Here at Soap.com, we always root for our shows. We want them to be as good as they can be and, ideally, as smart and resonant as they were back in the day. (Yeah, we’re dreamers that way.) But as often as not, we find ourselves slipping into crankypants. (See also: last Friday’s

So it is with great delight that we send our heartfelt thanks to The Bold and the Beautiful for introducing what we have no doubt will be the best new character of the year. From the second Murielle Hilaire’s Daphne “I Don’t Do Appointments” Rose arrived on the scene in the January 7 episode, we knew that we were seeing something special happen.

The show even made a point of making it feel like it was a capital-E Event.

Daphne immediately came off like a fully fleshed out character — and a captivating one at that. She’d entice Carter for pal Steffy, sure, but not because doing so would present any challenge whatsoever. It would just be a diversion for the stunner and a demonstration of her fondness for the Forresters.

Fantabulously, Daphne is above it all — and above everyone. She is funny. She is aloof. She is ravishing. She has the confidence of 10 people. Can you imagine her ever, ever simpering the way that Hope so often does? We haven’t seen anyone so self-assured since we met Emily in Paris‘ Sylvie.

There is a challenge at play, however, and that is on the part of the show. It has given us arguably the best-defined character since the OG Sally Spectra. Now it has to… Well, not to put to fine a point on it, not [bleep] it up. Let Daphne remain unrepentantly exactly who she is, looking down her enviable nose at everyone around her. Let us thrill to her exploits. Revel in her ego. (And is it even ego if she really is, as she appears to be, all that and also a bag of chips?)

We never saw Daphne coming. But mon Dieu, are we glad that she is here. She is the most fun to hit Bold & Beautiful in ages. The only thing better would be for Brooke to make good on her promise to move on from Ridge. (How the pine cone wasn’t the dealbreaker, we’ll never know!) Perhaps the below photo gallery will inspire the casting of Brooke’s new destiny.