I toed you so!

Luna finally got the all-clear to tell R.J. about her minty fresh sex with Zende, though the real tell-all was happening across town, where no one believed Deacon's insistence that Sheila was alive, despite having experienced her resurrections before. But then B&B poured some Sugar on us! Get a toehold with Two Scoops' Mike!

Has your week been bold and beautiful? Did you finally decide to sell your waffle iron on eBay? Did you not believe that a woman you knew to fake her death could fake her death? Did you get your answer to "Pretty please with Sugar on top?" These and more situations faced the Forrester-Logan-Spencer-Nozawa clan this week!

Did I or did I not call it, Scoopers? I told y'all Sheila was alive. There's no way an exit as high-profile as Kimberlin Brown's could be kept secret, and I had a feeling our soap might need some Sugar. But while Luna dillydallies over telling R.J. about her Zende boink, why does no one believe Deacon's claim that Sheila is alive when they all know Sheila's faked more deaths than DAYS' Stefano DiMera or ATWT's James Stenbeck? And if you need a refresher course on Sugar, I'm ready. Let's Scoop about it!

Hope was still at Il Giardino, comforting Finn, during Deacon's memorial for Sheila that Deacon ran out on. Is Deacon trying to get the IG shut down? I can only imagine how many restaurant regulations he violated by rolling a coffin in there, assuming it even contained a dead body. Did Deacon even check? Had he lifted that lid, he might have seen the corpse's ten toes there and saved himself a trip.

I see the show is still teasing a Hope/Finn relationship. And I would have been all for that -- before Hope pulled a Lou Reed/Marky Mark and took a walk on the wild side with her sometime stepbrother. After all, Finn and Hope are better suited to each other than Finn and Steffy. Finn gushed that Hope was the nicest person he knew and suggested that her new Mr. Right could be waiting in the wings.

Yep, as if Hope wouldn't be rebounding from Thomas after rebounding from Liam, Finn thought Hope's new boo could be someone she already knew. Hope, for her part, deemed Finn the "total package." Uh-huh. Is that fresh cement I smell? 'Cuz a way is being paved. Meanwhile, it was astute for Hope to admit she didn't want to remarry again so quickly, given Mama Brooke was the Queen of the Aisle. Smart girl!

Hope decided she wanted to concentrate on her line and on Beth, and she took care of the former by sitting R.J., Zende, and Luna down for a meeting. Thomas was gone, and Hope needed the trio to step up. And, Hope added, she wanted Luna to work closely with Zende. Why? What exactly does Luna do, besides fish staplers out of waste cans or whatever? You'd think Hope would team Luna with R.J., knowing they're sweeties.

Privately, R.J. started waxing poetic about transparency and trust, and you know what that means. Bubbles 'bout ta git burst. Indeed, Luna was across the hall, telling Zende that she couldn't stand keeping the truth from R.J. anymore; that wasn't how she rolled. She had to tell him about their mint-induced mounting. To accentuate this, Poppy showed up out of nowhere but amazingly didn't again try to glue her daughter's mouth shut.

Props to Poppy for agreeing not to stand in Luna's truthful way. And...mini props, I guess, to Zende for also not trying to talk Luna out of the confession, though his "If R.J. blames you, I'm here" declaration smacked of the unrequited love slop the Z-boy's been content to loll around in lately. Zende better shape up; even Hope remarked that the last time Zende headed HFTF, the line almost tanked!

Luna met R.J. at his place and begged off the kissin' and huggin' to babble more about how much she loved him, etc. Finally, she got into how she'd shoved scads of Poppy's "special mints" into her mouth like they were Chiclets. R.J. understood that they were drugged, but not Luna's yelp that she was so sorry! I guess the truth is really about to come out. I hope so, because this secret isn't juicy enough to stay buried this long.

I was right now years old when I learned that people could actually attend cremations. Personally, that would be too Squid Game for my taste. But I guess Deacon being there for Sheila's isn't as implausible as I thought. I also learned that a cadaver is, like the show portrayed, covered in a sheet before going through the cremation process. Deacon watched Sheila's body enter the chamber until he cried out with a hearty, "Oh, sheet!"

