You have absolute power

Even E.T.'s Elliot knows that, in California, it's all about who has absolute power. Steffy and Ridge had sworn to the most excellent secret, but Wyatt's conscience blew it -- and his marriage -- straight out the water. Absolute power landed in Quinn's lap, and Steffy landed on Liam's back deck, wielding the power of reconciliation. Zende tried to save Nicole from sister power when Maya asked for another baby, and Sasha empowered Thomas to be a family with Caroline, whether he wants to or not. Let's dish on the power shifts this week on the Bold and the Beautiful.

What would you do for absolute power? The power to unite couples, create families, mend broken hearts, or to destroy enemies? Would you lie for that power? Would you have a baby for someone else for that power? How about break up with your love interest or sabotage your own marriage for it? Or don another woman's wedding dress for it?

These are the choices that some of our beloved Los Angeles residents had to make. For some, the decision came with disastrous results. For others, there was joy, and for one, there's a straitjacket to go with that veil and those boots.

In case you missed it, Liam ogling Steffy's mountain wedding gown irked Ivy. She decided to show him that the dress had no power over him, and while he was pining for a woman who'd married his brother, a ready and single woman stood right before him. A woman like in the movie Single White Female, that is.

"Can we talk about the dress?" Liam cautiously asked asked Ivy. Yes, let's do talk about the dress! First off, it's the homeliest wedding dress in the history of soap weddings and was showcased in the creepiest bridal entry I've ever seen. Sorry, if I'd seen someone wearing that thing in the woods, I would have called in a clown bride sighting.

The dress was a last-minute find of Steffy and Ramona's -- never said by the show to be a Forrester gown -- and it was bought when Hope was just minutes from making it up the mountain to where Liam had gone to meet her -- not marry Steffy. The wedding was Steffy's bright-idea ambush, and it roped Liam into a six-month divorce purgatory. Hardly the wedding to celebrate.

For me, the real and memorable wedding for Steffy and Liam took place at the mansion. Who can forget her beautiful black lace outfit and entry on the motorcycle? They were surrounded by love and family and had a baby on the way. I believe the pantsuit was a Forrester creation, and it would have been a perfect Grease moment if Ivy had appeared on the mini runway wearing it instead. "Tell me about it, Stud!" our Aussie would have said, and maybe, just maybe, the power she was supplying would have been electrifying.

Citing the Ajax wedding as the time Liam knew Steffy was the one falls flat because he'd just given Steffy a second-hand engagement ring a day earlier. Hope was trapped in the gondola, courtesy of the evil Father-in-law whom Steffy seems so fond of, and Steffy convinced Liam to marry her by suggesting that he basically love the one he's with.

Liam was flattered that Ivy had put on the dress, but he explained that Steffy was inside him (like indigestion, I'm guessing). He handled it better than I, who, as I already conveyed, would have called Lieutenant Baker and said, "Put down the hot dog. I have a stalker clown at twelve o'clock, and no, it's not Quinn."

Liam gave Ivy the typical speech to let her down easy, but she told him to save it. She's got it. She's not Steffy. Does she have it, Scoopers? Or has she completely lost it with this stunt?

A married couple has lost it, too, due to the guilt trip they sent Nicole on this week. Rick and Maya set up a nice lunch at Il Giardino, and as they asked Nicole to pass the bread, they wondered if she might pass another baby their way, too. If Zende was a cartoon character, his eyes would have shot three feet out their sockets when heard the request.

Rick and Maya just had to ask -- just to see if it was at all a possibility. They'd pursue other methods if they had to -- but Nicole was the only one with the power to give Lizzie a little brother or sister. They'd totally understand if Nicole didn't want to do it after the issues that she and Zende had been through the last time, but if Nicole could just turn a baby out of that gumball uterus again, they'd be so grateful. No pressure, and here's a quarter -- just in case.

Zende could not believe the nerve of some people. Nicole, on the other hand, liked the idea of giving Lizzie a sibling and the idea that she was the one who could do it. Nicole is letting the incubating fumes go to her head. She just had Lizzie a few months ago, and the only "traveling together" she and Zende have done has been to a baseball game for Maya's sake.

Zende thought he and Nicole would be on the same page about it, and he was taken aback that he seemed to have to talk her out of it. Nicole reasoned that she should at least think about it, and she owed as much to her sister. Oh, no, you don't, honey.

Nicole has already done enough by playing the Virgin Mary, and she suffered for it. Nicole had bad morning sickness, she lost Zende to her best friend, and she felt like a whale around the models. Nicole apparently doesn't remember these things. She told Zende that the only bad part about the pregnancy had been the fear of losing him.

