Episode 2: Gains and Losses

Taylor, suspecting she has tuberculosis, is sitting on the couch in her living room. She goes into a coughing fit. Ridge immediately rushes to her side. As the fit ends, he says, "Doc, I really think you ought to take your medicine." She replies, "I know that it's been tested and it's safe for the babies, but I just can't do it! I just can't put them in danger like that!" "Well, it's time to go to the hospital for the results of your test." "I know. I'm ready; let's go."

At the hospital, the doctor confirms Taylor's suspicions. She has another coughing fit and then nearly has a panic attack, clinging to Ridge with the very hands she just used to cover her mouth while coughing. "Here, Doc," Ridge says, handing her a bottle of anitbacterial gel. "Thanks," she sniffles, and disinfects her hands. "We'll have to do a chest X-ray," the doctor begins. "WHAT????????" Taylor screams. "Hey, it's OK. Remember, if you die, so do the babies," the doctor reminds her. "Oh. Yeah. OK, well, as long as they're safe."

Meanwhile, Thorne is making out with Brooke in her bedroom. Stephanie shakes off the sleeping pill Thorne gave her and gets up. Groggily, she makes her way downstairs and grabs a knife. Finding Thorne and Brooke together, she pulnges the knife down--into Thorne's back. "Must... put you... out of your... misery..." she mumbles.

At Forrester, Amber barges in on Eric in the middle of an interview. "Amber, I'm busy," he says. "I know, but--" she begins. "Amber, I'm busy," he repeats. "Please wait outside. I'll see you for a moment when I'm done interviewing this young lady." "But I'm family and I need to talk!" she wails. "Outside, Amber," he says firmly.

After the interview is over and Amber has begged time for her cousin, Becky shows up for the interview in a stunning evening gown, complete with an airy scarf wrapped around her neck and a cute little matching purse. Her hair is pulled up into a simple, yet elegant bun. "Mr. Forrester," she murmurs. "How nice of you to see me on such short notice." Eric's jaw drops--he hadn't expected Hick-Girl to have any sophistication whatsoever. Amber faints. "Why, Becky," Eric stammers. "Please, please--sit down." She does so, producing some papers from her purse. "My resume, Mr. Forrester." "This is quite impressive." "What do you mean, impressive?" Amber interrupts, reviving herself. "Let me see that." She scans Becky's resume. "When did you find time to do all this? I thought the only job you'd ever had was cleaning that dumb motel in Furnace Creek!" "Well, Amber, you haven't been around for a while. And with nothing to do out in Furnace Creek, I decided to volunteer here and there, experiment a little with advertising, that sort of thing." Amber stares. "Well, surely you knew. After all, you said I'd be perfect for this job. Do you want me out of town or not?" "Out of town? Why would I want you out of town?" "Because you don't want me to find out you've got my baby." Amber faints again. "So, Becky, let's talk business," Eric says. "Please, call me Rebecca. I use it for business--I think it sounds more dignified."

Meanwhile, over at the college, Rick is moping around his dorm room. "I'll never have noisy roommates," he moans. "Never wake up with a hangover. Never get to go out and get pizza at 3am." He paces some more. "I'll never get to complain about the elevator not working or about the awful cafeteria food. And I'll never get to go through Initiation at a fraternity!" He starts to cry. Kimberly enters the room. "Hey, you coming to the party?" "What party?" "The Freshman party tonight! Come on, it'll be fun." "Fun." "Yeah, you know. Fun." She sits down on the bed; so does he. "Kimberly, I don't want to have fun." "Why not?" "Because I don't want to get used to it. I have a wife and baby. I can't just pick up and do whatever like most college kids can." "Well, forget about them," she suggests. "How?" Kimberly leans closer. "I'm sure you can think of something." Rick hangs his head as if in sorrow; really, we can see he's looking down her dress. "I don't know, Kimberly. I can't just throw it all away." She looks confused. "Throw it away? I'm only talking about going to the dance!" Rick puts his eyes back on her face where they belong. "Oh. Yeah. Uh, sure, let's go."

What you can learn from this:

• Taylor Loses Her Freedom But Gains Sense
  I can't believe the way Taylor is acting. I admit that I haven't gotten to watch every day, so I don't know all the specifics, but I've gotten the gist of it from updates and from seeing yesterday's episode (August 11). She is a doctor and therefore should understand the importance of following doctor's orders. She also knows that the medication has been tested and is perfectly safe for pregnant women and their unborn children. And yet she refuses to take the medication because it might harm the babies. And then almost refuses to allow the chest x-rays (which I'm told are standard for TB cases; she had to know it was coming) because the radiation might harm the babies. I cannot believe that a doctor would act like this, even if she is a psychiatrist and not a "physical" doctor. Even if she is pregnant. Doesn't she realise that if she dies, so do the babies? I mean, I know she cares more for them than for herself, but let's assume for a moment that she dies. If the babies manage to survive, having been born prematurely, they still face life without their mother, without one of the biggest influences and one of the biggest caregivers in a baby's life. They will probably know at some point in their lives that their mother gave her life for theirs--dramatic, but what kind of effect do you suppose that has on a kid? And this being a soap, Ridge or Thomas or both would probably blame the twins for Taylor's death.
  Also, I was confused by why Taylor seemed to think the germs died the moment they were out of her mouth. She was hanging all over Ridge, all the while saying how if he or Thomas got infected she'd never forgive herself. But didn't her hands have a lot of germs on them that could have infected Ridge?

• Brooke Regains Thorne Before Losing Him
  I'm tired of Brooke, but it would be interesting to see what would happen if Thorne were killed, too. He gets on my nerves sometimes--but not always. Besides, in Stephanie's condition, she might not be able to tell who exactly she was killing. It might be fun if Brooke took the fall for it, too, but I doubt that would happen.

• Becky Gains Some Class and Loses Furnace Creek
  I can't begin to say how tired I am of Becky's hick image. Surely even she knows something about appropriate behaviour at an interview, and perhaps even something about how to dress. She knows what "professional" looks like; she has to. And what was she doing at Furnace Creek before she had this baby? I'm also getting tired of this whole thing with Baby Eric. Good grief, let's get the secret out already! As a side note, I couldn't believe Eric (the first) wanted Amber to sit in on that interview. It served no purpose at all. What was up with that???

• Will Kimberly Lose Her Innocence in an Attempt to Gain Rick?
  C'mon, Rick has hardly had any fun since he married Amber. Make that since he got her pregnant. When he's moping around about missing college life, he's also forgetting the bad stuff about a stereotypical "college guy's life", by the way. And getting pizza at 3am doesn't sound so great to me. Eating pizza at 3am, maybe--but not getting it then. Is there really a pizza place open that late? I think it would be interesting to have Kimberly become a little less innocent, a little more willing to use her looks as a "weapon" in the fight for Rick. At the same time, though, I like having a characer there who's not trying to sleep with anyone. Hence the misunderstood innuendo. Or maybe it wasn't misunderstood; maybe she changed her mind at the last instant.

  ---

  Back to the Index
  Back to My Page
  E-mail me with comments