Ever since The Bold and the Beautiful resurrected Sheila Carter for the umpteenth time, we’ve been annoyed that the show never played the beat in which any of the friends and acquaintances of The Young and the Restless’ Lauren Fenmore informed her that her longtime tormentor was back in action, wreaking havoc and slinging pizza at Il Giardino. (Finally, the idea was floated by the powers that be that the news had been broken to her — ugh — off screen.)
Now Bold & Beautiful finally is playing Lauren as a part of the Sheila storyline, only it’s falling flatter than flat because it’s too little, too late. We never saw Lauren panic at the thought of Sheila coming after her again. We never saw Lauren warn Daniel Romalotti that Sheila might target granddaughter Lucy.
We never saw Lauren commiserate with Sheila’s other victims, like Taylor Hayes or Brooke Logan. What we saw instead was Lauren pass through L.A. for Ridge and Eric Forrester’s fashion showdown with nary a mention of her nemesis!
History is and has always been soaps’ secret weapon. Play it well, and a show can’t go wrong. Play it badly, and it’s akin to saying, “We have no idea what to do with this, and we hope the audience won’t notice.” Sorry, but… we notice.
And it’s weird, too, because Bold & Beautiful was clever enough not to beat us over the head with mentions of Sugar before Sheila’s lookalike wound up being stabbed to death in her place. But it was also so doy as to play this whole years-long Sheila reign of terror without spreading the tension to Lauren. (Heaven knows, her Young & Restless storyline could use some shaking up!)
That said, it’s not too late for Bold & Beautiful to course-correct. All it has to do is give Lauren scenes in which she reflects in dramatic fashion upon her years-ago reaction to the news that Sheila’s alive and vows not to let the revelation dominate her thoughts. The show could even borrow Young & Restless’ Christian Jules LeBlanc to create a flashback in which Lauren tells her husband.
“How do you want to play this?” Michael asks. “I don’t want to,” Lauren replies. “At all. I want to do nothing. That woman has stolen too many years of my life as it is. Filled them with terror, with dread… I’m going to be on anti-anxiety medication until the day I die, Michael. I’m not giving her any more.”
“But… do you think that’s smart?” Michael asks. “She could snap on a dime. We know this.” Lauren could insist that she understands. She can’t, though. She can’t go back to worrying about what Sheila might or might not do every second of every day again.
If she did, it would do what Sheila was never able to: It would kill her. Michael accepts Lauren’s decision, as far as she can tell. However, behind the scenes, he might just take matters into his own hands. (Could he be the person who is holding Sheila prisoner? Is that why she’s vanished?)