Guess the sheet shifted during flight, exposing Sheila's toes. Little baby Deacon Ray must have watched his Sesame Street, because he could 1-2-3-4-5! 6-7-8-9-10! 11 12! Emphasis on ten. Can the cremation process really not be stopped? Surely if you can ratchet down a barbecue, you can turn off this chamber, but that didn't happen here, and Deacon was left to babble at Carl about the corpse having ten toes.

Carl! What is a lab tech doing working in a crematorium? He went from birth to death; in 2007, he was the one who told Bridget that Brooke's eggs could have been implanted in Taylor. I guess one takes what jobs one can get, but I'd think lab tech and crematory operator didn't share transferrable skills. Last time we saw Carl was in 2011, when he agreed to fake a paternity test for Amber. Pretty random reappearance!

Sheila "was" a convicted felon known for faking her death at least three times, in both California and Wisconsin. Did no one run a DNA test to be sure it was her? Deputy Lieutenant Baker didn't do any toe-counting? For that matter, Baker popped by to tell Steffy that the state determined Steffy had killed Sheila in self-defense, and therefore, there would be no charges against Steffy.

I know B&B isn't a crime procedural, but wouldn't Steffy still have had to go to court and prove there was nothing premeditated in her icing Sheila? Deacon had already witnessed Steffy punching Sheila out twice without true provocation. We missed a wonderfully dramatic arc here, especially with Steffy already playing a part in the death of cousin Aly, which was also self-defense.

Finn and Steffy were all lovey-dovey the day after Finn attended Sheila's food-adjacent funeral. As Steffy told Ridge, she was trying to be understanding so Finn wouldn't end up resenting her for offing Sheila. That tack must have worked, because Finn was no longer creeped out being in the murder house; he sure got over that pretty quickly.

Now it was Deacon's turn to be traumatized as he quaffed down alcohol in his bistro. Sir Sharpe was shown to be a recovering alcoholic both on B&B and Y&R, so it's odd that he started drinking again around 2021 without his departure from sobriety being mentioned. Poor Hollis had to ask how the memorial was. Should I be surprised or not surprised that none of Sheila's co-workers mourned her?

Deacon called Finn over, and for the better part of three episodes, the restauranteur tried to convince the doctor that their necrotized loved one had exhibited ten toes before facing the flames. And Finn repeatedly didn't believe him! Isn't Finn the guy who, last time Sheila was "dead," put himself on the case with Sheila's severed toe to prevail upon everyone that his birth mom was very much alive?

Instead, Finn thought Deacon was crazy, or at least under a crushing strain, and I just don't understand the one-eighty. I also didn't see the need to drag that scene out over more than one day. Why was it necessary for Deacon to sway Finn? I've also just learned it's not impossible to extract DNA from cremated remains; as soon as Deacon gets his urn, he could run right to a lab or have Baker arrange for forensics.

Liam made a sudden appearance, the kind he usually does when Kelly's left behind a backpack or a stuffed animal. Awfully forgetful kid, eh, Liam? Maybe Steffy needs to get Kelly some ginkgo gummies. Amazingly, Liam didn't use the drop-off as an excuse to make a case for Steffy switching Finn out for him. Nay, Liam revealed he'd been doing some actual soul-searching!

The Waffle Prince (Ridge is the forever King) conceded that he had spent too much time bouncing between Steffy and Hope and had to ask himself if he was the kind of man he ultimately wanted to see Beth or Kelly with. The answer? A resounding no! Liam said he needed to figure out who he was, and I was genuinely shocked. It's so rare for a B&B character to look inward and attempt true growth.

Any of y'all get the feeling, though, that we're just cleaning Liam's slate for Ivy's return? They were married super briefly, and no one ever searches their soul in this particular soap universe for long. Still, I've got to give out some kudos for steering Liam away from panting over Steffy, which he had done ever since he saw Hope kissing Thomas in Rome...ten months ago, in real time. Tofu Boy's been in a rut!

The one thing that came out during Steam's convo that I didn't like was Steffy scoffing that she had no sympathy for "that man," meaning Deacon. Um, chica, if it wasn't for "that man," your designer pout woulda died in that back alley of Il Giardino, because it was only Deacon who discovered your and Finn's bloody bodies and got an ambulance for your asses. No sympathy. Screw off, Steffy.

