May(a) Sweeps

On B&B this week, Maya was the sun, orbited by the planets Forrester, Logan, Spencer, and even Douglas. Liam, Wyatt, and Pam sent out probes to discover Maya's secret -- and while Nicole suddenly wanted to keep that mission quiet, Rick got his intended a ring that was the brightest object in the night sky. Along came comet Ridge to upset the solar system, topped off by Carter firing a missile that could make this sun go supernova! Get out your telescopes and navigate this final frontier with Two Scoops' Mike!

Has your week been bold and beautiful? Did you sniff around your neighbor's yard only to rebury the bone you dug up? Did you not need anyone to show you the door because you drew one for yourself? Did you spill a gallon of tea? These and more situations faced the Forrester-Logan-Spencer-Avant clan this week!

Secrets can be most intriguing -- on soaps, anyway -- except when everybody's got to put in their two cents about them. The Spencers all spun their wheels, trying to guess what Maya had to hide, and Nicole switched back to being a gold-digger in training by telling Maya to use Krazy Glue on her pucker instead of lipstick. Pam and Charlie found Maya out then shut up about it, while Rick decided that keeping rings a secret was okay. And round and round we went about secrets until Ridge made no secret of sticking a fork in himself 'cause he was done -- to keep Ridge at Forrester, Carter mouthed off about Maya! Grab two supersized Scoops and let's talk May sweeps, Bold and Beautiful style!

The week started on the Spencer jet, where Nicole followed up her underage drinking of margaritas with enough Champagne that she nearly decided it was a good idea to tell that "wascaly" Wyatt about her sister...until we cut to Wyatt telling Liam and Ivy how Nicole clammed up. Couldn't decide if that was a cool cut or a weird one, but Pam decided she liked it, because she popped out from behind that partition like she was a stripper at a bachelor party. And she wanted to get in on some stripping, all right, as in stripping Maya of her secret.

So, our Nancy Drew in pearls grabbed her Hardy boy with a holster and set about writing the latest book in their series: The Mystery of the Megalomaniacal Model. Charlie, usually very quick to brag about his safeguarding exploits, didn't want Pam to go rifling through Maya's forgotten purse. Looks like the pearls are on the other neck now! Making sure she mentioned her lemon bars first, Pam overturned the hot handbag and nearly burned herself on the smoking gun that turned out to be Maya's estrogen pills. Charlie deduced in an instant that Maya had to be transgender!

Okay, wait -- what? Even Pam knew that there are any number of reasons a woman would ingest this vital female hormone: low levels, osteoporosis, and early menopause were just three possibilities Miss Douglas cited, and I would add having a hysterectomy to that list. Yet Charlie was convinced that gender reassignment surgery was the only instance that would see Maya putting estrogen down her esophagus. This was enough for Pam to cover her ears and sing-song "la la la" so she didn't have to hear any more about it. It was dangerous! They could lose their jobs! And Rick really loved Maya!

Pam, are you sure you're related to Stephanie? If La Forrester had gotten even an inkling that Maya was hiding a pimple, she'd have made it public knowledge faster than her hand used to make contact with Brooke's face. And maybe Charlie needs an income, but Pam certainly doesn't require a job; I'm sure Stephanie left her a bundle, and I recall that Eric told Stephanie he'd provide for her sister, besides. So what the hell is Pam on about? "It isn't right," she declared to Charlie. She must have been adopted.

Over at Spencer Publications, big bad Dollar Bill roared that he knew Maya was a gold-digger from go. Of course, Maya didn't covet finery when she first met Bill, but with her personality switch-up last year, we'll have to give this one to the Dollah. But there are a few things I don't understand. To begin with, Bill has owned 12.5% in Forrester since 2010, when he sweet-talked Donna into selling the shares she acquired in her divorce from Eric. Now he's worried about his investment?