Back then, Zende had one valid reservation about the surrogacy. He'd wanted Nicole to have his kids, not kids for someone else. As it stands, Nicole already gave away her first child. Now Maya is asking for child number two. Is Maya taking advantage of the young, nave Nicole who, later in life, might regret giving up the children?

Believe me when I say that the "if I knew then what I know now" adage is real! Sometimes, it can even apply to events a week ago, so you can imagine how it applies to decades ago! It makes me think that Nicole is really too nave to understand what she's doing, and by the time she figures it out, she'll be filing Avant versus Forrester child custody suits.

Right now, it seems that Nicole popped out that baby and didn't miss a beat. From the outside, it appears that she hasn't had the slightest bit of maternal instincts. Unlike Thomas with Douglas, she isn't drawn to Lizzie. Not one bit. So Maya must be thinking she can ask again if the umbilical cord doesn't seem to attach itself to Nicole's heart.

Actually, I think Nicole's indifference toward Lizzie is about to change, and Rick and Maya might get served when the woman who had the power to give them Lizzie takes Lizzie away.

I know I can predict wrong with the best of them, but I have a feeling -- kind of like the "maternal feeling" Nicole got about the prospect of a new baby -- that the more she thinks about it, the more she'll want her own children, including her firstborn, Lizzie.

Nicole agreed with Zende that it was too much to ask for another surrogacy, but her family usually did ask for too much. The asking always came from a good place. If that's true, it wouldn't be a stretch for Nicole to ask for Lizzie back, now would it? Could Maya be as magnanimous as Nicole if Nicole did want to raise Lizzie after all?

Previews show Lizzie on-screen for the first time in I don't even know how many months, and it got me to wondering when Nicole ever sees the child. Nicole is supposed to live with Rick and Maya, but when Nicole sensed that something was going on at the luncheon, she immediately asked if Lizzie was okay. Rick and Maya answered that Lizzie was good and growing bigger and bigger. It's an answer given to someone who doesn't see the child often, and it made me consider that Nicole might purposely avoid being around the child.

I assume Rick and Maya will put the child on display as they "not pressure" Nicole into giving the irresistible child a sibling. Doing so could awaken Nicole's suppressed maternal instincts. There's just something in the way Nicole said, "I know I'm not her mother -- but I gave birth to her. If this is happening, there's just a part of me that can't help wanting to be the one to do it. It's not out of obligation...it's out of...I don't know...something maternal. It does something to me inside, thinking about giving Lizzie a sibling. Thinking about being the one to make it happen. It's hard to explain."

If Zende doesn't want his uncle's bun back in the oven, he'd better get to baking one himself. Everyone wins if Nicole and Zende start a family. If they have a baby together, Lizzie will have a sibling, and that sibling with be half of each family -- unless Rick wants to insult Zende in the way that Rick insults Ridge, that is. Is Zende, a man who seems oblivious that Quinn runs his house again, ready for fatherhood?

What do you think is really behind Nicole's attraction to being a surrogate again after the trouble it caused in her life before? Is her maternal clock ticking already? Will her newfound maternal instincts draw her closer to Lizzie? Will Nicole eventually become like Thomas, unable to deny the connection and unable to let someone else parent in her place?

Thomas recently admitted that he didn't even know how he ever agreed to let someone parent in his place. Caroline would like it if he didn't let anyone have sex with him in her place. She took Douglas to visit Thomas at the office and probed to see if he'd given any thought to her proposition that they make a genuine family with Douglas.

Last week, Caroline said she'd visit Eric, but so far, she's seen Thomas two more times but hasn't mentioned going to the mansion. She also managed to avoid seeing Ridge. Ridge mentioned her in a conversation with Steffy, though. He very strangely told Steffy that now that she wasn't married, she and Wyatt could be friends. Ridge must not realize that Steffy actually signed her license. Anyway, Steffy remarked that she was like Eric, doing the right things for the wrong reasons. Ridge said he'd done that with Caroline.

Ridge also said that he'd never been like Eric, who could see good right in front of him. He supposed it had skipped a generation. It was a loaded statement if you consider Ridge's history. If the seeing-the-good trait skipped a generation, it didn't land on the fire-breathing Steffy, who can't even see the good in honesty. Instead, it landed on Thomas.

Thomas is not my favorite, but I think he can see the good where others can't. He was the first one to apologize to Eric about the wedding. He apparently forgave Caroline for treating him like Jack the Raper the morning after sex. Despite the "misunderstanding" coming between him and his father, Thomas saw the good in Caroline and maintained relationships with her and his father. Thomas also sees a diamond in Sasha.

