The wish is father to the thought

Hope and Steffy each wished the other would back off while Liam wished he hadn't popped his pop. But an unexpected visit fulfilled the wishes of many viewers! It's a twist Taylored to the return of Two Scoops' Mike!

Has your week been bold and beautiful? Did you milk an injury in hopes of sending a rival to another pasture? Did you throw away your calendar because you don't believe in dates? Did you decide that blondes have more gun? These and more situations faced the Forrester-Logan-Spencer clan this week!

The bitch is back, Scoopers. And I mean me, not a certain psychiatrist some of you would define thusly. Thank you to those who expressed condolences on the passing of my father. In true soap fashion, I got to Florida in time but couldn't have a final conversation with him because he was unconscious; I have to believe he heard what I had to say. And, like any good soap patriarch, his passing changed the game for those he left behind, in ways he intended and ways he never knew about. But enough about that.

I got home, and my DVR was full of B&B episodes I only now got caught up on. It was kind of refreshing to watch this pivotal period completely spoiler-free -- well, except for one "leak" I spotted yesterday. We had one man falsely accused, one man accusing himself, and, just as the newly regenerated Leffy/Lope black hole threatened to suck the "Who Shot Bill?" mystery into its vortex, it got a Taylor-made reboot. Let's Scoop about it!

PREVIOUSLY, ON "WHO SHOT B.S."

How come all the good stuff happens when I'm nowhere near a TV? B&B turned in some of its strongest story and performances in the wake of Ridge's arrest. I love it when Brooke goes all mama lion, and she was uncaged as she roared at Detective Sanchez until he agreed to requestion Bill about his certainty that Ridge had shot Bill in the back. But wait -- more soapy treats awaited my return. More!

Annika Noelle finally got a scene to sink her teeth into as Hope found her huevos, blasting Bill for setting these events in motion and demanding that he take some responsibility where Liam was concerned. And therein lay the best plot twist I've seen on the show in ages. A simple bonk on the head revealed that Liam had not only watched Bill propose to Steffy but had shot Bill himself!

It was freaking brilliant the way the show tied Liam's concussion/amnesia of 2016 into this current story, with absolutely no telegraphing at all. You know how critical I can be of our soap, at times practically begging for history and continuity to be observed. Granted, it's television nature to keep things moving by dropping most past events. So, when connections are made this directly, it's gold and nothing else but gold.

To refresh viewers' memories, B&B had Sanchez grill Quinn and remind her (and us) how she'd kidnapped Liam. And giving Liam another memory blackout fits in perfectly with not only the "Adam and Eve" saga but also previous injuries. Liam first knocked himself out while drunk in 2010 to the point he didn't remember not sleeping with Amber then smacked his head again when the gas stove at Amber's trailer exploded.

One could argue that Liam's infamous Leffy/Lope waffling of 2011-2012 was born out of the marbles rolling around loose in his head, but I digress. Making this huge a plot point out of Liam's chronic concussions is inspired -- and could even inform future story. I wasn't expecting it, and Scott Clifton needs to get an Emmy nod next year for Liam teetering on the edge of insanity, trying to get his head around what he'd done to Bill.

Few questions, though. Why was Carter, a copyright lawyer at Forrester, working on Ridge's criminal case? And why did it never come up that this was Ridge's third arrest in connection to a firearm? He was in deeper doo-doo with the law in 2007 because, when it appeared he'd shot Shane, his prior conviction for shooting Grant was on his record. And where's R.J.? Suddenly he's calling from places unknown. Is Coco with him?

I'LL TAKE YOUR WIFE AND RAISE YOU AN ALMOST-WIFE

As this week started, Liam got a surprise visit from Bill, who was pretty nonchalant, considering he'd just been told his own son had shot him in the back. Have to say, that hospital scene where Bill nearly turned Liam in to Sanchez was pretty riveting. Bill was ready to chalk it all up to one more adventure in the Spencer family album...until it became clear he was saving a few pages for Steffy!

Bill shipped Lope so hard that Liam caught on and wondered if the Dollah was offering Liam his freedom in exchange for his wife! Bill swore it was nothing as salacious as that; it was just, "Steffy belongs with me." After all, Bill had had Steffy first and wanted to make things easier then, "so I gave her to you." Liam didn't like that one bit, but it does rather make sense when you line up the last seven or eight years of story.