Then there's the fact that he's farming out his kids to get dirt on Rick, Maya, or anyone else who can get the CEO with "the Napoleonic ego" (Pot, meet Kettle) booted from Forrester. I'm surprised Will isn't being paid a supply of juice boxes to cute his way into Nicole's graces. I know I've said it before, but Bill is a barracuda who assimilates companies like the Borg used to assimilate planets on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He could easily swallow up Forrester on his own in the time it takes to reach for his whiskey bottle. Instead, we get Liam wringing his hands and Wyatt raiding the kindergarten.

The one thing I'll admit is that I like watching Liam and Wyatt working together as brothers. They're so refreshing without Hope in the mix. And I will fully concede that Wyatt got charred when his relationship with Miss Logan crashed and burned, so he totally deserves a little feminine attention. And Nicole brings the imp back out of the emasculated cutie. But isn't he a little old for her? Yeah, I know -- legions of you think Ridge is too old for Caroline, but that seems different; Wyatt is pushing 30, and Nicole is barely out of high school. It seems odd to me.

Even odder is that Nicole, who seems pretty savvy for her age, isn't picking up on Wyatt scamming her, especially given every other word out of his mouth is "secret." I think Maya's figured it out, and she did even before he expressed this vocabulary in front of her. Big Sis Avant knows something isn't right with Little Sis Avant and her sudden Spencer. And Nicole lost a lot of points with me this week. When she first showed up, she seemed to be a young woman of integrity. Then she became a blackmailer. Then she wanted to do the right thing. Now she wants Maya to shut up to maintain the status quo. Huh?

Oh, how the tables have turned, and interestingly so. Used to be, Nicole wanted the truth about Maya's identity out, and Maya refused to tell it. The girls have switched Jimmy Choos, because here we have Maya attempting to tell Rick the truth and Nicole dragging Maya away to keep Rick from hearing the confession. Nicole says she's thought better of it to protect Maya, but Darling Nikki couldn't deny she liked her junior jet-setting and didn't want to risk losing it by Rick finding out that Maya is transgender.

If that made sense, I could almost justify her switcheroo. But listen up, Nicole: you and Wyatt have had two dates. There's nothing to mess up. It's not like Wyatt is writing you checks, sweetie. And let's say Rick does find out about his girlfriend's origin and drops her like she's hot. How does that take anything away from Nicole? What, Wyatt will find out Maya's transgender and not want anything to do with her kid sister? You're gonna have to explain that one to me.

I do think that Rick prattling on about Maya's honesty is getting more than a little old. It isn't even that the show is beating a dead horse (which it is), but Rick is so far in denial that he can't see what's right in front of him. He's heard from more than one source that Maya has some sort of secret. Maya keeps getting emotional, going on about how one day Rick will know everything about her and she hopes he's not disappointed. Rick found estrogen in Maya's purse, and her poker-facing is so ineffectual that surely he'd freak at the slightest hint something was being kept from him.

Yet Rick keeps talking about needing stability and a woman who won't deceive him, blah blah blah. Like Rick has never deceived anyone? What about cozying up to Steffy to get under Ridge's skin? Pretending he was paralyzed? Stealing Forrester designs? Tricking his father into giving him control of the company by faking a reconciliation with Caroline? If Rick would own his own crap in the midst of all this virtuousness stuff, it would track a lot better. I guess the gigantic ring he bought Maya, with its CGI-assisted sparkling, blinded him that much more.

The award for blindness on our show, however, clearly goes to Rick's mom and dad. Brooke and Eric apparently have a contact high from the ego cigar Rick's been smoking, because they truly believe their CEO son is doing a splendiferous job and refuse to hear any evidence to the contrary. Guys -- Rick fired a gun at two people. Your first response should have been getting Eric Jr. to a shrink, because you know he once popped a cap in Grant Chamber's ass while in a fugue state. Yet Eric and Brooke lavish praise on little Ricky like they would frosting on a birthday cake. Worst. Parents. EVAR.