Caroline believes that she and Thomas have the power to give Douglas a real family, but she senses Thomas' hesitance. If Caroline bothered to ask, she'd know where it stems from. Unlike Liam, Thomas doesn't put his life on hold for a woman. In Caroline's absence, he developed an interest in Sasha, and he's conflicted about whether to end it with Sasha to have a family with Caroline. Either that, or he just doesn't know how to turn Caroline down.

This week, Sasha had the power to make it easy for Thomas, and she did so after overhearing what Caroline wanted and seeing Douglas and Thomas together. Sasha can't stand between a parent and a child, so she broke up with Thomas to let him have a chance at a family. She played it off, saying that they hadn't gotten deeply involved anyway, and even though she thought they could have made something special, she'd be okay.

Viewers haven't seen Thomas and Sasha together since the breakup. I expected Thomas to put up some sort of a fuss about ending things, but the best he could muster was a hug when she was done. We didn't even get a flashback of their two dates or a "See you around."

What do you think? Did Sasha remove the roadblock in Caroline and Thomas' path, or will Thomas still hesitate with Caroline because of his new feelings for Sasha? Was it the right thing for Sasha to do, or should she let Thomas make up his own mind about where his future lies?

I always thought doing the right thing was -- well -- the right thing to do. Wyatt learned this week that doing the right thing is totally wrong if he wants to stay married to Steffy.

In case you missed it, Ridge had the power high of his life while lying, putting Stephanie back on the wall, filing restraining orders against Quinn, dragging her around the mansion like an evil ragdoll, and ripping her right out of Eric's grasp. Wyatt had to show up and ruin it with honesty. Wyatt demanded that Ridge unhand his mother and leave because Quinn, not Ridge, had Eric's power of attorney.

"Excuse me?" Ridge said. Wyatt told Ridge what a lying sack of legalese he was and revealed that Wyatt had overheard the Quinn suppression committee conspiring to dupe Quinn out of the power of attorney. "You mean I can stay?" Quinn asked, acting as giddy as a kid at Willy Wonka's house. "Yes, mother. You live here," Wyatt responded, solidifying Ridge's reservations on the davenport in the CEO's office.

Quinn acted like she didn't understand the absoluteness of the power that Wyatt had just given her. She didn't even ask to see the papers. All she cared about was hightailing it right back to Eric's bedside, where Ridge had just dragged her away from. Who could blame her? Eric had awakened, called her his love, and asked her not to leave his side just moments before Ridge had yanked her out of the room like a bad act at the Apollo.

Ridge was right about himself. He can't see the good right in front of his face. The good in this case is that Quinn could help Eric awaken -- something Ridge should want, but we'd never know it from all the stress he'd put in the air to drag Quinn out of there. Ridge additionally had no accolades for Wyatt's honesty. Instead, Ridge warned that Wyatt's truth would set him free of his marriage. Wyatt hoped he and Steffy would work through it, but Ridge replied that Wyatt didn't know Steffy.

Wyatt isn't perfect. Wyatt has gotten over a few times on a lie or coverup. It's true. Each lesson taught him that honesty is the best policy. Imagine his surprise to learn that his wife doesn't value honesty when it doesn't benefit her, and she expects him to lie to his own mother for her.

So let's recap. To keep Steffy safe, Wyatt was supposed to keep his mother away from all Forresters and all things associated with Forrester, make Eric stop seeing his mother, make his mother leave Eric, drag Quinn out of the house -- even if Eric dragged her back in -- miss his mother's wedding, help lie to his mother about the power of attorney, and watch Ridge and Steffy berate and belittle his mother while waving a fake power of attorney threat in her face, and all the while, he was supposed to say, "You heard them, Mom."

It's a little much against one's own mother, don't you think? But Steffy's not done. She's leaving Wyatt over his bout of conscience for his mother because Wyatt is supposed to side with his wife. Liam is siding with her -- of course. He wouldn't want to upset Wifey Dearest. He might not get any of her crumbs if he does. Lord knows that he'll never hear the end of her Nazgul screeching. He might even find a few smashed dishes and some abused luggage in her wake.

Steffy takes Bryan Adams' lyrics more seriously than her wedding vows. Wyatt was supposed to lie for her, fight for her, walk the wire for her. Yeah, he was supposed to die for her. "You know it's true, and because you didn't do, Oooh, I am leaving you," Steffy sang on her way out the door.