While Liam showed Bill the door, Steffy and Hope decided to show each other their claws for the first time since Hope's return. Steffy got Hope to admit that Hope was still in love with Liam then told her stepsister/rival to back off and let Liam come home to Steffy and their child. "I think you've played that card enough," Hope said calmly, referring to the superglue that keeps Steffy's hand stuck to her baby bump.

And glory be, like Bill finally acknowledging coming between Hope and Liam, from Aspen to Italy and beyond, Hope finally mentioned that she had left L.A. in 2014 after her marriage to Wyatt ended in "heartache"! No, she didn't use the word "miscarriage," but it's about time she talked about that tragedy with Wyatt, even in passing, instead of being so laser-focused on Liam that it was like it never happened.

Hope shared Bill's contention that Steffy would probably end up in bed with Bill again, and so do I. You know Steffy still wants her some Stallion, and she should realize her marriage to Liam is unsalvageable at this point. I also remain of the opinion that the baby Steffy is carrying is Bill's. But Hope was so cryptic about what a bad place Liam was in that Steffy's Spider Senses were tingling. She knew something was different.

TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY FOX

Maybe it was just the sheer height of Bill's office high atop Spencer Tower that had me a little dizzy, but I didn't think the air was so thin that I'd miss some details. For one thing, why was Katie in attendance at a business meeting being run by Wyatt? And while we're at it, why was Wyatt running a business meeting? I thought Justin had taken the reins at Spencer.

Bill had gotten gunned down before he could sign the papers giving Justin that authority, but last I'd seen, Wyatt was still challenging Justin's new position; I don't remember anyone removing Justin from it. So there Wyatt was, enjoying the seat of power I don't think he ever got, when a plainclothes Jarrett stopped by, asking if Wyatt could put in a good word for him with Bill!

Did you know Jarrett's presence goes all the way back to 2004? I thought it was 2008, but YouTube proved me wrong one day recently. Anyway, Wyatt rightly surmised Jarrett could get a boffo gig anywhere, and in a much better working environment, but the fashion writer glommed onto Spencer like he was stalking an ex-lover. Yo, J-Man, you're besties with Spencer's other owner, Karen. Ask her for the hookup!

Methinks Jarrett's somewhat erratic behavior was meant to reinforce that he could, in fact, be the real shooter, but that went unspoken once Katie and Wyatt started worrying if Bill would go through with taking custody of Will and cutting Wyatt out of his will. Confused? If you weren't, I was, watching Thorne vacillate between jokingly labeling Katie a cradle robber and stoking her biggest fears about losing her son.

So, we really went to the trouble of sacking Winsor Harmon after 21 years and replacing him with GH vet Ingo Rademacher so the oft-widowed Thorne could try to come between Bridge then Watie? Thorne, look in a mirror. You are sex on a stick these days with your crisp shirt and vest attire. Stop sweeping up crumbs and bake up your own recipes. Apron optional. And try actually dating; relationships are not instant coffee.

Wyatt wasn't about Thorne swarming around his honey, but he was about it even less when Bill used the same stinger on Wyatt he had before a bullet flew through the beehive: Bill would not let Wyatt be a father to his half-brother, and Bill would unleash the wrath of hell if Wyatt married Katie. But it's okay for Bill to propose to the mother of his grandchild? I guess even Bill has limits.

Maybe you can only watch so many talk shows while bedridden in the hospital, because Bill had used that time to think up a new strategy. If Wyatt married Katie, Bill would see to it his son ate ramen noodles with thrift store forks. If Wyatt walked away from her...well, Bill decided he'd step down from Spencer in five years and give the CEO chair to Wyatt. And only Wyatt, Bill repeated, citing "irreconcilable differences" with Liam.

Wyatt only briefly tried to deduce why Liam was out of the picture before he started picturing himself as top dog of the Spencer conglomerate. Thankfully, his Quinn DNA didn't fully kick in, because he went straight to Katie with Bill's ultimatum. I kept thinking that Bill only said Wyatt couldn't marry Katie. And sure enough, the couple that started as casual and went to "a lot at stake" soon had the same realization.

In line with their unconventional romance, Katie and Wyatt celebrated her taking her engagement ring off and realized they could "outfox the fox" by continuing to see each other on the sly, since Bill had only deemed marriage off-limits. Ooh, I don't see that one ending well, do you, Scoopers? After all, only Bill is allowed to keep secrets. And if there's one thing he hates, it's being outsmarted.

HOW WOULD YOU FRAME THAT?