That said, and I may catch hell for this, Breric still has it. Whenever they're on-screen together, I want to see them as a couple again. I admit a big part of that is sentimentality: Stephanie is dead, and Ronn Moss's Ridge is gone, which makes Eric and Brooke the last two original characters on B&B. A reunion only makes sense -- even if right now they don't have a brain between them. Brooke's always had weird loyalties, but I really expected better of Eric.

Case in point: Ridge told the man he's always considered to be his father that Rick has practically turned Forrester into a plantation with everyone but Maya his slaves, and somehow Eric felt the design house's phenomenal sales figures were good enough reason to keep Rick right where he is. You know, Eric's bearded now, and I can't help thinking of the last time he was: in 1997, he was stranded in Greenland with Lauren and shot a crossbow into Rush Carrera's heart to save her from the maniac. That Eric would have snatched Rick up by his colorful ties and demanded to know if the tyranny he'd heard about was true.

Not this Eric. Ridge nearly pleaded with him to ask Forrester's ill-treated workforce about Rick's whip-cracking, but Papa F simply told Ridge to get with the program. Then Brooke waltzed in with her Eric-and-I-fully-support-our-son cheerleading. As someone who endured Stephanie's bullying for a quarter century, you'd think it would be the last thing she would tolerate from one of her own children. Well, Ridge had enough of Rick's coddling. Upon finding out Rick had asked for an extension to his one-year contract (when did that happen?), Ridge told Eric and Brooke to take this job and shove it!

Let's face it, Ridge's backbone gave B&B a much-needed shot in the arm this week. While everyone else has been falling all over themselves by placating Rick, plotting against him, or steering clear of him, it took Ridge to put his foot down and say, "I quit." Why hasn't someone, anyone, done this sooner? I heard something about Rick having everyone bound under contract, but that doesn't matter; if Rick tried to force Ridge into staying, Ridge could take Rick to court, with Caroline, Ivy, Aly, Pam, Charlie, Donna, Oliver, Carter, and Wyatt as witnesses, and tell the judge that Rick tried to use him for target practice. Let's see how long Rick lasts as CEO then!

At this point, I'd really love to see Ridge start up his own design house. He's done it before (when he bought Spectra for Brooke a decade ago), and this time he could take most of Forrester's staff with him. Besides, Forrester hasn't had any competition at all, since Jackie M disappeared off the face of the earth. Wouldn't it be great to watch Rick, Maya, Eric, and Brooke fumbling around to save themselves while Ridge's new company blew them away? Yeah, I could totally get behind that.

But, for whatever reason, the general consensus was that Ridge was needed at Forrester. Aw, isn't that sweet? Even Eric conceded that, as a fellow designer, he should have better understood Ridge's frustration (nice to see the real Eric Forrester still under there somewhere), admitting to Brooke that the way Rick and Maya got back together was questionable. Well, I'm glad somebody mentioned that.

See, that's the thing: Rick had the (thankfully) sole flashback of the week, going over his history with Maya as if they were some great romance. Well, maybe they were in 2013. But Eric is right: Rick responded to Caroline kissing Ridge by having a full-blown affair with Maya, and together they ran roughshod over everybody, putting on enough airs to fill a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade float. And Maya started the whole thing by coming on to Rick in the steam room when he was happily married!

That's why Raya doesn't really work as a love story; there's too much dirt between them. Whatever Maya's identity, she has been a total bitch, and all the dancing around her being transgender isn't going to change that. For this story to work, Maya needs to acknowledge that she manipulated her way back into Rick's life, not only to bag him, but the perks he comes with, and that she helped him get his CEO chair to increase those perks. If she can show remorse for that, then we will be able to feel the sympathy that her coming exposure is going to require.

And it seems that exposure will happen sooner rather than later. When Carter heard that Ridge had quit (why was Ridge still lingering around Forrester, then?), the lawyer-actor-minister decided he had to stop Ridge from leaving. Ridge didn't have to worry about Rick being in control past that all-important year, and certainly not if Rick married Maya, because that wedding wasn't going to happen. Not when Rick found out that Maya Avant was born Myron Avant -- she was a transgender woman! Clean-up on aisle 10: Carter spilled all the tea!