Guess what? Wyatt still wants her! He was up in Quinn's face, trying to make her feel two feet tall for choosing her happiness over his, but high on Eric, Quinn was grinning and all like, "Let's call in to work, so we see a movie. Come on, Ninja Turtles...You know you love being a turtle..."

Wyatt wasn't in the mood for lunch and a movie with his mother when his whole world was in freefall. He'd just gotten Steffy back in the house when he'd had to go and get all honest on her. He wondered why it always had to happen to him. He'd told Steffy that he wished they hadn't lied. That way, he wouldn't have had to set it straight.

Wyatt asked Steffy to try to see that Eric could have changed Quinn. Nope. Steffy was too self-centered to meet her husband even a centimeter of the way. In her view, Quinn had only been in Eric's life a few months, and he'd landed in the hospital. Steffy almost hyperventilated when Wyatt stated another inconvenient truth -- that the Forresters were with Eric during the collapse, not Quinn. "Oh, my God! Oh, my God! I can't believe you -- I can't believe you said that!" she shrieked, and he had to retract it. The truth to Steffy is like water on the Wicked Witch of the West!

Steffy rode her motorcycle to Liam's house. He was on the back deck, where he'd reunited so many times with Hope. Strangely, he hadn't heard the motorcycle and didn't notice that Steffy was dressed as if she'd ridden one. It made me wonder if he even knows she's riding again since the miscarriage, thanks to Wyatt.

Steffy went there to tell Liam that she was free of Quinn, and he'd been right that Wyatt would side with Quinn. Steffy's marriage was done, and she wanted Liam back. It was music to Liam's ears, and he was happy to say, "I told you so," because he'd never given up on them.

Oddly, Steffy had given up Wyatt but not her grudge against Quinn. "All of her lies, all of her manipulating -- we could put that behind us. That could be a memory," Liam said to Steffy. Oh, no. Steffy immediately rejected it, using Eric as a reason.

For all Steffy's blustering about how she'd had enough, and she was free of Quinn, she's not letting go of Quinn. In reality, leaving Wyatt solves nothing. It doesn't get Quinn out of the house, the company, or the family. It only punishes Wyatt for telling the truth. I think the most cowardly and disrespectful thing you can do to a person is bully them into lying for you and covering for you.

It's no wonder Ridge raised Steffy. Taylor Hayes would have told the truth and said to heck with anybody who didn't like it. In fact, she did that to Eric. She walked out on him when he tried to get down on her for telling everyone about Brooke's pregnancy. I still agree with Eric that it wasn't Taylor's truth to tell, but Taylor still wouldn't be shamed for truth-telling. No one should be.

I agree with Quinn on this one. She said that if Steffy wants Liam, so be it. In my opinion, Wyatt would have endless marital hoops to jump through to keep Steffy from leaving again and again and again in the future. She has no compunction about threatening to leave and actually going.

In the Hope era, Steffy threatened Liam that she'd leave the country if he didn't let her move in. She straight up left Liam to mourn the miscarriage alone. When the going got tough at the beginning of this year, she hung up on Liam without listening to him when he tried to explain why he was in Australia. She moved out on Wyatt twice now when he couldn't give her way to her.

Steffy needs to be alone and take some time to grow up, like Thomas did last year. Instead, she rushes into being with Liam while her panties are still in Wyatt's dresser drawers. Is this reunion with Liam real, or is she just running away from Wyatt again? Can she and Liam concentrate on each other now, or will Steffy still only be focused on Quinn?

Eric awakened earlier this week, and Quinn claimed that he told her to put her portrait back on the wall. If so, he might still be awake, and we will soon know his thoughts on what Ridge and Steffy have done in his stead. Rick told Ridge that it had been dumb to lie about the power of attorney and asked how Eric is supposed to feel about it when he finds out.

Rumor has it that Eric won't be pleased with Ridge. As a result, Quinn and Wyatt might get absolute power at Forrester Creations. If Wyatt is in at Forrester, and Ridge is out, will Steffy retract her reunion with Liam and reunite with Wyatt in order to take over Forrester? Maybe some power at Forrester will make Wyatt change his mind about walking out on Quinn for good.

On the other side of the burning candle, Ridge needs Bill's shares, but R.J. still wants a family reunion. Can Ridge deny his resurging feelings for Brooke to execute the stock grab? Does the stock even matter if Stephanie's will made Eric irrevocable CEO? Yeah, writers, we didn't forget that one.

Let us know your thoughts and predictions. Until we meet again, remember that friends don't let friends use their sister's uterus like a gumball machine, and adoption can be bold and beautiful, baby!

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