Apparently already recovered from his once-a-decade visit to the slammer, Ridge set aside being able to wear his own (drab) clothes and the well-wishes of his party attendees and got back up on his high horse about Bill purposely sending him to jail. Huh? Ridge has always been a hothead, but first he wouldn't hear that Steffy had sex with Bill consensually, and now Ridge is fixated on the idea that Bill framed him.

I suppose a confrontation scene between Ridge and Bill was inevitable because of Ridge being falsely accused, but it seemed like filler to me. Aside from Bill conceding to Ridge that he understood why Ridge would feel Bill had framed him, it was all pretty much the same conversation they have every time they're in a room together. You guys hate each other. We get it.

And, Ridge, issuing Bill a "warning" regarding Steffy after narrowly avoiding a prison sentence for attempted murder was probably not your smoothest move. Good thing Det. Sanchez wasn't there to hear it; instead, he came by hoping to recreate the scene of the crime and jar Bill's memory. All I could think of was Hope recreating her graduation party so she could understand her mother mask-boinking Oliver. Would Pose be next?

Sanchez wasn't nearly as thorough as I hoped he'd be; he just pulled stuff out of a box, including Bill's now-infamous golden gun, but Bill couldn't be bothered with props. You'd think, if Bill was going to protect Liam by insisting a stranger had popped him, that Bill would simply say he saw a reflection of a tall man with facial hair. That would give Sanchez a detail to work with, but one so vague it could still be anybody.

I think Sanchez may need to hit the police academy a few more years. First, he arrests Ridge without any evidence to corroborate Bill's claim, then he gives up trying to recreate the crime super easily, walking out with a quiet "thank you." Sanchez didn't even notice that Bill kept looking at Liam in the hospital while saying he knew who the shooter was, which even parody cops would find a dead giveaway.

LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO

Liam tried to help Hope pick a new logo for Hope for the Future, but he was so out of it, he didn't notice one of the selections had already represented the line in years prior. No, Liam still couldn't believe he was capable of shooting his father; he hadn't even been that upset when he found out he porked Quinn in an amnesiac haze. He kept going over the old-school analog TV flashbacks where he saw himself attempting patricide.

You know, it's interesting. In Liam's memory of coming to on the ground outside his former home, he continually saw a figure hurrying away. Maybe it was just Bill tucking his tail between his legs after Steffy refused his proposal. Or...could Liam be remembering something else? Was he outside the cliff house or Bill's house? Maybe Liam saw the actual shooter running away!

Scoopers, it is kick-ass that Liam's periodic head bumps and memory losses are playing into all this, but at the end of the day, I don't think Liam actually shot Bill. I get the impression it's one hell of a red herring. Liam wasn't convinced, however; over Hope's worried objections, Liam decided Steffy needed to be told out of a recommitment to the truth and over fears he might hurt their child in a future fugue state.

I thought for sure Liam would start to tell Steffy then either get interrupted or chicken out, which is B&B's go-to with confessions. But Liam actually told Steffy everything; the sexy CEO knew Liam packed heat one way but couldn't believe he packed it in a more lethal way. Steffy and her new ponytail extension proved that she doesn't just change hairstyles every few days; under that ponytail was a very active thinking cap.

Steffy may be at odds with Hope over Liam again, but the one thing the girls agreed on was that Liam simply wasn't capable of shooting anyone. "You don't even know how to use a gun!" Steffy insisted. (True, Steffy, that's your forte; just ask Sheila.) Steffy felt that because Liam hated Bill so much and had heard so much about the shooting, his mind had created a fantasy in which he had pulled the trigger -- but only a fantasy.

Steffy then started asking the right questions, like when did Liam come to, was he wearing the gloves when he did, and how could he have driven to Bill's house from theirs while unconscious? In retrospect, I'm a little surprised Hope didn't ask these same questions instead of readily believing Liam's recollection. I guess it takes being the daughter of a psychiatrist to dig that deep, eh?

I'M SORRY, THE OLD TAYLOR CAN'T COME TO THE PHONE RIGHT NOW...

"Honey, I rose up from the dead -- I do it all the time!" I never realized how the lyrics to Taylor Swift's Look What You Made Me Do fit our very own Taylor Hamilton Hayes Forrester Forrester Marone Jones. And I had no reason to realize it until Hunter Tylo made a sudden appearance on my screen! I found out Thursday, along with the rest of you, but I wasn't caught up on B&B yet. Gah, the spoilage!