What will Ridge, the current mover and shaker in this story, do with Carter's information? Will Rick propose to Maya at Big Bear? And will Nicole make up her mind about how she wants to roll? Spill your own tea in the Comments section below, on the Soap Central message boards, or simply click here to submit feedback. Your comments could wind up in a future column -- like these!

• "Maya needs to cough the secret up. For some strange reason, I think the Wyatt/Nicole pairing could be a good thing. She looks sooooo young to me, like a teenager, but I have to assume she's old enough to legally drink (which makes me wonder how old Maya is supposed to be then). It may be starting out crazy, but he needs a new storyline and...I think this could work. He's a schemer, and she's a mini schemer. Deacon/Quinn -- snooze fest. It feels like the show has hit a rut." -- Danielle

• "As much as I like [the idea of] Darnell Williams as Maya & Nicole's father, how about Charles S. Dutton [from TV's Roc]? His range and presence onscreen is powerful. As their mother, Debbie Allen, Chip Fields, and Debbi Morgan would be great. If you want a mom that is a gospel singer, Patti LaBelle would be a bold choice as Maya & Nicole's mom." -- Kathy

• "Glad you agree with me that Darnell Williams is the only one to play the father of Maya and Nicole. It's as obvious as Clark Gable being the only one to be Rhett Butler." -- Vikki

• "I can't wait till Rick finds out he has been sleeping with a transgender woman! If he shot at Ridge and Caroline for making out, just think what he will do when he finds out what he has been having sex with LMAO!" -- Tracy

Without getting too preachy here, I just want to say that we all have an opportunity here to learn about a group of people most of us aren't very familiar with. Even in fun, Maya is not a "what," and I've seen her referred to as "Manya" and a "shim," which seems like a lack of awareness to me. Especially important to note, Rick is not having sex with a man. I don't claim to fully understand the transgender experience myself; even as a gay male, I can't relate to identifying with the opposite gender so much that it becomes necessary to have surgery to align myself with that identity.

But I did know a transgender mechanic once; aside from teaching me "lefty loosey, righty tighty," which I still use, I also learned compassion for the transgender community from her. Maya is fictional, but she's a great way to correct our long-held, real-life misconceptions.

We will get an additional chance for awareness with the casting of Scott Turner Schofield, a transgender actor coming on as Maya's friend Nick, who begins airing Friday, May 8. As someone from Maya's past, Nick could shed some light on Miss Avant's pre-B&B years. My only issue is, another Nick? I know the name has meaning to the Bell family; look at how many Nicks and Nikkis and Nicoles and Nicholases there have been between the two remaining CBS shows. But that's their business; I look forward to Nick's appearance next week; Schofield says B&B's transgender story is "going in the right direction," which is very reassuring.

Another bit of hot casting news is that the show is looking to recast Thomas! It looks as if Adam Gregory is not coming back, but, with Steffy back on the screen again soon, I guess her brother is needed. If I may, why put out a casting call when the obvious choice is Drew Tyler Bell? He won an Emmy during his previous tenure -- and, if Adam Gregory's resemblance to Ronn Moss was a factor before, DTB and Thorsten Kaye look even more like father and son! It's a no-brainer to me!

Well, that extra babbling nudges Points to Ponder off the page this column. Though many of you feel the transgender story should be going faster, I like that Maya's secret is coming out in layers. It's a little bit of soap from the olden days (you know, the '80s and '90s). Aside from the Avant sisters, Charlie thinks he knows, and Carter and Ridge definitely know. Soon the Spencers will catch on, and the only conclusion is that Rick will be the last to find out. Classic!

Chanel is here next week to sop up Carter's tea, and I'll be behind her with additional mops and brooms on May 18. Keep watching, be alert, and most of all, be bold!

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