Ridge must have learned a thing or two from Bill while they went undercover together last year, because Ridge had the best lines this week, sounding just like the Dollah. "Why wasn't I invited to this?" Ridge snarked as Steffy relayed Finn's account of Sheila's memorial. Then, thinking Finn shouldn't have attended Deacon's event in the first place, Ridge went to Deacon and barked, "What's going on here, Sharpie?"

Why Deacon has never been compared to the much-touted permanent marker until now, I'll never know. But Deacon did try to draw Ridge the picture of Sheila's corpse having the ten toes that meant Sheila wasn't dead. And Ridge didn't believe Deacon, either! Ridge, who watched Sheila commit suicide in 1995 only to resurface after a stomach pump. And then there's the whole bear mauling. Ridge should have been on high alert instead of dissing Deacon.

The same thing happened to Finn, who, while not necessarily believing Deacon himself, seemed to have second thoughts about Deacon witnessing complete sets of toes on "Sheila." Finn passed this info along to Steffy...who didn't believe it, either! Not even after Finn reminded Steffy about Sheila's death-by-bear stunt! It's amazing to me that Steffy didn't remove her victim's shoes while she was still breathing to see for herself.

Yeah, this whole bit about Finn, Ridge, and Steffy all thinking Deacon is just trippin' isn't passing my soapy smell test. They all know Sheila's tricks, and nothing should be off the table without confirmation. Well, aren't they all going to get a rude awakening when Deacon proves them right? Freaky Deaky got his first clue when he...let me see if I've got this right...checked out Sheila's texts on his laptop.

I don't even think that's doable, but in this alternate version of Los Angeles, who knows. In the thread, Sheila demanded to know how the sender got her number; the sender skipped the answer and said they and Sheila needed to talk. Sheila replied with a no way no day, only for the sender to promise Sheila would be found by them. To which Sheila answered, "Stay away from me, Sugar!"

It's official! It's official! Steffy didn't kill Sheila -- she killed Sugar! Now, I know a lot of you newer viewers are going to need a tutorial, and that's what I'm here for. In 2003, after Sheila was imprisoned for killing Taylor, Sheila escaped with the help of Sugar, a prison warden who became Sheila's accomplice. Sugar helped Sheila hold Ridge, and eventually Nick and Brooke, hostage in South America.

Sugar and Sheila got away; Sugar was next seen in Genoa City, where it was discovered Sheila had forced Sugar to have plastic surgery to look like Sheila, so Sheila could install Sugar-as-Sheila in the institution Sheila was supposed to have been in. Sugar attempted revenge by stabbing a grown-up Scotty, whom Sheila had stolen from Lauren as a baby, but that was the last we heard of Sugar.

So, I'm very curious to see how Sugar factors into all this. It would seem to me, from the tone of Sheila and Sugar's text exchange (assuming it wasn't fabricated), that Sugar could very well have menaced Steffy as a way to frame Sheila, who was on the up and up for a change. It would explain why "Sheila" never said a word to Steffy. But what was in "Sheila's" pocket? She was about to unveil something mere moments before she got stabbed.

Sugar's presence here does undo a theory I've held since 2007. In that year on Y&R, Lauren presumably gunned down Sheila, who we were told had been made to look like that show's Phyllis Summers. I never believed that was Sheila, which seemed to be corroborated when Sheila returned in 2017 -- with her original face, speaking of how stories of her death had been exaggerated.

I had thought that Sugar had undergone another operation to look like Phyllis and torment Lauren, again taking vengeance on Sheila for having been mutilated. But if it was Sugar who just baked someone happy, who did Lauren kill? I'm actually really tickled that B&B finally played the Sugar card, but her saga is so convoluted that I don't know that we'll ever get clear answers outside of this current story.

Anyway! Did this week's episodes keep you on your toes, Scoopers? Do you think Liam can really move beyond his waffling ways? Should Luna have been paired with R.J. to work on HFTF instead of Zende, and should that line just be pulled already? Should Steffy have had to face a judge to clear herself of committing homicide, even if it was in self-defense? And does the revival of Sugar ask more questions than it answers? Tiptoe into the Soap Central message boards, or simply click here to submit feedback!

Lauren's going to confront Deacon at the end of this coming week -- will B&B grant my other wish and have her be the one to put the pieces together and sing lyrics from that old song, "sugar in the morning, sugar in the evening, sugar at suppertime?" (Look it up.) Sheila's latest demise is finally getting interesting, so keep watching, be alert, and most of all, be bold!

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