Anyway, there she was for the first time since 2014; I had to go back through our own Soap Central character profiles to recall that the last time we saw Taylor was when she was in town, talking about Rick's fake reconciliation with Caroline. But Taylor wasn't about other characters this go-round. She wanted to dish Steffy and only Steffy, taking a page out of her daughter's reinvention playbook by sporting a head of blonde hair!

Ridge, who apparently knew Taylor was coming, was right about one thing: you'd think Bill would lock his door after having his lung turned into Swiss cheese. Taylor waltzed right in, as much as someone can waltz in with a cane; Taylor said she had taken a fall. Will that play into the story, or is Hunter Tylo recovering from an injury I somehow missed reading about?

When Brooke found out Ridge had been filling Taylor in on Steffy sexing Bill, Brooke winced, noting, "You know how Taylor can overreact." Ridge suggested Brooke was biased, but I think La Logan is right, at least in more recent times. In the '90s up until her 2002 "death," Taylor was always the levelheaded one. But somehow, when she came back from the dead a second time in 2005, she wasn't quite the same.

Taylor did become shrill and paranoid; maybe part of that was becoming an alcoholic and the trauma of inadvertently killing Darla with her car. And I guess getting implanted with your hated rival's embryo can kinda make a gal go off, too. I often used to joke that Prince Omar had cloned Taylor and kept the original, sending back an imperfect copy; our Taylor would never sleep with Brooke's father or rifle through Brooke's medical records.

And I think the crowning moment for the shrieking shrink was her going absolutely utsnay over even the possibility of Brooke sleeping with Thomas. It wasn't the Taylor I knew, but people change over the years, and sometimes psychiatrists have the most issues themselves. This all seemed to be the case as Taylor went off on Bill, repeating Ridge's rhetoric that Bill had taken advantage of Steffy!

There's a neat, if unspoken, full-circle undercurrent here, considering it was Taylor who stopped Bill from sleeping with Steffy back in 2011. There was also something decidedly awry about Taylor's demeanor; it was as if she had declined mentally herself. Her voice was uneven as she vowed she wanted to see Bill in pain, and for a moment, it seemed she was reaching in her purse for a weapon, which turned out to be her phone.

Brandishing snaps of Steffy, Liam, and the ultrasound of their unborn baby, Taylor sobbed that Bill had ruined everything for them. But Bill, clearly no different for having been shot, taunted that Taylor hadn't been there for a single holiday or even Steffy's wedding! Boom! What a cool way to give voice to what many fans have been feeling the past three-and-a-half years!

Taylor looked around Bill's abode, telling him, "In my mind, this is my house...where I raised my children." (True! Ridge bought it for her in 1998!) Taylor screamed that she hated Bill, and when Bill wondered why Taylor was only in his face now after weeks had passed since his one-nighter with Steffy, Taylor revealed that she'd been in L.A. ever since finding out from Ridge what had happened. Say whaaaaat??

When I first heard yesterday that Taylor was back, something clicked in my mind, but I couldn't be sure...until Taylor started detailing everything about the night Bill was shot. The wind, the cold, the flickering lights, the gate being open...all of it. Taylor insisted she knew the house so intimately, she could step around any squeaky floorboards, and she told Bill how she'd let herself in and seen the gun, though she hadn't planned to use it.

Now, just hold up! Why was the gun sitting there for Taylor to conveniently pick up? Do you mean to tell me Sanchez brought evidence to Bill's house for the purpose of recreating the crime and then left the murder weapon and bullets behind? Inspector Clouseau was more skilled than that! Indeed, Taylor went for the gold -- golden gun, that is -- and gave Bill a demonstration of how she'd loaded it and pointed it.

Did I call it, or did I call it? I listed Taylor as a possible shooter just days after Bill took a bullet! I knew it couldn't be a contract player; it would have to be someone recurring, someone departing, or someone visiting. And it seems we know now it was Taylor, who pulled back on the trigger in super close-up as Bill yelled out her name for our Friday cliffhanger!

Do you really believe the once-saintly Taylor shot Bill -- and is about to again? Is Taylor in her right mind, or is she getting directives from Evil Floating Darla Head? Does this criminal act track with Taylor's slow decline over the years, or is it straight-up character assassination? File your report in the the Comments section below or on the soapcentral.com message boards, or simply click here to submit feedback. Your comments could wind up in a future column!

I'll be back again next week to help balance out Chanel covering for me while I was away, so in the meantime, keep watching, be alert, and most of all, be bold. And remember, now more than ever, no matter creed, religion, gender identity, orientation, nationality, or hair color, we're all beautiful.

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