Credit: CBS screenshots (4)

The biggest shock to unfold during this week’s episodes of Bold & Beautiful was the show completely ignoring the Liam story on Friday. They did, however, provide us a glimpse into his dark future. 

Going, Going… Not Quite Gone

Around the middle of the week, I started to firmly believe that the Friday episode would end with Liam biting the dust. Hard as it is to imagine this show without Scott Clifton and his ping-ponging alter ego, it seemed like the only place this story could go. The fact that Steffy was, at her ex-husband’s request, keeping his condition under wraps only furthered my belief.

Why? Because it made sense. Think about it: If Liam died, Steffy would suddenly find herself facing the anger of Hope, Bill… heck, even daughter Kelly! It would make for great drama! But when Friday’s episode unspooled, there wasn’t a single mention of Liam. Instead, we got a rather disturbing insight into what this show’s writers think about women.

But more on that in a moment.

What Will Happen to Liam?

In the previews for next week, we got a scene in which Grace and Bridget — welcome back, Ashley Jones! — tell Finn “it’s inoperable.” While we’re not told what they’re specifically talking about, it seems pretty clear that Liam has a brain tumor.

More: Will Sheila take advantage of Liam’s crisis? 

Do I think Liam will actually die? No, I don’t believe that any longer. I think instead, we’re about to rehash the exact same beats we just played with Eric less than two years ago. You know, the story in which he was supposedly dying of something inoperable and didn’t want anyone to know.

The story which ended with him not dying after all, in much the same way Liam won’t die. Which is kidna sorta too bad.

Don’t get me wrong, I love both Clifton and Liam. But I’m also a fan of big, messy, dramatic soap stories… as opposed to ones which are rehashes, which is all Bold & Beautiful seems to do anymore. Were Liam to actually die, the fallout would be huge, especially if he were to do so with his loved ones none-the-wiser to his condition.

Desperate Much?

Friday’s episode left me someone gobsmacked by the way pretty much every woman on the show was being portrayed. We had Brooke traipsing around in her negligee (and taking a ridiculously long time to notice Taylor standing in the doorway agog). Then there was Sheila flat-out encouraging her grandchild to use sex as a way to steal someone else’s man, followed by Luna donning a disguise right out of the Sally Spectra playbook in order to try and do just that.

More: Could this be the perfect role for Matthew Atkinson?

But wait, that wasn’t all! Because we then got Daphne — in response to overhearing Carter tell Brooke he loves Hope and wants her back — doing an internal monologue about how he was going to be hers.

Even Taylor, who I guess we’re supposed to think of as the sane one here, looked ridiculous. There she was blasting Brooke for her “pathetic” behavior despite her own eagerness to jump back into the sack with Ridge, who has treated her like crap for decades.

Can somebody loan me a couple bucks? I wanna buy these ladies a bit of self-respect.