

I’ll hand it to Ridge — he did keep Taylor’s secret, and he kept his promise to be there for her. It was an unconventional story for them to do chakra work for sure, but I appreciated its uniqueness. Not only that, but it actually worked! I sound excited only because it sped up that storyline. Anything that does that, I’m totally for it.

Brooke showed up right on time to see the candles lit and what looked like an intimate setting. Brooke wouldn't have been able to see Shandra from the front door window, but of course she could see her from the back. Who did she think Shandra was, a sex therapist?

Brooke follows in Sheila’s footsteps

Since Taylor “came home,” Brooke told Steffy, Taylor, Donna, Hope, Eric, Katie, Bill, Ridge, and herself that she was confident in Ridge's devotion and that Taylor couldn't have him back.

Maybe she was for two weeks, but seeing her between the curtains at the back door was a full-on Sheila Carter move. In fact, she probably knew to run around to that spot because of Sheila. That was just…weird.

So Brooke spied on Taylor and Ridge and saw them gazing into each other's eyes in a candlelit room with a woman standing over them. Obviously, Brooke would be Brooke and would (over)react and think it was sexual.

Why did she wait until Shandra and Ridge left to ask what was going on? I guess it’s was more fun to wait until Taylor was alone to confront her then tell her that you don’t believe anything she’s saying. Nothing says “I’m not angry” when you’re yelling at someone.

Taylor still says she needs more healing, and Ridge is still willing to help. If we know Brooke, she’ll just start using that as an excuse to get attention elsewhere.

Deacon? Bill? Eric? Get your calling cards out, gentlemen. Brooke told Bill that if she or Ridge said they wanted to get married, the other would do it. Maybe she'll test that theory, and when it fails, she'll run into someone else's arms, or they'll visit Brooke's Bedroom. Please, soap gods, just don't let it be Carter.

Until next time!

You can watch full episodes of The Bold and the Beautiful weekdays on CBS or stream through Paramount Plus.